wall street movie analysis essay

Wall Street (1987): Ethics Analysis Essay

Introduction, scene analysis, works cited.

Wall Street film is a well-crafted story giving insights to the kind of morality found in the Wall Street. Oliver Stone sheds light on greed and corruption that dominated the Wall Street. Coincidentally, this masterpiece hit the markets exactly 60 days after the famous stock market crash of 1987.

The movie revolves around Bud, a young and ambitious stockbroker who is out to make it big in life. The other character of interest here is Gekko, a corporate raider who knows when to make a move and when to stay put. Gekko happens to be Bud’s hero probably due to his successful history in the stock market.

This paper focuses on the moral side of the story not the financial dealings that surround the Wall Street. It focuses on the scene where Bud meets Gekko for business dealings until Bud reevaluates his decision to continue with the dealings that Gekko gets him in.

We meet Bud as the movie opens trying to squeeze his way past a crowded work place in Jackson & Steinham securities firm. Immediately we realize that of late, he has been tirelessly trying to meet Gekko; a smart broker who knows what happens where in the stock markets.

It is important to note that Gekko will pursue his selfish ambitions regardless of what happens to other people even if they are his friends. Bud calls Gekko’s office relentlessly for thirty-nine days until he finally secures an appointment. To set things in motion, Bud looks for a gorgeous birthday gift, which he delivers personally to Gekko.

Unfortunately, Bud makes the first mistake; he gives some inside information about Bluestar Airlines Company, run by his Carl, his father. This information makes Gekko have some interest in Bud and given the hero that Bud sees in Gekko, a long term strong alliance between the two is inevitable.

As anticipated, Gekko takes Bud in and offers him a big opportunity to make good money; however, Bud has to play the game according to rules. Nevertheless, due to his hunger to make it big in life, Bud does not think much of what he has to lose to gain the good life he badly craves.

The alliance takes off immediately and Bud spends a lot of time with Gekko; a feat that earns Bud large perks. Bud is now entitled to expensive meals, fat cheques, and even beautiful lass by the name Darien. Bud is so carried away in this flush life that he forgets hustles and bustles of this life.

Within no time, Bud becomes a partaker of corporate avarice and corruption. Bud engages in slash-and-burn exploits courtesy of Gekko; this approach to business is more adventurous, thrilling and rewarding than the more principled prosaic business dealings championed by Lou Mannheim; a veteran trader. Life to Bud is at least now bearable for he can afford an up market apartment and take Darien to expensive outings.

Nevertheless, there is a price to pay for everything in this life and good things in life are not free. Someone has to either work very hard or deal very hard. Bud chose the latter and soon he is to pay the price. Bud had introduced Gekko to Bluestar Airlines owned by his father Carl.

However, due to his greed, Gekko suggest to Bud that they should sell Bluestar Airline assets, an incidence that will leave them immensely rich. Unfortunately, this move will leave Carl, Bud’s father and all workers in this company, who happens to be Bud’s friends, jobless. This is a decisive moment for Bud who has to choose between his father’s well being and his fortunes.

Luckily, Bud chooses to protect his father and friends working in Bluestar Airlines. He sets out to scuttle Gekko’s plans to salvage his father’s business. After approaching Darien, she refuses to betray Gekko leading Bud to dispose her marking the end of their relationship.

These events act as a revelation to Bud who painfully realizes that the price required to sustain his flush lifestyle is too expensive for him to pay. After breaking ties with Gekko and Darien, Bud strategies on how to save this company and he succeeds even though he ends up in prison.

In relation to God’s call to worship him alone, Bud made a mistake. He went against this sanctimonious call and worshiped idols; that is, money. The fact that he knew what he was doing was wrong and did not stop it before it began, is a clear indication that he was not willing to own up to this call from God. However, Bud has some morals left in him as he chooses to spare his father and friends.

