Bonfire Of The Vanities and “The Wolf On Wall Street”

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The movie “The Wolf On Wall Street” was a Martin Scorsese interpretation on a memoir by Jordan Belfort, a millionaire who managed to out con his way to the top at any cost. The film, as well as the book, share precise details of Jordan Belfort’s life, and how he managed to cheat, lie, and out smart his way into millions. Jordan Belfort read the book The Bonfire Of The Vanities and used it, as well as the writing style of Hunter S. Thompson, as his inspiration to write his own book, which then became the movie. Although the movie was not directly based on Tom Wolfe 1987 classic The Bonfire Of The Vanities, it does share several similarities, as well as differences, to the memoir.
Without understanding the history of the two stories, it is not very clear how they seem to all intertwine so easily. The Bonfire Of The Vanities was, in fact, written by Tom Wolfe in 1987, and is written as a message from Tom to the audience to show his interpretation of New York in the 1980’s. The literary technique he used when writing the novel were those of a journalist, written so well that it can entice the audience and provoke them to continue reading. In his writings Tom tells the story of Sherman McCoy who very early on in the story is pronounced as “ the master of the universe,” which is an image that is also shown in the movie “The Wolf On Wall Street.” This movie is based off of Jordan Belfort’s life story that he shared with the public in his memoir, which shares the same name as the movie. Jordan Belfort was an intelligent and cunning man that could con his way into almost anything he desired. This talent, and of course for the money, lead Belfort to become a genius stockbroker in none other than New York City. Belfort had one dream in mi...

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...en Jordan, Leonardo Dicaprio, will not turn in his partner and rather turns in every single other partner he had.
The Bonfire Of The Vanities and “The Wolf On Wall Street” are both fantastic takes on the New York elite one percent corruption. They both show the lack of general human nature when becoming successful, and the ups and downs that come with being a “master of the universe.” It is a fantastic spotlight that is not very often shown, and that is on the subject of the rich abusing money and every one around them in the process. The movie and the book did have several similarities, the writing style of the book to the script, the successful young main character, etc. and several differences as well, the content of racism, the over abundance of drugs parties and sex in the movie, etc. However, both tell a story about corruption and greed, and do it well.

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