After you have watched a movie, you should blog your general impressions of the movie (by 5pm on thursdays) and provide 1 example from the movie (scene, character, etc) and how it relates specifically to a theory or construct in Motivation and Emotion.
Your full analyses are due the following Tuesday turned in via eLearning (aka WebCT).
Sitting in the back of a limo with his client, Gordon Gekko, who is revealing insider trading information, Bud Fox, a young Wall Street broker, questions Gekko’s ethics. As Fox is getting out of the limo Gekko informs him “If you aren’t inside, you’re outside.” It is this sentence that the movie’s foundation is set upon as Fox tells Gekko he’s in. Fox now looks to get insider trading information for Gekko so not only he can make oodles of money, but Fox himself will get a truckload of cash for setting up the deals. Intermixed with the chain smoking shots of Gekko we see Fox entering office buildings, following/tailing other prominent players, and every once in a while in his own office throwing hints out to fellow brokers when looking to push stocks higher to make money for Gekko. So why would Fox risk it all for Gekko? Reeve, the author of our textbook, states that “intrinsic motivation is a natural motivation that emerges spontaneously out of people’s psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness.” Reeve also points out that “extrinsic motivation arises from environmental incentives and consequences, such as food, money, praise, attention…and various incentive plans.” I think I just heard Bud Fox yell “bingo” because let’s look at a few of the things that would drive his intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. First, Bud wants to be part of the ‘in crowd’ of investors and brokers. He lands a big fish when he gets Gekko on board with what he knows is his first illegal insider tip. He wants Gekko to view him as a competent broker whom he can trust to make a lot of money. Bud then falls into the extrinsic motivation trap of having a lot of money, praise from Gekko, and the privileges of living in a rockin’ apartment decorated by his new sexy interior decorating girlfriend. These things then act as reinforcement as to why Bud keeps working his tail off in an illegal way. As Reeve simply puts it, a reinforcer is “any extrinsic event that increases behavior.” Now, unfortunately for Bud Fox, this movie came out in the late 80’s whereas Reeves book was published many years later leaving Bud out in the cold on the section of Reeves book entitled ‘Punishers.’ If Bud would have read this part of the book he would have known that “a punisher is any environmental stimulus that, when presented, decreases the future probability of the undesired behavior.” What does this mean in Bud’s world? It means that if he was more aware of the consequences, or that he would actually have to face the consequences, he probably wouldn’t have taken on a client with unethical and immoral business practices like Gekko. He also would have healthier lungs from not breathing in Gekko’s second hand smoke in every scene either. The movie ends with Bud being arrested in his office for insider trading and then being dropped off by his father on at the courthouse steps uttering that he’s going to jail. See you in 25 to 30 for the sequel Bud.
I thought the movie was confusing at times but played out very well. Mr. Gekko used Bud Fox to gain himself excess money that he doesn't even need all beacuse of greed. Bud is willing to do anything to make it on top and end up getting trapped into the "greed" lifestyle and is willing to get his father's job, but when he finds out that Gekko has decided to shut it down completely behind his back this angers him and Bud decides to take him down by getting the union to go against Gekko, but in the end takes himself down to and ends up in jail. In the textbook Reeve talks about internal and external motives in chapter one. The internal motives that play a role in "Wall Street" are the need for money, the thought that you can't get anywhere in life without money and Bud is willing to block off all types of emotions when it comes to setting deals with other companies to raise money for Gekko. He does she emotion for his interior designer girlfriend until she tells him she can't stay around if he chooses to go against Gekko so she leaves. Reeve states that a motive is an internal process that energizes and directs behavior which is seen numerous times as Bud Fox goes behind the legal system to find out information for Gekko and leaving tips for his fellow stockbrokers. The external events that play a key are incentives of Bud getting money out of the stocks as well as Gekko. Bud becomes so accustomed to this life that he doesn't care what he has to do to make it on top. But once you cross Gekko, you in the dog pound. Furthermore, in chaper 5 Reeve goes in more depth on intrinsic and extrinsic motivations. Intrinsic motivation has a lot to do with psychological needs and innate strivings for growth. Reeve mentions that when people are intrinsically motivated, they act out of interset and for the sense of the challenge that is given to them at hand. This is self explanatory, since Bud sees that Gekko needs and inside man and that his is the "BIG DOG" for doing business. Extrinsic motivation according to Reeve is the extent that one establishes a "means to an end" which means in the person's mind, their behavior such as going to work, going to particular places etc... end in some type of consequence in this case money, which leads Bud to jail at the end of the movie for making illegal deals and speaking of confidential matters. After all, the consequences overruled the rewards and incentives in this movie for Bud Fox while Gekko is still getting away with it. Bud never learned that there were hidden costs in getting involved in this type of world.
I also found this movie somewhat confusing, just because I don’t understand the stock market. So high I assumed was good, low bad, and just kept it at that. A lot of the motivation in this movie was extrinsic and if it were about Mr. Gekko it had to do with money. His entire goal in life was to make more and more money. However he wasn’t doing it fairly, he was using insider trading, to sell or buy stocks to make money or get out of losing money. The thing was Mr. Gekko was already extremely rich and didn’t need anymore money, he wasn’t donating his money to charity, he was selfishly just buying himself another “toy”. Mr. Gekko had a lot of persistence, he never gave up on making more money, that’s when he found Bud Fox, someone he could use and stomp on. However Bud had a lifelong goal, to be business partners with Gekko it was his drive behind bring Gekko the box of cigars on his birthday. Bud had an extrinsic motivation to make himself a lot of money too and he knew he could by Gekko’s side. Gekko gave Bud positive reinforcers to make more money, find out where the money was, get the information low down, which was, checks written out to him. Gekko would say, “go buy yourself a new suit,” or “you’ll make enough money to buy yourself that kind of girl.” Bud gets fired for losing $100,000 of Gekko’s money which would be considered a punishment for Bud. After begging for a second chance, Gekko tells him the tools and knowledge to get away with insider trading. After awhile Bud becomes extremely rich, is able to pay his Dad back money he owes him and then some. So this money is a positive reinforcer for Bud. They talk about buying Blue Star, the airline his father works for, however Gekko plans to drop the ball and let the airline crumble in the stock market. However Bud then makes a deal for someone else to buy the airline and it bites him in the butt. Gekko turns him in for insider trading. I guess money can really buy you what you want, because Gekko never got caught. Bud was again punished for his actions and taken to court because he got greedy just like Gekko and wanted to see him fail. Gekko was so far ahead with money there was no way Bud could take him. I think it gave him satisfaction just knowing he made Gekko lose on Blue Star. Overall Bud fails in this movie; the consequences he faces are far more then any reward he got. This movie also had food and thirst needs. At Gekkos party there are drinks around and they are making dinner. Eating becomes a social event. Bud and Darian make dinner on their date and later meet their sexual needs when they sleep with each other. Their purpose for sleeping together was solely for pleasure and not for reproducing. Darian also says how she is falling for Bud, which brings back that sense of relatedness and closeness that people need with each other.