However, this portrays partiality because all along, he has been hurting other people but it did not matter as long as it was not his father or friends. God calls us to act without partiality, letting his love dwell in our hearts, something that Bud went against. All this is because of money: the root of all evils.

Wall Street reflects the relationship between evil, coming from greed of money and upholding moral principles. People have the free will to choose between good and evil. Bud represents this clearly. As the movie starts, he uses his freewill to choose evil and engage in dirty business dealings. As the movie proceeds, he still uses freewill to choose good over evil as he breaks ranks with Gekko and Darien. Bud does not honor God’s call to get id of idols and worship him alone.

Stone, Oliver._The Wall Street_. IMDb, 1987.

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How much is enough? The kid keeps asking the millionaire raider and trader. How much money do you want? How much would you be satisfied with? The trader seems to be thinking hard, but the answer is, he just doesn't know. He's not even sure how to think about the question. He spends all day trying to make as much money as he possibly can, and he cheerfully bends and breaks the law to make even more millions, but somehow the concept of "enough" eludes him. Like all gamblers, he is perhaps not even really interested in money, but in the action. Money is just the way to keep score.

The millionaire is a predator, a corporate raider, a Wall Street shark. His name is Gordon Gekko, the name no doubt inspired by the lizard that feeds on insects and sheds its tail when trapped. Played by Michael Douglas in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street," he paces relentlessly behind the desk in his skyscraper office, lighting cigarettes, stabbing them out, checking stock prices on a bank of computers, barking buy and sell orders into a speaker phone. In his personal life he has everything he could possibly want - wife, family, estate, pool, limousine, priceless art objects - and they are all just additional entries on the scoreboard. He likes to win.

The kid is a broker for a second-tier Wall Street firm. He works the phones, soliciting new clients, offering second-hand advice, buying and selling and dreaming. "Just once I'd like to be on that side," he says, fiercely looking at the telephone a client has just used to stick him with a $7,000 loss. Gekko is his hero. He wants to sell him stock, get into his circle, be like he is. Every day for 39 days, he calls Gekko's office for an appointment. On the 40th day, Gekko's birthday, he appears with a box of Havana cigars from Davidoff's in London, and Gekko grants him an audience.

Maybe Gekko sees something he recognizes. The kid, named Bud Fox ( Charlie Sheen ), comes from a working-class family. His father ( Martin Sheen ) is an aircraft mechanic and union leader. Gekko went to a cheap university himself. Desperate to impress Gekko, young Fox passes along some inside information he got from his father. Gekko makes some money on the deal and opens an account with Fox. He also asks him to obtain more insider information, and to spy on a competitor. Fox protests that he is being asked to do something illegal. Perhaps "protests" is too strong a word; he "observes."

Gekko knows his man. Fox is so hungry to make a killing, he will do anything. Gekko promises him perks - big perks - and they arrive on schedule. One of them is a tall, blond interior designer ( Daryl Hannah ), who decorates Fox's expensive new high-rise apartment. The movie's stylistic approach is rigorous: We are never allowed to luxuriate in the splendor of these new surroundings. The apartment is never quite seen, never relaxed in. When the girl comes to share Fox's bed, they are seen momentarily, in silhouette. Sex and possessions are secondary to trading, to the action. Ask any gambler.

Stone's "Wall Street" is a radical critique of the capitalist trading mentality, and it obviously comes at a time when the financial community is especially vulnerable. The movie argues that most small investors are dupes, and that the big market killings are made by men such as Gekko, who swoop in and snap whole companies out from under the noses of their stockholders. What the Gekkos do is immoral and illegal, but they use a little litany to excuse themselves: "Nobody gets hurt." "Everybody's doing it." "There's something in this deal for everybody." "Who knows except us?"

