The Quest for Authenticity in a World of “Plastics”
The first of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is The Graduate.
The same thing that drives me to build this site is what makes me love this movie so much. We all seek authenticity in our lives. We all learn that we must compromise ourselves to make it in the world of “plastics.” We all worry that we will make too many compromises and end up like Mrs. Robinson.
The second of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is Lost in America.
This one is about a couple who decides to sell their house and use the money to support their quest to find themselves. Their plans go awry when the wife loses all their money gambling in Las Vegas. The husband tells her that from this point forward she should never again be permitted to say either the word “nest” or “egg” in any sentence dealing with any topic because she obviously does not understand the “nest egg” concept at all well.
The third of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is The Big Chill.
I see this as the sequel to “The Graduate.” It’s the working out of the same ideas 20 years down the road. The characters are about as rich as were Benjamin’s parents and just about as compromised too. They rely on Motown songs and expensive ice cream to get them through the day instead of swimming pools and mixed drinks. It troubles them, though, because they remember watching “The Graduate” and how excited it made them about the idea of changing the world and how determined it made them to change at least their little part of it.
The fourth of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is The Fountainhead.
This one stars Gregory Peck as the architect hero of the Ayn Rand novel who will not compromise his vision for the sake of dollar bills. Some people love Ayn Rand and some people hate her. I say “she was a trip and a half” and leave it at that.
The fifth of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.
This is a 1950s exploration of the theme explored from the perspective of the 1960s in “The Graduate.” There’s something in me that finds this theme a compelling one regardless of the time-period that is the setting for the exploration of it. The sorts of decisions that form the drama of this movie are the decisions that determine whether a life is a success or a failure, according to my way of looking at things.
The sixth of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is Start-Up.
This is a documentary about an attempt to get a start-up high-tech company off the ground. A mildly interesting bit of Financial Freedom Community trivia is that I watched this on the night that I put up the first post to the Safe Withdrawal Rate Research Group discussion-board.
The seventh of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is The Temp.
It’s the only horror movie I know of that explores a financial freedom theme.
The eighth of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is Office Space.
I found this only mildly amusing. There are a good number of community members who rave about it.
The ninth of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is Brazil.
I saw this a long time ago and I had other things on my mind at the time and I don’t remember much of it. I do remember it having vivid cinematography, especially in some scenes exploring an oppressed worker/drone theme. I need to see this one again to gain a better idea as to what it is about.
The tenth of my ten favorite Financial Freedom Movies is American Beauty.
This one did nothing for me. I include it on the list because it did at least purport to explore a financial freedom theme. There is supposed to be a scene in which the Joe Dominguez book Your Money or Your Life is pictured. The screen on my television set was too small for me to see it.