ASIAN PACIFIC CHRISTIAN SCHOOL, INCORPORATED

Block 2 Cristo Rey, Capas, Tarlac

Academic Year 2023– 2024
Senior High School Department

A CRITIQUE PAPER USING THE LENSES OF MARXIST

CRITICISM IN
The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort

A Tale of Dangerous Desires

In Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Senior High School
Humanities and Social Science Strand
Reading and Writing Skills

Submitted by:
Vladymer L. Reyes
Grade 11-Chronicles

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 The Wolf of Wall Street was first published as a book by the American author Jordan Belfort before it
was adapted as a movie in 2013. Shockingly, the main character itself in the movie is Jordan Belfort and the
events that occurred in the movie were his memoir as a former stockbroker and trader. In the present time,
Jordan Ross Belfort is an author and motivational speaker who frequently share his life as a fraud before and
using this as inspiration to others.

The Wolf of Wall Street was published in 2007 by Jordan Belfort containing his life experiences as a
wealthy fraud stockbroker. Later in 2013, it was adapted as a movie and the main character is Leonardo Di
Carpio with a similar name as Jordan Belfort. The movie manifested the roller coaster life of Jordan from being
a poor employee in a brokerage company to being filthy rich as he created his own company not only as a
successful businessperson but also as a drug and sex addict. However, the conflicts arise when it was
determined he was a fraud trader.

Jordan Belfort aspires to send the belief that money is not the definition of success, self-improvement
is. In contrast, success and self-improvement are two contradictory points. The mindset that is already printed in
the mind of society is when you are successful, you have a lot of money. Additionally, successful people are
disciplined, trustworthy, responsible, etc., As a reader, you can visualize it in the situation from the book of
Mark Manson titled, ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck.’ Mark Manson conveyed the story of a man who
has a low-paying job and he is also an alcoholic, and womanizer. Opportunely, he is a good writer therefore, his
skills became an instrument for him to get a more stable career where he can earn more. Unfortunately, his
habits of being alcoholic and womanizer were not removed, albeit he became a successful author. There are two
things to be considered here, money will change you like Jordan Belfort or money will transform you into the
worst like the man in the book of Mark Manson.

The critiquing of this movie entitled, 'The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort' was focused on the
socioeconomic lifestyles and ideologies that are shown in this movie.
The position of being bourgeoisie—those who control the world’s natural, economic, and human
resources and proletariat—the majority of the global population who live in substandard conditions and who
have always performed the manual labor would be difficult to convey hence, it depends on the perspective of an
individual. However, some groups have markedly different socioeconomic lifestyles, as most of us saw in the
movie ‘The Wolf of Wall Street.’

The first one is poor, in the introductory part of the movie, the main character is Jordan Belfort who
has limited educational and career opportunities; he is an employee in a brokerage company but still struggling
financially. This was evident when Belfort gave an inexpensive bracelet or necklace to his first wife.

Unfortunately, the company that he is working for collapsed. Jordan Belfort accepted a new work. Yet,
it is not enough therefore, he used his work experience to stand up and took a risk. He established his own
brokerage company with his new friend Donnie Azoff. Belfort and Azoff hired other men to be their employees.
The first week of their job does not go well therefore, Belfort provided them with a script that serves as a
technique on how to effectively communicate with clients. Luckily, with this method, the company performed
great, and the life of Jordan Belfort upgraded. Finally, he became financially established.

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 As time went by, the company of Belfort grew. He hired more employees, and he is now well-to-do,
who can afford an expensive home, several cars, and luxury items.

Belfort became extremely wealthy, Jordan's company is now well-established, and can now afford a
mansion, sports car, personal helicopter, and yachts. The life of Jordan Belfort is the perfect epitome of a
different socioeconomic lifestyle.

Moreover, capitalism is apparent in this movie. Unquestionably, the readers alternatively, audiences
can immediately perceive it in the title itself. 'The Wolf of Wall Street’ Wall Street is an eight-block long street
in New York City's Financial District. Jordan Belfort is a trader and stockbroker, in simple terms, the movie
elucidated the world of the stock market. To raise capital, private or public listed firms sell stock which is
purchased and sold by investors in a market where supply and demand directly affect pricing.

Furthermore, the ideology of the American dream was also emphasized in the movie. The American
dream is the notion that everyone can achieve their version of success in a society, regardless of where they
were born or what class they were born into. Let us focus on the group of friends of Jordan Belfort in the movie,
who are Donnie Azoff, Chester Ming, Nicky Koskoff, and Alden Kupferberg. These men are considered the
poor in socioeconomic lifestyles for the reason these men have low-paying jobs, so their side-line is selling
weeds which is illegal. These characters have different races, places where they were born and classes
nevertheless, they all achieved their satisfaction of success when they joined forces with Belfort.
The next ideology is consumerism or shop-’till-you-drop-ism. In consumerism, a person's satisfaction
is primarily determined by the acquisition of consumer goods and material belongings. An example of
consumerism in the movie is the obsession of Belfort with buying excessive things, such as mansions, personal
helicopter, sports car, additionally, when he bought a yacht and luxury items for his second wife Naomi. In
addition, his obsession is spending money on a worthless matter such as renting women, alcohol, and drugs.
Consumerism was verbally displayed when the father of Jordan Belfort came to his office and rant and showed
records about the useless things that Belfort and his friends purchased.

Equally important is classism. Classism is an ideology that correlates a person's value as a human
being with his or her social class. As a reader or audience, you will see the disparity between the wealthy and
the poor in this movie. Prostitutes represent the poor, and Jordan Belfort is the rich, who spends his money
recklessly on ladies, drugs, and parties every night. Poor people can become desperate albeit they exchange
their dignity to earn money. Additionally, if we will go back to the first part of the movie, the friends of Belfort
and himself did unethical actions such as selling drugs and shifted as a fraud in business by the fact they are part
of social class as being poor.

Accordingly, The Wolf of Wall Street is an instrument to open the eyes of society to the ideologies in
Marxism that happen in one’s existence specifically, in America. The majority of Americans currently identify
as middle class, yet American society and culture are far more divided. One of the most powerful cultural
influences in America is social class, which is defined as a mix of educational achievement, money, and
occupational status. Also, it elucidated the ideologies, work in cultural production, and analyzed how that
ideology supports or undermines the socioeconomic system.

The work that elicited the life of Jordan Belfort highlighted socioeconomic analysis that uses a
materialist interpretation of historical development developed by Karl Marx. Additionally, it also displays the

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negative side of being in the higher class which you can buy everything with money. Belfort’s work enlightened
everyone to the subject matter of Marxism and its ideologies that are driving in society.