Trading Places

The subject matter of Trading Places could easily be a harsh drama showing the stark contrast between the life of the extremely wealthy and those considered in the lower class. However, I think that, like the reading would suggest, that the movie’s message on this is more powerful as a comedy. While much of the movie is exaggerated for the sake of comedy, the exaggerations strike a truth that most of the audience will recognize. For instance, Eddie Murphy’s character is shown early on to be a scoundrel pretending to be a blind, cripple, veteran, yet this is not the reason he is thrown into jail. It is his appearance as a lower class black man who accidentally bumped into someone and picked up his brief case that does it. The racist fears of Winthrop are so obvious that it is comedic.

The film Trading Places raises up the question of what ultimately shapes a person more, their environment or their heritage. It does this in a comedic experiment/bet by the two super rich Duke brothers. The notion in itself is absurd which of course is a root of a lot of the comedic moments, however the absurdity allows us to really consider the idea. The film clearly shows that Valentine is capable of maintaining a successful and wealthy lifestyle regardless of his skin color. Yet while the “environment” wins the bet between the brothers the movie shows that things are not that simple. It reminds the audience that these people are more than their circumstance or genetics by humanizing/victimizing them. We sympathize with both Winthrop and Valentine because their lives are being toyed with over a one-dollar bet.

 I think like the Gordon reading suggests that a lot of the humor of this movie comes out of tragedies of the class divided. Specifically, the line in the reading that humor allows those suffering from such tragedy to look at themselves more humorously rather than wallowing in the negative. Because of this I believe the movie is attempt to weaken that class divided and bring people together. Ultimately both the upper class Winthrop and the lower class Valentine choose to work together to get back at the clearly evil Duke brothers. Because while both Winthrop and Valentine are not saints they are allowing themselves to become victims of the environment both at the beginning of the movie and when the trade places. But together they are able to achieve success through cooperation.