Fifty Shades of Greed - Wolves on Wall Street (are there any other kind?)

Watching the movie last night was an experience filled with premonitions of dark ages ahead. The house packed entertainer was a compelling narrative, well made, masterfully acted, genius genre tale of everything that is wrong with the world and society today. If the book “Fifty Shades of Grey” explores the grey areas of a sexually liberated millennium generation, then this movie, in parallel, explores the black domains of “Fifty Shades of Greed” of the corporate financial world where money reigns.

The greed of money is supreme. Rich or poor, all are afflicted by this greed. Nobody is spared. Even though we have all we need and much more than that, its still that “white tiger you get on, and then can’t get off”. Associated debauchery ensures that the poorer your character, the richer your lifestyle, so on the average you didn’t do so badly in life! So, get on the bandwagon and get rich quick or get lost in the “subway on your way home to a miserable wife”.  

The greed of the body: Torturing ‘cerebral palsy’ stages of narcotically influence mind states comes after the ‘tingling stage’, and the ‘visually impaired’ stage. But a “high” is the lowly objective achieved after mis-consuming drugs subsequent to induced vomiting and self-administered enema. You have truly arrived on Wall Street in the company of well shaven and badly behaved girls and reached the pinnacle of the profession and the nadir of all wasted human bodies littered around. There are truly no friends on “Wall Street” but who cares?

The greed of greed is the monster that feeds upon itself. Its good to want more and be more. Its good to grab as much as you can from the universe that is so abundant. A sucker and his money are soon parted, and there are suckers all around, equally greedy to make the numbers add up to more than they were originally, and the holy grail of surfing the waves of the stock market in a cocainic ‘fugazy wahzee woozy woooo’ fairy dust.

That greed is a disease is unclear and intentionally so. Criminals are glorified and law keepers are the villains in the new millennium. As disease dynamics reach epidemic proportions you need to ask yourself if you are susceptible, exposed, infectious or recovered from a past episode.

But we are all doomed to our loss of innocence and judgment day is near, and the long arm of the law eventually corners even the most wily wolf. But there is room for negotiating, so the pain is less. Everything is a trade-off in the final analysis and even justice can be bought with a quid-pro-quo. In the end, everybody wins and the real hero transforms from a wolf into a motivational speaker to teach wannabe wolves how to sell anything to anybody. You really want your kids to learn from him?

The color of greed is not grey? It comes in a broad spectrum of dazzling hues that will keep you guessing in the quest for good and right.

Aneeta Madhok, PhD.