Topic > The Wolf of Wall Street: Portrayal of Greed and Corruption

IndexIntroductionGreed in The Wolf of Wall StreetUnethical practices in The Wolf of Wall StreetConclusionWorks CitedIntroductionThe film The Wolf of Wall Street begins by introducing the protagonist Jordan Belfort, the founder of Stratton Oakmont. During the introduction, greed is illustrated as a dominant factor. Leonardo DiCaprio plays the role of Jordan Belfort and narrates the entire film. He starts by saying that the year he made forty-nine million dollars at the age of twenty-six and it “pissed him off” because it was three shy of a million a week. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Greed in the Wolf of Wall Street Through his narrative, the audience is shown his huge estate, model wife, and him flying in his helicopter while under the influence; points out that his Ferrari was not red but white like Don Johnson's in Miami Vice. He goes on to say that he owns six cars, three horses, two vacation homes, a private jet and a 170-foot yacht. Furthermore, he demonstrates that greed is the dominant factor by snorting cocaine with a rolled up hundred dollar bill and throwing it into a garbage can filled with other hundred dollar bills. He says he has always been a money-oriented person and that this was amplified when he started working at Rothschild. It is at Rothschild that he meets senior broker Mark Hannah and Hannah becomes Jordan's mentor as she shows him the ins and outs of Wall Street during the six months he is there. He tells Jordan that money is the end all and that he needs to make it his mission to put money in his pocket and not necessarily customers. On her first day on the job, Hannah takes Jordan to lunch and openly snorts cocaine. He says it's a major key to his success and that Jordan should start using it because it will keep him awake and aware and make him dick faster. During his six months, Jordan develops an addiction to cocaine and alcohol and it is clear that Jordan wants to reach and surpass Hannah's level of success. Unfortunately, at the end of the six months, the stock market crashed on October 19, 1987, the day historically known as Black Monday, and Jordan was left without a job. Unethical Practices in The Wolf of Wall Street The beginning of the film hints at Jordan's daily lifestyle and how much money he made at his peak. It is a little later that we see how he achieved this through his work performance. For a stock broker, you need to be able to buy shares and, more importantly, sell shares to your clients, so that in return they invest and you both earn money. Jordan was able to adopt a sales strategy known as “pump and dump” and this can be considered a scheme because it is unethical. The strategy revolves around the broker selling stocks based on exaggerated or completely false information. In this way, the brokers would sell the same shares to as many people, increasing the price so that, once the maximum limit of buyers was reached, the frim would sell their shares at a huge profit. As a result, the stock price falls below the original selling price and creates huge losses for customers because they are unable to sell their shares in time. These types of stocks can be found on pink slips and are referred to as penny stocks because they are valued at less than a dollar. The reason why Jordan was so inclined to sell these types of shares was because he received a 50% commission. Now, when Jordan worked for Rothschild, he earned a 1% commission on a stock from the blue sheets sent by the SEC. After Rothschild, Jordan began, 55(3), 367-382.