every dream has a price

well, we are on the threshold of the 20th anniversary of Oliver Stone's Wall Street being celebrated, and as the movie popped into my head for some inexplicable reason this morning, why not do a post to celebrate this remarkable film.

i doubt i need to present the plot of the film here, but if for some reason you are unaware of this one, it deals with the days of junk bonds and insider trading in the 80's. it also depicts the greed and excess of the 80's, as well as the magnificence of the decade. a round of applause for being able to do so with skill and accuracy, if you will.

Charlie Sheen, in a very real sense, is Bud Fox. he's the ambitous broker caught between two pillars of influence - his steady, reliable and if you will old fashioned father on one side, and on the other Gordon Gecko, the man he wants to be.





the moral questions thrown up by the film are fascinating. the most obvious is its most famous quote, paraphrased to "Greed Is Good". what exactly, after all, is wrong with wanting success, in whatever form it takes. the question is greed for what? money and happiness seldom equate to the same thing, no matter how hard you try to say that it does.

the disposability of people also crops up. as Bud follows his Gecko dream, people seem to become irrelevant to a degree, relationships deteriorate and slip away as if they were yesterday's newspapers. the influence of his father wanes, but never leaves, which leaves our protagonist in an interesting spot, however.

the wealth and fortune Gecko builds leaves a wake of dislocated, unemployed people too. this is referred to in similar ambivalent terms, as if they were the "hardbodies" so easily dispensed in the American Psycho.

does this represent the 80's approach? yeah, to a degree. the decade was all image, style over content, and the self was very much a priority. but never, if this makes sense, in a sinister or negative way as it became in the 90's - you were celebrated and appreciated for it, by and large. only later when the world started getting neurotic and wanting constant counsel did this become bad, apparently.



back in the 80's, actors won Oscars for outstanding performances instead of political reasons, a la the 90's and 00's. here Michael Douglas deservedly won, and the only shame is that neither Martin nor Charlie Sheen got a look in for a supporting award. ho hum.


whilst not strictly speaking being a capitalist, i love Wall Street. it's a tough choice, but i would argue this is Oliver Stone's finest hour. there is not a wasted moment in this two hour journey, and if you have never seen this film find a copy as soon as possible.