The movie has a traditional plot structure: The hungry kid is impressed by the successful older man, seduced by him, betrayed by him, and then tries to turn the tables. The actual details of the plot are not so important as the changes we see in the characters. Few men in recent movies have been colder and more ruthless than Gekko, or more convincing. Fox is, by comparison, a babe in the woods. I would have preferred a young actor who seemed more rapacious, such as James Spader , who has a supporting role in the movie. If the film has a flaw, it is that Sheen never seems quite relentless enough to move in Gekko's circle.

Stone's most impressive achievement in this film is to allow all the financial wheeling and dealing to seem complicated and convincing, and yet always have it make sense. The movie can be followed by anybody, because the details of stock manipulation are all filtered through transparent layers of greed. Most of the time we know what's going on. All of the time, we know why.

Although Gekko's law-breaking would of course be opposed by most people on Wall Street, his larger value system would be applauded. The trick is to make his kind of money without breaking the law. Financiers who can do that, such as Donald Trump, are mentioned as possible presidential candidates, and in his autobiography Trump states, quite simply, that money no longer interests him very much. He is more motivated by the challenge of a deal and by the desire to win. His frankness is refreshing, but the key to reading that statement is to see that it considers only money, on the one hand, and winning, on the other. No mention is made about creating goods and services, to manufacturing things, to investing in a physical plant, to contributing to the infrastructure.

What's intriguing about "Wall Street" - what may cause the most discussion in the weeks to come - is that the movie's real target isn't Wall Street criminals who break the law. Stone's target is the value system that places profits and wealth and the Deal above any other consideration. His film is an attack on an atmosphere of financial competitiveness so ferocious that ethics are simply irrelevant, and the laws are sort of like the referee in pro wrestling - part of the show.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Film credits.

Wall Street (1987)

126 minutes

Michael Douglas as Gordon Gekko

Hal Holbrook as Lou Mannheim

James Spader as Roger Barnes

Charlie Sheen as Bud Fox

Martin Sheen as Carl Fox

Sean Young as Kate Gekko

Sylvia Miles as Realtor

Daryl Hannah as Darien Taylor

Terence Stamp as Sir Larry Wildman

Saul Rubinek as Harold Salt

• Claire Simpson

Screenplay by

• Stanley Weiser

Produced by

• Edward R. Pressman

Directed by

• Oliver Stone

Photographed by

• Robert Richardson
• Stewart Copeland

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Wall Street

Review by brian eggert september 20, 2010.

After releasing Platoon in 1986, Oliver Stone received rampant praise. It was his third attempt at directing and his second critical breakthrough after Salvador , released the same year. It earned eight Oscar nominations and won four, including awards for Best Picture and Best Director. Stone’s name was all over Hollywood; he received offers to direct from every major studio. And though he could have made bigger pictures, he chose to pursue a passion project about the world of Wall Street power brokers as a dedication to his father, an honest stockbroker years before. Stone and co-writer Stanley Weiser blasted through their eternally quotable script, originally titled Greed . And with the release of Wall Street , Stone continued with his impressive and unthinkable streak of one film per year that lasted him well into the 1990s.

When researching his subject, Stone visited stock floors and dwelled on the details of how brokers speak and the technology used. He met with actual Wall Street power brokers whose lives he discovered were filled with the excesses—the sex and parties and drugs—that would eventually be depicted in the film. Consultants such as former deputy mayor Ken Lipper and David Brown, a broker convicted of insider trading, lent the details. Still, Stone quickly realized that he was more interested in the father-son relationship at the core of his narrative. His relationship with his own father had been filled with admiration and regret; through several films, his relationship with his father served as inspiration. Thus, Wall Street became a personal project about a father-son relationship, about a boy resenting his father and searching for another father figure, only to be betrayed, bringing him closer to his birth father.

