Major Research Paper

Garick Miller

English 103

Professor Luke Vasielou

November 14, 2010

Trading Places : A True look at New York City in the 1980’s

The movie Trading places gives a realistic view of New York city back in the 1980’s. The reason being because it greatly depicts the to extreme spectrums of the class system in it. Showing a young, wealthy, white, stock broker who is on the up and up. Then showing a young, homeless, Blackman who is living day by day.

Back in the early 80’s the economy was trying to rebound from a horrible stint coming out of the 70’s. Stagflation a term that describes when unemployment and inflation rise, was raising through out the 70’s until it hit it’s all time high in 1980. Also the misery index in which adds the unemployment rate and the inflation rate together also hit it’s all time high in 1980 (wikipedia.com), so you could just imagine the poverty face by people in the early 80’s. Especially in New York city where the unemployment rate was above 9.7% in 1983(labor.gov.ny). That making the city worst off because it had already been in great debt from the 70’s.

But even though the economy was in turmoil things were becoming better little by little. Mostly on Wall Street where a phenomenon was being formed and it was called the “Yuppie”. “Yuppie” as they were called stood for young urban professional (Urbandictionary.com). Yuppies were just graduated from college and weren’t upwards the age of 24, they started to become popular in the early 80’s on Wall Street. As represented in the movie by Dan Aykroyd’s character William Winthorp yuppies were very wealthy. They usually live in upscale parts of Manhattan and were very well pampered.

Yuppies even though young did very well on Wall Street and were seen to be at that time the saviors and front runners to bring the United States economy back to fruition. Just look at this quote made by Jean Baudrillard;
“The Yuppies are not defectors from revolt, they are a new race, assured, amnestied, exculpated, moving with ease in the world of performance, mentally indifferent to any objective other than that of change and advertising.” Jean Baudrillard (Strangewoundrous.net)
But yuppies like William Winthorp in the movie were pretty much middle to upper class white kids who really probably never had to work a hard blue collar day in their life. With that type of reputation they were obviously resented by other people during that time where some many people in the city were fighting tooth and nail for every cent they could make. This made them a big target for robberies and thefts.
In the early 80’s robberies sky rocketed especially in 1981 where there was a reported 120,344 robberies (disastercenter.com) which was the largest amount reported up until that time. The race and class of people who were doing the robberies were lower class Hispanic and Black people. With that being stated there was a fear of those people as shown and very well depicted in a scene where Eddie Murphy’s character Bill Ray Valentine and Dan Aykroyd character bum into each other outside a meeting of the members of Duke & Duke a big Wall Street firm. In the scene as said Valentine bumps into Winthorp who is automatically gets the thought in his head that he was just robbed because when he was bumped his suitcase fell into valentine’s lap and without hesitation he screams for the police saying he is being robbed but even with valentine trying to give back his briefcase and reason being his so quick to think that is because that valentine is a Blackman and is in raggedy clothing.
Race relations in New York City or anywhere in America wasn’t that great in the 80’s. With the introduction of Ronald Reagan and his administration in the white house, Blacks were about to go through a time to where they would see the government basically forget about them and cut many programs that were implemented to specifically to help them, Hispanic Americans, and any other poverty stricken people. Ronald Reagan and his administration were hated and criticized by Blacks during the 80’s, people like Thurgood Marshall who was the first Black supreme court judge appointed ever to the supreme court who said this about Reagan;
"I think he's down with Hoover and that group…when we really didn't have a chance."(Encyclopedia.com)
Louis Farrakhan even going as far as saying that America should pay Blacks they’re reparations since they are not going to be taken care of;
"If America does not have the will to bring about a change within a permanent underclass, then…what does America owe us? Reparations must include the freeing of all blacks from state and federal penitentiaries. Then let us ask our brothers and sisters in Africa to set aside a separate territory for us, and let us take the money that America is spending to maintain these convicts and [invest it in] a new reality on the African continent."(encyclopedia.com)
Even though his policies and tactics were controversial, they did help the economy for whatever reason.
One of the places Reagan’s policies helped was Wall Street as I talked about with the yuppies. Wall Street is the worlds biggest stock trading Mecca. Back in the 80’s Wall Street was very corrupted in the fact that there were many illegal things being done. In the movie it shows this as the owners of the Duke & Duke Randolph and Mortimer pay a sort of informant to get them secret information for them to win a bet they had with some other stock broking firms and also for their company to become even wealthier. In the 80’s though there were many firsts and innovations that helped out with the frantic non stop buying and selling of stocks. In 1982 Wall Street had it’s first ever 100 million share day (NYSE.com) and also in 1984 the Super Dot 250 was implemented and it’s purpose was to connect the heads of stock broking firms to their trading floor people to better their buy and sell effectiveness (NYSE.com).
Now for all the good that happen for Wall Street from 1980 to 1986 in 1987 Wall Street crashed. It’s illegal ways finally caught up to it. “Black Monday” as it is known was back on October 19,1987.
The Rent at the time in New York City was also high. Which made it even more difficult to live in the city. With some many people either not making just enough money to scrap by or not making nearly enough money and having to move to public housing and other cheaper venues. This is depicted well in the movie when Jamie lee Curtis’s character Ophelia takes Winthorp to her apartment in the slums of the city and when talking about her home she says “ it’s not big ,but it’s cheap” which about sums up how it was in the city back then with rent.
Here’s the full plot summary of the movie:

