Your analysis of Gekko is spot-on. I'll add that Gekko was so deep in his own short-term greed that he never even contemplated the idea that liquidating Bluestar could be a tremendous miscalculation. Anyone with two cells in their brain and any sense of their own self-interest would have foresaw that destroying Bluestar would have led Bud to turn against them. It was the one company which he had a vested emotional interest in because his father worked there. Instead he could have left operational control of Bluestar to Bud as its CEO, with himself silently holding the majority of the shares, and reap the rewards while keeping Bud eternally grateful. Gekko could have owned Bud Fox forever, but instead pushed him into destroying him.
That "flaw" is explained by Gekko's greed and selfishness having taken over his other senses. Greed made him do it, and selfishness made him think nothing would happen to him because of how influential person he is
Nice analysis, I enjoy when people criticize villains based on their objective failures in accomplishing their goal; as opposed to any moral grounds. Gekko definitely could've executed the process in a multitude of better ways than he did.
@@derrickstorm6976 It's not only that, Gekko explicitely saw Wall Street as a sum-zero game with winners and losers. Him buying Bluestar's equity at a low price, then liquidating its assets, would have been financially sound if, after analyzis, Gekko had concluded that there was no better way to turn the company's profitability around. Gekko's hubris was that this idea never entered his consideration, because he was dead-set in his dog-eats-dog mentality. Gekko meeting Bud again in the second movie shows an other way that plants the seed for Gekko's change of heart at the end, which would be totally out-of-character for a corporate sociopath like Gekko. His old nemesis, Sir Larry Wildman, went the other way and believed Bud Fox's thesis that Bluestar was salvageable. Even after his stint in prison, Bud had earned such much goodwill from everyone at Bluestar that, despite him being a corporate felon with a criminal record, he was voted back as CEO and allowed to make all the necessary cuts which turned Bluestar around. Far from being a Wall Street loser, Bud Fox did it as a "good guy" and ended up building his fortune doing so.
Obviously... You think someone with gekkos stature wouldn't know this...? If Gekko's firm has the mandate to invest debt restructuring they will... Look at how they trade, it's fast, highly liquid and emotionless. They are 1 person in the market, that's what makes a market...
no you missed the crucial line that Gekko uttered when Bud asked why he wrecked Bluestar? "Because it was WRECKABLE". The value of the numbers added up to more than the value of his alliance with Bud because he knew that even as a potential enemy, Bud Fox was no match against the Gekko machine. Also, Gekko even mentioned the story of the honeypot to Bud - the same very honeypot he had ensnared Fox in as his apprentice. An apprentice in which he also saw a younger version of himself.
oh please do Falling Down. It took me seeing Michael Douglas here his amazing performance in that.. a very different look at Evil even when the villain doesn't even realize that "he's the bad guy"
@@urielmejia8127 exactly or when he's trying to get breakfast at the fast food joint and hes 2 minutes past 1030. so he straight up pulls a gun on the employees and then realizes when he's already instilled fear in everyone that he'll just take a burger
Gordon Gekko accidentally inspired the over-gelled slicked back hair and some 1980s fashion. People emulated characters that were never meant to be emulated. Michael Douglas never intended for Gekko to ever be respected or admired.
True, people are dumb as hell they emulated the gekko, the Tony Montana, the Michael and Vito Corleone...it just shows how easily corrupted the human nature Can be...smh!
I also heard a story about a stock trader who told the creators that he thanked them as he was originally studying to become a doctor before watching the movie.
Great description of callousness, which is a key component of psychopathy. Many psychopaths, especially high IQ ones from stable backgrounds, go through life seemingly easily - until someone or something gets in their way. At that point, it doesn’t matter to them how much someone else will need to be hurt, as long as the psychopath gets their way.
From 12:30 to 12:40 I was absolutely floored by what you had said. You Sir, are an Absolute Gem. Lmao Other than that, Great Job and Keep up the Great Work Vile!
I don’t think that part of the video aged well considering that the “Ape” community has shown to be just as greedy and selfish, but the rest of the video still very much holds up
What makes Gecko so compelling to me is that he is completely honest with himself about what he is. He knows and admits that he adds no value to the world; all he does is make other people's lives harder by selling something for much more than he paid for it, and like any conman he takes pleasure in this fact. In the words of Lazlo from GTA V: "Have you seen my show? It's not funny; it's not original. That's my genius: I got no talent!"
@@GhostRydr1172 True but you could also say it was more aesthetically popular back then. Or at the very least, Reagonimics had yet to be disproven beyond belief
@That Guy indeed. Now Vile Eye states that Gordon is a sociopath and it begs the question I formulated years ago to someone that didn't believe in evil. Is evil real? Is all that we deem as "evil" is just various degrees of sociopathy, psychopathy or any other mental disorder. I just don't think so. Nen and women can commit evil acts, repent and "sin no more" without therapy/meds.. Are they mentally ill? Are antisocial jerks that do bad things continuously for kicks and without penance just mentally ill? It doesn't seem that simple an answer and to me mentally illness sounds more like a convenient excuse than underlying cause.
You guys mean nothing has changed in all of human history, right? Greed is one of the most primordial existential motivations lol, all of the greatest people in history were greedy bastards. Caesar, Napoleon, Alexander, Elizabeth, etc. Losers tell everyone that we shouldn't be greedy because they *lack the ability to satisfy their own greed* lmao. Fuck em, go achieve greatness
Please do Ramses from the Prince of Egypt some time. His story is so tragic and heartbreaking, while never trying to excuse the heinous actions he commits. And his slow downfall is both devastating, and dramatically ironic. And his dynamic with Moses is amazing. You feel bad for him while still understand that he’s in the wrong. 10/10 character.
