How Media Shapes our Understanding of Modern Work Cultures: Wall Street Edition
In the modern day, a majority of the information we receive originates from digitized platforms, such as the television, radios, mobile news applications, films and documentaries. As learning has developed due to modern technology, schools and colleges have adopted the practice of showing films/documentaries in order to promote learning in an engaging way. Many important world events are conveyed through the means of movies, such as Gandhi, The Amistad, and All The President's Men (Scott). This concept applies to the significant financial events that have shaped United States history as well, such as the 2008 Financial Crisis. The two movies analyzed in this article are The Margin Call and The Big Short. Both of these movies present different perspectives of the crisis and portray accurate information, providing viewers an opportunity to learn while simultaneously remaining engaged and entertained. The way the media has portrayed the corporate world in these movies sets the tone for how Wall Street is viewed by many young individuals and fosters its values insatiable in upcoming employees.
The Margin Call follows an investment bank, specifically the Lehman Brothers, over a 24-hour period during the early stages of the crisis. The movie was released in 2011 and was written and directed by J.C. Chandor. Since all the events of the movie take place within a 24-hour period, it also portrays the fast-paced and high-pressure environment that is present 24/7 on Wall Street. Through the movie, viewers learn about how the crisis was detected, its effects, and what companies did in order to protect themselves and reduce their losses. It shows how the company liquidated their assets in order to reduce losses from the fall of the housing market as they recognized the upcoming crisis, which further initiated the decline of the many other companies and the overall economy as well. The movie follows two analysts at Lehman Brothers as they navigate the work of their recently laid-off managing director and decipher his research and predictions for the future of the company. The movie portrays emotions of “ dread, disgust, pity and confusion” to its viewers as the employees try to navigate the crisis. Penn Badley and Zachahry Quinton play the two main analysts, Seth Bregman and Peter Sullivan, respectively. The film portrays these two characters as young, hard-working, and driven individuals motivated to attain the alluring lifestyle of wealthy Wall Street bankers. For example, Seth is seen constantly asking the pay of his VPs, MDs and CEO. This repetitive action highlights the money-minded viewpoint and culture of greed that exists on Wall Street. These values are also evident in real life as an article by PBS talks about how Wall Street breeds this culture of greed displayed in The Margin Call as it focuses mainly on “what’s good for itself”. The movie exhibited the depth of this mindset as the employees at Lehman Brothers were solely focused on saving the company and their own jobs, and further not protecting the individuals who would suffer as a result of the firm's mismanagement. Even their Managing Director, who was previously laid off by the company, was even bribed to come back by being paid a large compensation. He was given this compensation in order to conceal the information that he found till the company took care of its own assets. Having won awards for Best Screenplay and Best Writing, this movie had a significant impact on the portrayal of Wall Street and how it is viewed in modern day media.
Another movie that has had a significant impact on our understanding of Wall Street is The Big Short. The movie follows the actions of a hedge fund manager who recognizes the upcoming downfall of the housing market. As the housing market is widely considered to be stable, no one believes his argument, which causes him to bet against the housing market in 2008. This practice is called shorting a stock, which allows the individual to profit off the decline of a particular stock by betting against its success. Throughout the movie, Mark Baum, the fund manager at Morgan Stanley played by Steve Carell, expresses his indignation against the culture on Wall Street. He finds himself struggling against the mentality of doing “what’s good for itself”. The movie also demonstrates how firms placed the importance of saving themselves first and completely disregarded any responsibility for their actions. When a former Wall Street employee realizes that his predictions for the housing market are correct, he explains, “if we're right, people lose homes. People lose jobs. People lose retirement savings, people lose pensions. You know what I hate about ...banking? It reduces people to numbers — every 1% unemployment goes up, 40,000 people die, did you know that?” This quote clearly outlines the massive detrimental effects of the crisis, while emphasizing that firms still wanted to sell their CDOs to evade these impacts themselves. A CDO is a collateralized debt obligation whose value is determined by another underlying asset, such as mortgages, lines of credit and loans, before declaring their real value. All of the assets present in a CDO are essential to the housing market as well. This culture of greed is present on Wall Street and expressed in the film has been frequently spoken about by many retired bankers. In an article by The New York Times, many industry insiders have claimed to have witnessed wrongdoings on the job and “24 percent said they would engage in ‘insider trading if they could get away with it” (Sorkin). This quote demonstrates the culture of engaging in and encouraging unethical behavior as long as it pays.
This culture of greed and money is fostered through the careers of some of the richest people in the country. This culture is encouraged by the opulent lifestyle expressed through the salaries of different bankers, which further condones this behaviour and influences the mind-sets of young students exploring their careers in business. The luxurious lifestyle portrayed by these bankers in these movies inspires them to pursue these careers and adopt this mentality as well to attain those ends, regardless of the moral cost. Although this culture has been present in the banking industry for an elongated period of time, the next generation that will take on these jobs can make a change and promote a better work culture in this industry. It is not a change that can take place in a short period of time. The next generation will need to implement the values of selflessness and working towards a common goal to strengthen the economy. It will be a cycle in order to change for the better. This shift of mindset will allow the industry to better prepare civilians in the case of another financial crisis and will be able to save many families from the aftermath of a crashing economy. The change of this culture can hopefully then be portrayed through media as well and instill better values in the mind of young students entering this industry.
Works Cited:
“50 Inspiring Films You Should Show Your Students.” OnlineCollege.org, 11 Feb. 2010, www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/10/50-inspiring-films-you-should-show-your-students/.
“Margin Call.” IMDb, IMDb.com, 29 Sept. 2011, www.imdb.com/title/tt1615147/.
Scott Alan Metzger Associate Professor of Education. “Are Movies a Good Way to Learn History?” The Conversation, 17 Sept. 2018, theconversation.com/are-movies-a-good-way-to-learn-history-75976.
Sorkin, Andrew Ross. “On Wall Street, a Culture of Greed Won't Let Go.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 July 2013, dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/07/15/on-wall-st-a-culture-of-greed-wont-let-go/.
Watanabe-Crockett, Lee. “Movies in the Classroom: Teaching History With Film.” Wabisabi Learning, Wabisabi Learning, 29 Jan. 2020, wabisabilearning.com/blogs/stem/teaching-history-with-film.