Power, greed, and hunger for a particular lifestyle, is what Bud got when he decided to give up his morals and work for an un-ethical, power hunger client. Mr. Gecko kind of manipulates Bud Fox into his scheme of work at first, by appealing to his psychological needs, before he sets him up in the limo to take his dirty work bait. Bud’s needs at that time were more of meeting a personal goal, which was to become a Big Player in the world of being a broker and on the “other side of the phone.” His standards of living were simple at best and didn’t revolve in breaking the laws, he even told Mr. Gecko, I could lose my license which shows some moral standing. Bud’s personal motivation can be seen as intrinsically, but they still have a reward hitch behind it, he did have a natural motivation, but you can also claim that it was extrinsic at times, with him moving to the city, and not paying off his student loans. It was that Bud did have higher expectations of himself; he valued hard work and was determined to get there. Bud was also a very persistent man; he called Mr. Gecko’s office straight for 50 some odd days, and finally took advantage to deliver a birthday gift, expensive cigars, got them from a person that he had connections with. It is in this action that I think Mr. Gecko, realizes that he can have Bud as another one of his “guys” and uses him. Bud’s personality was weak (in moral standings or can be seen as doing almost anything) and realizes that he could lose this opportunity to get this rich client and gives up an insider tip that he knew would give him the edge. The actions of rewarding Bud for the good tip on Blue Star Airlines give in to his extrinsic motivation, the woman, the limo, the drugs and the options to do whatever it is that he wanted, was like sending a child into a candy store and expecting them to return with only one piece of candy. Mr. Gecko knew he had Bud and that is why when he dropped him off at a random corner he didn’t leave right away he waited as if knowing. Bud then becomes very hungry for money and a woman. Darian whom Bud is infatuated with at first, is a woman that would be untouchable if Bud didn’t change into, (what I found was clever, was his last name was FOX) this sly, ease dropping, tip hunting, pawn for his client Mr. Gecko. This should have been a red flag for Bud, but his sexual need and wish to fit into this higher society setting, gets him caught up with her. You can see that at first she is starting to fall for him, but once he decides that the money and power isn’t worth it she is out the door.
I feel that it is kind of sad that Bud has to be put into a position where his direct family was going to be in trouble for him to snap out of this power hungry, greedy atmosphere to go back to doing the right thing. Even throughout the movie you can see that he really is not enjoying this lifestyle because at one point he asks out loud who am I? In the end he gets caught for violating the insider trading agreement laws and then sets up Mr. Gecko, by wearing a wire. But the end of the movie struck me as somewhat of a disappointment, because I wonder if they let Bud off easily since he gave them Mr. Gecko or gets what he has got coming to him.
Firstly, I thought the movie was well done and interesting. However, I was confused a lot of the time by the business jargon and Wall Street lingo. I didn't understand sometimes if something good was happening or bad because the characters seemed stressed out either way. If it wasn’t for Martha Stewart and her insider trading scandal I probably would have had no idea what was going on in the movie.
The main story revolves around Bud, a young and eager kid that worked on Wall Street, but was not an important player. However, Bud had a very strong drive to succeed. He was persistent with his attempts to get a chance to talk with Gordon Gecko, a rich and powerful Wall Street executive, whom he had always looked up to. Bud called Gecko’s office everyday for something like 50 days just trying to get a meeting with him. Bud displayed a high need for achievement. He did not want to end up like his father with an ordinary job and an ordinary life. Bud wanted the money, girls and lifestyle that came along with the life of a Wall Street big shot. In chapter 7 of our textbook, the book explains need for achievement. It explains that there are social, cognitive, and developmental aspects that influence someone’s drive for achievement. Bud was trying to compete with the standard of excellence, not only on Wall Street, but also in the world in general. Bud spends $50,000 on rent by living in Manhattan just because he believes he needs the Manhattan address to fit in with the other people on Wall Street. He buys expensive suits and dines in expensive restaurants because he needs to fit in with people like Mr. Gecko. This also fits in with the idea of relatedness. Bud goes out of his way to be accepted by the elite like Mr. Gecko. In the book it says “Because we need relatedness, we gravitate toward people who we trust to care for our well-being, and we drift away from those who we do not trust to look out for our well-being” (p.162). This is basically what happens in the end of the film. When Gecko decides to take Buds advice and buy Blue Star, he ends up deciding he would rather break up with company and sell the parts, instead of restructure the company as originally planned. Bud feels personally hurt by this move and that is when Bud goes to Gecko’s rival on Wall Street and has him screw over Gecko. Bud looked up to Gecko and trusted him to protect the company his father worked for, but Gecko went back on his word and broke the trust between himself and Bud. Bud eventually ends up playing a part in bringing Gecko down by giving the cops evidence of his insider trading.
Bud Fox is extremely ambitious when it comes to reaching success at his job and making overnight riches. His persistence in partnering with Gordon Gekko was key in his ability to obtain a position of authority as a stock broker—it also gave him more power than he knew what to do with. The possession of this power came at a price, however, and though slightly unwilling at first—the social need he demonstrated in proving his sense of competence to his coworkers and, most importantly, his father soon lead to him bending over backwards to prove his competence to someone who he shouldn’t have felt the need to. Gekko lured Fox in with the enticing riches he would have if he just did his job a little differently—no one would ever know the difference. And with that frame of mind, Fox was willing to do it all. The extrinsic motivation of a quick profit and recognition for his earnings was far to great for Fox to handle, and before he knew it, he was in over his head as Gekko began scrapping down the company in which his father had been employed for the last 24 years. He was motivated to take a job that would create an environment in which the possibility of him losing everything was quite great—but only if he got caught. When Gekko turned on him, his decision to take him down would be a devastating one. The high profit Fox was receiving was positive reinforcement for him to continue his illegal behaviors for a man he may not have necessarily even liked that much. He would soon meet the punishment of a jail term for this behavior after doing what he could to cover his tracks and get ahead for such a long time. Money truly did make these men do things they didn’t want to do. The day of his arrest, a coworker of Fox’s (Will?) that continually provides us with his words of wisdom says that “when a man is staring into the abyss and nothing is staring back at him, in that moment the man finds his character and that is what keeps him out of the abyss.” This phrase seems to sum up the behaviors we see from Fox to the end of the film in which he is walking into the courtroom. He realizes he has been sunk and the only way to make things right is to accept the punishment and do what he can to stop the person causing everyone else so much harm. A potential motivator or reward in all of this is the support Fox receives from his father—upon his apology to him at the hospital, Fox is told how proud his dad is of him. Fox cares very deeply about what his father thinks of him, and it is extrinsically rewarding for him to carry out a plan to save his father’s company and face losing his job and reputation as well as facing the consequences for his bad decisions.
Wall Street was an amusing movie, if only because it was set before I was born. Bud took out a cigarette when he visited his father in the hospital. His father was on oxygen - which could cause an explosion if ignited. That scene may have been the craziest scene in the entire movie. I really enjoyed that Martin Sheen played Charlie Sheen's father, since they really are father and son. The relationship between the two of them in the movie is how I imagined their real relationship is like. Charlie always making mistakes and his father being cantankerous but helpful.