Fully agree, though I have to point out a few things: -Slavery back then was pretty common. So many empires back then reached their prosperity through the use of slaves. Even the Hebrews had slaves of their own after they conquered Israel. -The Bible is somewhat contradictory. In this part, they say that Hebrews being enslaved is wrong, and yet there is another part where it says that slaves should obey their masters with both respect and fear. So, does that mean that everyone can be enslaved and have to be obedient except the Hebrews? -It's weird that Ramses' father, Seti, was the one who started the whole thing, and he even murdered Hebrew babies, and yet Ramses was the one being punished for simply following his father's traditions. -While not shown in the movie, the Bible states that Ramses was pretty close of letting the Hebrews go, but every time God hardened his heart and made him stay stubborn. I am a devoted Christian, but this whole part always made me feel weird. Just because I am a Christian, it doesn't mean that I have to agree with everything written on the Bible.
@@lisboah The Hebrews weren't actually slaves. They were given land on Egypt's frontier because they were excellent soldiers. Eventually Egypt got concerned about how good of warriors they were so started paying them to work on public works projects for which they were paid. So they went from mercenaries to common laborers which was not ok with the Hebrews
This channel is a gift that keeps on giving! Thank you for covering some of my favourite characters of all time. In the future, I’d love to see you analyse Wilson Fisk (Marvel’s Daredevil), Tommy Shelby (Peaky Blinders), Frank Underwood (House of Cards), Ernst Stavro Blofeld (007), Grant Ward (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD), David Xanatos (Gargoyles), Wesley Gibson (Mark Millar’s Wanted), James Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes), Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray) and Tom Riddle (Harry Potter) 🙏
Many of the Bond villains (especially the literary ones) would be welcome additions to the channel. I would also add a few suggestions to your list too including The Jackal (Day of the Jackal), Edgar (Men In Black), Ma-Ma (Dredd), Karl Ruprecht Kroenen (Hellboy), Tom Ripley (The Talented Mr. Ripley) Don Logan (Sexy Beast) Clarence Boddiker (Robocop) and Anton Phibes (The Abominable Dr. Phibes)
hi i think most everyone here has probably already noticed this but i wanted to say i always think its really cool how you manage to make the last word in your reviews "evil". i always look forward to your creative character descriptions at the end. keep making amazing content :)
Michael Douglas is a great actor who can play both convincing good guys and bad guys. Both Gordon Gekko and William Foster from "Falling Down" prove that. (Though Black Rain is probably my favorite one Douglas has done). If I could make a suggestion for a future villain, how about Scorpio from "Dirty Harry"? He's a villain that is both insane and cowardly, but is also collected, smart and manipulative.
I rewatched Falling Down for the first time in many years and it is still fantastic. :D I like that D-FENS doesn't become a monster over the course of it; he already was. We just see a man we empathise with and then gradually become more and more concerned with every action he takes and each piece of information we learn about him.
Great video on Gordon Gekko, a prime example of pure greed being evil here. You should definitely cover Jordan Belfort from Wolf of Wall Street in the future. Also could you do a video on Clyde Shelton from Law Abiding Ctizen? (I think he fits the trope of a sympathetic villain.)
One of the scariest parts of this character is how sexy his egotism is - we all need money, and want it. When we see Gekko owning this world in his own bubble, we want to be a part of that - just as much as Bud Fox. The sad part is finding out we were wrong and right all at once, when Gordon is both 'good' and bad for us.
In fact, Gekko acknowledges that "greed" is not the optimum word choice. His full sentence is "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good," though even "ambition" has pretty much secular and materialistic connotations today.
I remember watching this movie when I took film criticism in college and being entranced by Gordon Gekko, even though he was the villain. I never saw the sequel, but I'm curious as to how well it holds up to the original.
Fletcher is such a evil sucker..lol..i can't stand the end justify means type of people, specially for superficial things such as Glory, power, money, ego etc..
One thing I've heard said by people who are driven to make a lot of money is that past a certain point, it all turns into a scorecard, and the money becomes a way to compete with your own prior best and demonstrate to others how good you are.
When I was a kid I thought GG was so cool. After I got to my teens I started to appreciate the direction of the movie and realized that it was just a great movie overall. Love the scenes when Gordon fades into the darkness, true evil always fades into darkness.
Thanks for doing an episode for Gordon Gekko. With that being said, I want to recommend another villain from another Michael Douglas film: Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction.
This is a great channel, as a lot of people have commented Michaels character in Falling down would be great, one of my all time favorite movies and here is another suggestion from a lesser known movie which stared Michael Keaton called Extreme Measures, he plays a great villain thats pretty complicated
In a few years, artificial intelligence will take care of the most difficult mathematical calculations and perform the best market analysis. I even dare to say that the job of broker is in danger of extinction.
People motivated by money and material possessions such as gekko are unbearable..the movie was made to criticize greed but dumb audience didn't get the message..they only Saw his dumb lavish lifestyle and wanted the same thing..smh!
@@Bombadil-ez9ns That ain't bad actually.🤔 That's like asking if the Devil is truly evil or just a troll. And that can be a legit question, if he tempts is he really evil or did he tease the evil already within you to emerge. I've teased someone into fighting me to the point of they drew a knife and I still doing just to fuq with him.
i think a video on either the kurgan from highlander, carl from ghost, or the aliens from they live would make for an awesome analyzing evil video! love your stuff dude
Another great entry. Very insightful. Would you please consider any of the foolowing for a future video: *Ned Trent & The Leon crime family - The Specialist (1994) *Dorian Tyrell - The Mask (1994) *Major Vic "Deak" Deakins - Broken Arrow (1996) *Thulsa Doom - Conan The Destroyer (1982)
Jerry Dandrige from Fright Night (1985, that would be a treat for us 80's horror people or The Caller from Phone Booth...... Thank you and your channel is 🔥🔥🔥🔥 10/10
Michael Douglas has said that after the first movie he got fed a k from real investment brokers who described Gordon Gekko as their idol, the man they wanted to be. And that he found such responses disturbing as Gekko is a liar, cheat, and backstabbed. Not a person anyone should look to as a role model. He tanks with Tony Montana and Tyler Rierden that way.
