Thursday, May 30, 2013
Trading Places Pt. II
At the end of the movie 'Trading Places', Billy Ray and Lewis get rich, Mortimer and Randolph Duke are made broke; again over a one dollar bet. What do you think about this? What do you think Judaism would say about it? The scene above is from the 1988 film 'Coming to America'. What does it say about giving? Forgiveness?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Ely Bonus Comment #1:
ReplyDeleteKnowing that Judaism is a smart religion, one where people generally deal wisely with money, I think that Judaism would say that the Dukes got what they deserved. They deserved this for multiple reasons: 1) To quote someone in our class, "They ruined a man's life over a dollar" - they didn't have the right to barge in to someone else's life, especially OVER A DOLLAR! and 2) It's not wise or nice to gamble and try to make any amount of money, especially a lot in a corrupt way (what they were trying to do before the end).
However, almost everyone deserves to be forgiven. The Duke brothers are no exception. After all, what they were trying to do was pretty bad, but it wasn't quite murder. And, they got what they deserved. Should they continuously be punished? I don't think so. That is one of the reasons Billy Ray gave to Mortimer in "Coming to America." The other reason is that he was still obligated to give. He was especially obligated to give a LOT after making such a good amount of money in the end of "Trading Places." There is no reason he should not have given to the Duke brothers, especially after they had already been punished, when he was obligated to give.
Samuel Fogel comment #6
ReplyDeleteI agree with Ely on this one. After what Mortimer and Duke did to Billy and Lewis they deserved to loose all there money and become homeless. But at the end of the day we are obligated to give and Mortimer and Duke would unfortunately be put into the list of people you are obligated to give to. This seems very ironic to me because at one end we feel no sorrow and have no sympathy for Mortimer and Duke but on the other side they have become just another two homeless people who we are going to help out. What Billy and Lewis did to Mortimer and Duke can at the end of day also be looked at as doing something just as bad as Mortimer and Duke. So is it not at least a little weird that one second they were trying to take there money and later that day they would just be giving it back. "Two wrongs dont make a right" is a very true statement in this movie because both Mortimer and Duke did something equally as bad as Billy and lewis but at the end of the day one group came out on top.
Very interesting! I never looked at what the Billy and Lewis did as "bad"...but now that you mention it, I see that a little differently!
DeleteJason bonus comment #1
ReplyDeleteThis is a very interesting link to both movies. The chances of a rich man becoming that poor, then becoming rich again are very slim. This could teach that man what its like to have nothing. This could make them incredibly generous and could really make them menches.
Well, the one dollar bet was really Karma. They ruined someone for a $1 bet, and in turn, were ruined by a $1 bet. Judaism, in my mind, would not pity these people and would help them in the least ways possible. These people do not deserve to be treated the same as someone who has always been poor. There is a flip side to this as well. What if the rich man became poor because he gave too much? How would we handle that?