Rags to riches, riches to rags or riches to riches. Stories about big money are always popular. The American Dream, that anyone can become a success, has been played out over and over in the cinema. Whilst we’re in the wake of a hard-hitting recession there’s never been a more appropriate time to release a film about big business.
Two of the biggest releases in cinemas at the moment are Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps and The Social Network. Both have been doing pretty well at the box office (with the latter ahead of the former), but in a time when the whole country seems to have one big money problem why would we want to see a film about people making planet sized amounts of cash? Perhaps it’s escapism, living the dream through the characters on screen but I think it’s even more complex than that.
In The Social Network, the story of the creation of facebook, Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) doesn’t exactly have an easy ride, nor is he shown to be particularly likeable. The vast amounts of money that fly into his life story seem to create some very exciting scenarios, but ultimately he loses all his friends. This is a key ingredient for the appeal of a big business film. A viewer wants to play with the idea that he or she might be able to become a millionaire overnight, but they also want to leave the cinema thinking that it’s probably not worth the trouble.
Big business films were at the height of their popularity during the 1980’s. Back then, their popularity seemed to stem from the rise of yuppie culture. This, of course, was when the original Wall Street was released. Its long delayed sequel now seems to come at a time when we want to watch big business films for different reasons. As well as wanting to see the outrageously over the top but flawed lives of billionaires, there is also a desire for nostalgia, hence the timely release of a sequel to a film released over twenty years ago.
As long as there’s money, big business films will always crop up, which is fine by me. It will be interesting to see how the approach changes. With The Social Network we have already seen a move away from having a slick, stylish main character. In a business landscape dominated by internet geeks, what else could we have expected?
the 180 degree rule 