I could see that. The character (and film itself, thanks in no small part to writer/director Oliver Stone) is meant to be a representation of everything wrong with 1980s America--greed, ignorance, self-centeredness, callousness, hypocrisy, and short-sightedness personified into one despicable weasel of a man. And as you said, Gekko is far from alone in terms of '80s fictional characters wrongly looked up to as role models rather than cautionary tales by those wanting cheap ways to feel better about themselves without putting in the actual hard work of soul-searching and self-improvement.
Gordon Gekko was a beast who did what everyone else that wanted to be at top was doing in 80s. Just had to keep friends close but enemies even closer. Not pissing off men with more power and connections than you. Gordon's downfall was his greed and trusting his pal,Bud. Rat wore a wire on man who Bud came to not other way around.
Also, another character you could analyse is Silco from Arcane. He does some bad things but his ultimate goal is to free his people from oppression. Also, he respects his friend, Vander, even though he murdered him and Silco was heartbroken by Vander betraying him and attacking him. He also loves his adopted daughter, Jinx, and his relationship with her greatly humanizes him to the point hwere he gives up on his goals to protect her from Piltover. His death is one of the saddest scenes in the series and this speaks volumes about how well-written he is.
It's harder to sum up a human being than a character, because people are infinitely more complex and messy, with a pile of additional details thrown into their lives that may or not be relevant to why they do what they do. Still, plenty of true crime documentaries and podcasts give it a shot.
Can I ask you a question? Do you make money on your videos? Because you should and with the views you get I’d assume it was a decent amount. Or do you just do this becuase you enjoy it?. Either way I love your content keep it up.
That being said - all true and spot on. The character of Gordon Gekko, while certainly not to be emulated, is one of my favorite movie characters ever written. The way he is structured and presented is what I'm talking about. Superbly written, and BRILLIANTLY acted. That character, as portrayed by Michael Douglas, made a shocking impact.
After watching your (again) well crafted video, it just dawned on me how closely ambition and greed can be, and easily they can be confused for one another, because they stem from a similar source; a strong motivational desire for success.
Gordon Gekko is a hero. I thank him for the way he presented himself and taught me everything necessary to overcome poverty and start making money as a healthcare professional. "It's all about money, the rest is conversation". Now I see every cheap bastard from a mile away and charge them extra when they call back. Thanks.
Gordon Gekko is not a psycopat. He is a machiavellian with a high degree of narcissism. It`s the narcissism that makes him go into crime. He don`t belive the rules apply to him ( entitelment). And have a general lack of empathy on the macro level. He also cheats on his wife. But he don`t seem like the type to do murder. At least not himself. I think if he was a politician he would most likely also be doing crimes/scams/corruption etc. And has the charm and intelligence to go strait to the top.
Just wanted to comment saying the quality of the narration has improved immensely in this video. Comparing this narration to the narration in the Davy Jones video, he's definitely stepped up a notch in the delivery of the script.
Future considerations: Agent Smith from The Matrix series Handsome Jack from the Borderlands series Hector Salamanca from Breaking Bad Nicky Santoro from Casino Jimmy Conway from Goodfellas Mr. Blonde from Reservoir Dogs Practically any character from Pulp Fiction Christof from The Truman Show Nosferatu from multiple sources Neil McCauley from Heat The Thing from The Thing Jake LaMotta from Raging Bull Biff from Back to the Future Khan from Star Trek Wilford from Snowpiercer (film)
What is it about evil that I find so fascinating? I believe I’ve seen every video on your channel, and I never fail to watch new videos as soon as I’m able. Great work as always.
Tom Ripley, Grindelwald, Vincent (collateral), Kuroro lucifer, meruem (hunter x hunter), nagato, kimimaro(Naruto), shinobu sensui(yuyu hakusho) Karl von bulow, Philip and Elisabeth Jennings, makishima (psychopass), Helen Pierce (Ozark), ben Linus (Lost) morgana and mordred (merlin), lalo Salamanca, killmonger...
Michael Douglas had massive charisma, as Kirk and Oliver Stone was hard to him an got the best of him. Michael wanted after few days to give up acting in this movie.. That´s why Gekko is so favourite. It is just acting.
Gordon Gekko's "greed is good" speech is used on many MBA courses (including mine). I remember citing the UA-cam video for it in my first assignment. And as you say the interpretation of greed our lecturers used was as a synonym for ambition.
Phenomenal performance by Michael Douglas. He just exerted ego and evil. I'm glad this movie actually portrayed this guy as a dangerous sociopath instead of just a successful businessman worthy of envy. This movie was an eye opener for the American people to learn what our system actually does to us. Or it was supposed to be anyway. Some people took the wrong lessons
I see this request on almost all the videos he's done(some made by yours truly). Someday hopefully he does Verbal Kent/Keyser Soze. If I had 3 wishes I'd wish understanding, world peace, and vile eyes take on Keyser soze😆.
actually when Bud shows reservations about spying on Sir what's-his-face, GG goes on the offensive and reminds Bud that he already engaged in insider trading when he revealed that the court will rule in favor of the unions, or something like that, which Bud used to impress GG and get in his good graces.
Madoff is a different kind of raider, he only stole from the rich to himself, that why he go to prison, in "civilised" society, is pretty standard practice to take every penny and the house of any grandma that you can find, and not go to prison, but if you dare to take money from the rich or enter their club without being one them, you go to prison.
I love all your analyses!! Seriously, I am a big fan of your content. Just in case it's helpful though, the word 'awry' is pronounced 'uh-WRY' and not 'AW-ree' because it is taking the word 'wry' and putting an 'a' in front of it, similar to 'amiss' or 'askew' (if you think that's strange, because of the definition of the word 'wry,' you'll find me in agreement). Thanks for the wonderful videos!
i like the scene in part 2 where Josh Brolin and LeBoeuf are talking....he ask Brolin...'whats your number, you're number to just walk away(how much money would it take)' Brolins answer: "more". That perfectly sums up greed and Wall St excess in one word.
