This is Jamie.
In the beginning of the Pleasure and Desire course, we discussed some popular sources of pleasure. Sex and money seemed to be the most popular themes. Sex is of course, a biologically-driven desire. Is it inaccurate to say that money may almost be as well?
As part of my "mental health break" from finals and papers, I watched "Fun with Dick and Jane" on TBS. While I have seen this movie before, since having Professor Nerio as an instructor for two semesters now, his face seems to pop up in my brain whenever I see potential for a sociological discussion topic. So this time watching the film, I started to ask myself a lot of questions.
*SPOILER ALERT* If you have never seen this movie, Jim Carey and Téa Leoni play a married couple who are happy, good-hearted parents with regular jobs and a comfortable amount of money. Dick gets promoted as Vice President of a huge company. This new salary would ensure a lifetime of financial assurance for their family and this prompted Jane's brilliant idea to quit her job. Well, the huge corporation, Globodyne went bankrupt leaving all employees, unemployed. Dick and Jane were desperate and after a series of bad luck, the couple went a little bit crazy. Dick decides to rob a convenience store. When at first it was a joke, the concept seemed more and more appealing and plausible and the couple begins to get professional.
Dick and Jane buy all sorts of "theft equipment" allowing them to rob their neighbors, stores and bank accounts. They had a child to feed and they felt entitled to the money they lost. The value of money changed the entire personalities of two very normal, good-hearted people. Their thrive to get what they wanted took over any moral values they had always committed to. Kind of seems like a biological appetite doesn't it?
No comments:
Post a Comment