Ethical Themes Raised in The Big Short
One can safely assume that the first impression and reaction of every person who has seen Adam McKay’s The Big Short would be to say that this is a very revealing and eye-opening film. They will be right as the director does show the depravity, corruption, stupidity, and cowardice of the American housing market of the penultimate decade in particular and the financial system of the United States (US) in general (The Big Short). However, this is only the first function of this artwork of cinematography. Another is the presentation of micro and macro ethical issues and dilemmas within business and society and the motivation of viewers to reflect on these.
The first shown problem of the ethics and morality of entrepreneurship and business is among the oldest and most familiar to specialists in these industries. Simply put, it is the conflict between the stockholder model and the stakeholder one. According to Weiss, “the two sets of motives underlying these two orientations are “self-interest” and “moral duty” (93). This theme is the focus of the first half of the film’s narrative, with Michael Burry, Jared Vennett, Charlie Geller, and Jamie Shipley on side one and Mark Baum and his team on side two (The Big Short). Ben Rickert takes a neutral stance as he talks like an ethical idealist when condemning young investors for being blind about “the boundaries between business and society” but acts like a productivist by continually fulfilling their “stockholder interests” (Weiss 93, 94). At the end of the movie, McKay shows that although the stockholder model is more victorious and profitable, it is immoral and supports all the negative aspects of the corrupt finance institution.
The other two ethical issues are more of an eschatological nature. This sub-discipline of theology is intentionally mentioned here because the film is structurally and narratively similar to the disaster movie genre. Moreover, Vinny Daniel calls the upcoming Great Recession “a housing Armageddon” (The Big Short). The ethical question that McKay and Charles Randolph, screenwriters, ask the audience is whether the person should keep sticking to morals or spend their remaining days as an amoral egotist if the end of the world is imminent and inevitable. It is the situation of altruists and idealists versus individualists and pragmatists (Weiss 102, 103). In the final scene with Baum, the director answers that the first option is the correct one.
The last identified ethical issue is similar to that described in the previous section. If everything soon becomes meaningless, the question is whether an individual should seek excuses or justifications for their moral and immoral behaviors and actions. The endings of the Baum and Burry storylines show that people should self-reflect and introspect on their ethics. Such practices helped Bauman and Burry to remain humane, although the latter claimed that his creed was “I look for value wherever it can be found” before the crisis (The Big Short). These are what kept them from becoming elements of the deceitful, immoral, and corrupt American banking system. Immoral management versus moral one is the essence of this philosophical conflict in business and finance (Weiss 92). Their opposites are two smug bankers who give loans to the poor and immigrants in the middle of the movie.
Course Material Applicable to The Big Short Narrative
If one notices, this paper frequently mentions Joseph W. Weiss and uses information from his Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach. This work, especially the second part on industrial ethics and decision-making, has provided the necessary explanations of theoretical concepts of morality in entrepreneurship in an easily understandable, detailed manner (Weiss 76). This book allowed one to analyze The Big Short narrative through the intersection of ethical principles, business management, and even eschatology.
Personal Stance on Topics Presented in The Big Short
I take a more altruistic and moralistic stance on all three of the ethical issues described, similar to those of the characters of Christian Bale, Steve Carell, and Brad Pitt. It means that I prefer the stakeholder model and believe that the individual must adhere to moral standards in times of crisis and catastrophe and regularly introspect their deontological side. I will use Weston’s arguments, such as multiple examples and counterexamples, to justify these personal opinions (Weston 10, 16). Baum and his people’s principal commitment to ethical behavior or shift to it in the cases of Burry and Charlie Geller helped them earn big money, remain self-honest, and avoid becoming lying and hypocritical persons they betted against. Conversely, although becoming wealthy financiers, Jared Vennett and Jamie Shipley turned into those persons of the US housing market they hated and despised. As one can see, being a moralist in business is correct from the deontology perspective and beneficial in terms of material things.
Course Material Applied to Justify Personal Stance
As alluded to above, Anthony Weston’s A Rulebook for Arguments was used to provide a structure for an argumentative basis. The main advantage of this small yet highly content-filled book is a large number of various theoretical frameworks and their elements for philosophical justification and reasoning with rich explanations (Weston xv, xvi). Two of them were used to create and maintain a logical sequence in the description of the personal position.
Works Cited
The Big Short. Directed by Adam McKay, Paramount Pictures, 2015.
Weiss, Joseph W. Business Ethics: A Stakeholder and Issues Management Approach. Berrett-Koehler Publishers, 2014.
Weston, Anthony. A Rulebook for Arguments. 5th ed., Hackett Publishing Company, 2017.