Anyway - I think that the most interesting part of Bud was his transition in motivation. In the beginning of the movie, he told his father that he wanted to make him proud. This seems to show that his motivation to succeed at his job had more to do with a drive for achievement, than anything else. Obviously Bud is also motivated by money, but I think his drive to make money is to be able to prove that he achieved something.
Bud's motivation drive in the beginning is very different from Gekko's motivational drive. From the beginning Gekko seems to be motivated by a social need for power. Reeve (2009) states that there are four conditions that can satisfy the need for power: leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige. He establishes his power over Bud, by explaining if Bud did not do exactly what he wanted (even if that was illegal) he would not be working for him, which is where the leadership component of his need for power is satisfied. Gekko is also clearly an aggressive man, as seen in the second to last scene where he physically assaults Bud. He is also aggressive in his business. For example, he was very aggressive when trying to screw over the British business man. Gekko's occupation is somewhat unclear to me, he seems to buy and sell companies, which most certainly is an influential occupation. For his prestige component of power, Gekko's money makes him prestigious. Also he was on the cover of a financial magazine, which would signify prestige. Gekko is also clearly extremely motivated by money - which is the basis for everything that he does. In addition, tended to call Bud Buddy, Pal or Sport. All of which are nicknames for children, which again establishes Gekko as the one in power. Gekko's need for power did involve all four components discussed in Reeve (2009).
Over time, Bud's motivation changes to be more of a mirror of Gekko's. He loses his motivation of achieve something in his job to simply wanting to make money. This changes again when he learns that Gekko plans to take apart the company that Bud's father works for. His priorities shift from making money to not disappointing his father. It is an interesting movie because you can see Bud changing and you know that it could happen to anyone. The need for power can be intoxicating when pushed to the forefront. Again the end was not what I had hoped for - Bud saying he was going to jail and all that, but it was realistic. If Martha can go to jail for what she did, surely what Bud did was far worse.
This movie was extremely hard to watch fromt he beginning, but once it got rolling I kind of enjoyed it. I found it extremely interesting how out of date this movie was, and relating to Krysten's comment earlier, especially when Bud lit up a cigarette in the HOSPITAL. Something unheard of in today's world.
About the movie- There were many interesting parts in this movie, but I feel the obvious motivation shifted as the movie went on. Bud was a struggling Broker looking for big clients to 'make his father proud'. In the beginning of the movie, Bud was trying to convince his father that he was going to become more successful and would pay him back when he did. Bud's motivation at this point in the movie was to just 'stay afloat' and pay bills he had. He also had the desire to prove to his father that he could do this.
After meeting Mr Gekko, Bud instantly becomes the lesser in power of the two. Mr Gekko is a man who thrives off power. Near the end of the movie Bud kept asking Mr Gekko, "when is it going to be enough? When are you going to have 'enough' money?". Its clear that all Mr Gekko wanted and contnually wants to do is have the feeling of power over people. Mr Gekko even threaten to drop Bud if he did not do what he said. Bud was then stuck in a position of whether or not to do something illegal to keep his job and money, or go back to the way life used to be. He was threatening Bud, but knew he would never go against his word. Mr Gekko also kept referring to Bud as 'Buddy' or 'Sport' which clearly shows Mr Gekko was the one in power in their working relationship.
the text book states the need for power is displayed in leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige. All of these are displayed in this movie-- the leadership in when Mr Gekko demanded things done of Bud, aggressiveness-- Mr Gekko was extremely aggressive with his business. He did not want to hear no, he wanted more money no matter what it took to get it. His occupation is extremely influencial, the more stock he owns in a company, the more he 'owns' the company and can take them over, much like he did Bluestar airlines -- or tried to. Mr gekko also has prestige in the sense of his ongoing 'fight' with the british man who does the same thing. They were knew they were both the best at what they did and were constantly trying to outdo the other to be on top. Bud eventually shifted his motivation to mirror Mr Gekko's during parts of the movie, but eventually ended up right where he was form the beginning. He was trying to save the company his father worked for and had good intensions again.
I have to start by saying that this was definitely not one of my favorite movies to watch. It was interesting, but personally I am not interested at all about all the business talk. However, despite my lack of interest, there were some interesting things that I did see. First off, Bud Fox seemed to have some intrinsic motivation going on when he was first trying to seek out Gekko. What I mean by that is every single day Bud continued to try to talk to Gekko for just five minutes, but was shot down day after day. It appears that the challenge of getting to talk to Gekko motivated Bud to try harder and harder. This is evident when Bud figures out that it is Gekkos birthday, and thus goes directly to Gekko's office with a box of cigars instead of calling. Once Bud has stepped inside the office of Gekko, it seemed as not only has his world changed, but also his source of motivation. Bud's eyes are opened to a world full of money, instead of the world he knew from his father of hard work, and achievement.
Along with the transition of his motivation, I thought it is interesting to point out that it appear that Bud's autonomy level changed as well. Bud went from working with a huge company, where he had a boss tell him to pick numbers from a book to call to sell stocks, to buying and selling stocks of his own. According to our textbook, autonomy is the idea that "we want to be the one who decides what to do, when to do it, how to do it, and when to stop doing it." With Bud, he was constantly being told who to call, when to call, and when to stop calling. However, Gekko taught Bud some tricks of the trade, and showed Bud that he can be in charge of the who, what, when and where. After working with Gekko for a while, Gekko let Bud explore the business world on his own. Bud put together his own associates that he would turn to to help him buy and sell stocks. However, too much autonomy for Bud did not play out very well. Bud ended up losing everything he worked so hard for, and was betrayed by his mentor Gekko. It turned out that Gekko had some undesirable plans for the business that Bud's father worked for. When Bud realized that Gekko was trying to tear apart his fathers company one by one, and Bud figure this out. In the end, even though Bud had higher levels of autonomy he has fallen on his butt, yet there is more that factor into this, like his greed.
All in all, it was interesting to see Bud go from a hard working guy, to one that seemed to be more attached to the money instead of the process in getting it.
This movie was one that I would pick out if I were looking for a movie to watch on a friday night. However, it wasn't a bad movie, just different. The things that stuck out the most for me were the internal motivation and the extreme need for power. I would be willing to say that Bud started out with a need for achievement because he wanted to prove that he could pay his father back and become successful. Eventually I think it became more of a need for power. Once Bud and Mr. Gekko became closer the need for power became greater. Mr. Gekko was only concerning with getting more, and becoming greater. Mr. Gekko was responsible for saying things like "I create nothing, I own." Proving that he feels as though all that matters is possession. In the meeting with the Teldar Paper company he takes the microphone to discuss purchasing the company. In his speech he states quite simply, "Greed is all that we have left. Its normal, its healthy, and its what keeps us going." Admitting that he is not only greedy, but proud of it. The entire movie Mr. Gekko is very concerned with obvious advancement. He does not invest in things that no one has heard of. He goes for large targets and makes it known that he owns them. At one point in the movie Bud even looks at him and inquires when it will ever be enough. All of Mr. Gekko's motivation is intrinsic. He is doing all of this for himself and only himself. He is the only one that benefits from his profit, and at this point, the benefit that he receives is certainly not something that is necessary.
