Wall Street & Mentorship Derrick Higgins College

The 1987 film Wall Street is an American financial drama displaying the life of a young and upcoming stockbroker, Bud Fox, as he learns to traverse the money-churning waters of Wall Street in New York City. Bud, the biological son of an airline union leader, finds himself charmed by the seductive powers of an extraordinarily wealthy Wall Street tycoon, Gordon Gekko, who takes Bud under his mentorship. In many senses, Gordon becomes a father that Bud felt he never had as Gordon teaches him how to live a high-flying life driven by money and power in ways which his father never could. Yet, at the height of his power and increasing wealth, Bud finds himself making a decision in which he is torn between the worlds of his two father figures. The advice given to Bud by his biological father, Carl, and Wall Street mentor, Gekko, as well as the decisions Bud makes throughout the film, demonstrate the influence that one world of tremendous wealth through deceit and another opposing world of integrity have on Bud, and the man he eventually decides to be.

Gekko’s influence on Bud begins as a distant star and chance of fame. Bud, being a studious stockbroker, knows of Gekko’s wealth and aims to begin business with him. One morning, Bud’s...