If you’re following the current economic disaster around the world, you may feel overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information. What does it all mean? What’s important? What are the ‘right’ answers for getting out of this mess? No wonder economics is called the “dismal science”. Well, here’s some good news … we can learn a lot about economics by watching movies as our guest author today’s explains. And it’s a lot more fun than studying heavy weight economic text books!
The angle on all of these is quite different, but they all have ties into economics. Even if the motivation wasn’t economically driven, these movies all make light of certain economic situations.
1. Wedding Crashers: Though they didn’t crash weddings just for the free drinks, there was a bit of an economic tie there. They crashed weddings to meet girls and yet they were open to having a free night of fun, food, and drinks in the process. They found themselves amongst a wealthy family and had to lie to keep up with them and keep their charade going. This shows the wealthy versus the poor and has a very funny approach to it. Since the premise is based upon crashing a wedding, the tie is perhaps a bit more subtle but there and hilarious in the process.
2. Old School: This shows what happens when a man loses his love and doesn’t have much money in the process. When he starts over and only has the money to end up living in a college town, the antics ensue. Here you see what happens with this perhaps outlandish tale and the nonstop laughs surrounding a man living well below his means. The story is blown out of proportion but then again that’s what makes for good comedy in the end.
3. The Wedding Singer: He may have had a passion for singing, but this is how he had to make a living. As he wanted more for himself and his life, he took this on as a job in the meantime to get him through. He was made fun of but he did have a talent that ended up fulfilling him in the end. This tale shows his struggles and the way in which he handled them in a very funny way. Since wedding singers aren’t known to make much money, you can tend to relate with his struggling character.
4. Erin Brockovich: This is the tale of a woman who fought for what she believed was right in spite of her lot in life. She struggled just to make ends meet and though the subject matter wasn’t funny at all, her story and the way in which she handled it had a great story and comedy to it. This shows how somebody can come from nothing and build their way up to really make something of themselves, all based on economics in some manner.
5. Happy Gilmore: He loved hockey but had a knack for something else that he ended up pursuing—all in the quest for money. When he decided that he had to help his grandmother he turned to golf, though he was a very unlikely candidate for the job. He of course ended up taking home the prize and saving the day, but the economics and the storyline were full of laughs.
Though these movies were funny they also had a tie to economics in some manner. They were hilarious to watch and yet taught us all something that we can revisit in terms of economics and struggles.
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