When watching the move Wall street it was obvious these people are power driven. Mr. Gekko does not care who he hurts as long as he makes money doing it. Bud is just your average person who wants to make it big on Wall Street but I don’t think he really understood what he was getting himself into. His ultimate goal is to become rich, and get the girl. What he doesn’t realize is that along the way he’s going to run into ethical issues such as deception, lies, and insider trading. Half way through the movie I could almost foresee Bud getting in trouble for insider trading. It was almost as those Mr. Gekko was using bud as a means to an end (as in more money). He treats Bud like he is a child. At one point he send him out on a mission by himself state that it was his turn to do the job. He showed him how wall street works and now school is out and he has to find a way. This is not a movie that I would have watch if it wasn’t for this class. The stock market is a very confusing thing to me therefore a lot of that information I did not follow well. Overall it was an alright movie and I would watch it again.
I'm sorry to some of the comments and people above me but I really enjoyed this movie. I like movies that have a twist on the end and help the good guy, proving to the bad guy that pay back is a bitch. Bud is type of person that in the beginning of the movie, he just wants to get his job done and do it successfully. He is single, honest, & hard working; lives in a good part of NYC, has his family near, and but is unhappy. He doesn't feel like his is motivated to do his job or maybe doesn't know how to perform successfully in his job (he is stuck between a rock and a hard place). So he sees on opportunity & goes for it on his computer when he sees it is Mr. Gekko's birthday. The phone call and meeting with Mr. Gekko on his birthday was finally made & set-up successfully because he was persistant & didn't give up. Once Bud was face to face with Mr. Gekko, he kept trying and trying to keep his foot in the door by making compromises & doing favors day after day. In return, he was enjoying the incentives, and feeling of being wanted and valued by Mr. Gekko. He tried more than one way and more than once to get a hold of him because he was possessing aspects of the self-determination theory. Bud displayed various aspects such as external regulation, introjected regulation, identified regulation, & intrinsic regulation. He had intentions to become successful by making more contacts, money, and deals throught Mr. Gekko, and this is because Mr. Gekko was the power & achievement that Bud was looking for. But after some time in the movie, Bud put himself into it too much, he relied too much on other people, and put himself in the wrong situations. He was putting in all of his effort to the situation and was seeing results, but wasn't seeing the whole picture that was going on. In the end though, Bud realized what he had to do for himself & his family, it was his reason to try to survive without Mr. Gekko.
There are many motivational factors playing a role in this movie. One factor I found interesting was Bud's need for autonomy. From the very beginning of the movie we see Bud struggling as a stock broker. He gets into trouble with his boss and exclaims that it's not his fault. From this we could learn that Bud does not see himself in a position that has a lot of power over the outcome. Instead, he is in a job where he sees the outcome as more of chance or by the behaviors of his investors. Then Bud finally get into touch with Mr. Gekko who takes him under his wing and tells him all about how he's going to make him richer than he could ever dream. From this, Bud starts to change. He views his life as more in his hands, where he can decide what to do and has a greater deal of decision making flexibility. His behaviors express his desire for power and money and everything else that comes with it. The viewer quickly learns that Buds sense of autonomy is all an illusion, that the real power lies in the hands of Gekko who would (and does) do everything in his power to make more money. At first, Bud is highly extrinsically motivated by his desire for power and profit, he changes everything about himself and starts to emulate Gekko. I found it very interesting how at first he is very verbal about his distaste for smoking and then when he is at his lowest point, he is seen smoking. This shows that he had completely given up on himself at that point. Eventually he turns himself around. He is intrinsically motivated to do the right thing for himself and for his father's company. He tells Gekko in the last scene when they are standing in the park that he is only Bud Fox, no matter how hard he tried to be Gordon Gekko. I thought that this quote summed up the movie very well because it expressed in words how Bud had truly lost himself when he was working for Gekko. The movie was a good example of different forms of motivation and the part that I found the most interesting was to what extent he was willing to go to get power with Gekko, and how easy it was for him to throw it away. Is this realistic? I'm not sure, the only way I could see it is if he really was unaware of how bad Gekko was. In reality, however, I wonder what the real Bud Fox would have done in this position.
I, personally, didn't really like this movie. I found myself getting confused alot of the time (because I have no idea how wallstreet works or anything about that sort of thing). The one thing about the movie that was interesting to follow was Bud's intense determination to make money and veer away from the footsteps of his father (he wanted to 'make his father proud' by making more money). The intense intrinsic motivation to make money is shown through Bud's constant drive for acheivement and persistance. At one point in the movie it shows that Bud calls Mr. Gekko's office persistantly for a long period of time in order to get his attention. Bud shows extreme levels of drive and persistence in this situation, something that displays his need for power and money. Bud shows the need for relatedness when he buys expensive things in order to fit in the with the wall street crowd. This is also an attempt to show prestige, an aspect of power. Both Gekko and Bud show the four aspects needed to fulfill power: leadership, aggressiveness, influential occupations, and prestige.
At the same time, once Mr. Gekko becomes part of Bud's life, it make's Bud's need for power look tiny. Gekko's desire for power is much more intense, he never settles and nothing ever enough for him. He is someone who is constantly looking to improve himself and get to the next level, always being the person with the most power. This is shown when he goes back on his word and desides to destroy Bud's father's company. In an interesting play of events, the power from Gekko to Bud shifts when Bud releasing information that bring Gekko down.
The main motivational emphasis that came to mind while watching this movie involved two social needs: power and achievement. Bud is originally motivated by his need for achievement to seek out Gekko because he feels like he isn't going to achieve that much doing cold calls for the place he is working. He is further motivated by this achievement need to participate in insider trading while disregarding any potential problems he may have with it. From here, its all about need for power. Both Bud and Gekko are compelled to manipulate others into receiving inside information in order to have as much control as possible over the outcomes of their trades.
One particularly interesting part in the movie was the speech Gekko made at the stockholders meeting for Teldar Paper. The part of the speech I focused on was where he posits that greed is "part of the evolutionary spirit". This could be true, those who were greedier sought out more food, mates, anything you can think of that helped them pass on their genes while those who aren't greedy might have died off easier. This led me to think: What makes us seek more and more of something even though it might be considered 'excessive'? My answer was reinforcement as a result of dopamine. In this case, the value of money is so high that it is essentially the one thing than gives them enough of a dopamine rush to experience pleasure. Much in the same way a drug addict seeks out more and more of the drug, as it becomes the focus of all of their attention.