I just watched Falling Down and I thought it was a great movie. It’d be cool to see an episode on Foster since his actions can be considered evil in a way but he doesn’t seem to realize it
A video on kreia from kotor would be cool, it’s and old game but her philosophy and beliefs are so unique especially for someone in the Star Wars universe
Honestly KOTOR has a lot of pretty interesting villains that would be cool to analyze. We have Kreia, Revan, Darth Nihilus, the Sith Emperor... Honestly, Vitiate is one of the few villains in fiction that probably could surpass Palpatine in terms of body count and manipulation.
(Video request: Janine 'Smurf' Cody & Andrew 'Pope' Cody from Animal Kingdom) Mr. Vile Eye sir, yet another wonderfully crafted video essay. You should be a writer! Amazing!
I've heard the difference between a sociopath and psychopath described as follows: A psychopath doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. A sociopath known the difference, they just don't care.
Excellent episode. I would love to see an analyze about Jordan Belfort b/c he is enough like Gordon, but different enough to get his own episode. Other villains I'd like to see: Vic Mackey from the Shield, The Jack Nicholson Joker, and Andrew Cunanan from American Crime story if you want to do a character that has a real world version.
@@Joe_Karably an episode about Vic Mackey would be as long or longer than the Tony Soprano episode. Vic did some pretty heinous things to put it lightly.
Hey Mr. Eye, great video, now i have a suggestion for a villain for you (well a villainess sort of) her name is Patty Bladell from the Netflix dark comedy-drama series Insatiable (there's only 2 seasons and 22 episodes by the way) sadly they canceled the show after the second season which really, really sucks, anyway Patty was a very well written character who you generally felt sympathy for at times, the other characters on the show were really great too as well, so yes if you ever get the chance please do an episode on this character, okay thanks for your channel and all the videos that you post on here, keep up the great job 😉
Your analysis of Gekko is spot-on. I'll add that Gekko was so deep in his own short-term greed that he never even contemplated the idea that liquidating Bluestar could be a tremendous miscalculation. Anyone with two cells in their brain and any sense of their own self-interest would have foresaw that destroying Bluestar would have led Bud to turn against them. It was the one company which he had a vested emotional interest in because his father worked there. Instead he could have left operational control of Bluestar to Bud as its CEO, with himself silently holding the majority of the shares, and reap the rewards while keeping Bud eternally grateful. Gekko could have owned Bud Fox forever, but instead pushed him into destroying him.
That "flaw" is explained by Gekko's greed and selfishness having taken over his other senses. Greed made him do it, and selfishness made him think nothing would happen to him because of how influential person he is
Nice analysis, I enjoy when people criticize villains based on their objective failures in accomplishing their goal; as opposed to any moral grounds. Gekko definitely could've executed the process in a multitude of better ways than he did.
@@derrickstorm6976 It's not only that, Gekko explicitely saw Wall Street as a sum-zero game with winners and losers. Him buying Bluestar's equity at a low price, then liquidating its assets, would have been financially sound if, after analyzis, Gekko had concluded that there was no better way to turn the company's profitability around. Gekko's hubris was that this idea never entered his consideration, because he was dead-set in his dog-eats-dog mentality.
Gekko meeting Bud again in the second movie shows an other way that plants the seed for Gekko's change of heart at the end, which would be totally out-of-character for a corporate sociopath like Gekko. His old nemesis, Sir Larry Wildman, went the other way and believed Bud Fox's thesis that Bluestar was salvageable. Even after his stint in prison, Bud had earned such much goodwill from everyone at Bluestar that, despite him being a corporate felon with a criminal record, he was voted back as CEO and allowed to make all the necessary cuts which turned Bluestar around. Far from being a Wall Street loser, Bud Fox did it as a "good guy" and ended up building his fortune doing so.
Obviously... You think someone with gekkos stature wouldn't know this...? If Gekko's firm has the mandate to invest debt restructuring they will... Look at how they trade, it's fast, highly liquid and emotionless. They are 1 person in the market, that's what makes a market...
no you missed the crucial line that Gekko uttered when Bud asked why he wrecked Bluestar? "Because it was WRECKABLE". The value of the numbers added up to more than the value of his alliance with Bud because he knew that even as a potential enemy, Bud Fox was no match against the Gekko machine. Also, Gekko even mentioned the story of the honeypot to Bud - the same very honeypot he had ensnared Fox in as his apprentice. An apprentice in which he also saw a younger version of himself.
"Causing thousands of people to lose their jobs without them ever having a say in the matter is abhorrent." This. That's the spirit. Keep going.
what "say" should they have? Tell me. I want to use it when I suefor keeping my job as a payphone repairman.
Hurt them back ruin the short sellers
Edit: Got my terminology wrong
That presupposes that they, by right, are owed the job and that the loss of the job is a violation of said right. Nobody is owed a job.
So many bootlickers responding to this comment defending Gecko.
socialism will win my friend 🚩🚩
oh please do Falling Down. It took me seeing Michael Douglas here his amazing performance in that.. a very different look at Evil even when the villain doesn't even realize that "he's the bad guy"
Yes that is a must now that Gordon has made the list.
Yes please this
He wasn't the villain, he just wasn't economically viable.
Especially in the scene at the country club house with the family where he first realizes he might be the bad guy
@@urielmejia8127 exactly or when he's trying to get breakfast at the fast food joint and hes 2 minutes past 1030. so he straight up pulls a gun on the employees and then realizes when he's already instilled fear in everyone that he'll just take a burger
Gordon Gekko accidentally inspired the over-gelled slicked back hair and some 1980s fashion. People emulated characters that were never meant to be emulated. Michael Douglas never intended for Gekko to ever be respected or admired.
