Movie Analysis Essay on Big Short

Introduction

Big short is a movie, involving four denizen citizens, who lack foresight in the high-financial world and predicts the housing collapse of mid-2000 and greedily takes to big banks. This paper discusses the characters and their behavior in the film It discusses, why no character in the movie can qualify to be a role model

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Based on the principals of morality, there are many instances of greed and dishonesty among the characters. Michael Gordon displays a character that reflects ethical egoism. Ethical egoism is often interchanged with greed which is the irresistible and excessive desire to own money or wealth(Abbas, Santrio&Annisya,2019). Ethical egoism is defined as making a move that has self-interest in it. It is all about an individual identifying a self-interest before satisfying the need for wealth and material. The bankers selling and bundling out sub-prime mortgages, were closer to being right, for they were perceiving whatever was good for them at the endWhen driven by Ethical egoism the characters are not concerned with the interests of other individuals. They cannot accept that they are being selfish. They believe that their move to secure materials or wealth, involves cooperation with others, making it a kind of teamwork. An example is a poor colleague, depicted in the movie met by one of Baum's team. Despite being poor the man pays his rent using the little he has. The landlord of the houses where the man lives in is not responsible enough to pay the mortgage(Abbas, Santrio&Annisya,2019). The man is not in a position to enter into a corporation with the landlord, just like egoists would think and instead, hence he is not considered. Due to the landlord's behavior, the man is later affected and he is thrown to the street with his family.

The movie depicts the bad condition of loan principal to the traded securities. Baum and team, visit Florida to confirm the rumors of the worsening condition and meets fake mortgage consultants. Due to greed the "The consultants" make the situation and the culture of ignorance look so huge. The ethical egoism depicted by the men is biased, at a point, the boast about how they are indulged in selling subprime mortgages to the jobless. They want to depict the level of ignorance because the jobless cannot afford to pay for the mortgages. The custom of the banks is that they lend money on the interest basis and the people who cannot pay the mortgage are evicted from their homes. When such an eviction occurs, the banker and the consultant earns a fortune from the poor, who are evicted. The banker and the corny consultants move on to the next victims who desire to own homes, unaware of the scheme. Ethical egoism is depicted in the scene between mark, Vinnie, Georgia, and S&P. Georgia is confronted by mark on the issue of issuing banks with the triple-AA ratings, despite the poor quality of their products and services. Georgia defends the move by explaining that their failure to give the banks a good rating, will make clients move away to the other service providers that were a threat to the banking business. Georgia is acting for his self-interest. There are possibilities of reaping bigger money due to Domino effects triggered by changing the ratings(Abbas, Santrio&Annisya,2019). The S&P is supposed to rate the credit based on the worth of the bank and its assets and not based on the money being paid by the bankers. The rating is an endorsement relied upon, by investors. There is a foul play in the system just for the sake of self-interests.Baum and team making a lot of money is the reason for the future crashing of the markets but that is not the actual intention of Baum. He does not want to see innocent civilians suffering, and at the same time. In the movie. He is trying to use the banking system against itself. Baum makes S&P guilty for violating the state's policies and rules and strongly asks him to respect the banking industry. Immanuel Kant, says that the morality of any action done depends on the intentions of agents and not the consequences of the action. Meaning that even if, the credit ratings are revised; there will be no moral significance. Kant emphasizes the needs of people to act in a way that is morally rooted in humanity and rationality.

The movie depicts characters that can be rational without being moral. It is about being able to find solutions and ways of doing tasks easier. It is however difficult for people, to pursue morality without being rational. The bankers use people as means, an act that makes their rationality degraded and questionable. The use of people as a means is depicted in the character Shipley and Geller. The normative ethics has a subcategory of ethics called deontology which rates morality as a duty. It explains the rules, their importance and how they are determined and justified The duties that are to be followed according to the provision of deontology includes, never lying, not cheating, never committing suicide and improving oneself when possible. The basis of these moral provisions is that harmony in a world where everybody is selfish, cheating and not imp[roving oneself is not acceptable. The characters in the movie including Baum are practicing this moral principle most negatively. They are helping themselves in the sinking banking industry taking advantage of the most vulnerable bankers and investors who depend on the fraud ratings and credit scores. The universal law suggests that a person should act in a way that a maximum action that is done by will should always be as fit as to be referred to as a universal law of nature (Dietrich&List,2017). It also requires that a human being is treated as the end in itself, where there is respect for everybody by being human beings. It requires that there is equality in the treatment of people despite their job status. There are bankers in the movie and S&P is an example of characters in the film who disregards the moral provision. Their main interest is the investors who come in and the poor people who want to own houses (Dietrich&List,2017). They mislead Baum and the team on the eroded culture of mortgaging. Finally, the other universal moral law is acting as if the action is being done at the kingdom ends. The characters in the movie display a mixture of greed. The morality of consequentialism is the haunting factor in the movie. The consequences of an action, are always important than the intentions. For every action, the consequences are the financial crisis and the falling of the market prices at the housing market.

References

Abbas, M. H. I., Satrio, Y., & Annisya, A. (2019, April). Teaching Economic Crisis and Stock Market Using A Movie. In International Conference of Ethics on Business, Economics, and Social Science (ICEBESS 2018). Atlantis Press. https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/icebess-18/55917119

Dietrich, F., & List, C. (2017). What matters and how it matters: a choice-theoretic representation of moral theories. Philosophical Review, 126(4), 421-479. https://read.dukeupress.edu/the-philosophical-review/article-abstract/126/4/421/133089