I had never seen “Wall Street” before. I found this movie to also be a bit confusing in places but to overall be a very good movie. It showed how an innocent up and coming broker, can turn into an unethical, greedy, and caught up in the game person. Buddy Fox always was interesting in making money and getting a whale to help support his interests in the stock market. That is exactly what he gets when he finds Gordon Gekko. Gekko is a man with a lot of money, but for him to invest in a company he wants to be sure that he is going to make a profit, so if Bud wants to work for him he will have to do some very unmoral and illegal things.
I particularly liked the part during the stock holders meeting of Teldar paper where Mr. Gekko talks about how greed is not a bad thing, how it is good to have greed, that companies that are not doing well need greedy people to come in and make the company profitable. Greed was definitely a main theme of the movie. Bud was really influenced by one main extrinsic motivation, money. Bud saw money as an incentive to doing the illegal activities. I think that the worst thing that Buddy did was talking Gekko into buying the airline that his father works for. That really tore a rift between Bud and his father. I think that Buddy’s father said it best that Mr. Gekko was using Buddy for his own gain. Buddy comes to find out that Mr. Gekko is planning to eventually liquidate the company after the take over. Buddy’s dad who has worked there for 24 years will lose his job. This whole situation came about because Buddy wanted more money. Buddy decides to stand up to Mr. Gekko by going and speaking to the different unions, and coming up with a plan to go to Gekko’s enemy Larry and having him purchase the company. He used the same tactics that Gekko had taught him to screw Gekko over. Gekko started to lose millions over the airlines. Ultimately Buddy gets arrested for all of the illegal things that he has done. I think that Bud really learned his lesson from how greed is a bad thing, and yet it was to late he will probably be doing some time in jail. A jail term which is a punisher which would help ensure that he never partook in any illegal activity again.
To be honest I never would have watched this movie if it were not for this class, and it defiantly is not one of my favorites either. It was very difficult to get into the flow of this movie. I, like others, am not into Wall Street, and all their lingo though out the film was more confusing than interesting. Not understanding Wall Street in itself probably made me miss some points in the film, but I still feel I got the main idea of the need for power. This was very apparent throughout the film through Mr. Gekko as well as from Bud. It is apparent that Mr. Gekko was fulfilling his need for power from the beginning, with his drive to always have not just more, but more than others especially Sir Larry Wildman. This was seen when Mr. Gekko undercut Larry on his trades. Bud however progressed though out the movie. In the beginning it seemed more that Bud was interested achievement and really progressing in his company until he got the attention of Mr. Gekko, who in a way took him under his wing. In doing so Mr. Gekko showed Bud how to work the system and showed him how much better his life would be if he had money as well, in a way creating Bud to need more and more power.
I watched this movie several months ago, but I of course did not consider some the specific motivational themes that drive it. The movie didn't really go into detail about Bud's earlier career as an underdog stock broker, but it actually quite apparent that he is determined to fight his way up the monetary and status ladder. It was clear that Bud did not want to live the lifestyle of his direct supervisor, but would rather succeed like the "elephant" Gordon Gekko. Right off the bat when Bud finally got to see Gordon on his birthday, Mr. Gekko comments about how Bud is basically the definition of persistence, referring to the 59 times he called Gordon on consecutive days; and persistent he was. Just over the course of what seemed to be a couple weeks, Bud was able to work directly under Mr. Gekko, but was surprised to figure out the moral dilemma he encountered. Mr. Gekko used very persuasive measures to get Bud to agree to work with him. He knew how power hungry and achievement-oriented Bud was, so he offered an ultimatum, giving Bud the chance to make a fortune or make nothing. In chapter 7 the textbook explains the importance of social needs and how they can vary based on the type of occupation one holds. Working on Wall Street requires a concerted and persistent achievement-striving attitude, sort of a bare knuckles approach to work and life in general. The continuation of Bud's success was fostered by his occupation as a Wall Street Banker, and negatively fostered by the rapacious Gordon Gekko. Mr. Gekko kept positively reinforcing Bud with all the money and elegant perks he dreamed of. It just goes to show, too much of a good thing can lead you to your demise, however long you blindly follow that good thing.
After our discussion in class about March of the Penguins and Cast Away, I realized how critically we ought to be watching these films to get the most out of them as assignments, not entertainment. Classmates made points about relevant events that I don't even remember seeing in the films. So it's frustrating to say that this movie was my least favorite so far and I'm having a hell of a time writing this comment. I've watched the movie twice now and still don't feel like I have much more to say than the obvious relation to intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. I'm certain that there are several examples of class concepts but without stealing the thoroughly expressed views from the comments posted before me, I'm sorry to say that I found this movie less significant than the previous ones in regard to having an abundance of examples to choose from.
Intrinsic motivation was portrayed through Bud's character early in the film, as we were learning about his current life conditions and the road that led him there. During the meeting with his dad at the bar, we see that he came from a hard working, blue-collar family, went to college to better his odds of success, simultaneously accumulating debt and was qualified to do many things other than finance. We also learn that his current situation isn't quite the high life style he had intended for himself. Even though he is asking his father to loan him $300 to get him through, he still expresses his internal drive for bigger and better things in life. Bud is intrinsically motivated by the possibility of power, success, fortune and control, none of which are being provided by his present job.
Extrinsic motivation comes in the form of a written check that Gordon Gekko hands him after his first encounter with Bud. Immediately following are more examples, such as the woman escort, the high status night on the town and a surge of power and success. As Bud gets deeper in his business exchanges with Mr. Gekko, the extrinsic motivators come in the shape of persuasion, social status and more frequent, higher amounts of money. Mr. Gekko consistently expresses to Bud that if he is not %110 committed to him or if he makes just one mistake, the ride will come to a stop and there will be no second chance. When we're short on time we are usually more likely to make a regretful decision, that is what salesmen depend on. Creating such urgency caused Bud to misread the situation and what it was worth to him and buy into the illusion of success that Gordon Gekko was creating.
Finally, once the wool has been pulled from over Bud's eyes, and he sees Gordon for what his true intentions are, we return to intrinsic motivation as Bud fights for his fathers wishes as he plays Mr. Gekko's game against him and wins the Blue Star battle, risking (and sacrificing) his own freedom in the process. Although, viewers knew all along that what he was doing was wrong, we suddenly find ourselves rooting for him to beat Gekko at his own game.
The first thing I noticed in this film is that it appears to be more complex than the first two we watched. March of the Penguins was a narration that did not depict any individuals (aside from the film crew at the end) and Cast Away did not have a relatively large amount of character interaction because much of the film depicted on man all alone on an island. In contrast, this film offers a great variety of thought-provoking interactions that provide insight into motivational factors.
One of the most obvious types of motivation apparent in this film is the extrinsic motivation of financial wealth (aka money). Money is a very common and powerful form of extrinsic motivation. When Buddy asks his lawyer friend to provide insider information, his friend replies “Well, what’s in it for me?” When Gordon Gekko is talking about his happiness, he implies that at the end of the day, above all, he hates to hear about losses. The extrinsic motivation is readily apparent in many examples throughout the film.