True, people are dumb as hell they emulated the gekko, the Tony Montana, the Michael and Vito Corleone...it just shows how easily corrupted the human nature Can be...smh!
True. I heard Michae Duglas in an interview state this fact.
I also heard a story about a stock trader who told the creators that he thanked them as he was originally studying to become a doctor before watching the movie.
Gekko is an American icon
Pat Riley inspired that hair
Great description of callousness, which is a key component of psychopathy. Many psychopaths, especially high IQ ones from stable backgrounds, go through life seemingly easily - until someone or something gets in their way. At that point, it doesn’t matter to them how much someone else will need to be hurt, as long as the psychopath gets their way.
Gordon gekko is a sociopath
Well those psychopaths RUN the show of our lives and our society so people should start learn from them if we don’t want to loose in their game
From 12:30 to 12:40 I was absolutely floored by what you had said. You Sir, are an Absolute Gem. Lmao
Other than that, Great Job and Keep up the Great Work Vile!
I had to rewind it since he used such philosophical dialect
I don’t think that part of the video aged well considering that the “Ape” community has shown to be just as greedy and selfish, but the rest of the video still very much holds up
There's a reason why greed is on the 'seven deadly sins' list and ambition isn't. You explained this quite well. 👍
What makes Gecko so compelling to me is that he is completely honest with himself about what he is. He knows and admits that he adds no value to the world; all he does is make other people's lives harder by selling something for much more than he paid for it, and like any conman he takes pleasure in this fact. In the words of Lazlo from GTA V: "Have you seen my show? It's not funny; it's not original. That's my genius: I got no talent!"
I mean to be fair this is what any investor does: hopefully sell a stock more than you paid for it.
“Greed, for lack of better word, is good.” Yes that sums up much of 80s economic pop culture quite nicely.
You could say nothing has changed in 40 years, even at the cost of one market created crash/recession after another.
@@GhostRydr1172 True but you could also say it was more aesthetically popular back then. Or at the very least, Reagonimics had yet to be disproven beyond belief
@That Guy indeed.
Now Vile Eye states that Gordon is a sociopath and it begs the question I formulated years ago to someone that didn't believe in evil. Is evil real? Is all that we deem as "evil" is just various degrees of sociopathy, psychopathy or any other mental disorder. I just don't think so. Nen and women can commit evil acts, repent and "sin no more" without therapy/meds.. Are they mentally ill? Are antisocial jerks that do bad things continuously for kicks and without penance just mentally ill? It doesn't seem that simple an answer and to me mentally illness sounds more like a convenient excuse than underlying cause.
@@GhostRydr1172 It's gotten worse, much worse.
You guys mean nothing has changed in all of human history, right? Greed is one of the most primordial existential motivations lol, all of the greatest people in history were greedy bastards. Caesar, Napoleon, Alexander, Elizabeth, etc.
Losers tell everyone that we shouldn't be greedy because they *lack the ability to satisfy their own greed* lmao. Fuck em, go achieve greatness
The Vile Eye is consistently excellent.
Always
Yessir it is
Please do Ramses from the Prince of Egypt some time. His story is so tragic and heartbreaking, while never trying to excuse the heinous actions he commits. And his slow downfall is both devastating, and dramatically ironic. And his dynamic with Moses is amazing. You feel bad for him while still understand that he’s in the wrong. 10/10 character.
Fully agree, though I have to point out a few things:
-Slavery back then was pretty common. So many empires back then reached their prosperity through the use of slaves. Even the Hebrews had slaves of their own after they conquered Israel.
-The Bible is somewhat contradictory. In this part, they say that Hebrews being enslaved is wrong, and yet there is another part where it says that slaves should obey their masters with both respect and fear. So, does that mean that everyone can be enslaved and have to be obedient except the Hebrews?
-It's weird that Ramses' father, Seti, was the one who started the whole thing, and he even murdered Hebrew babies, and yet Ramses was the one being punished for simply following his father's traditions.
-While not shown in the movie, the Bible states that Ramses was pretty close of letting the Hebrews go, but every time God hardened his heart and made him stay stubborn.
I am a devoted Christian, but this whole part always made me feel weird. Just because I am a Christian, it doesn't mean that I have to agree with everything written on the Bible.
@@lisboah I believe the Bible to be a Paleolithic version of asops fables. Meant to teach lessons but clumsily told
You'd basically have to do Prince of Egypt and The 10 Commandments in one video because the character is essentially the same.
@@lisboah The Hebrews weren't actually slaves. They were given land on Egypt's frontier because they were excellent soldiers. Eventually Egypt got concerned about how good of warriors they were so started paying them to work on public works projects for which they were paid. So they went from mercenaries to common laborers which was not ok with the Hebrews
@@nickdarr7328 Wow, that's actually interesting.
This channel is a gift that keeps on giving! Thank you for covering some of my favourite characters of all time. In the future, I’d love to see you analyse Wilson Fisk (Marvel’s Daredevil), Tommy Shelby (Peaky Blinders), Frank Underwood (House of Cards), Ernst Stavro Blofeld (007), Grant Ward (Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD), David Xanatos (Gargoyles), Wesley Gibson (Mark Millar’s Wanted), James Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes), Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray) and Tom Riddle (Harry Potter) 🙏
Many of the Bond villains (especially the literary ones) would be welcome additions to the channel. I would also add a few suggestions to your list too including The Jackal (Day of the Jackal), Edgar (Men In Black), Ma-Ma (Dredd), Karl Ruprecht Kroenen (Hellboy), Tom Ripley (The Talented Mr. Ripley) Don Logan (Sexy Beast) Clarence Boddiker (Robocop) and Anton Phibes (The Abominable Dr. Phibes)
I’m not sure Tommy Shelby or Wesley Gibson are villains.
hi i think most everyone here has probably already noticed this but i wanted to say i always think its really cool how you manage to make the last word in your reviews "evil". i always look forward to your creative character descriptions at the end. keep making amazing content :)
Michael Douglas is a great actor who can play both convincing good guys and bad guys. Both Gordon Gekko and William Foster from "Falling Down" prove that.
