The true meaning of success is lost in a whirlwind of definitions and people’s own agendas. Success to one person may mean failure to another. For many within the United States success is based upon how many things: the little inked numbers appear on his or her paycheck, how many houses he owns and whether or not his name is spoken upon others lips ,who are deemed as the lesser classes, with a sense of awe and wonder. If success were to be determined merely upon the material values society and the economy would crumble beneath itself as Rome so famously did. What many do not realize is that society has fallen. Society has started the downtrodden fall into the abyss and no one took heed to the warning signs, nor did they take a second glance until it was too late. Even then in a fit of turmoil the economy was ruined by those in denial and those desperate to cling to the ways of the gilded age. When a person is judged solely upon the material wealth he or she has accumulated it is evident of the complete dearth in the values of a person and in the economy and society as a whole. There is nothing more real or strong than the love of family that is irreplaceable, and nothing more fleeting and insecure than the money which all place their hopes and dreams upon. When that love is gone, when it is shunned and killed by the greed and envy that are money’s mistresses, it is exceedingly evident there is nothing left for the victim of money’s lure.
The sequel of the 1980’s “Wall Street”, “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” made in 2010, has taken the ever present love and lust for money story and has thrown it into a message that all need to hear yet no one ever listens to; money will not bring any person all the happiness in the world, it will only make them “lose their head”. The main character of the original “Wall Street”, Gordon Gekko, was released from prison only to find there was no one there to welcome him, not even his precious money bags. The main character of the sequel, Jake Moore, works on Wall Street, is determined top bring down a corrupt money maker and is engaged to Gekko’s daughter: Winnie Gekko. In Moore’s pursuit to find the person responsible for his mentors death he learns the irreplaceable value of family and how fleeting money can be and the corruption it causes.
The entire movie centers upon money as all Americans lives have become
centered upon. Within the American economy some money is just not enough; a person
must not only survive, but thrive. “Greed got greedier with a little envy.” (Wall Street Sequel) Those within the U.S. are not content with having only enough money, they must have more than everyone and anyone else and still have more on the side to show their “success”. The success of a person, and more importantly the value of a person, has become based solely upon the material wealth the person has and not upon the person’s happiness or well being. “It is greed that makes people buy and do the things they don’t need.” (WS sequel) There are more American now buying second, third and fourthhomes while “only 32% of Californians can afford to buy one home.” (Mehren,H) The reason for this collection of homes, cars, art and the like by the affluent at the top is to show the money the wealthy have; it is used as a status symbol.
When a symbol becomes the sole existence of something, it is lost to humanity. The “the notion pervading America today: don’t lose.” (Terkel, 370) To lose something many Americans started with, but chose to discard in the pursuit of ‘success’ is not irreversible, nor is losing the family inevitable. One needs not to conform to the ways of the business world and lose everything in order to increase his social standing or to buy the fifth home. The loss of family cannot be replaced by endless figures upon checks accumulated over a lifetime. It is greed, envy, and ultimately lust and insanity, which cause many to despondently fall into the money pits. It is insanity which drives many people to continue to desperately strive for money at any cost falling into the same failures and ending their lives with no one by their side, not even their banker. For insanity is “doing the same thing over and over and expecting another result.”(WS Sequel); and distressingly, the same definition people in America live by.