Another type of motivation that we might need to consider is intrinsic motivation, perhaps even as it directly relates to money. Upon hearing that Gekko was going to break up Bluestar, Buddy yelled at Gekko and angrily posed the question, “How many yachts is enough?!” The answer is that there will never be enough and I believe this reality for him directly relates to intrinsic motivation. After basic needs are met, a person can only use so many goods and services. The motivation to acquire more and more and more and more is not actually about the money or products at all, I believe it directly stems from an internal desire to seek out challenges. On page 111 of our text, Reeve writes, “intrinsic motivation is the inherent propensity to engage one’s interests and to exercise one’s capacities and, in doing so, to seek out and master optimal challenges.” As Buddy once said in the film, he wanted the world and everything in it. At one point in the film, Gekko and Buddy both had a very similar mentality – they wanted to be the biggest and the best. Gekko once looked out at a whole bunch of young white males and asked Buddy something like, “What makes you any different from any one of them?” We all have a higher order need to forge a new path, exhibit independence, and show creativity. During the first part of the film Buddy believe he could achieve a sense of identity by gaining money, status, and power, and that by that he would set himself apart. What all of this may tie into, motivationally speaking, is that these new experiences are undoubtedly triggering dopamine release. Buddy wants more and more of that high feeling that comes from his novel experiences as he rises higher and higher. There comes a point, however, when he realizes the negative effect his action/behavior has had on others. His emotional well-being has been brought far from a level of homeostasis – he has severed ties with one of his best friends, his girlfriend, and even his parents – not to mention the many people that could be hurt by Gekko’s manipulative behavior. The idea of cognitive dissonance (feeling a disconnect between his beliefs and his behavior) could also be at work. Like most people, he wants to believe he is a good person, but he realizes his actions are not those of a good person, and realizes he must change.
To bring in a few more examples of motivation and emotion throughout the movie, I would cite the act of Buddy getting his first meeting with Gordon Gekko (and the positive reaction that resulted) as being a form of positive reinforcement. Buddy was rewarded by his persistence to work with Mr. Gekko, and it finally paid off, which made him significantly more likely to continue that behavior in the future.
As others have mentioned, there will be a Wall Street 2 coming out. Although Buddy might only make a cameo appearance, I would guess that Buddy Fox is not involved in insider trading anymore. Getting caught by the SEC was a horrible experience for him. He broke down and started crying in front of the whole office. If I had to guess, I would say dopamine release at that point would have been inhibited and he felt very bad. Also, Buddy’s freedom was taken away, and that would qualify as negative punishment.
As I mentioned earlier in this post, Buddy’s deviation from his normal emotional state may have helped trigger his decision to change. His emotions became a strong and dominant force. I would also say that at the end Gekko felt terrible for himself, not just because he lost all of that money, but because he felt betrayed at a very deep level. This all ties into another point I would like to make. I think that emotions can very much drive what we do and cause us to act irrationally. Gordon Gekko had social and psychological needs like everyone else. He saw himself in Buddy and wanted to help him. He might have wanted to feel a special emotional attachment to him, as Gekko’s own children were still very small. He could not yet really mentor them, but he could mentor buddy (a little bit of in-group bias probably plays into this). Related to this is the underlying emotional environment in the film. When Gekko tries to go after Sir Larry’s steel company, he wants to see Larry in person and he wants others to see their fight. He seems to have a deep hate for Sir Larry. When Buddy decides to cross Gekko, he doesn’t go to some random person to help him – he goes to Gekko’s number one enemy (of course this action makes sense on a practical level as well – Sir Larry had the necessary funds, but he also had a shared emotional stake in the matter). I think this same idea relates to shootings in murders. Although I have very little knowledge about forensic psychology, I have heard that victims of random shootings are often shot in the chest and victims of acquaintance shootings (where there was a social or emotional component) are often shot in the head. I would also suppose that this ties into the underlying physiological states. Certain people can cause us great discomfort and by taking action that seems to get rid of them, certain people (such as certain sociopaths) may experience heightened dopamine levels (and receive negative reinforcement) when that source of anguish is eliminated forever.
Another small point I wanted to make was about types of regulation. I think in the beginning of the film Buddy’s father was trying to instill a feeling of identified regulation in his son (or perhaps a more intrinsic form, but Buddy for the most part wanted to reject anything that put limits or restrictions on him. Over time, however, Buddy did seem to move through a state of identified regulation to integrated regulation. He not only began to see the value in what his father had been telling him, but began to fully embody those values himself.
Money may be part of our daily lives and it can cause a lot of stress when it is lacking in our lives but for the men on Wall Street money is their entire lives not just part of it. The movie Wall Street shows a man, Bud, trying to escape his roots and make big money in the Big Apple. Little did he know that he would have to throw the rules out the window to play in the majors. There is so much pressure connected to money, getting it, keeping it, making more, spending it on luxurious items to distinguish yourself. Bud wants it all. He desperately wants to be a member of the club and prove that he is better than a baggage handler at the airport even though there is no shame in a honest day’s work. Gordon has a high need for control and power in his life. He believes that money and the right information can give him everything he needs. It seems he married because it was the socially acceptable thing to do and since he makes the money she will not leave him allowing him to sleep with whomever he pleases. He feels entitled to anything and anyone and once you are in his life he owns you until he sells you. Carl Fox has a very interesting perspective. He works hard, has what he needs, gives what he can, helps when he can and sees money as pain in the ass. He does not see the need to possess frivolous items or own a large home. He sees value in people not things. Wall Street shows us how setting goals and using extrinsic measures to evaluate success can be detrimental in one’s life.
I think the most obvious thing to post about “Wall Street” would be the social need for power. You can see this in all the major characters. They all need power, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get it. I find some of their rationalizations appalling, though. The ends will justify the means.
Money money money. It’s all they’re thinking about. And with it as their primary external motivator, what importance do laws and morals have? The more they have, the more they want. And they are doing anything they can to get it. Material possessions are what matter. Again, the ends will justify the means.
At first, Bud Fox is all about the hard work. Didn’t he call Mr. Gekko some fifty-nine days in a row? But once he was there, he needed to succeed. He needed to succeed. He was easily manipulated into becoming Gekko’s mole – all he needed was a little push (and the image of his own personal plane) to agree to break the law and his morals.
Personally, I find a cast that is this full of character flaws to create a fairly boring plot.
Wall Street is a movie based on the one of the biggest motivators in our society today: money. Money can buy power and satisfy, even if artificially, all of one's needs, whether physiological or sociological. In this movie, Bud was an account executive motivated to reach the top of his line of business. He felt a greater need for achievement than (as Bud thought) his father did, who "only" worked for an airline business. Still, he wanted to make his father proud and "bag the elephant," which would help Bud accomplish his dream. Eventually, however, this need for achievement seemed to turn into a need for power, wealth, and control.
