Review of St. Luke Themes As Portrayed By Ben Younger in His Film, Boiler Room
Well this is it. The final project for our little reader’s circle is here. And wow is the topic wide open. Basically anything is fair game. It took me a while to think of something interesting and it finally came to me during finals week. I decided to write a paper on how Lucan themes can really be seen anywhere. Not just the confines of religious texts and mass, but in the everyday events we go through. I was one of those students who, in the beginning of the year, stated that I truly saw no religious connection in the books I had recently read. At that point I remember the latest book I had read was Rich Dad, Poor Dad, by Robert T. Kiyosaki. It is a great book, but where was the religion in it? I had thought. But one thing this course taught me is that even where you would least expect it (what do you know a Lucan theme), we can see religious concepts and references. I started reading another book by Kiyosaki, Retire Young, Retire Rich, and in that book he made a reference to the first one. In that he recalls a story that his rich dad once told him as a boy. The story so closely resembled that of the parable of the dishonest steward. I was amazed. Before taking this course I had never had any real knowledge of the gospel according to Luke. As I read that parable I quickly made the connection and was stunned. It was hard to believe that even a financial book had made almost a direct relation with the gospel. After that, I started noticing in movies, other books I had read, and just everyday occurrences, that religion honestly could permeate all facets of my life, as I knew it. And I was amazed, because just a few short months ago I had a totally different opinion on the relation of religion to my life. Like I said before, I thought that was something left for mass or religious scripts. So one thing I am taking away from this course is a changed outlook upon religion in my life.
To move along, what my paper is actually all about is a correlation between something in my life that I would not ordinarily associate with religion, and how it ties into a religious context. Kind of like a before and after. Before this course I would have never made the connection, but now afterwards, I can, and in a place I would have never expected. I am going to take one of my favorite movies, Boiler Room, and associate it with some of the Lucan themes from class. I’m not sure if you have ever seen this movie so I’m going to include it for you to see at your leisure, or if you have seen it then oh well. Now I know that to relate this two things is pretty far-fetched, but it was interesting and I believe there actually are some good links between the two.
The first and best resemblance is that between Seth and his father, and the prodigal son story. Throughout the whole movie basically, we see Seth squandering his youth on actions that will most likely get him in trouble. Now his dad is a judge and therefore cannot tolerate this behavior. He tells Seth to leave. However he gets the new job at J.T. Marlin and his dad is waiting right there to take him back. But this turns out to be another scam and his dad is really angry and never wants to see Seth again. And just when you think he will never speak to Seth again, he does. When Seth is in the most trouble and truly needs his dad to help him fund the I.P.O. for Harry, his dad shows unconditional faith and love in Seth. That is one of the Lucan themes as well, that forgiveness is never too late and available all the time.
The next Lucan theme I noticed was salvation for all. Now this one might be a stretch but I feel this applies to Seth. The movie paints a pretty bleak future for those working at J.T. Marlin, but for Seth it does not. Even though he has screwed up many times, he dropped out of college, ran an illegal casino, and was taking people’s life savings from them at the brokerage firm, in the end you just feel like he’s going to be alright. And at the very end as he states, “I gotta get a job,” I felt like this kid has realized he’s made some mistakes and he’s now ready to live differently. Not out to make a quick buck off of someone else, but ready to make an honest living and work hard and just overall be a better person.
The third theme that is visible is that there is a journey that Seth goes through which changes him and at the end he will be judged. Obviously Seth has gone through a journey here. He was in college, ran his own casino, then joined J.T. Marlin, and in the middle had many family struggles and various different incidents with the guys. In the beginning he was easily persuaded, essentially by the dollar. But by the end I think that he shied away from that and wanted to become more of a family man. Now that he had his dad’s acceptance he realizes that is more important to him than anything else. And in the end he will be judged. He is judged by the F.B.I. after the sting operation, he’s judged by his dad, and he judges himself. In the end, he is changed and I think for the better. Also, with that I can include the theme that the past shapes the persons present and future. Including the above, also when we see things like Seth’s interaction with his dad recalling the biking accident, all the times Seth had felt inferior due to his father, we see that that is one of the main factors in his pursuit of everything in life; his fathers praise and acceptance.
Another theme I think can be tackled is you find things where you’d least expect them. We see Jews, Italians, and even the Irish, all getting along and working towards a common goal; making money. Another event is, just when his father loses faith in him, out of the clear blue sky, Greg shows up at his casino and makes Seth an offer to a respectable and lucrative job. Another thing that comes without being suspected is Abbie and Seth’s relationship. They have a good thing going here and it is surprising she never tells him that the Fed’s are onto him. As close as they’ve gotten I would have expected her to. And lastly, once again, how his father takes him back and helps him when you thought he never would again. I know this one is also a stretch.
The last theme I will attempt to relate it to is the experience of Jesus is accessible. In one way that I can see a Jesus parallel is in the end. It seems as though Seth is being crucified for others sins. Yes he has sinned but in the end, it was the wrong doing of Michael’s company, J.T. Marlin, which he is going down for. When he truly got into this job thinking it was legitimate. Also, as they try to bring down his father, he will not stand for it and sacrifices himself, saying it’s worth it to have him go to jail than to have anything happen to his father. That was a noble act that would be something Jesus would have done. Add to this the forgiveness, and the salvation aspects I tried to bring up earlier and I can see a slight resemblance to Jesus.
Now also, with this movie, I not only saw its ties to the Lucan themes, but also I saw similarities with Boiler Room and the books we’ve read in class. One is the overtone of violence. We see the guys in the bar brawling needlessly and actually enjoying it. That can be seen in The Lord of the Flies. Next is how in the end the father is almost searching for Seth as he calls him up and says he will do the deal. This reminded me a little bit of Atticus, and the father’s search for his son.
This just goes to show a few of the things I have picked up in this course. Before I couldn’t see one religious theme in hardly anything. Now I can spot them everywhere and anywhere. Even in this movie, which, before this class, if you told me had any likeness to a religious theme, I would have never believed it. Also, let me say that at some points yes it is a little far-fetched and tough to make these comparisons between the two works. I think that this was a difficult movie to match up to the religious framework or our class but it was an interesting experiment to see how I could apply these themes to something I felt honestly had no direct correlation. So while my analysis may not be outstanding, I feel that it did work and with that I was somewhat pleasantly surprised.
