Wall Street in Popular Culture

Wall Street is one of the most famous streets not only in this country but also throughout the world. It is synonymous with the American financial system as well as the stock market and is also a symbolic phrase that has become part of the American pop culture. It has been the subject of films, television, literature and visual art and the troubles, as well as the successes, it faces are reflected in the lives of people across the nation. Well, and again, this extends to people across the world. It runs from Broadway to South Street in Lower Manhattan and while many people are uncertain of its location and exact aspects, the name alone sparks images, dreams and fears in people across the globe. It has been romanticized and demonized and these aspects are apparent in one Hollywood treatment of the street, as well as numerous other examples of popular culture elements.

In 1987 Oliver Stone directed a film titled Wall Street and about the financial district and the people who work in and around it. Charlie Sheen, Michael Douglas and Daryl Hannah were the main stars of this film that explored the effects a career on this infamous street can have on the emotional well-being of those who seek its glories. Another example of its existence in pop culture is in Herman Melville's short story Bartleby, the Scrivener. The story has a subtitle of a story of Wall Street and is recognized for its portrayal of a wealthy lawyer's struggle with the system and consequently himself and what all is reasonable with what he stands for.

Another main source of pop cultural references to Wall Street is found with Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities. Wolfe is a master manipulator of pop cultural perspectives and Bonfire is a great example of this and references to the street and the financial district are found throughout the work. In the novel The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner, another interesting perspective is presented on the financial district of New York and some events on Wall Street. This is also an examination of a specific type of anti-Semitism. Wall Street has also appeared to lesser extents in numerous films. An example of this is Die Hard with a Vengeance. An example of it being a major element in a music video is one that was directed by Michael Moore for the band Rage Against the Machine.

See this famous area when you visit New York.