While the public throws a dart at the board when playing in the stock market, brokers like Gekko have the battle won before it even fought by illegal insider trading. Once Bud gets into the illegal trading business, his whole attitude seems to shift as he is continually being reinforced for his behaviors. As he continues to be reinforced, he is rewarded financially as well as psychologically and socially. he feels a sense of accomplishment(which increases his confidence noticeably) as well as starts dating a beautiful woman (who Gekko uses as an antecedent to influence Bud's behaviors) who satisfies his sex drive and social needs. With all these new different contextual factors in play, his interpersonal relationships with Marv (the dude from Scrubs) and his father become strained. The antecedents of wealth and power affected his behaviors and ultimately led to dire consequences socially and legally. There was a point even in the middle of movie where Bud asks himself, "Who Am I?" This is a key moment where even he realizes his behaviors/motivations have changed.
At the end, Bud is motivated to get revenge on Gekko, who stabbed him in the back on the Bluestar Airline deal. While the implications of his actions finally hit him towards the end and after he was arrested, I still wasn't sold on Bud as a true, genuine character. Overall, however, I do believe his internal and external motivations stemmed from his perception of himself as well as his father's success or lack thereof in Bud's mind. Decent movie with a troubling glimpse of Wall Street.
Like those above me, this is not one of my favorite movies. I do not know if it was the fact that I was not paying 100 percent attention to the movie that made it so confusing to me, or if the confusion came from the lingo used. I think it may be a combination of both. I will probably watch this movie again, because I have only heard good reviews about it, and because I had to buy it to watch!
I think that in the beginning of the movie Bud Fox is very goal driven. He wants to become more than he already is and he wants to do that by being like Mr. Gekko. In the textbook, Reeve talks about goal pursuit and three different aspects of it: getting started, persisting, and finishing. One can say Mr. Fox is very persistent in the beginning of the move in trying to talk to Mr. Gekko. He calls Gekko’s office everyday and even stops by on his birthday to drop off a gift. Reeve also talks about eight different steps in an effective goal-setting program (pg. 226). Fox follows these eight steps in achieving his goal. His objective is to become better and more powerful and creates a plan to achieve that goal.
Also like mentioned above extrinsic motivation is prevalent in the movie. Money seems to be the only reason why these characters act the way they do. There seems to be very little intrinsic motivation, especially concerning Mr. Gekko.
First off, I have never seen this movie before, nor will I ever watch it again! It was hard to follow at times, and since it was hard to follow for me, I might have missed some important points out of the movie. The jist of what I got out of the movie that relates to motivation and emotion is the internal motivation for money. Throughout the movie Bud will do anything in his power to make more money, even if it means doing things illegal. Gekko gave Bud positive reinforcers so Bud would be more encouraged to keep on going. Even though Bud lost a lot of money that Gekko had, Gekko still gave him a second change. The positive reinforcement stems from Bud being able to pay back his dad the money he owes him. Bud is willing to do anything in his power to get money, and that is what happened. In the end Bud fails far more than Gekko could ever imagine about failing. Gekko is too into the lime light with money that Bud cannot catch up and he loses everything.
Even though this movie had some good points about intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, it still amazes me what someone would do to just get ahead in life.
Like a lot of other people, I found this movie to be confusing throughout. Although, there is a lot of motivation in this movie when it comes to Bud and wanting power throughout the movie. Then once he gets a taste of it, he just wants more and more. There is a lot of extrinsic motivation between Bud and Gekko. Bud just wants to get more money, and he knows that to achieve that status he will have to get the approval of Gekko.
In the beginning, when Bud first starts to work with Gekko, Gekko shows Bud the lifestyle that he could have for working with him, and doing things for success. This is a motivator for Bud, since Gekko knows that Bud will do anything for that success. For Bud, the reward for doing things was success, and he was thinking that he had to do what Gekko tells him to do to get that kind of power and success. Gekko uses incentives to get Bud to do what he says. He has women stop by his apartment and go on dates, he invites him to parties, and introduces him to important people.
Bud also has high intrinsic motivation. The book says that the higher a person's intrinsic motivation, the greater will be his or her persistence on that task. Considering he kept trying to get Gekko to hire him, and then once hired, he would do whatever he could for him. He seems to be highly intrinsically motivated.
I think that this is a good example of how people can get caught up in bad things for power and for money, especially in the United States. We learn that power is important and the more money and matieral things you have, the better you are in society, and sometimes people can get caught up in that idea instead of looking at the big picture of what they are doing, and if caught, the consequences that they may recieve.
I had never seen Wall Street before going into this, but I actually enjoyed it. The emotional content of the movie was pretty dark. Bud's change from a young stockbroker with aspiring honest simple and ethical ways to an unethical person and then progress back and realize the values his father had taught. Though if he had never been put in a situation that directly would affect his family, would he have even left the unethical path?
These tempting situations that Bud was put into really showed step by step his transition into the unethical world, fueled by money and exciting nightlife.
The mentor/protoge' relationship was also interesting to me, was Gekko motivated to take Buddy under his wing by greed, or did he feel like a father figure? maybe some of both.
Gekko was a very interesting character, I've actually heard his name mentioned in passing in association with greed and never quite connected the two. His need for power is vast and very apparent. He is not shy about admitting it either.
One of his quotes
"You see that building? I bought that building ten years ago. My first real estate deal. Solid it two years later, made an $800,000 profit. It was better than sex. At the time I thought that was all the money in the world, now it's a days pay." was interesting to me because of if a one time payment in the past he considered better than sex, what kind of attachment would you get to that rush of a payout daily? It would almost become addictive.
Like many other people, I had never seen this movie before and I found it confusing. Also, like many others, I do not understand Wall Street or stock broker lingo. The movie was based on Bud Fox's life. He is a lowly stockbroker in New York. He has a strong desire to be successful in his job. Bud manipulates his way to meet with Gordon Gekko, a successful and greedy corporate leader. Fox continues working at his current job and begins working shady business deals with Gekko. Both men are extrinsically motivated by money and power. However, Fox is looking for autonomy and self-efficacy in his job. He wants some control over his job and will work hard to succeed and become rich.
Fox and Gekko begin to manipulate the stock information with insider information about Fox's fathers company called Bluestar airlines.
I thought it was interesting during a game of raquetball between Fox and Gekko, Fox became tired and wanted to take a breather. However, Gekko told him he needed to work harder and push himself to become successful. Gekko also stated, "sheep get slaughtered", in order to be successful you cannot have any feelings, just do what you want and dont worry about others. Fox takes this information to heart when it comes to taking down his father's company, Bluestar airlines, and take the retirement fund. Fox is positively reinforced by money and power to continue in shady business deals with Gekko. Gekko also offers tangible rewards to Fox to continue in participating and engaging in these business deals. However, the tangible rewards Fox was receiving began to decrease his motivation and desire to continue working with Gekko.
I didn't find this movie that exciting. Yes, there was a lot going on and there was a lot of issues dealing with motivation, but it was hard for me to stay focused. Some of the areas of motivation that I did pay attention to though, were the needs that people have and how exactly people are motivated to meet their needs.
First of all, we see Gordon as a person who is highly driven to succeed. His psychological needs such as the want and need for power, control, success, and being at the top are shown throughout the movie. You can see this by his work ethics, the way that he treats others, especially those below him, and the type of lavish lifestyle that he lives. He takes control over his environment, which leads to him being as successful that he is, whether he does things honestly or not. We also see his social needs by Gordon always having to be surrounded by others at work, throwing lavish parties, going out on the town.