In the movie Trading Places starring Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd, two men from
different backgrounds, ethnicities, financial circumstances etc… and shows how they’re surroundings dictate they’re behavior and personality. Trading Places takes places in the winter of 1983. The movie shows a young, wealthy, successful stock broker William Winthorp(Dan Aykroyd) working for a company Duke & Duke. This stock broking company he works for in the movie is controlled by two brothers; Ralph and Mortimer Duke. As I said before William Winthorp is a very successful stock broker,he lives in a very classy and rich neighborhood. He has a butler that also doubles as a his limo driver. He plans to marry to the Dukes niece and he is on the fast track of becoming even wealthier. On the other hand we have Billy Ray Valentine(Eddie Murphy) who is a crook and con artist. He’s a homeless man who rolls around on a wooden plank with wheels on it and beg or cons them into giving him money. His con is saying that he’s a lost his legs and his sight in the Vietnam war. He does whatever he has to do to survive. William and Billy cross paths when Billy is stopped and questioned by two cops in the park to see if he is a local con artist that they have had reports about and to do so they took away his rolling wooden plank to see he can walk and his glasses to see if he can see and they find that he was lying but let him go. Then after his plank gets taken away he walks back out of the park he was in and bumps into William and knocks him down to the ground by mistake William. When Billy says sorry to him he freaks out and says that Billy tried to rob him most likely he accuses him because of his race and the way he’s dressed as a bum. So when William accuses Billy of the robbery the same cops that let him go come back and arrest him with the Duke brothers looking on. The Duke brothers seeing this Randolph bets his brother that he could make Billy into a great executive and human being saying that Billy is a product of his surroundings and if the surrounding were changed that he would be a great executive, They also bet that William would resort to criminal activity if pushed to the brink and put around unsavory surroundings. So the Duke’s make the bet which is only for one dollar and set up a plan to where William is caught stealing money from the firm and will be arrested. When William is found the next day with the supposed stolen money on him he is immediately taken away by the cops and banished from the Duke’s firm. While in the mean time the Duke’s bail out Billy to see if he could be civilized and lose his criminal ways if put in a suitable and non hostile environment, so the Duke’s take him and tell him they will give him a Job at the firm and they also will provide him with a house, car, servant, etc.... Meanwhile that’s taking place William is in jail until he is bailed out by the Duke’s niece and then in which is gets his wedding engagement called off by her when the Duke’s henchman pays a prostitute to kiss him. That prostitute is Jamie lee Curtis’s character Ophelia which takes in William when he tells her about his situation. Billy and William live a couple a days in each other shoes and the Randolph Duke is proven right by in which Billy turning out to be a very bright businessman and William crashing the firms Christmas party trying to plant drugs in Billy’s desk and then pointing a gun at him making threats. But Billy finds out what the Duke’s did and goes and seeks out William and tells him about the bet and everything the Duke’s planned. So then Billy, William, Ophelia, and the butler create a plan to trick the Duke’s into selling stock which will eventually make them go broke and while they buy it and the money goes to them. All in all the plan works and Billy and William take down the Duke’s.

