Do you remember the 1987 movie Wall Street? Not because you just accidentally stumbled on it in the selections of a streaming service last week, but either in its first theatrical run or a Blockbuster rental?
In today’s environment, you need to explain to the modern gung ho conservative a truth so obvious in the eighties. Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko - he’s the bad guy. There’s those lousy woke communists in Hollywood with their damn subversive material again.
Back at the time Wall Street the movie was made was peak trickle down economics era USA. A career, something you would stick with for your entire lifetime at a single job, was part of the American dream. A country dominating the world economic scene that now clearly rewards the Geckos of the world over the Bud (Charlie Sheen).
To be fair, it’s not that the modern gung ho conservative would admire Gekko for what he is. He’s cartoonishly over the top sneering villainy. Greed is Good isn’t just a handy catch phrase when sliding down the villain pope to switch into his Musk mask, it’s the way he lives and what he believes down in the core of his being. Stepping on the little man, and totally unconcerned about the little person lives below his golden throne of greed.
Bud is also cartoonish. There’s a typical Hollywood redemption arc. It should never have to come down to the elaborate revenge scheme that brings Gekko down. There’s supposedly a Securities and Exchange Commission to stop a Gekko from rising to power in the first place. Yet here he is in the over the top, “I can do whatever I want because I’m filthy rich.”
And there will always be people who would view this for the first time and subliminally or willfully misinterpret the points. And that’s helped along because other than the redemption arc revenge plot it’s got some nuance. That is, nuance that leaves a reasonably intelligent viewer room to speculate on after the credit events that are not shown. Is it just Gekko going a step too far and other wealthy Wall Street execs are fine? Should Bud have abandoned family and embraced the lifestyle of cheating to get ahead? Or did the most common interpretation make sense, a rather unthinking reaction to it. The knee jerk, Gekko was a dirt bag and got what’s coming to him.
Reframing the movie to modern times, and you should reframe instead of accepting it for the era it was made (new information is available and it’s good critical thinking to check around), it’s about Bud’s reasons for revenge more than the actual revenge plot itself. Is there a line he would not cross? And this is exactly where society at large at the global scale is, now. Are you willing to sacrifice a bit of common decency for more comfortable access to resources or do you want to actually get along with people long term?
The financial sector has always been a breeding ground for greed being good. The unhealthy relationship between greed, debt, long term sustainability, family values, etc… has fostered a workplace environment that is basically worthless for morale. Your job is your life. Your job and coworkers are your social network. And as worker rights that were fought for tooth and nail get stripped away, even the most mindless work drone knows something is off. Something is wrong. And financial censorship is designed to keep them quiet.
If you were to encounter the real life Gekkos (yes, I have) they universally support Republican ideals. And as the middle class erodes support of any kind of balance is slipping away. Presentation of homeownership, an affordable education landing a single job career, access to health care, saving for retirement, saving for the future for yourself much less your children are still being shown as achievable goals. And they are, but only if you cheat. Because greed is good.
And that’s why everything is a scam now. The two way street of a self fulfilling prophecy; an infinite feedback loop. You can’t have a society of mindless drones at the same time as having an educated and competent workforce. Everything is “oH nO, mY iNvEsTmEnTs” white collar scam, greedflation, unregulated obvious cockamamie fraud like gematria sports betting, and the entire middle class living paycheck to paycheck. The extent of the hypocrisy has reached epic proportions. Politicians should be leading, should be making business policy to…what’s the word…REGULATE the economy. Now we’re at the phase of the government deregulating itself; declaring economic sanctions on itself (tariffs). Progress and progressives = BAD. Gekko remaining rich with no actual benefit to society at large = GOOD.
I’m calling bullshit on that one. But hey, that’s just my line in the sand was crossed over 40 years ago. If you want to ignore how the different oligarchs are locked in a big pissing contest to see who can keep being too big to fail the longest, knock yourself out. The financial censorship is working just fine for you.
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