And one more recommendation: twenty years ago or so, I read Michael Lewis's first published book, Liar's Poker, which was about the year he spent working for Salomon Brothers (which was snarfed up by Travelers in 1998, soon to join its umbrella with Citibank's, to form Citigroup), making his first million.
Liar's Poker is interesting both for the backstory behind those pesky mortgage-backed securities, but also for the insight that Lewis offers on what being a newbie at a big Wall Street firm is like; given that interns and new hires at Salomon were loudly cursed at and even had phones hurled at them at great velocity, it takes a certain kind of person to stand still for that sort of abuse in the hopes of making his fortune. I couldn't do it.
I found myself thinking of Liar's Poker when I watched The Wolf of Wall Street -- which, by all accounts, has replaced Brian DePalma's Scarface for this generation's model of bad boy behavior. (Wall Street types are said to lustily cheer all of the misbehavin' on-screen, up to and including DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort -- who has a cameo at the end as an emcee introducing DiCaprio-as-Belfort, BTW -- punching his wife, played by Margot Robbie. Twice.)
I think that the hand-wringing I've read about how Scorsese didn't make it even plainer that the activities depicted in TWoWS were not to be celebrated is misguided, given that Harper's Magazine noted, in its November 2005 issue, that U.S. troops watched clips from movies such as Platoon and Apocalypse Now as pep rally videos to psych themselves up for "gettin' some" ("Valkyries Over Iraq: The Trouble With War Movies" by Lawrence Wechsler; unfortunately, it's only available online to subscribers): I don't think that any reasonable person would claim that Platoon or any version of Apocalypse Now were pro-war movies, when seen in their entirety. Which only goes to show that, no matter how much you frame a dramatic movie to clearly indicate that the events depicted therein are BAD, there will always be some yahoos who don't understand this, or who willfully misread the signifiers.
Anyhoo, Liar's Poker's well worth a dekko, if you haven't read it already.
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And one more recommendation: twenty years ago or so, I read Michael Lewis's first published book, Liar's Poker, which was about the year he spent working for Salomon Brothers (which was snarfed up by Travelers in 1998, soon to join its umbrella with Citibank's, to form Citigroup), making his first million.
Liar's Poker is interesting both for the backstory behind those pesky mortgage-backed securities, but also for the insight that Lewis offers on what being a newbie at a big Wall Street firm is like; given that interns and new hires at Salomon were loudly cursed at and even had phones hurled at them at great velocity, it takes a certain kind of person to stand still for that sort of abuse in the hopes of making his fortune. I couldn't do it.
I found myself thinking of Liar's Poker when I watched The Wolf of Wall Street -- which, by all accounts, has replaced Brian DePalma's Scarface for this generation's model of bad boy behavior. (Wall Street types are said to lustily cheer all of the misbehavin' on-screen, up to and including DiCaprio's Jordan Belfort -- who has a cameo at the end as an emcee introducing DiCaprio-as-Belfort, BTW -- punching his wife, played by Margot Robbie. Twice.)
I think that the hand-wringing I've read about how Scorsese didn't make it even plainer that the activities depicted in TWoWS were not to be celebrated is misguided, given that Harper's Magazine noted, in its November 2005 issue, that U.S. troops watched clips from movies such as Platoon and Apocalypse Now as pep rally videos to psych themselves up for "gettin' some" ("Valkyries Over Iraq: The Trouble With War Movies" by Lawrence Wechsler; unfortunately, it's only available online to subscribers): I don't think that any reasonable person would claim that Platoon or any version of Apocalypse Now were pro-war movies, when seen in their entirety. Which only goes to show that, no matter how much you frame a dramatic movie to clearly indicate that the events depicted therein are BAD, there will always be some yahoos who don't understand this, or who willfully misread the signifiers.
Anyhoo, Liar's Poker's well worth a dekko, if you haven't read it already.