Good and Bad Fathers as Moral Rhetoric in Wall Street

Abstract

This essay reads the narrative dynamics between the “good” and “bad” father personas in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street as arguments seeking to persuade audiences about the morality of the father/son relationship. Specifically, the film develops an argumentative logic advancing one patriarchal ideology above, and at the expense of, others. An analysis of the film on the theme of fathers and sons reveals how contemporary ideas about what it means to be a “good” father are made culturally sensible and desirable.