Brown Sludge

Gordon Gekko Was Satire, Genius

February 13th, 2006

There is a scene in the 1982 movie “Night Shift” where Michael Keaton’s character (who is way long on mouth and way short on brains) is watching a cartoon on the television. “The Flintstones” to be specific. Henry Winkler’s character comments derisively on the Keaton character’s choice of programming. Michael Keaton shoots back (straight-faced) “Hey… that Barney Rubble – he’s some actor!”.

The implication of course was that Keaton’s character was so unintelligent that he couldn’t make the distinction between a cartoon caricature – and a real person.

I think about this scene every time I see someone post a comment or send me an e-mail confirming their belief that “Greed… is good.” It’s amazing how many people – when confronted with Overwhelming Greed as a Corporate Mission Statement will – with an absolutely straight face – proudly defend their belief that “Greed… is good.”

That some people are too stupid to get their mind around the idea that Gordon Gekko was not a character that Oliver Stone intended to be portrayed as a hero is something that I’ve gotten used to. That most of these dolts are Republicans is a source of unending shame to me and my party.

I guess it’s time to wise these guys up to the fact that we’re not laughing “with them”, we’re laughing “at them”.

For those too dense to figure it out – Gordon Gekko was written as a villain. Oliver Stone used Ivan Boesky (who did time in a Federal Prison Camp) as his model for Gekko. He used a speech that Boesky gave in front of UC Berkley as his model for the Gekko “Greed is good” speech.

Boesky’s assertion that afternoon at UC Berkley that “I think greed is healthy, you can be greedy and still feel good about yourself” was one of his last public statements – before being arrested for insider trading, and being shipped off to Lompoc FPC – where he did hard time tending the garden near the prison dairy.

“Greed” didn’t end up being so “Healthy” for Ivan.

And this is ultimately why Stone wrote Gekko the way he did.

Michael Douglas won a Best Actor Oscar for his dead-on portrayal of Gordon Gekko, and he deserved it. His Gekko was slick, and like so many others thought he had all the right answers – right up until the moment he was frog-marched off to jail. In the end… “greed” wasn’t so “good” for Gordon Gekko either.

I guess that’s why I laugh every time someone leaves me a mail, or comments one of the posts with the proud assertion that “Greed is Good!” – crowing to the world that they watched the cartoon, and thought it was real.

The Speech :

“The point is, ladies and gentleman, that ‘Greed’ - for lack of a better word… is good.

Greed is right.

Greed works.

Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

Greed, in all of its forms - greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind.

And greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA.

Thank you very much.”

Update :

I have heard from a very reliable source that at some point in the last couple of years it’s become the “IN” thing to do among investment bankers and traders on the floor of the NYSE to wear one of the “LIVESTRONG” style silicone rubber bracelets touting the words “GREED IS GOOD”. I’ve searched the internet from top to bottom, and if they truly existed – they had to be a special run – because nobody on the internet seems to know where to get them. I’d love at least the photo of one – for verification that this is a true story – and not an apocryphal “urban myth”. Contact me if you have any information on these bands.

Entry Filed under: General, Thoughts