The Wolf of Wall Street - Essay Example

Sur The Wolf of Wall Street The film is a black comedy that was directed by Marti Scorsese in and tracks the life of Jordan Belfort a Wall Street stockbroker and how he develops his own company and later falls due to his own petulance and lack of proper moral standards when running the company. The film exemplifies different levels of power and the different attributes of conflict that exist in the stockbrokers world and opens up the Wall Street and the different lifestyles by the stockbrokers in New York. The film is a comedy and therefore the role of the main character Jordan Belfort played by Leonardo DiCaprio exemplifies this attribute as he takes nothing too seriously in his life and has no regard for authority around him. He shows the audience the different sides of a stockbroker and the process of acquiring power in Wall Street having been in Wall Street from an early age to become one of the players in Wall Street and make money through his own company. Jordan is supported by his business partner ad friend Donnie Azoff played by Jonah Hill and their interaction and friendship surmounts a good interaction and comic prowess from the two actors. This paper looks at some of the conceptual aspects that come out from the different interactions and also the use of power in the film to highlight different aspects of production exemplified in the Wolf of Wall Street. The Wolf of Wall Street is a movie about Jordan Belfort who is a stockbroker in Wall Street but later acquires his own company Stratton Oakmont with the help of his friend and business partner Donnie Azoff. He runs the business through scams and fraudulent behaviors that are later discovered by the authorities and are constantly targeted(Scorsese et al n.d). He manages to construe get his money out of the United States and into offshore accounts in Switzerland where there are no extradition treaties using the name of his wife’s aunt. The plan however, backfires on him and he is arrested and used by the authorities to spy for them against other rogue stockbrokers in Wall Street. The different methods and manipulation techniques as he looks to money, power and live the lavish lifestyles are his downfall as he soon after loses all and ends up in prison. He loses his wife and also in a twist of fate loses his children to her wife as well. The pursuit of power and money is evident from the different developments in the film as the authorities hack his powers and he ends up reliant on their power so that they can show him mercy(Scorsese et al n.d). One of the main aspects that come out of the film is the pursuit of power in Wall Street as each member of the different firms look to outshine each other and develop different strategies to generate money for their companies. In this respect therefore we see the relationship between Jordan and Donnie being based on power as Donnie looks to gain from the company that is controlled by Jordan. In case Jordan is caught up in a mess as it happens later in the film the firm collapses and the different people that were colluding with Jordan are also caught up in the same net. The relationship between the Jordan and his workers are also similar(Scorsese et al n.d). The employees in the company are confined to the wishes and command of Jordan and from every form of business that Jordan asks the employees to perform they oblige since they are reliant on the company and the head happens to be their boss, Jordan. Power is a construct that is gained through the control of the different dynamics and important assets that a company may hold given that the person in power holds all the shares in the company. Power translates to control and is also important in generating the different important aspects of a company and dynamics that constitute the working of the company. Dependency is also depicted in the film through the relationship that exists between Jordan and his employees at the company. On one hand there is Jordan a stockbroker that has the assets and capability to open his own firm and run it to make more money(Scorsese et al n.d). On the other hand, there are the employees that are looking for a self-sustaining job that can help them succeed and may be some day open their own firms. There is a dependent relation between the two since the employees need a job and Belfort needs workers that are essential in the generation of income for the company. The two therefore depend on each other for services and also for capital. Belfort and Donnie are partners but they are dependent on each other since they have different roles in the company. While Donnie is responsible for executing the different roles of the company and the ideas that are generated Belfort is mainly concerned about the ideas that the company can use to transform and change itself to become a major brand in Wall Street. The two are looking to develop each other through supporting the roles played by each in their relationship and coming up with the best ideas to elevate the company further. There is the aspect of reward power that exists especially between the workers and Belfort. The two need each other since, with a good working philosophy the workers generate income for the company that Belfort benefits from. In addition, the workers need to see their efforts that have contributed to the company’s success repaid through the benefits and salaries that the company gives to the employees(Scorsese et al n.d). The same relationship exists when Belfort is arrested and asked to cooperate with the authorities since when he gives up his accomplices and other fraudulent people in Wall Street he stands to gain from getting a reduced sentence. Coercive power exists between Belfort and the authorities who threaten a long sentence to Belfort in case he does not cooperate (Scorsese et al n.d). The threat is the coercive element that forces Belfort to cooperate with the authorities in order to spy on his colleagues and reveal their fraudulent actions to the authorities. The coercive relationship between the two ensures that the police are able to get the information on some of the major players in Wall Street and how they perform their fraudulent schemes through the stocks. The conflict between the authorities and Belfort can be viewed to be a functional conflict since it helps and supports the authorities in getting more details on the fraudulent scams by Belfort’s company and also in getting more information and arrests of the other members of Wall Street that have a similar behavior. Work Cited Scorsese, M., T. Winter, L. DiCaprio, R. Aziz, J. McFarland, and E. T. Koskoff. New York N.p., 2014. Web. Read More