The 1980’s were a turbulent time in New York City everything considered. The movie Trading Places definitely depicts the city in the way it really was back then.















Citing page:
"Race Relations." American Decades. 2001. Encyclopedia.com. (December 2, 2010). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3468303126.html

Highest Statewide Unemployment Rate Since 1983 Number of Unemployed in New York State Reaches New High . Albany: , 2009. Web. 2 Dec 2010. .

"New york crime rates 1960-2009." disastercenter.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec 2010. .

"Quotes about yuppies." Strangewondrous.net. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec 2010. .
"Firsts and records." NYSE.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec 2010.

"Yuppie." Urbandictionary.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 2 Dec 2010.

Special project 1

The narrative of the visit from my point of view was just to show the history of images and how they have evolved overtime. The tour basically just was to show how people began to take standard still photos and make them look like there in motion. At the beginning of moving image it people started using things like the Thaumatrope, this device uses an optical illusion to trick your mind into seeing the images on each side of the piece of paper look like there moving.

Blog 11

Garick Miller
Professor Louis Loucca
Mass Media/Evolution HUC 120
October 26, 2010
George W. Bush and his influence on Mass media and the Press
George W. Bush had a great impact on the way media is run now in the United States. The First amendment states that the press has the freedom to report whatever they want whenever they want. But in essence that’s true to a certain extent. The press many years made large strides in their reporting and covering and in the late 90’s the media’s influence was significantly high. But that all changed after President George W. Bush was elected to office in 2000. As soon President Bush got into office it seemed like he and his administration were at war with the press.
Now at first there were no signs that President Bush and his administration were going to try to regulate the media so much. In 2000, his first year of his first presidential term, he really was oblivious to the media and how they operated. But that changed after September 11, 2001 when the Twin towers and the Pentagon were attacked by terrorist. After that event the media and President Bush would be in a battle for how much freedom the first amendment really gives. So here is the start of the demise of the American media.
After September 11 the media was in frenzy. Everyone in the media was trying to figure out:
1. What really happened?
2. Who was this done by?
3. Did the government know that an attack was coming?
And the President Bush and his administration seemed a bit overwhelmed by the hoop-la and non-stop questions by the media and what now should be known as pulling a “Bush” was started. What I mean by that is President Bush would be in a press conference being bombarded by hard questions and basically stumbling threw an answers. Or if asked by a reporter he likes (as it will say in this quote from Michael Crowley of the New york Observers) that he what look at them as if are you really gonna ask me that I thought were friends.
“Others said Mr. Bush will glare at a reporter whom he likes personally for asking an unexpectedly tough question, as if it were a betrayal. Viewers of Alexandra Pelosi's 2000 campaign documentary, Journeys with George , will recall Mr. Bush icily, if briefly, turning on her after a grilling about the death penalty.”
Even though Bush at some points looked dumb founded by certain questions the media posed nobody in the media seemed to want to pry deeper into things. One reason being is because at that time when the president was talking about Afghanistan and Iraq and there “Weapons of Mass destruction” people just went along with it. Believing what he said or just be so angry about what happened that he could he could of said a secret society of mole people from Alaska were involved and most of the country would have said lets go bomb Alaska.
But over the span of 2 years (2002-2003) nothing was found in Iraq and Osama bin laden wasn’t found in Afghanistan. So people started to wonder what President Bush was really doing. Was he;
A. Really looking for weapons and had beyond a reasonable doubt that he was gonna find them.
B. That he knew Iraq was involved and in the attacks and maybe he didn’t know for sure if they had weapons of mass destruction.
C. He knew Iraq wasn’t involved but back in 1990 Saddam Hussein tried to mess with his father and this was his revenge plot.
D. Or last and what is looking like would be the case is that he knew they didn’t have jack squat and said fuck were going in there anyway.
But never the less the media still didn’t question him. It was almost like he punked the media into not asking him or his administration any of these questions about what was really going on.
But that started to change in 2004 when the Bush was running for his second term as president. The Iraq war drudged on with no results being seen. This war that was hyped up but the government that everything would be solved and the truth would come out that Saddam Hussein and Iraq was a big part of the attacks, started to show signs that it was all for not.
When the Bush began to be questioned about this is when the media and the bush administration would really begin to go to war. At first his way to combat this type of second guess questioning was to say it was not “Patriotic” to question if we should really be in Iraq. The same tactic used when people would criticize the war and his handling of it was now starting to be waged against the media. This if your against the war or if you question us about the war you’re a traitor tactic definitely started the to definitely shake up the press. Many journalists and pundits who questioned the war and anything that do with how Bush was handling it was swiftly vilified as a Non-patriotic American.
That type of label definitely would scare off anyone from asking questions. That was Bush’s and is administrations go to move.

