Wolf of Wall Street

Sociology of Criminology Class, Film Analysis Paper: Wolf of Wall Street

Describe what type of crime the film is about. Recognize what theory the film suggests is the reason the crime occurred;  And choose a social theory (i.e., NOT rational choice or biological theories) we’ve discussed in class to provide an alternative explanation why as to why the crime may have occurred.  BOOK TO CITE :  Crime, Justice, and Society: An Introduction to Criminology 4th edition by Ronald J. Berger (Author), Marvin D. Free, Jr. (Author), Melissa Deller (Author), Patrick K. O’Brien (Author) FILM TO CITE: Wolf of Wall Street IN THIS ASSIGNMENT – COMPLETE FIRST DRAFT & FINAL DRAFT The first draft should be in narrative (not bullet point) form, double-spaced, with adequate spelling, grammar and punctuation. Be sure to read the instructions below in detail. The first draft will be be graded according to whether you meet each requirement (see rubric at bottom of page). Required Components: The paper must have an introduction, a brief summary, analysis (film’s theory), critique (alternative theory) and conclusion. Title your paper with the title of your film: WOLF OF WALL STREET Paragraph 1 (Introduction): Summarize what you’re going to say in an introduction paragraph, including what film you chose and and a thesis statement that provides a preview for the theories you’re going to discuss (both the one presented in the film and the alternative theory you will present).  Paragraph 2 (Short summary): Briefly describe what happens in the film (~150 words) Similar to the outline, include what type of crime occurred (choose only one) and who committed the crime. Paragraph 3 (Description of film’s theory): Briefly describe how the film explains this crime (~150 words) Name one theory depicted in the film (see outline instructions for what I mean by this) Provide clear examples from the film to support your argument that the film is drawing from this theory. In other words, you must convince the reader that this is the theory the film uses to explain the depicted criminal behavior. Paragraph 4 (Critique of film’s theory): Critique the theory used in the film, describing what it does not explain well. This critique should fit with the alternative theory you will suggest below. For example: If you critique the film’s depiction of rational choice theory because it doesn’t consider the fact that the criminal in the film might be influenced by his friends, then your alternative theory should have something to do with peer influence or social learning. Paragraph 5 (Argument for alternative social theory): Building on the critique above, present an alternative theory to explaining the crime in the film. Choose only one alternative theory. This theory must be a social theory (i.e., not an individual, biological, psychological or rational choice explanation) Provide clear examples from the film to support your argument that this alternative theory better explains the crime than the one described above. I.e., explain why it’s a better explanation, what it explains that the film’s theory does not. Paragraph 6 (Conclusion): A concluding paragraph that re-states your thesis from the introduction and summarizes your arguments. Other Requirements: Approximately 1,500 words (5-6 pages in length) Double-spaced 12 pt Times New Roman font 1 inch margins At least 3 citations to any assigned readings, films, material from the course (can be same source, different information) Cite sources using author-date, APA style No title page or abstract required References page Written assignments are subject to textual similarity review (i.e., plagiarism) on Turn It In, and must be submitted on Canvas to receive credit. Late papers will only be accepted for partial credit in accordance with the syllabus policy for late work. BELOW IS MY OUTLINE for the paper. It needs a lot of work! Comment from my Professor on my outline: “Good start. I look forward to seeing your paper. In your first draft you’ll need to work a bit on your argument for conflict theory. It’s usually applied to those who aren’t in power than those who are.”   I need a different social theory that applies to the movie the WOLF OF WALL STREET. I attached the outline I started for the paper as a word document, please read to get an idea of what the paper should be about:  Paragraph 1:   Wolf of Wall Street is about a man named Jordan Belfort, who wants to strike rich fast, he has the dream of working for Wall Street making millions. He starts working as a broker in a small firm and gets laid off when the stock market crashes. He takes over a penny stock boiler room with his partner Donny Azoff, naming their firm Stratton Oakmont. The company quickly grows to hundreds of employees due to scheming, stock fraud, defrauding investors, money laundering, and drugs. The company becomes well known on Wall Street and catches the attention the FBI. Eventually the FBI is on their tail and a successful company hits rock bottom. Different crimes occur throughout the film but the one I will focus on is securities fraud or stock fraud. Stock fraud is committed by Jordan Belfort, his partner Donny, and his company Stratton Oakmont. Paragraph 2:  The film suggests the reason for Belfort’s crime is money, power, and success. It portrays corporate capitalism and the free market in the United States. Using false or misleading claims to investors the company makes money by buying worthless stock and selling it at a high price to investors. By selling their holding they would walk away with millions, essentially committing fraud. Rational choice theory explains why Belfort committed securities fraud. Belfort freely chose to commit fraud by lying to investors. He was motivated by the pursuit of money, personal pleasure, and success.   Paragraph 3:  Rational choice theory correctly explains the crime committed by Belfort. No one forced him to commit the crime, he had every intention to commit the crime because committing the crime would bring a reward. The benefits of making millions of dollars outweigh the cost or chances of getting caught. In other words, he thought about the consequences and still made the choice that the crime was worth it. Belfort made a “rational choice” because his intention was to maximize his profits for his self-interest. Paragraph 4:             An alternative explanation for white collar crime such as securities fraud in the film, Wolf of Wall Street, would be Karl Marx’s conflict theory. Marxist view on capitalism is portrayed in the film with corporate capitalism struggling to control the working class. In the beginning of his company Belfort started scamming working class citizens and the elderly who were inexperienced investors just trying to stay afloat to make little profit. Belfort made millions of dollars from the elderly who invested their entire savings to buy his penny stocks by selling them a false promise.  Belfort was part of corporate America, part of the 1% at the top while the people who were investing their entire savings were the lower working class. The social inequality between these classes results in differences in power. In this film, Belfort kept getting richer and obtaining wealth while the investors kept losing money and getting poorer.Wolf of Wall Street Outline- SOC 155 Film Analysis Wolf of Wall Street – SOC Criminology Wolf of Wall Street Outline- SOC 155 (1) Film Analysis Wolf of Wall Street – SOC Criminology (1)