The Wolf On Wall Street
January 19, 2014
After watching Jonah Hill talk about "The Wolf On Wall Street" and his excitement to work alongside director Martin Scorsese (He's a big fan of his work) on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" ; my interest was drawn to the film.
I was not attracted to the film because Leonardo DiCaprio is the main star portraying Jordan Belfort but primarily because Hill commented on the fact that the film revealed a lot of the secrets in Wall Street that he never thought to be true. Although the film was in fact uproarious and had the movie theater bouncing with laughter it was quiet long.
While I sat there watching the movie, I was reminded of all the Pyramid Scheme articles I had read last year after foolishly falling myself into one of those businesses. This movie does a perfect job illustrating what in fact does happen when one simple individual hatches an idea, boast about its great benefits to their target individual up until the point they fall for it.
The sad part about it all is that, while at first Jordan targeted low-income individuals in America, as instructed by Wall Street, he figured that he would make a lot more money by fooling the rich into this business. Now before I spoil this masterpiece to you I'll just say that there is a lot to learn from this movie. And you can justify his actions by saying the top 1% deserves to be fooled out of their money, but whose to say that the person fooling will always end up winning?
Like the great saying goes All that goes up, must fall down which is exactly what happened to Jordan's success. He realized that friendships aren't real because once your broke nobody wants to be around you and that having an addiction can be the reason for your utmost downfall.
And if this does sound familiar, I'll just reiterate all the movies I thought off while watching this great film:
I was not attracted to the film because Leonardo DiCaprio is the main star portraying Jordan Belfort but primarily because Hill commented on the fact that the film revealed a lot of the secrets in Wall Street that he never thought to be true. Although the film was in fact uproarious and had the movie theater bouncing with laughter it was quiet long.
While I sat there watching the movie, I was reminded of all the Pyramid Scheme articles I had read last year after foolishly falling myself into one of those businesses. This movie does a perfect job illustrating what in fact does happen when one simple individual hatches an idea, boast about its great benefits to their target individual up until the point they fall for it.
The sad part about it all is that, while at first Jordan targeted low-income individuals in America, as instructed by Wall Street, he figured that he would make a lot more money by fooling the rich into this business. Now before I spoil this masterpiece to you I'll just say that there is a lot to learn from this movie. And you can justify his actions by saying the top 1% deserves to be fooled out of their money, but whose to say that the person fooling will always end up winning?
Like the great saying goes All that goes up, must fall down which is exactly what happened to Jordan's success. He realized that friendships aren't real because once your broke nobody wants to be around you and that having an addiction can be the reason for your utmost downfall.
And if this does sound familiar, I'll just reiterate all the movies I thought off while watching this great film:
Scarface (1983): There is a heavy amount of drug use in the movie (Primarily Cocaine and a lot of different pills I've never heard off). Jordan and Donnie (Jonah Hill) Sleep with a lot of women, and deal with a lot of money. And while they do all the dirty work and investing, Jordan is the voice of the company that keeps his loyal "employees" up and running. Sex, Sex and more Sex and lots of promiscuous affairs. And of course, "Love" based on Money and ending due to drug abuse.
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Titanic (1997): Let's just say, Jordan travels a lot and has his own yacht and at one point you will remember his misfortune in his role as Jack in the Titanic.
Goodfellas(1990):The idea of a mafia is kind of present in this movie, a man that shouts all the orders and has his left and right hand man to follow. Primarily, gangster behavior pretty similar to Scarface.
Titanic (1997): Let's just say, Jordan travels a lot and has his own yacht and at one point you will remember his misfortune in his role as Jack in the Titanic.
Goodfellas(1990):The idea of a mafia is kind of present in this movie, a man that shouts all the orders and has his left and right hand man to follow. Primarily, gangster behavior pretty similar to Scarface.
Overall, this movie was great, and I'd probably rate it an 8 out of 10 because it was so long and there was way too much dialogue for my taste. However, it did help build to the humor of the movie and understanding of the situation. But at one point you are on the tips of your toes anxiously awaiting for the next event to happen. If that was Scorsese's goal, then he definitely accomplished it!
And the question that remains is; To what extent will people go to make money the easy way?
Posted by Ana Castillo. Posted In : Lifestyle
Media Studies Major at Queens College
Photographer, Writer and Enthusiast
The world is my my book,
I edit the pages.