“While young Americans are dying in the sands of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan, our nation is being torn apart and made weaker because of the Democrats' manic obsession to bring down our commander in chief.”

“I have zero desire, just so you know, to be in the limelight. I don't think it's good for the country to have a former president criticize his successor. You're not going to see me giving my opinions in the public arena, until I start selling my book. I'm going to emerge then submerge.” George W. Bush
These quotes and many others were just some of the many times that President Bush resorted to using this.
But it wasn’t only him doing this to the media. Other media outlets began and were the biggest participators in this practice. The biggest being Fox News Channel.
To Fox news this was like there daily routine to as soon as someone asked something that in their mind was not at good thing to ask they would pounce on you.
“Is it that you hate this president or that you hate America?” Sean Hannity
“With that being said, you are a Democrat. You are saying, "Let's cut and run." And I have to tell you, I have been nervous about this interview with you, because what I feel like saying is, "Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies." And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way.” Glenn beck(The CRAZIEST OF THEM ALL!!!)

“Listen, citizens of San Fransico, if you vote against military recruiting, you're not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead. And if Al-Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we're not going to do anything about it. We're going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead” Bill O’Reilly.
Fox news to be used like this by the Bush administration is pretty ironic. For the simple fact that he was using a media outlet in essence to try to censor the rest of the media. The constant tries to censor or to hush the media did not stop there.
In 2001 even when he did get asked some tough questions the answers he gave never really answer the question as seen here in this excerpt;(also from Michael Crowley)
“Question: Why not give Iraq more time to disarm?
Bush: "This issue has been before the Security Council … for 12 long years."
Question: Why don't our allies want war?
Bush: "Saddam Hussein has had 12 years to disarm … Saddam Hussein is a threat … Sept. 11 changed the strategic thinking … Sept. 11 should say to the American people that we're now a battlefield …. "
Question: Why has world opinion turned on you?
Bush: "Saddam Hussein is a threat … 12 years of denial and defiance …. "
Question: How is your faith guiding you?
Bush: " … the tragedy of September the 11th … the lesson of September the 11th …. "
Question: How much will war cost?
Bush: "Three thousand people died." “
In president Bush’s 2 terms in office he was never really that good in the way he carried himself so that his opponents couldn’t violate him and his image at every turn they got. The Iraq war and Afghanistan weren’t the only mess up’s that he had and then when the media try to question him he got defensive. Hurricane Katrina, one of the worst national disasters in America history. In 2005 when this tragedy happen it took the president bush and his cabinet it took a full 2 days for the president to react in time to send aid. When asked about why it took so long the Bush responded by saying he should take full responsibility.
In 2006 is when the war between Bush and the media war hit it’s peak. This because the New york times ran a article in they’re paper telling that the government had a secret program that monitored the bank accounts of suspected terrorists. The President was very angry about this calling the times report “Disgraceful”. The anger being so much that some people in congress were calling for the Times to be put on trial for treason. But that never came to be the case.
In closing the Bush administration and himself were very influential on how the media is run today. They’re use of scare tactics and slander of anyone who opposed them really the U.S. media back. President bush’s almost censored the media and succeeded to a certain extent. But the first amendment will never go away.











