Representation of Financial Crises in Film, Media, and Popular Culture in Light of Veblen’s Views

Since the 2007–2008 financial crisis, there has been renewed interest in explaining the reasons for the crisis. Films focusing on financial institutions, corporations and CEOs, bankers and Wall Street, stock markets and insider traders have gained popularity to influence public opinion on the financial crisis. Amidst a series of bank bailouts, despite promises made by regulators to implement new checks and balances to quell public anger, the global economy continues to falter, with expectations of a recession in the near future.Over a century ago, Thorstein Veblen analyzed modern finance capitalism, the credit economy, and economic crises, defining his era as one of “business civilization.” Veblen’s interdisciplinary approach included sociological, anthropological, and psychological analyses, placing culture and economy at the center. Our investigation considers the political economy of culture (Bob Jessop), the culture industry in which films are produced (Theodor Adorno), and the encoding and decoding of messages (Stuart Hall).While films tend to emphasize aggressive competition, fraudulence, and corruption, mainstream crisis theories ignore factors that are distinctive features of modern finance capitalism. Through the use of film interpretation, this study examines the cultural aspects of financial markets, drawing on Veblen’s arguments and framework regarding instabilities that arise in the functioning of modern capitalism.