Was The Big Short a Big Success? — Blogs 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13
Discussing this topic is in relation to a broad conveyance of its message, not in terms of box office and sales statistics. This piece will be deconstructing the moral implications of the GFC, and how The Big Short demonstrates the severe economic impacts the actions of powerful banking executives had on the world economy, as well as the livelihood of billions of people around the world.
First point of discussion will be centred around the portrayal of the wealth distinction between banking executives and the common folk of America. It is the small number of elite rich that dictate the economic conditions that ultimately lead to the turmoil of the Global Financial Crisis, yet the middle and lower class had suffered the greatest of consequences, where the rich had ‘got off scot-free’, as Gosling’s character Jared Vennett had coined perfectly. McKay details this reality through the trademark satire that this film entirely embodies, with Vennett (Gosling) introducing the final act of the movie with a sardonic tone that described the supposed ceasing of corporate maliciousness in banking through the arrest of banking executives and decision-makers associated with the great moral impacts on the entire world. This final act includes breath taking shots of growing nature, indicating society’s growth and natural progress towards creating a moral and just society, however this quickly contrasts with the truthful grim reality that really occurred after the crash of Wall Street in 2007.
McKay’s satirical criticism of the American glorification of attaining wealth essentially predisposes society’s downfall by greed. The inclusion of Brad Pitt’s persona of Ben Rickert embodies this notion to the exact. Demonstrated through the humorous, cynical lens of an ex-trader, Rickert symbolises the moral compass of aware Americans that understand the cruel and manipulative nature of banking. While this cynicism is delved greatly to an exaggerated extent, with Rickert’s paranoia in ‘phone taps’ and supermarket farmed produce, it is the characterisation of this disapproval of institutionalised corporate greed that sets upon the foundations of society’s collapse. Society’s collapse in this context being, the household pursuit of becoming rich, or known as the popular notion, The American Dream. The young investors Shipley and Geller (played expertly by Finn Wittrock and John Magaro) are positioned to be a soon-to-be lavish and grandeur esteemed individuals in society, as most people wish to reach, until Rickert informs the reality of their ‘bets’ against the housing market. This ‘bet’ renders millions of innocent Americans to be out of homes and employment, thereby being the true demographic that experienced the harsh consequences of the GFC rather than the corporates that had created the manipulative system that was to create great issues that the poor would have to endure.
However, it is Mark Baum that truly embodies the ethics and moral questioning of banking institutions that McKay shows to be the absent conscience of society. While The Big Short centres around the sudden growth of wealth through characters such as Bale’s Michael Burry (don’t forget the M.D) and the young investors, it is Baum that raises awareness as to the moral implications of his actions and those of the banking sector that cruxes the film’s underlying message of institutionalised corporate greed built on the trust of the general public. Baum acts almost as a nihilistic figure that draws between an ego-centric and understanding character, which forms to be the blend of Carell’s conveyance of a banker with conscience.
Thus, The Big Short concludes to be the despair and tragedy of mankind that continues to live on well after the GFC of 2007 and 2008. The film warns of the manipulation of greedy corporates that had created the GFC, and also dives into the misconception of attaining wealth and pursuing the world of banking.
