ANTI-THESIS

(A Reaction Paper to the Movie, Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps)

Wall Street is not just any movie. Yes, it has a romantic flair, albeit awkward, a bit of twists and turns, and a sprinkling of action scenes, if you call that action, but it does not end there. It also has the store of unlimited stock market, finance and all other money matter information embedded in major parts of the movie which can overwhelm ordinary viewers and undermine their understanding and perception of the movie.

Yet if we glue ourselves to the unfolding scenes and painstakingly follow the thread of information tossed to and fro by the characters, not to mention the clear-cut and obvious statements delivered, we would be able to grasp a word of wisdom or two that is not only applicable to the business world but in real life, too. Some are trivial, some  are contradicting and some, just plain self explanatory.

Case in point, Gordon Gekko’s (portrayed by Michael Douglas) “Greed is good.”  Who dare say such statement? Why, greed is one of the seven deadly sins. But whatever, we are left to ponder upon such norms-defying statement. And we question the plausibility of the statement. And we say, maybe. After all, who drove mankind out of caves and jungles, who pushed them to reach for the moon and the unknown space beyond explanation, who directed them to create mega-worthy cities? It’s not anything but their inability to control the urge to be satisfied, finding ways and means to quench their thirst for something new, despite the fact that this something new is just a reformatted or upgraded version of a basic need already fulfilled. In one word, it’s greed.

That takes us to a less trivial and more complacent statement, Jacob Moore’s (portrayed by Shia LaBeouf) “If it weren't for people who took risks, where would we be in this world?”  Definitely. Unquestionably. Certainly. If Ferdinand Magellan didn’t risk his name and life and simply nodded and dozed off to eternal sleep years afterwards, would we be enjoying the perks of cruising without the fear of falling on the end of the world? Same as if our engineers, chemists, scientists, astronauts, the list goes on, didn’t risk their emotional, physical, psychological, name it, you have it, welfare; we would not be enjoying the life we call our life now. Piece of cake.

The movie has more. From love to life interspersed among the rigors of the business environment, actors show and tell. We just have to be quick to decipher and  process it before the movie  toss another another dull scene. The movie is dull, trust me. The title says money never sleeps but we are no money. We are humans, and halfway through the movie, we would sleep. Though if we are looking for some piece of movie that we can glean a picture of how the stock market works or lift a life lesson or two, this is a good movie. Just bring lots of popcorn and well, toothpicks to keep your eyes wide open. Wide awake, Katy Perry says.