(Though Black Rain is probably my favorite one Douglas has done).
If I could make a suggestion for a future villain, how about Scorpio from "Dirty Harry"?
He's a villain that is both insane and cowardly, but is also collected, smart and manipulative.
I rewatched Falling Down for the first time in many years and it is still fantastic. :D I like that D-FENS doesn't become a monster over the course of it; he already was. We just see a man we empathise with and then gradually become more and more concerned with every action he takes and each piece of information we learn about him.
A movie and character that perfectly represents how Wall Street truly works and its mentality.
Man, I'd never thought I'd see Gordon Gekko on here but I'm glad he is. Gordon was a delightfully evil character to watch! Thanks for posting this!
Great video on Gordon Gekko, a prime example of pure greed being evil here. You should definitely cover Jordan Belfort from Wolf of Wall Street in the future.
Also could you do a video on Clyde Shelton from Law Abiding Ctizen? (I think he fits the trope of a sympathetic villain.)
Quite honestly one of the best channels. Thank you for sharing your brilliant mind with the world.
One of the scariest parts of this character is how sexy his egotism is - we all need money, and want it. When we see Gekko owning this world in his own bubble, we want to be a part of that - just as much as Bud Fox. The sad part is finding out we were wrong and right all at once, when Gordon is both 'good' and bad for us.
Not all of us. I myself have no desire to become filthy rich by destroying others lives. Rising tides, ya know?
Love your analyses, a lot of them are on movies I haven't watched in a while so I end up going back and rewatching them after watching your videos
I been recommending for this for a while and so glad you did it. Your analysis is just perfection.
What a great villain. One of my all time favourite villains. Cunning and just down right crafty.
In fact, Gekko acknowledges that "greed" is not the optimum word choice. His full sentence is "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good," though even "ambition" has pretty much secular and materialistic connotations today.
Dude, you’re the shit! Gordon is one of my all time favorite characters.
Gordon Gekko is much like every politician that's ever existed
I remember watching this movie when I took film criticism in college and being entranced by Gordon Gekko, even though he was the villain. I never saw the sequel, but I'm curious as to how well it holds up to the original.
Your ads are very relevant to your content it's the only time I ever just watch through as well.
This is masterful. The soundtrack you play adds the perfect environment. This channel is of high caliber.
I like this one! Terrance Fletcher from ‘Whiplash’ would be good to see.
I’d like to add Blackheart from ‘Ghost Rider’, and Frank Nitti from ‘The Untouchables.’
Fletcher is such a evil sucker..lol..i can't stand the end justify means type of people, specially for superficial things such as Glory, power, money, ego etc..
Gordon Gekko is controversial, but not evil
I love this channel. And the fact you’ll never run out of content anytime soon is even better.
10:17 almost word for word with the wolf of wallstreet guy, how did they even manage to make this so accurate?
Been a fan for a while and your videos are interesting even if I don't know the story you're talking about. I admire the variety keep it up man!
Jordan Balfort was basically the real life version of this guy.
One thing I've heard said by people who are driven to make a lot of money is that past a certain point, it all turns into a scorecard, and the money becomes a way to compete with your own prior best and demonstrate to others how good you are.
When I was a kid I thought GG was so cool. After I got to my teens I started to appreciate the direction of the movie and realized that it was just a great movie overall. Love the scenes when Gordon fades into the darkness, true evil always fades into darkness.
Thanks for doing an episode for Gordon Gekko.
With that being said, I want to recommend another villain from another Michael Douglas film:
Alex Forrest from Fatal Attraction.
Yes!
Been asking for this 1 👍🏾👏🏾
This is a great channel, as a lot of people have commented Michaels character in Falling down would be great, one of my all time favorite movies and here is another suggestion from a lesser known movie which stared Michael Keaton called Extreme Measures, he plays a great villain thats pretty complicated
Don’t think casuals would have seen this movie, not mainstream enough for you, Vile.
What the hell is a "casual"?😆
@@doctorthirteen5499 People who only watch mainstream movies like dark knight. There’s not many arthouse movies on this channel.
I remember being a kid wanting to work at Wall Street cause money...turns out I suck ass at mathematics and am more of a visual person.
ah if only learning was easy, I'd be rich
In a few years, artificial intelligence will take care of the most difficult mathematical calculations and perform the best market analysis. I even dare to say that the job of broker is in danger of extinction.
People motivated by money and material possessions such as gekko are unbearable..the movie was made to criticize greed but dumb audience didn't get the message..they only Saw his dumb lavish lifestyle and wanted the same thing..smh!
Work in Data then
@@LucasN00b Genetics play a key part in it being more difficult unfortunately, something you can’t really control…
Excellent. Your video analysis helps to understand the movies better.
I'd love to see you talk about Omni Man from Invincible
I wouldn't say Omni Man. He is a soldier.
@@undeadblizzard So were Nazis
@@leonrobinson8180True.
A video on lord of the rings characters would be cool. Such as Sauron, Saruman, and Gollum
While Sauron is my favorite villain from the Tolkien universe, both Saruman and Gollum would be the most interesting to analyze.
There's not much to say about Saruman and Sauron, their evil nothing much to explain there, except for Gallum&Smigle, he's a good case study tho
I would be more interested in a video about the ring itself. A sentient and malevolent McGuffin.
It's funny how Tyler durden is the extreme opposite of Gordon gekko lol...
@@Bombadil-ez9ns That ain't bad actually.🤔
That's like asking if the Devil is truly evil or just a troll. And that can be a legit question, if he tempts is he really evil or did he tease the evil already within you to emerge. I've teased someone into fighting me to the point of they drew a knife and I still doing just to fuq with him.