Charlie Sheen plays Bud Fox, a naïve but enthusiastic young broker who, through persistence, finagles his way into the office of Gordon Gekko, the power broker famed for moves like selling NASA stock short mere moments after the Challenger crash. Fox tries to sell Gekko on his “dog” stocks, but he sees right through them, so Fox sells Gekko on an insider tip that the airline where his father (Martin Sheen) is a mechanic will be expanding, given a recent not-yet-announced settlement payout. Information is the game, and Fox quickly becomes an info lackey for Gekko, who plays Fox with a Machiavellian spin. Meanwhile, Fox’s bank account grows. He begins dating shallow socialite interior designer Darien (Daryl Hannah). Finally, he lays down plans to help his father’s airline in a new buyout championed by Gekko. Of course, Gekko betrays Fox and plans to liquidate the airline. When Fox discovers this, he plots to manipulate the airline’s stock and drop the price to force Gekko to sell; he then convinces another moralist power broker (Terrence Stamp) to buy the airline, thus saving his father’s job.

The film was budgeted for around $17.6 million, and Twentieth Century Fox picked up the bill. Costs were alleviated by tie-in and product placement deals from contributors desperate to be associated with the high-class New York City lifestyle planned for the film. Fortune magazine won a bid to place Gordon Gekko on a faux cover that could appear in the film; Carillon liquor supplied the booze; Peugeot provided the luxurious cars; Evian water quenched the thirst of the Wall Street elite; Advil cured their headaches; Motorola supplied the now absurdly large cell phones. The film was released in the wake of the 1987 market crash, so the subject was on the collective minds of Americans, earning the picture $44 million in U.S. box-office receipts. Douglas would win the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance, the film’s only nomination.

As critics pointed out upon its release, there’s a slight melodramatic air that does the film a disservice next to dialogue otherwise dominated by business lingo. Stone and Weiser’s script expertly reduces complicated financial concepts to their most basic, salient form for general audience consumption. Anyone can watch the film, and though they may not follow the technical jargon, they follow the emotional core of the narrative enough to know what’s happening. Yet, at times the film sounds like an after-school special on the dangers of insider trading, with the newly corrupt Fox convincing his attorney friend (James Spader) by arguing, “Everybody’s doin’ it.” Later, in his fallout with Darien, Fox admits, “I’m lookin’ [in the mirror], and I don’t like what I see,” while she laments, “We would’ve made a good team.” This corny, pointedly ‘80s dialogue makes a serious viewing of the film suffer today, but it’s counter-acted by the bravado speeches by Douglas’ insidious Gekko.

Stone chose Michael Douglas for Gordon Gekko after Warren Beatty and Richard Gere passed. Douglas sought acting credibility after fluff roles like those in Romancing the Stone and wanted to further avoid falling into another producer-actor position. When Douglas took the part, he was attracted to the pages upon pages of monologues that would later become among the most quotable in all of cinema. He assumed the dialogue would be edited down upon filming, but Stone left the speeches intact, shockingly so. Metaphor-laden dialogue filled with violent imagery (“When I get a hold of the son of a bitch who leaked this, I’m gonna tear his eyeballs out and I’m gonna suck his fucking skull.”) transformed the financial shark character into a villainous monster. Dressed to kill in clothing based on that of real power brokers, Gekko’s pivotal scene comes when he tells his fellow Teldar Paper shareholders that he plans to restructure and ultimately “liberate” (e.g., liquidate) their company, that “Greed is good. Greed works.” Somehow, this devilish, charismatic character makes it sound like a positive thing. In his supporting role, Douglas steals the picture and remains the principal discussion point whenever the film is recalled. With the help of an Oscar, it was the performance that made Douglas into a serious actor; that year, he also released Fatal Attraction , the top-grossing film of 1987.

The other actors feel dreary in comparison to the high-energy, rapid-fire dialogue of Gordon Gekko. Charlie Sheen was hired for the acclaim he received on Platoon , though he simply wasn’t talented enough to make many of his scenes believable. But he’s watchable in the role. That’s more than can be said for Daryl Hannah, playing the epitome of ‘80s excess with profound flatness. According to set reports, Sean Young, who plays Gekko’s wife, wanted to switch roles with Hannah and became “irritating” about it, but the filmmakers wouldn’t budge. (Though, it would’ve been the right choice.) Hannah clearly doesn’t understand her role, and that kills the entire Fox-Darien subplot. But after his Best Director win at the previous year’s Oscars, perhaps Stone was too proud to admit that he had made a casting mistake.

