Hustlers (2019)

[CelluloidPal]

Originally Posted by AaronJ

Thanks.

And remember when this is set (assuming they keep the same timeframe as the actual events). If you walked up to an average American in the aftermath of the 2008 disaster and said, "These strippers stole all this money from a bunch of Wall Street guys. How do you feel about that?" The answer you would most likely get is, "Good for them. You go girls! Those bastards deserved it. They took my house, I lost my job, my kid can't go to college anymore ...." Etc.

People were SERIOUSLY PISSED! People's 401k accounts had fallen basically apart, people had lost their pensions, their homes, everything. If a bunch of gals that, honestly, just a few years earlier they would have viewed as "dirty sluts" stole money from a bunch of Wall Streeters that these average people blamed (mostly rightly, to be honest) for all their present problems, then good. That was the attitude at the time, as I'm sure you'll remember.

But yeah, I think it would be much better to tell it as a story of how the Wall Street brand of financial crime, moral sociopathy, and complete greed and narcissism had "infected" many around them, including these girls. The strippers had become just as bad as those they were ripping off because SOCIETY itself had just become this cess pool.

Like I said, that would be my take. Then again, I'm not a writer. So what do I know?

Good point. I do remember that moment in time all too well. Also, things got even more hairy when the stories of Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme broke because he ripped off the rich and the average citizen and the latter had zero sympathy for the rich victims.

Perhaps, this story can also be featured on an episode of American Greed.