Excellent analysis. Ambition is good , not greed.
i think a video on either the kurgan from highlander, carl from ghost, or the aliens from they live would make for an awesome analyzing evil video! love your stuff dude
Another great entry. Very insightful. Would you please consider any of the foolowing for a future video:
*Ned Trent & The Leon crime family - The Specialist (1994)
*Dorian Tyrell - The Mask (1994)
*Major Vic "Deak" Deakins - Broken Arrow (1996)
*Thulsa Doom - Conan The Destroyer (1982)
Jerry Dandrige from Fright Night (1985, that would be a treat for us 80's horror people or The Caller from Phone Booth...... Thank you and your channel is 🔥🔥🔥🔥 10/10
May I suggest analyzing Kingpin from the Netflix Daredevil series? There's a lot of material there.
Michael Douglas has said that after the first movie he got fed a k from real investment brokers who described Gordon Gekko as their idol, the man they wanted to be. And that he found such responses disturbing as Gekko is a liar, cheat, and backstabbed. Not a person anyone should look to as a role model. He tanks with Tony Montana and Tyler Rierden that way.
I could see that. The character (and film itself, thanks in no small part to writer/director Oliver Stone) is meant to be a representation of everything wrong with 1980s America--greed, ignorance, self-centeredness, callousness, hypocrisy, and short-sightedness personified into one despicable weasel of a man. And as you said, Gekko is far from alone in terms of '80s fictional characters wrongly looked up to as role models rather than cautionary tales by those wanting cheap ways to feel better about themselves without putting in the actual hard work of soul-searching and self-improvement.
Gordon Gekko was a beast who did what everyone else that wanted to be at top was doing in 80s. Just had to keep friends close but enemies even closer. Not pissing off men with more power and connections than you. Gordon's downfall was his greed and trusting his pal,Bud. Rat wore a wire on man who Bud came to not other way around.
Just watched wall street Michael Douglas was fantastic probably one of his best roles Charlie sheen was also great in this movie
Also, another character you could analyse is Silco from Arcane. He does some bad things but his ultimate goal is to free his people from oppression. Also, he respects his friend, Vander, even though he murdered him and Silco was heartbroken by Vander betraying him and attacking him. He also loves his adopted daughter, Jinx, and his relationship with her greatly humanizes him to the point hwere he gives up on his goals to protect her from Piltover. His death is one of the saddest scenes in the series and this speaks volumes about how well-written he is.
I'd really love to see an episode on Caesar from Fallout: New Vegas!
It would be cool if he also did an analyzing evil for only non-fictional characters. Serial killers, worst war criminals etc.
That may be a little too tricky although awesome if done well. But I doubt UA-cam would monetise such content.
@@LucLB01 Good point
It's harder to sum up a human being than a character, because people are infinitely more complex and messy, with a pile of additional details thrown into their lives that may or not be relevant to why they do what they do. Still, plenty of true crime documentaries and podcasts give it a shot.
D-fens from Falling Down would be an interesting video.
Can I ask you a question? Do you make money on your videos? Because you should and with the views you get I’d assume it was a decent amount. Or do you just do this becuase you enjoy it?. Either way I love your content keep it up.
That being said - all true and spot on. The character of Gordon Gekko, while certainly not to be emulated, is one of my favorite movie characters ever written. The way he is structured and presented is what I'm talking about. Superbly written, and BRILLIANTLY acted. That character, as portrayed by Michael Douglas, made a shocking impact.
After watching your (again) well crafted video, it just dawned on me how closely ambition and greed can be, and easily they can be confused for one another, because they stem from a similar source; a strong motivational desire for success.
You are brilliant! Your character studies on dark characters are top notch.
Can you please do Frank Underwood from house of cards!!!!
Gordon Gekko is a hero. I thank him for the way he presented himself and taught me everything necessary to overcome poverty and start making money as a healthcare professional. "It's all about money, the rest is conversation". Now I see every cheap bastard from a mile away and charge them extra when they call back. Thanks.
It would be hilarious if you did Will Smith or Chris Rock for April Fools Day, lol
Definitely NOT Chris Rock.
@@TeamCat1128 why not Chris rock? He’s not truly a fault here at all due to the situation, it’s mainly smith’s fault.
How's was that evil?It was more of a lack of communication.
Please. Analyzing Evil : James Moriarty (BBCs Sherlock)
Gordon Gekko is not a psycopat. He is a machiavellian with a high degree of narcissism. It`s the narcissism that makes him go into crime. He don`t belive the rules apply to him ( entitelment). And have a general lack of empathy on the macro level. He also cheats on his wife. But he don`t seem like the type to do murder. At least not himself. I think if he was a politician he would most likely also be doing crimes/scams/corruption etc. And has the charm and intelligence to go strait to the top.
Just wanted to comment saying the quality of the narration has improved immensely in this video. Comparing this narration to the narration in the Davy Jones video, he's definitely stepped up a notch in the delivery of the script.
Been looking forward to this one. Bravo! As others have suggested her, Defens would be ideal for analysis.
Since you did Gekko you should do a Jordan Belfort analysis.
Future considerations:
Agent Smith from The Matrix series
Handsome Jack from the Borderlands series
Hector Salamanca from Breaking Bad
Nicky Santoro from Casino
Jimmy Conway from Goodfellas
Mr. Blonde from Reservoir Dogs
Practically any character from Pulp Fiction
Christof from The Truman Show
Nosferatu from multiple sources
Neil McCauley from Heat
The Thing from The Thing
Jake LaMotta from Raging Bull
Biff from Back to the Future
Khan from Star Trek
Wilford from Snowpiercer (film)
What is it about evil that I find so fascinating? I believe I’ve seen every video on your channel, and I never fail to watch new videos as soon as I’m able. Great work as always.
Tom Ripley, Grindelwald, Vincent (collateral), Kuroro lucifer, meruem (hunter x hunter), nagato, kimimaro(Naruto), shinobu sensui(yuyu hakusho) Karl von bulow, Philip and Elisabeth Jennings, makishima (psychopass), Helen Pierce (Ozark), ben Linus (Lost) morgana and mordred (merlin), lalo Salamanca, killmonger...