WORK CITED;
BrainyQuotes.com, Web.
Wikipedia.org, Web.
Campbell, Richard . Media and Culture an introduction to mass communications. 2009. Bedford, Print. Saletan, William. Imperial President. Slate.com, Web.
Crowely, Michael. Bush eats the press. New york: The New york observer, Web.

Blog 8

a) give a description of your "other."

My other is people who say “Sports doesn’t build character”

b) explain what it is about it that makes you feel such opposition to it

The reason I feel opposite to it is because most of the people who say or believe that probably never played a sport in they life and if they did they it was probably like 1 year which probably didn’t go well for them. I feel as if more kids get involved in sports it will help them develop basic common curtsies.

c) discuss what has happened or would happen in situations where you have to interact with someone who belongs to "the other" as you define it. You should make sure that you do not write something offensive to members of that group, but at the same time if you keep good manners you should express your ideas openly.

A situation where I had to interact with someone who belong to my other was when I had to deal with my uncle who believes that sports are a waist of time. It was about 4 years ago when my uncle tried to talk my father out of letting me play so many sports and let me get a job. My father didn’t listen and then he tried to talk to me and see if I would do it and I told him I like playing sports so I would not quit any of the teams I was on. My uncle still disagrees with me and my father but that is just his opinion.

Blog 9

Irony. In the  movie “Hero” irony  plays a big part in the way the movie is seen. There many instances in  the movie where ironic situations come up. In the movie “Hero” the main character Bernie Laplante is really a not so pleasant person, he has a criminal record, he has many legal problems, he lies a lot and does many illegal things, even when he’s in court with his attorney he steals money out of her purse to pay her back money he owes her. While on the other hand John Bubber is a under privileged man who yet is a good Samaritan who is a very honorable and trust worthy person. But even though Bernie wouldn’t even give back a lost wallet who went into a plane and saved 54 people and even though John is a very honest person he lies and says that he saved the people, the irony being that these to characters are polar opposites but yet they still do the thing that the other one would do. That’s just one of the ironies this movie portrays, here’s some more examples of this pattern.

Another example of irony in the movie is after Bernie saves the people from the plane and goes to see he’s son and then gets kicked out the house trying to explain why he was late(saving the people) and the only reason he saved the people in the first place was when his son told him that his ex-wife’s boyfriend who was a fireman saved a man from a fire and he said he was hero. Then when his ex-wife’s boyfriend came home from the plane accident he called the guy who went into the burning plane crazy and when his ex-wife said you sound like the my ex-husband the boyfriend said he “I should probably meet this guy he sounds like he has his head on straight”.  The irony in that being that the only reason Bernie went in there in the first place was to impress his kid because he heard about the fireman but then the fireman calls the guy that went in the burning plane crazy and says that Bernie was a smart guy for not being the type of guy to do that.

The biggest ironic moment that comes up to me is when Bernie and John are on the side of the building and they’re talking about the whole situation with Bubber lying to the everyone and taking credit for saving the people, and Bernie talks him into staying with the story. It’s ironic because Bernie was being accused of buying the purse off of Bubber and black mailing him, but yet when Bubber’s on the ledge he goes out and basically saves him by talking him out of jumping and then Bernie slips on the ledge and Bubber saves him from falling. The ironies are that Bubber saves Bernie from falling, The fake hero who lied saved the real hero.