Next, we see Bud as a person lower on the totem poll, trying to make his way up to the top. He's willing to do anything to be in the position that Gordon is in. Bud is extrinsically motivated because he is gaining rewards through his successes, many of which are tangible. He has many incentives and reinforcements that encourage him to succeed and work hard to move forward in the company. We see this in many different ways including the check that Gordon gives him at the beginning of the movie, the escort that Gordon sends over for him to take him out on the town, the high status treatment that he's given, the office promotion, bonuses, and encouraging comments from Gordon and other employers. He also is driven by power and control. He wants the power that Gordon has and is tired of being a nobody in his work environment.
The movie also touches on morals and what some people are willing to do to get ahead in life. To me its unfortuneate how people will do things illegally or unethically in order for them to succeed, and it doesn't even fase them that they are doing it at the expense of others.
For me, this movie was difficult to follow, but over all I think I understood that the message was extrinsic motivation with reward and punishment.
It reminded me of one of those "typical" movies about success. Someone makes it big, and it goes to their head, they become a jerk to their "real friends", and then something bad happens and then they realize what an ass they have been and try to make up. The aspect about Wall Street and stocks bogged me down and I kept getting confused on who was doing what. But, it seemed Buddy was being driven was was motivated by money. For a while it seemed like he wasn't striving for success or achievement but instead money to show people he was someone. With money he could buy the fancy man pad, and have his hot girlfriend decorate it. Then after he made enough to do all of that and set himself up nicely he wanted to quit...to leave and go ride his bike around China. That was his dream.
This is unlike his father who puts in an honest days work and has so for 24 years to make a living. He is a loyal employee and works hard for his money. At the end of the movie when his dad is driving Buddy to the courthouse to go to jail his dad says something along the lines of now you'll respect working hard to make cash. You can't enjoy easy money.
For Buddy, money was a pretty large extrinsic motivator which made him work illegally just to get what he wants and ending in jail is a good punishment.
I, too, found this movie pretty confusing and boring for about the first hour. However, I agree that it became a lot more interesting during the second half. I actually thought this movie was similar to the movie Blow - the strive and greed for money through illegal means, and the fall because of it.
I think that the main characters, Bud and Gordon Gekko, were extrinsically motivated. They both were motivated to succeed, and measured "success" in terms of how much money they made, what material items their money could buy, etc. According to Reeve (2005), extrinsic motivation differs from intrinsic motivation by the why motivation to succeed arises. Because Bud and Gekko only "work" to get money, they display extrinsic motivation; Carl (Bud's father), on the other hand, displays intrinsic motivation, as he is more concerned with doing the job right, working hard to earn his pay, and maintaining the relationships he has with his family, friends, and coworkers.
We see Bud quickly transform into a greedy, stuck-up asshole from being someone who was still extrinsically motivated, but cared about his friends and used legal, ethical manners to achieve his money to someone who became too caught up in the moment.
Because all along he has been obsessed with making lots of money, I think that he also displayed operant conditioning. Reeve (2005) describes operant conditioning as "a process in which a person learns how to operate effectively in the environment through learning and engaging in behaviors that produce attractive consequences" (p. 135). He began the way all "small fish" do, trying to impress a "big fish" and get their attention. However, once Bud began impressing Gekko and became acquainted with the ways of how he did business, he also experienced the large payouts for his behaviors.
I will agree with the rest of you that Bud and the other major characters in this movie demonstrated extrinsic motivation through their greed and desire for money.
Sorry for the late comment, I had a Netflix mixup and a long work weekend... Anyways, I felt that this movie was pretty entertaining. I picked Psychology for a major, not business, so much of what was said during the movie was wayyyy over my head. Either way, I thought this movie exemplified greed and deception to its fullest. It's quite sad to see what people will do in order to make money; money is of course the root of all evil. What Bud experienced in this movie was motivated by both external motivation in that he wanted to be rich and even moreso, people to know he was rich. But another driving factor was the need to fulfill the social need of achievement. Bud wanted to show the world that he was successful and powerful. His desire for achievement started out just like anyone else in the business world, but Bud saw a chance to take a shortcut and it got the best of him. Like many entrepreneur's, Bud was high in achievement strivings and it showed in his desire to work around the clock. Atkinson's model of success states that there is a tendency to both approach success and a tendency to avoid failure. I believe both of these were fueled by Bud's father (which I found amusing that it was his actual real life father) who is very critical of his son. Bud's father expressed that he didn't think going to NYU was worth the money and can't understand why he is in stock broking. This pressure from Bud's father motivated Bud to take on a high difficulty of a task by making a lot of money (tendency to approach success) while still trying to avoid failure. In the end, Bud took the success of his father's company over his own personal success, thus making it seem as if he had failed. His coworkers saw his as failing, but his family saw him as a "winner," just as Hollywood wants it....
Since Bud Fox was the main character, he was obviously the most complex in terms of various motivations. His motivators changed throughout the course of the movie, as well. In the beginning, he was motivated by achievement. He wanted to succeed, do well, and reach his full potential through hard work and earning his rewards. This could be seen in his efforts and work and his persistence with trying to get ahold of Gekko. As he became associated with Gekko, his motives started to change. He started developing needs for power, money and to be recognized by others. He made a switch from intrinsic, self-motivation to extrinsic, money and power motivation. Toward the end of the movie his motives changed again, once he'd realized how much he'd changed and when he realized he didn't like the person he'd become.
Characters like Gekko were easier to identify in terms of motive, and his motives stayed constant throughout the movie. Gekko was always motivated by power. His money gave him power over people, his status and power over individuals working for him also fed his need for power. Gekko enjoyed coercing Bud into committing illegal acts in order to get information, and Gekko's character drew energy and pleasure from having that power over Bud.
This wasn't my favorite movie. I found it a little confusing at times especially in the beginning, but as it continued it got a little easier to follow. I am not very into nor do I really understand anything to do with the stock market or any of that sort of business in general so I found myself a little bored while watching this movie at times. The main character, Bud Fox, is a stockbroker in New York City who is willing to do whatever it takes in order to get ahead and be on top. He begins working with Gordon Gekko, one of the biggest brokers. Gekko takes Bud in and teaches him the "Need for Greed" which is basically his motto throughout the movie. I noticed that they are both very high in extrinsic motivation. They are driven by money and think of money as power. Gekko used certain incentives over Bud in order to get him to do what he wanted. I really didn't enjoy this movie very much, I was pretty bored while watching it just because I have absolutely no interest in this sort of thing. Lol,I guess I didn't have much motivation or incentive to watch the movie and enjoy it. I found it to be very boring. I think Mr. Gekko was extrememly greedy and demanding throughout the whole movie which I found to be annoying because I can't stand pushy and demanding people. I guess that's how people who are brokers and work in the stock market are, they usually have a Type A Personality.