The Wolf of Wall Street: The Stock Market, the Deviance and Gambling.

Suchère, Thierry

In the 19th century, the first capital markets opened up. At that time, there was a literary genre with the Stock Exchange as its subject. Writers described the Stock Exchange as a place where people gambled as in the casino, a place that did not create wealth, a place where crooks got rich on the backs of naïve small savers. Following the serious crisis of 1929, the Stock Exchange loses its importance in the economy. From the 1980s, finance tries to reaffirm its hold on the future of our world. Stock Exchange films were appearing the heirs to the Stock Exchange novel. The films bring out the moral issues surrounding the world of finance. This article will analyze Martin Scorsese's film The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) built on the autobiography of a real character who was a major stock market player. During the 1980s, the stock market was a playground for individuals with working-class backgrounds who enriched themselves using methods of thugs imported from the school of hard knocks. Many have ended up in prison because of their inability to leave the world of finance in time and because they became gambling addicts in the meantime.

CASINOS; COMPULSIVE gamblers; LITERARY form; CAPITAL market; NINETEENTH century

International Critical Thought, 2024, Vol 14, Issue 4, p616

2159-8282

Academic Journal

10.1080/21598282.2024.2431796