The purpose of irony in the movie is to show how a person like Bernie Laplante  who’s a crook and a somewhat rotten person can still have another side to him, same thing goes for John Bubber who also show he has another side to him.  Irony is also used to show how the media sometimes are wrong in what they report, seeing that in this case what they reported was the total opposite of what happen. Irony is the theme of this movie because it is the best way for the viewer to understand the concept of what the movie is trying to get across.

Many things in life are ironic. There are ironic situations that happen everyday and with that being said still no one usually sees these things coming. I guess irony just works funny that way and the movie “Hero” portrays it very well.

Follow up Blog 8

One time when I was seen as the other was when I was coming back from my cousins house and before I left my cousin asked me to help him take up parts of his computer because he had just came back from college. While doing so then finishing I proceeded to walk down the stairs of his building when I saw him having trouble with the boxes so I ran up back the stairs to help and then saw he got helped from a man inside the lobby. After seeing that I lightly jogged back down the stairs into my other cousins car. Then out of no where the guy from the lobby comes to the car and flashes a police badge telling me and my other cousin to get out of the car. The dude thought I was like a drug dealer because I ran up to the door and then he thought I saw him and that’s why I left back the stairs knowing in his words he was a cop(but he was an undercover cop not in uniform with nothing showing he was) and then when I told him was just helping my cousin the guy you just helped in the lobby he didn’t believe me because my cousin looks white although his not and I look black so the cop automatically thought of me as the other and thought I was lying because of our different skin tones. Finally when I called my cousin to come back downstairs and tell him that I wasn’t lying, the cop apologized(knowing he was a jackass) and let me and my other cousin go.

Blog 6

Irony. In the  movie “Hero” irony  plays a big part in the way the movie is seen. There many instances in  the movie where ironic situations come up. In the movie “Hero” the main character Bernie Laplante is really a not so pleasant person, he has a criminal record, he has many legal problems, he lies a lot and does many illegal things, even when he’s in court with his attorney he steals money out of her purse to pay her back money he owes her. While on the other hand John Bubber is a under privileged man who yet is a good Samaritan who is a very honorable and trust worthy person. But even though Bernie wouldn’t even give back a lost wallet who went into a plane and saved 54 people and even though John is a very honest person he lies and says that he saved the people, the irony being that these to characters are polar opposites but yet they still do the thing that the other one would do. That’s just one of the ironies this movie portrays, here’s some more examples of this pattern.

Another example of irony in the movie is after Bernie saves the people from the plane and goes to see he’s son and then gets kicked out the house trying to explain why he was late(saving the people) and the only reason he saved the people in the first place was when his son told him that his ex-wife’s boyfriend who was a fireman saved a man from a fire and he said he was hero. Then when his ex-wife’s boyfriend came home from the plane accident he called the guy who went into the burning plane crazy and when his ex-wife said you sound like the my ex-husband the boyfriend said he “I should probably meet this guy he sounds like he has his head on straight”.  The irony in that being that the only reason Bernie went in there in the first place was to impress his kid because he heard about the fireman but then the fireman calls the guy that went in the burning plane crazy and says that Bernie was a smart guy for not being the type of guy to do that.

The biggest ironic moment that comes up to me is when Bernie and John are on the side of the building and they’re talking about the whole situation with Bubber lying to the everyone and taking credit for saving the people, and Bernie talks into staying with the story. It’s ironic because Bernie was being accused of buying the purse off of Bubber and black mailing him, but yet when Bubber’s on the ledge he goes out and basically saves him by talking him out of jumping and then Bernie slips on the ledge and Bubber saves him from falling. The ironies are that Bubber saves Bernie from falling, The fake hero who lied saved the real hero.

Many things in life are ironic. There are ironic situations that happen everyday and with that being said still no one usually sees these things coming. I guess irony just works funny that way and the movie “Hero” portrays it very well.