Wall Street

Wall Street Literary Elements

Director

Oliver Stone

Leading Actors/Actresses

Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen

Supporting Actors/Actresses

Martin Sheen, Daryl Hannah

Genre

Drama

Language

English

Awards

Academy Award Best Actor: Michael Douglas. Golden Globe Best Actor in a Motion Picture: Michael Douglas

Date of Release

1987

Producer

Edward R. Pressman

Setting and Context

Wall Street, New York, late 1980s

Narrator and Point of View

The movie is mostly presented from the point of view of Bud Fox, there is no narrator.

Tone and Mood

Dramatic, tense

Protagonist and Antagonist

Bud Fox is the protagonist, Gordon Gekko the antagonist

Major Conflict

The conflict throughout much of the film is Bud's internal conflict, the tension between his desire to ascend the corporate ranks by being a shark like Gekko, and his desire to remain loyal to his union advocate father. When Bud realizes that Gekko isn't looking out for his father's business, the conflict becomes more directly the conflict between Bud and Gekko.

Climax

The climax of the film is the deal that Bud strikes with the FBI that starts the ball rolling towards Gordon's demise.

Foreshadowing

When Gordon tells Bud that if he wants a friend he should get a dog, this foreshadows his lack of loyalty and the fact that however close they appear to be on the surface, Bud should not mistake a strong alliance for a friendship.

Understatement

Innovations in Filming or Lighting or Camera Techniques

Allusions

Donald Trump is referred to in the movie as one of the financiers who has made it big without breaking the law.

Paradox

Bud spends his entire adult life trying to be everything that his father is not, and his father watches in frustration as his son turns into everything he abhors, but in the end, Bud decides that his father was right all along, in spite of differentiating himself from him so thoroughly throughout.

Parallelism

Gordon and Carl are parallel paternal figures for Bud.

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