November 12, 2005
Schumpeter Lives!
Even though he has said some hateful, anti-American things, I still have a soft spot for Johnny Depp. "Don Juan de Marco" with Marlon Brando is one of my faves; rent it if you haven't seen it.
I just finished watching the DVD of "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" and Riza I give it two thumbs up.
I got a little nervous when Charlie's dad loses his job at the toothpaste factory. It seems there is an uptick in toothpaste sales concomitant with greater candy consumption with Wonka's "Golden Ticket" campaign. This allows the toothpaste company to invest in a machine to screw the lids on the tubes, and beloved Pop is out of a job.
[Micro spoiler alert] Knowing the story, we expect that the family will be rescued from this hardship by the benevolence of Mr. Wonka. Yet he is actually rescued by the economic theories of Joseph Alois Schumpeter. He gets "a much better job" repairing the machine that replaced him. I was giddy as a kid with a case of chocolate bars when that happened. Well done!
I love it, finding economic theory details in a movie! Reminds me of my dad and I picking apart erroneous aircraft details in movies. Just nerds of a different color...
Posted by: Silence Dogood at November 14, 2005 12:20 PMYeah, but even better. Movies are bastions of anti-corporate and anti-modernity thinking. Michael Douglas looks us in the eye in "Wall Street" and says that money is a zero-sum game, what I have I took from you.
Kids movies are worse "feed the birds, tuppence a bag..." and Johnny Depp-Tim Burton are to be trusted with art and texture but not economics.
To have something so good show up so unexpectedly -- it would be as if they got the airplane details right once...
Posted by: jk at November 14, 2005 12:32 PM | What do you think? [2]