The movie “Trading Places” is a story of two wealthy brothers, Randolph and Mortimer Duke, who bet on whether heredity or environment defines a person. Their game’s pawns are a rich investment manager Louis Winthorpe III and street-smart Billy Valentine. The wager of the Duke brothers involves ruining Withorpe’s life by taking his money and power and handing them over to Valentine to test whether nurture or nature will prevail. As soon as Winthorpe and Valentine unearth the siblings’ scheme, they seize that opportunity to work for the Dukes’ downfall. Although this movie was produced in 1983, the characters depict modern-day occurrences in America. Moreover, it presents valuable life lessons, including the teaching that money is not everything that matters.
Based on the movie’s release, the plot is still relevant to current life. For instance, the Dukes are relatable to present employers who treat their workers with utter indignity. For example, they connive to plant heroin on Winthorpe’s coat and later accuse him of being a drug dealer before firing him from their Duke and Duke firm (Harris, 1983). Moreover, the racial contempt that the brothers demonstrate against Valentine applies to the existing intolerance against the blacks in the U.S. After hiring Valentine as their company’s manager, they declare that they will only use him to make profits then fire him as they cannot allow a negro to run their business (Harris, 1983). Thus, “Trading Places” represents what is presently happening in racial profiling, greed for money, and the desire for quick wealth.
The movie shows the audience that human development is determined by both nature and nurture. For instance, in conversation between the Dukes, Randolph reminds Mortimer that their mother kept saying that he was naturally greedy (Harris, 1983). Mortimer becomes even greedier in terms of nurture as he tries to make fast money through unscrupulous business dealings, such as buying the market’s top secret to stay ahead of other brokers information-wise. In addition, Valentine is inherently street-smart, but he becomes one of the best investment executives by closely studying the market trends (Harris, 1983). Thus, nurture and nature contribute significantly to the shaping of people’s personalities.
The movie’s characters demonstrate numerous mental abilities, giving a clear picture of the story. For instance, Winthorpe shows his spatial and visual processing cognitive skills by reading the newspaper and visualizing and predicting the market trend of pork bellies (Harris, 1983). Moreover, Valentine demonstrates rationality in his decision-making abilities by advising the Dukes to buy or sell stocks based on his articulate market assessment (Harris, 1983). In addition, the two policemen at the beginning of the movie illustrate their capabilities to maintain attention on a specific action by discovering that Valentine is pretending to be crippled and blind (Harris, 1983). In the final part of the movie, Winthorpe’s cognition abilities enable him to discover that togetherness holds as much power as money.
Reference
Harris, T. (Producer). (1983). Trading Places [Motion Picture]. Paramount Pictures.