Which Tom Ripley? IMO Damon's is superior
@@jessebrucepinkman9834 i only Saw the damon's version Never Saw the original..how it was?
Lmao I needed to remember Sheens character was called “Bud Fox” cause they way Vile says it .. caught me off guard the first couple times 😂😂
Michael Douglas had massive charisma, as Kirk and Oliver Stone was hard to him an got the best of him. Michael wanted after few days to give up acting in this movie.. That´s why Gekko is so favourite. It is just acting.
Gordon Gekko's "greed is good" speech is used on many MBA courses (including mine). I remember citing the UA-cam video for it in my first assignment. And as you say the interpretation of greed our lecturers used was as a synonym for ambition.
Gekko wasn't speaking about ambition but pure greed..people lie to themselves..
@@fideletamo4292 Ambition drove his greed or greed drove his ambition. I've never really understood which came first.
“Oh f*ck yeah” was my immediate reaction to seeing this in my feed
Phenomenal performance by Michael Douglas. He just exerted ego and evil. I'm glad this movie actually portrayed this guy as a dangerous sociopath instead of just a successful businessman worthy of envy. This movie was an eye opener for the American people to learn what our system actually does to us. Or it was supposed to be anyway. Some people took the wrong lessons
I'd like to see one on Keiser Soze from The Usual Suspects.
think you could tackle that one? Love your work, thank you.
I see this request on almost all the videos he's done(some made by yours truly). Someday hopefully he does Verbal Kent/Keyser Soze. If I had 3 wishes I'd wish understanding, world peace, and vile eyes take on Keyser soze😆.
actually when Bud shows reservations about spying on Sir what's-his-face, GG goes on the offensive and reminds Bud that he already engaged in insider trading when he revealed that the court will rule in favor of the unions, or something like that, which Bud used to impress GG and get in his good graces.
Madoff is a different kind of raider, he only stole from the rich to himself, that why he go to prison, in "civilised" society, is pretty standard practice to take every penny and the house of any grandma that you can find, and not go to prison, but if you dare to take money from the rich or enter their club without being one them, you go to prison.
I love all your analyses!! Seriously, I am a big fan of your content. Just in case it's helpful though, the word 'awry' is pronounced 'uh-WRY' and not 'AW-ree' because it is taking the word 'wry' and putting an 'a' in front of it, similar to 'amiss' or 'askew' (if you think that's strange, because of the definition of the word 'wry,' you'll find me in agreement). Thanks for the wonderful videos!
I haven't seen the movie but still heard of him,maybe he's iconic?
Movie is great, definitely worth a watch!
The first one is a classic.
Don't bother seeing the sequel, unless you're really, really bored
Gordon is bad, but Bud stabbing him in the back was even worse(betraying your boss).
He's not evil. He's awesome.
YESSS!!!! I been waiting for this one😎😎
i like the scene in part 2 where Josh Brolin and LeBoeuf are talking....he ask Brolin...'whats your number, you're number to just walk away(how much money would it take)' Brolins answer: "more". That perfectly sums up greed and Wall St excess in one word.
I just watched Falling Down and I thought it was a great movie. It’d be cool to see an episode on Foster since his actions can be considered evil in a way but he doesn’t seem to realize it
A video on kreia from kotor would be cool, it’s and old game but her philosophy and beliefs are so unique especially for someone in the Star Wars universe
Honestly KOTOR has a lot of pretty interesting villains that would be cool to analyze. We have Kreia, Revan, Darth Nihilus, the Sith Emperor...
Honestly, Vitiate is one of the few villains in fiction that probably could surpass Palpatine in terms of body count and manipulation.
The perfect Kreia video already exists.
(Video request: Janine 'Smurf' Cody & Andrew 'Pope' Cody from Animal Kingdom)
Mr. Vile Eye sir, yet another wonderfully crafted video essay. You should be a writer! Amazing!
From the time I saw GG say “Greed is good” I’ve been hoarding commodities ever since.
I've heard the difference between a sociopath and psychopath described as follows: A psychopath doesn't know the difference between right and wrong. A sociopath known the difference, they just don't care.
Here’s another: psychopaths are born; sociopaths are made.
In the grande scheme, a psychopath would carve up a sociopath.
Motivation for not just no fantasize, but to actually do it
Excellent episode. I would love to see an analyze about Jordan Belfort b/c he is enough like Gordon, but different enough to get his own episode. Other villains I'd like to see: Vic Mackey from the Shield, The Jack Nicholson Joker, and Andrew Cunanan from American Crime story if you want to do a character that has a real world version.
Vic Mackey 100%
@@Joe_Karably an episode about Vic Mackey would be as long or longer than the Tony Soprano episode. Vic did some pretty heinous things to put it lightly.
stone is easily one of my all time favorite directors. absolute masterclass
Also, I would like to see more characters from video games on this channel. So far, you have covered only 3 villains from video games.
Excellent video. I wouldn’t throw Icahn in there w the others, but I see your point. Again, love this series.
Wall Street aka a documentary about Yuppie culture.
I love your videos. Could you consider analyzing Jordan Belford in "The Wolf of Wall Street".
Hey Mr. Eye, great video, now i have a suggestion for a villain for you (well a villainess sort of) her name is Patty Bladell from the Netflix dark comedy-drama series Insatiable (there's only 2 seasons and 22 episodes by the way) sadly they canceled the show after the second season which really, really sucks, anyway Patty was a very well written character who you generally felt sympathy for at times, the other characters on the show were really great too as well, so yes if you ever get the chance please do an episode on this character, okay thanks for your channel and all the videos that you post on here, keep up the great job 😉
Alright! I've been waiting for
this one for some time.
You know what MONEY never SLEEPS and GREED is Still GOOD😅