THE REALITY essays

THE REALITY essays Wall Street (1987) and The Economy (chap. 8) With the combination of chapter 8 (from Sociology for the 21st Century) and the movie Wall Street by Oliver Stone, we can begin to have a greater understanding of the United States economy. From the time we are born, we are raised to believe that the United States is a democracy. We are taught to believe everything is fair, right, and just for every American in the United States. We are also taught to believe that every American in the United States has the opportunity to receive a piece of the pie if they work hard. But in reality this is not the case; the system is geared to benefit the upper white class. Only the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. The unjust take advantage of the just in the United States. I believe the United States is divided into two systems: capitalism and socialism. Very large corporations (upper white collar workers) operate as a capitalist system while the working class (blue collar workers and lower white collar workers) operates as a socia list system. The character that plays Gordon Gekko, in the movie Wall Street, is a cold-blooded stock trader in New York City. Oliver Stone uses the name of a lizard (Gecko) to represent this character. However, I do not feel the name represents the true amount of evil that this individual possesses. I believe Stone should have used the name of a snake to represent this character because a snake has a forked tongue, and it sneaks' upon its prey. This character is most similar to a snake because both waits for the opportunity to strike its prey. As with many big businesses, Gekko manipulates the system for his advantage by fooling Bud into thinking that he is molding him into a contender for the upper white collar Stock Market. But in reality he is only using Bud to his advantage. For example, the first time Bud met Gekko; the only reason Gekko agreed to see him was because Bud had a bo ...