Trading Places Analysis

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Film Comedy: Trading Places Student’s Name University Affiliation Date Film Comedy: Trading Places Movies are created with the intention of entertaining all the while sending a message to the society. The producers therefore have the duty of making sure that the work is not tangential to the original situation as much as possible. The different ways in which they declare the best way of sending the message to the community defines the genre of the movie. It could either be a drama, mystery, comedy of a mixture of these. In the film directed by John Landis and produced by Aaron Russo, the movie Trading Places earned wide acclaim at the time that it was introduced into the Hollywood industry. Central actors in the film, such…show more content…
In literature, comedy is intended to make the audience laugh at the particular scene, as first started in Greece. The movie satisfies this qualification, as the characters are able to mock, ridicule, jest and use sarcastic, satirical and ironical means to achieve their goals. Furthermore, the director includes a black in the movie, thus introducing not only the concept of societal classes, sexism and societal prejudice, but also outlines the issue of racism. Towards the end of the movie, one sees that the black (Billy Valentine), who was previously mocked, now fits in a society as if he were a white, especially one who befits the status of the once rich Louis Winthorpe. As Billy Valentine first gets that Louis was willing to set him up with drugs, he shows just how low he had stooped, although he may not have seen that game that the Duke brothers had set. The brothers changed the life of one man overnight, just for a game. Therefore, as a payback scheme, the Billy, Louis, Ophelia and Winthorpe’s butler organize a scheme. As the play ends, the four destroy the Duke brothers by leaving them bankrupt, and in the same status as they had left Winthorpe earlier. Based on their previous actions, their scheme was justifiable, and the audience agrees with the decision made against the…show more content…
Setting aside their differences in the past, the men unite in finding out that they shared a common resentment for the rich who hypocritically undermine the poor. The Duke brothers symbolize a society of privileged social class and the unequal distribution of wealth earned via capitalism, and on the basis of birthright rather than nurtured skill. Together with Ophelia, they bankrupt the brothers and thus debunk the maxim that defined their wealth and status quo. The movie is also set in the point of view of the white man, who sees that the blacks have an equal chance of climbing the societal ladder, unlike the previous notions regarding their race. The movie clears out the stereotypes that the society had about racial classes. In fact, Eddie Murphy’s rise to stardom after the movie was in itself an indicator that the blacks also had talent which, when well crafted could earn them a living and a status just like that of their fellow white
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