The Wolf of Wall Street: Reminding the Status Quo that they are Sheep

"There we go, that's the attitude. You can sell anything? Sell me this f*cking pen right here. You can sell anything? Sell that. Sell me the pen!"

"Can I finish eating first?"

"Brad, show 'em how it's done. Sell me that pen. Watch, go on."

"I'll sell this f*cking pen?"

"That's my boy right there. He'll f*cking sell anything."

"Could you do me a favour? Write your name down on that napkin for me."

"I don't have a pen."

"Exactly. Supply and demand."

Life is an act. To live is to be, but to live successfully is to act. If there is anything that The Wolf of Wall Street teaches its audience, it is that one cannot live life to their full potential unless one can fool others, full the status quo who think that 'honesty is the best policy'. Newsflash - honesty was a thing of the past, today, if you are not trying to incriminate yourself, you are not winning.

For the entirety of the three hours that is the film's duration, The Wolf of Wall Street convinces its viewers that any career path they have taken is the wrong one, and that becoming a stock broker will be the best decision they will ever make in their life, despite the display of consequences at the end. If its viewers' decisions are not focused on obtaining millions from the rich and not assisting the poor, then its viewers will, after the viewing, feel as though every step they have ever taken has led them to incompetency. It portrays a destructive line of cause and effect, and displays the effects as glamorous, despite how blemished some effects turn out to be.

Jordan Belfort created a legacy for himself. At twenty-two years old, his life turned around when he realised that in order to become wealthy, he must lose all ethics that he once held. His faithfulness towards his wife, his preference to be abstinent with drugs, with sex, with alcohol, it all faded away when he began to earn more money than he thought possible. Soon his sense of acquiring money turned to a sense of acquiring more money, and a personality that would otherwise not have fit in his old self had he not sold himself to thousands of willing people who ended up funding him with his life earnings. To become quite successful, he firstly stole from the poor, and worked his way up Wall Street to dig into the deep, full pockets of the wealthy, and soon had his pockets dug from.

Staggering down from the top, Belfort begins to watch his life spiral before his eyes. Unfortunately, most people, be it if they even lack the success Belfort once had, also experience glimpses of their lives spiralling downwards at some stages of their existences. All of these spirals are sad, and in unison, can create a sense of community. And that is what Belfort had created. He had recruited all those who were experiencing those negative spirals, and he had assisted them in getting themselves out of it, by placing others in there who have less of a chance of drowning. Belfort before this could not swim, but he sure found a good swimming instructor.

The most daunting scene in the movie is the very end, when Belfort became a motivational speaker. He once again tried to level himself with the status quo, and saw that the status quo had no ability to sell him his pen, the act in itself summarising the entire point being made in the movie - if you cannot sell yourself, you cannot be bought. If there is an item on a shelf for a long time, it will collect dust and be thrown out. The Wolf of Wall Street tells the story of liberating one from the supermarket shelf to rise above all other contending brands and be bought by a foolish customer who deemed them more worthy than the others.