Aside from Douglas, Stone’s most inspired casting choice was Hal Holbrook, playing the character based on Louis Stone, the director’s stockbroker father, to whom the film was dedicated. Holbrook appears onscreen with such an assured sense of morality that lines like “The main thing about money, Bud, it makes you do things you don’t want to do” feel philosophical. Whereas when Holbrook says, “Stick to the fundamentals,” the audience believes him, even if Fox doesn’t. Also giving Charlie Sheen advice was his real-life father, Martin Sheen. The scenes between the father and son Sheens contain a deep emotional truth shared by the actors. The elder Sheen’s few scenes in the film are among the very best, leading to his most crucial advice: “Create instead of living off the buying and selling of others.” This theme echoes throughout the film, condemning those like Gekko and praising those blue-collar workmen busting their hump to earn a buck. Stone has always believed in the American ideal that with hard work comes success.

Stone’s formal style of direction varies from film to film, while his themes carry over and define his work as well as his auteurist signatures. He engages powerful, complicated issues and places them into high-energy but preachy films. His sermonizing must be forgiven, however, as his films also prove incredibly entertaining and often insightful. This is the best feature of Stone’s work. For Wall Street , the director employed flat lenses, close-ups, and handheld cameras for a nonstop sense of movement, all coupled with bravado multi-frame editing sequences that impel the film’s momentum. Beyond the visual, Stone assigns electronic music largely featuring David Byrne and Brian Eno from My Life in the Bush of Ghosts and the ironic choice of the Talkingheads’ song “This Must Be the Place (Naïve Melody)” for a soundtrack with an enduring musical dynamism of electronic sounds and engrained beats.

Wall Street retains an important place in film history mainly for the iconic role of Gordon Gekko and the performance by Douglas. Gekko’s mantra “Greed is Good” has become a wretched but standard staple in the business world, endlessly quoted and reflected as a signifier of 1980s business folly. (That is, until it became readily practiced and shamelessly observed in modern business.) Unfortunately, the other major actors, aside from Douglas, and occasional missteps in an overly melodramatic script, bring the film’s lasting effect down, whereas Charlie and Martin Sheen’s pairing feels inspired today. Stone’s time capsule film represents a specific period in history with incredible tangibility, communicating a complex setting with the clarity of straightforward and emotionally lucid dramatic turns. It’s an imperfect film that nonetheless has stirred audiences since its release, inspiring the occasional offshoot (see 2000’s Boiler Room ) and even a sequel, and will no doubt continue to be a benchmark of fiscally minded films for years to come.

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The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 Film)

By martin scorsese, the wolf of wall street (2013 film) analysis.

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This film begins with Jordan Belfort out to be part of the world of Wall Street . He gets a job at a top firm and soon learns that even the most successful of brokers aren't seeking to walk any line of morality that just might serve the billions of dollars they are betting with. But Belfort, a man who wants to be successful, is willing to play along. He joins the Wall Street "fraternity" and becomes "one of the boys." He does drugs, buys women and takes what he wants, including his next wife, Naomi , who's with another man when Jordan meets her.

This culture, revealed throughout the film is a scary one as it is so attractive that many who watch want to be a part of it. Money, women, and seemingly an endless ability to do whatever they want because they can pay for it. It's a dangerous combination that drives the ego on pride in a way that morality is lost. And any hope for redemption comes through a mountain of shame that is easier to dismiss than it is to deal with.

