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Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

theguardian.com

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Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#191

Post by JasonFruit »

gowld wrote: post #184
bartread wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I've always found idolising scarface a little strange. Likewise, I find it odd when people go around wearing t-shirts with Che Guevara's face on them: I mean, the guy's allegedly a mass murderer. Kind of an odd hero to pick, right?

Just about every revolutionary hero is a mass murderer, from Che to Mao to Stalin to Churchill to Washington. And not everyone knows all the history of symbols.

There are some of those names who killed civilians in bulk, and some who killed enemy soldiers — and most people would hold that there is a moral difference.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#192

Post by barrkel »

neaden wrote: post #4

One thing I've been struck by with movies and films like the Wolf of Wall Street, the film Wall Street, Fight Club, or even the Great Gatsby is how many people end up coming away with the exact opposite message of the movie. They end up idolizing the vapid, shallow lifestyle that the movie is critiquing, because even though the film is critiquing that it can't help but also make it glamorous. Michael Douglas has said…

It's part of the appeal of a popular movie: striking a chord with multiple audiences simultaneously, one with irony, another without. In many ways, if movies didn't do this, you probably would be less likely to have seen them.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#193

Post by spicytunacone »

kornish wrote: post #120
rdiddly wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so meta. I still remember the "Hey I quit my job and got rich as a blogger who tells you how to quit your job and get rich as a blogger" craze of 2010.

Kind of like rap, too. It's bizarre (and kind of awesome) how many rap and hip-hop lyrics are about being the best at rap and hip-hop.

The connection you made is a reach, but competition is an aspect of the genre. Gun bars and other recurring themes like disses and self-hype are just part of the game. It's built-in.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#194

Post by whistlerbrk »

neaden wrote: post #4

One thing I've been struck by with movies and films like the Wolf of Wall Street, the film Wall Street, Fight Club, or even the Great Gatsby is how many people end up coming away with the exact opposite message of the movie. They end up idolizing the vapid, shallow lifestyle that the movie is critiquing, because even though the film is critiquing that it can't help but also make it glamorous. Michael Douglas has said…

Same thing with Casino and Goodfellas both of which end quite disturbingbly for the main characters

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#195

Post by HNthrow22 »

smacktoward wrote: post #44
neaden wrote: post #4

One thing I've been struck by with movies and films like the Wolf of Wall Street, the film Wall Street, Fight Club, or even the Great Gatsby is how many people end up coming away with the exact opposite message of the movie. They end up idolizing the vapid, shallow lifestyle that the movie is critiquing, because even though the film is critiquing that it can't help but also make it glamorous. Michael Douglas has said…

It's because film is a visual medium, and in these movies the protagonist always looks cool . He may be doing terrible things, but he's wearing hip clothes and driving a gorgeous car while he does them. The visual language is all screaming "this guy's great!", and it ends up overwhelming the message the story is trying to tell. If you want to know what most people will think of a character in a movie, watch the movie…

I see a lot of comments reading into this with convoluted explanations when it's simply that tv/film is an escapist medium and most people 'live vicariously' through the main protagonist or the character(s) they relate with the most.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#196

Post by __david__ »

794CD01 wrote: post #144
LandR wrote: post #140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To your point its possible to make movies differently, there is a game called spec ops that is very subversive of the military shooter genre. Where other games want you to feel cool shooting and killing people spec ops constantly wants you to feel bad about your actions, at one point asking "do you feel like a hero yet? " Very good game.

People like the idea of it when they read about it online, but it sold poorly and the few people who played it didn't enjoy it.

I liked the game as a shooter but I thought all the moralizing was ham fisted nonsense. It was incredibly obvious what it was doing and it didn't affect me the way it seemed to affect a lot of other people.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#197

Post by skellera »

bomb199 wrote: post #167

When you realize that legitimately becoming rich is such a long shot no matter how great you do, the idea of cheating becomes alluring. Helps if you keep in mind that Jeff Bezos could accidentally tip you enough money to live the rest of your life without a job.

On a 8% average, Bezos makes over $8 billion a year (He has been making more than that). Considering there are 2,208 billionaires according to Forbe's, that is mind blowing that he gains more wealth every year than all but about 2000 people alive HAVE.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#198

Post by zeth___ »

RIMR wrote: post #79

I am always amazed by how many people get into this "Beat the system and make tons of money" mindset. If there's anything that has proven itself time and time again, it's that people who seek immediate wealth, and who fantasize about their "million dollar idea", are absolutely not the kinds of people who become successful and wealthy. The people who become devoted to a field or a technology - who make the business th…

>The people who become devoted to a field or a technology - who make the business their passion, and focus on filling a need - these are the people who earn a fortune.

I am always amazed people think this is the case.

The people who make money from a technology are very seldom the ones who devote their life to it. They are the ones who know just enough about it to be at the right place at the right time.

There is a reason why facebook is written in php.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#199

Post by rdiddly »

cornholio wrote: post #161
rdiddly wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know speaking of Warren Buffett, he came to mind while I was reading the article, as someone who pretty much behaves the exact opposite of this. No ostentatious display by the 3rd-richest person in the world... hmm that's interesting. You'd think it would give pause to the many suckers out there, but apparently they all still think things in the world are exactly how they look. That's why it's not fair to target…

That's a nice picture. It shows how a real billionaire looks like, as opposed to the get-rich-quick fantasies: https://www.instagram.com/richkidslondon/?hl=en

Oh my god those photos are way sadder than I was prepared for. And they're definitely designed to appeal to poor people, not rich ones. So, they're just another part of the ongoing extraction of wealth from the already-poor.

Most of the photos feature cars. Is a car a sign of wealth? If Warren converted his entire net worth to Lamborghinis (say $200,000 each) he'd have about 400,000 of them. A Lamborghini is worth to him, proportionally, about what 25 cents is worth to me. Even if you're "only" Steve Ballmer that car is worth only 75 cents to you in rdiddly dollars. If you were hanging out with actual rich people flaunting your $200K car they'd be like yeah congratulations, you found a quarter, Janice would you call security and have this gentleman removed please?

EDIT: They'd be like oh yeah I bought four of those with the interest earned by my cat's litterbox. Janice would you etc.

Re: Fake it till you make it: the wolves of Instagram

#200

Post by at-fates-hands »

lkrubner wrote: post #163
bartread wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The interesting realisation for me about Walter White came when I started watching the season through for a second time. But first... SPOILER ALERT! I mean the first time around I had some sympathy for the guy - he was a disappointed and somewhat embittered middle aged man still trying to do his best to support his family, and then he's given this crappy cancer diagnosis. I felt bad for him. Fair to say that by the t…

I think that's right. I recently heard someone argue "Power doesn't corrupt, but rather it reveals who you really are." I think that applies to Walter White. He was morally corrupt from the start, but that became more obvious as he gained money/power.

I think it was Michael Irvin who said something similar when he was talking about how people say, "Money CAN buy you happiness." He said no, it just makes you more of what you already are.

If you're a huge asshole before you got rich, now you're just a rich asshole. If you're an empathetic, kind person, before you got rich, now you're just a rich, kind person. He also lamented society benefits more from the latter than the former for obvious reasons.

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