It seems that John Landis is one of those directors that is the brains behind those classic 80's movies. One of them was the Blues Brothers, and now I have discovered that he is also behind this movie.
Trading Places is a movie about two people trading places. One is a managing director of a commodities trading firm, the other is a bum on the street. Dan Akroyd plays the commodities trader that loses everything while Eddie Murphy is the con-artist that becomes the successful commodities trader; the reason behind this is because the owners of the firm are arguing over whether business skill is genetic or if anybody can do it if they are lucky, so they decide to swap them around and make a bet for a dollar.
This movie has a sharp poke at the Ivy League culture in America. Basically all of the Harvard Scholars in this movie are put to shame by a black man who has had absolutely no training whatsoever. Not only does he run the business exceptionally well, he also is able to bring down the two owners, who really are not nice guys.
We also see the shallowness of the culture. Akroyd is framed for theft and drug dealing and everybody disowns him. The only person that chooses to help him is a prostitute that was paid to drive his fiancé away. He goes to his friends to ask for help, and they basically don't want to have anything to do with him because he has been accused of dealing drugs. This is not a supporting or a trusting culture. These people grew up with him and probably should have known that he was not like that, but they do not believe him, rather they believe what everybody else says.
This is the same for Murphy's character as well, except that it is opposite. He becomes rich and thus goes to his friends but realises that they are little more than freeloaders when he sees them treat his house like garbage. As such, this movie seems to have something to say about friendships: that is they are developed during times of hardship rather than times of fortune. As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed.
Trading Places is a movie about two people trading places. One is a managing director of a commodities trading firm, the other is a bum on the street. Dan Akroyd plays the commodities trader that loses everything while Eddie Murphy is the con-artist that becomes the successful commodities trader; the reason behind this is because the owners of the firm are arguing over whether business skill is genetic or if anybody can do it if they are lucky, so they decide to swap them around and make a bet for a dollar.
This movie has a sharp poke at the Ivy League culture in America. Basically all of the Harvard Scholars in this movie are put to shame by a black man who has had absolutely no training whatsoever. Not only does he run the business exceptionally well, he also is able to bring down the two owners, who really are not nice guys.
We also see the shallowness of the culture. Akroyd is framed for theft and drug dealing and everybody disowns him. The only person that chooses to help him is a prostitute that was paid to drive his fiancé away. He goes to his friends to ask for help, and they basically don't want to have anything to do with him because he has been accused of dealing drugs. This is not a supporting or a trusting culture. These people grew up with him and probably should have known that he was not like that, but they do not believe him, rather they believe what everybody else says.
This is the same for Murphy's character as well, except that it is opposite. He becomes rich and thus goes to his friends but realises that they are little more than freeloaders when he sees them treat his house like garbage. As such, this movie seems to have something to say about friendships: that is they are developed during times of hardship rather than times of fortune. As the saying goes, a friend in need is a friend indeed.