And this covering up continues through the relationship with the Swiss banker who gives up Belfort for a lighter sentence. And with the dominoes toppling down, Belfort gives up his friends to the FBI for a lighter sentence. And what we see is the lack of loyalty among thieves, and the aggression of their taking whatever they want becomes a feeble disloyalty to save whatever of their life remains. Interestingly enough, when we contrast Jordan's giving everyone up to Brad 's keeping his mouth shut we find that though Brad is a violent, hot-headed man he has a code or a line rather that he won't cross by giving up anyone else. He shoulders responsibility in a way no one else does in this film.

This doesn't make him a saint, but simply provides the necessary characterization of loyalty that everyone else breaks. But, without a true willingness to remain centered from morality, anyone is a potential victim to the alluring nature of riches as it gives access to places and experiences most will never have. But it also opens the floodgates to predatory behavior that is only after experiencing pleasure at the expense of the safety of anyone in the situations with them.

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Study Guide for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 Film)

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 Film) study guide contains a biography of director Martin Scorsese, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis.

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Essays for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 Film)

The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 Film) essays are academic essays for citation. These papers were written primarily by students and provide critical analysis of The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 Film), directed by Martin Scorsese.

• The Wolf of Wall Street and Comparable Modern Films: Exploring the Capitalist Excess in Film/Greed, Excess and Capitalism

Wikipedia Entries for The Wolf of Wall Street (2013 Film)

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Home — Essay Samples — Life — Greed — The Wolf of Wall Street: Ethics, Greed and Corruption

The Wolf of Wall Street: Ethics, Greed and Corruption

• Categories: Ethical Dilemma Greed Movie Review

About this sample

Words: 1325 |

Published: Aug 4, 2023

Words: 1325 | Pages: 3 | 7 min read

Table of contents

Introduction, ethical problem in the wolf of wall street, kantianism and business ethics, corruption of morality in the wolf of wall street, works cited.

• Morrone, M. (Slide show, 2016). Lecture slides on historical references and greed.
• Yourdictionary. (2015). Ethical Problem. Retrieved from https://www.yourdictionary.com/ethical-problem

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Essay on the Wolf of the Wall Street

The Wolf of the Wall Street is a white collar-based crime movie in which the main protagonists are involved in schemes to fraud people mainly as a stockbroker. Therefore, this paper seeks to find out the content of the film and the intention behind setting such literary work. Further, analysis of theories that are related to the movie. In particular, control theory best suits this kind of film because it delves on the urge to get what one needs without necessarily explaining the concrete reasoning behind the need. Pointedly, in the selected movie, the protagonists are just fond of finding a way out through criminal activities for the sake of they want a large amount of money to satisfy their lavish lifestyle. In brief, control theory does not ask the reason as to why people engage in crime. Instead, it begins by answering that a person may commit crime because they have needs to accomplish, which can only be achieved through crime. The Wolf of the Wall Street elicits a scenario in which the chief protagonists are engaged in white-collar crimes of corruption and frauds to fulfill their desires of a lavish lifestyle.

Set in the year 2013, The Wolf of the Wall Street features main protagonists going by the stage names Donnie Azoff, Jordan Belfort, and Mark Hanna. Belfort as the main character, teamed up with his two other friends to set up a brokerage firm named Stratford-Oakmont. Notably, the company grows enormously from a set of twenty employees to over250 workers. While doing business, they indulge in all forms of corruptions and fraud activities to steal people’s money in the name of stockbroking. He, Belfort, attains the lifestyle he so desired much throughout his childhood such as living lavishly. At the same time, staffs are exposed to parties and all other forms of an extravaganza. As a result, their reputations grow enormously, which then draws attention to the FBI agents, who then begin analyzing what is going in the company. Ultimately, Belfort got caught and sentenced to prison for fraud charges and corruption.

The Film and Crime Causation

Notably, the likes of Belfort were enticed by the need to attain the lifestyle of having too much money. In this case, their main desire was to have money and nothing else. Now, the question remains, how they could get what they wanted. Most people are driven by social pressure to get what they do not have (Rios, 2011). The Wolf of the Wall Street signifies the urge of selfishness, especially as far as having money through illegal means is concerned. Belfort then teams up with two his other friends, people he knew would make his ideas materialize. In the entire movie, right from the start, the protagonists wanted to have control of their lives and acquire the most expensive things in life. As a result, they indulge in business scheme of lies to lure of customers of their hard earned money.

