SPITTING OUT THE WOLF OF WALL STREET

Recently I finally saw The Wolf of Wall Street. Having worked in the financial sector for many years, I am inclined to be interested and attracted to such movies. This one however, far exceeded any swearing I ever heard on the job (which I assure you I did among traders). Considering that almost all of my working life was among Men, this movie was especially vulgar, egregiously so.

There was no God to such as these. There was Money and cheating and back stabbing and constant drug use, infidelity, decadence and corruption. Generally, they were portrayed as the most vulgar people one never hopes to meet.

Masters of the Universe (i.e. Bonfire of the Vanities) style; Inside Job and Too Big To Fail (describing what may have been the looting the federal treasury in the United States; Rollover (great suspicion between a couple, one trying to prevent the collapse of the economy); Margin Call; Other People's Money about financial looters and 'green mailers' and Trading Places (the caprice of wealthy people who care nothing about destroying a man’s life over a $1.00 wager with each other). Then there was Wall Street and it’s sequel Wall Street, Money Never Sleeps with the incomparable Michael Douglas as the main character before and after his fall. 

All previous financial movies pale in comparison to the decadence and corruption we are supposed to believe is a regular practice in the financial services industry a la the Wolf of Wall Street.

These are not beautiful people and we should not mistake them as appealing role models, heroes or anyone we should emulate, look up to or respect.

Of course, this is me speaking and money does not race my engine. I enjoyed the interaction with the way the world operates financially while I worked in the field in operations, in the areas of Stocks, Bonds and Commodities and Internal Audit. 

Later I encountered a lot of friends who had (by society’s standards) become ‘worth’ a lot. That is, some of them had made a lot of money since I had last seen them.

Some of these people were still nice people and generally I find, just as they always were, are helpful and courteous and, if I am to be frank, keep their claws sheathed when they interact with me. Perhaps I do not compete with them and besides I am, after all a Woman.

Nevertheless, the Wolf of Wall Street, makes tough financial types look like a bad example of the worst type of human being imaginable or actually created for the movie screen to demonstrate it’s contempt upon.

So much for the Wolf of Wall Street, Hollywood’s gross caricature of the hated financial sector as it does not exist anywhere except in someone’s sad, sick mind.