Furthermore, the employees are then convinced to buy the ideologies of their CEO, and they soon conform to the scheme of lies. Notably, those who could not obtain the doctrine get fired while those who adapted to the system are encouraged to work towards attaining the objectives. After in-depth analysis, control theory is the crime related approach that best suits the film. The likes of Belfort were motivated by the need for money, which they could use to sponsor their lavish lifestyle. It could be noted by the manner in which he bought a lovely home, beautiful wife, and fantastic car, and all sorts of parties where they spend millions of cash. Significantly, no particular explanation can be used to elucidate on the reason as to why the likes of Belfort got engaged in crime. The protagonists just decided to go for what they wanted through following illegal means.

Lies, corruption, and frauds are the order of the scheme for Belfort and his followers just for the need to satisfy his want. There is no concrete reasoning behind his indulgence into criminal activities. Giving credits to control theorists, they first query why people conform to criminal acts, and their answer is; they have specific needs they would want to attain (Hagan, 2010). Likewise, in the selected film, the protagonists desire things they know they cannot get under normal circumstances, thus the urge to go extra miles and get involved in illegal activities, which then land them in prison. In the perspective of these theorists, crime does not need any particular explanation. Instead, it just occurs because it is the most expedient technique of someone getting whatever he or she desires.

Critique of Control Theory

Control theory is a total opposite of strain and social approach, all of which tends to query the reason as to why someone may engage in criminal activity. Instead, it asks why people conform to it. Strain and social theory delve on the factors that may entice people to commit crimes. In this sense, control theories often take an offense for granted, to mean, it is just something that anyone can do to meet their desires. Notably, control theorists hold that everyone in the world has a need, which can be satisfied easily through committing a crime. For example, it is much easier to steal money from people than working for it genuinely. As is the case of The Wolf of the Wall Street, the protagonists do not want to work sincerely to earn, but they see it fit and convenient to fraud people through brokerage schemes.

On the whole, the control theorists do not envisage any particular explanation for committing crimes. In a more realistic viewpoint, it queries why people do not engage in misconduct (Hickey, 2017). People do not necessarily need a constraint or control factors to commit crimes as they may be considered as barriers. While social theory delves into those things that encourage a person to commit a crime, control theory explores things that may stop a person from doing a crime.

Furthermore, people may face a differing level of restraints, which may bar a person from committing a crime. In this sense, some individuals are freer than others, thus, may commit crime more efficiently (Reid, 2009). Concerning the selected film, the likes of Belfort did not have a personal restraint, and they never thought of FBI until they were caught and imprisoned. Instead, the focus was to satisfy the desire for money and lavish lifestyle rather than thinking of constraints.

Crime is a heinous act as it derails the rules and regulations in place to guide people on social values. The Wolf of the Wall Street is a film of a white collar criminal activity in which the protagonists involved fraud people through a brokerage firm. Belfort, the chief schemer in the entire movie, had an idea of satisfying his lavish lifestyle without, thus a logical explanation with the use of control theory, which delves crime activities without any clear reasoning. Belfort and his accomplish group are involved in scheme just for fun without apparent reason, which eventually lands them in jail to face corruption and fraud charges. Unlike causation theories, control theory delves on people desires that require satisfaction, and that can only be accomplished through illegal means.

Hagan, F. E. (2010).  Introduction to criminology: Theories, methods, and criminal behavior . Sage.

Hickey, T. J. (2017).  Taking sides .

Reid, S. T. (2009).  Crime and criminology . New York: Oxford University Press.

Rios, V. M. (2011).  Punished: Policing the lives of Black and Latino boys . NYU Press.

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