Teaser: The movie opens with a rapid drive by of the insanely run business and obscenely rich and drug-fueled lifestyle of the main character, Jordan Belfort. Who is this wild and crazy guy? Initial Situation: We follow him through his first day on Wall Street, his rite of passage, during which he meets Mark Hanna, who serves as his mentor on how to live a Wall Street broker's version of “La Vida Loca” – the crazy life: 1] Screw the client, the first priority is to make money for yourself and the firm. 2] Tank up early and often with drugs and sex. However, Jordan is more inclined to watch his mentor than emulate him. He tries to earn money the old fashioned way: play by the rules. After six months, he gets his stockbroker’s license, but… Inciting Incident: As of “Black Monday”, the stock market crash of October 19th, 1987, he loses his job. But thanks to an ad his wife spots, he ends up at a strip mall stock broker firm that hustles penny stocks to average folks. He quickly proves himself to be a natural born salesman. He’s found his niche, his true calling. And he partners up with Donny Azoff who introduces him to crack, the beginning of his chronic drug abuse. Crossing the Threshold into Act 2 and the Dramatic Question: Jordan goes into business for himself, staffs up with old friends who are clueless about how Wall Street works. Which is not a problem; all they have to do is follow his example. He’s successful – but not the obscenely rich man introduced in the teaser. Yet. Prompted by his wife, he ups his game, goes after harpooning the “Big White Whales” -- rich people -- with blue chip stocks. He re-invents his company into a class act with a classier image and name, “Stratton Oakmont”. Can he do it? Act 2: La Vida Loca – and Lucrative: Of course he can. The firm is insanely successful. He makes the front page of Forbes magazine. Even though it's a hatchet job, greedy stock broker wanna-be’s storm his office for a chance to get a piece of his action. Jordan’s hubris invokes his nemesis: his publicity brings Jordan to the attention of the FBI in the person of agent Denham. Midpoint Zenith: Jordan’s financial fortune zooms into the stratosphere. The firm plans its first IPO – an even more lucrative hustle. Meanwhile, his personal life gets complicated. Donnie intrudes him to Quaaludes and dumps his wife after meeting Naomi, “the hottest blonde ever”. He marries her and gives her a 150 foot yacht as a wedding present. All the while, he seems exempt from the consequences of his wretched, wanton excesses. Flying High With Turbulence: Eighteen months later, the honeymoon is over. Jordan Naomi are fighting over his chronic infidelities and drug abuse. But the firm’s first IPO for Steve Madden is a success. However, FBI agent Denham builds a case, subpoenas the wedding videos. Jordan can't bribe him with his charm and money. Unable to shake the Feds, Jordan starts hiding his money in Switzerland. Which seems to be the solution to his problems until… Major Complication: An altercation between Donnie and Brad, Jordan’s connection for hiding his money overseas, threatens to blow the entire scheme. Donnie delays breaking the bad news by getting Jordan stoned on ludes. Which finally kick in with hilarious – but dangerous – results for Jordan. He miraculously survives wrecking his car. But he can’t survive the wrecking of his business in a head on collision with the SEC. So he cuts a deal that requires him to surrender control of Stratton Oakmont. Character Flaw Kicks Into Overdrive: Jordan talks himself out of relinquishing control, defies the Feds. The avenging angels of the SEC swoop down on the firm. Jordan and Donnie flee to Italy. Complication Pile Up: Steve Madden dumps stock, threatening Jordan and his partner’s profitable stake. And Aunt Emma, the English money mule in whose name the secret Swiss account is, dies. He must rush to Geneva to get the account reassigned. But the yacht sinks in a storm. High Noon Reckoning with Nemesis: Two years later, Jordan seems to have cleaned up his life, personally and professionally. And he’s pitching a seminar instead of stocks. But it’s too late. Agent Denham arrests him. The government has a can’t-lose case against him. Jordan is finished. And Naomi demands a divorce, leaves with their daughter. Nadir: Adios La Vida Loca: Jordan takes the government’s deal, wears a wire, to rat out his partners only to be ratted out by Donnie Azoff, his best friend. He’s sentenced to 4 years in prison. Which turns out not be so bad; it’s a country club prison, for white collar criminals. Denouement: When he gets out, he goes back into business, doing what he does best, selling to suckers. The movie ends with him hustling his motivational seminar to a room full of eager marks.

The plot of "The Wolf of Wall Street" is a roller coaster joy ride, the story of the rise and fall and recrudescence of a manically charismatic rascal, utterly fascinating to be sure, but still not a model hero in the normative use of the term. Since he's essentially an anti-hero, his character flaw (flaws?) is not something he finally overcomes by somewhere between late in the 2nd Act and early in the 3rd. Rather his character flaw becomes his undoing. And his greatest remorse seems to be that he got caught. (That's what I mean by recrudescence: he rises from the ashes of his own self-inflicted disaster and defeat, a reformed man but I'm not convinced a transformed one. He's still a super-salesman still selling to suckers, only now its street legal motivational snake oil instead of Wall Street dog excrement.) Which makes me wonder, Scott, how you see Jordan's character arc fitting into the disunity-->deconstruction-->reconstruction-->new unity paradigm?

Paul, this is an EXCELLENT breakdown of the major plot points and sequences. But I would expect nothing less from you! Reading this really drives home a general point: When we think about a characters transformation-journey in a movie, it is really helpful to look at it as something which happens incrementally, stage by stage, a continuous sequential trajectory. Everything that happens to Jordan and/or he decides fits into the overall arc of his metamorphosis. Thanks once again, Paul, for your contribution to this series, a welcome addition to the archives!

Paul, that's a great question. As I noted in comments in Part 1 of the series, I see this movie as a morality tale. A central theme is quite clear, evincing the Biblical edict: "The love of money is the root of all evil." Now as you point out, Jordan may be a reformed man at the end, however has he really changed? I would say in one respect he has and in another respect he hasn't. What's changed is he has fully embraced his shadow self, which we could sum up by calling it Avarice. What hasn't changed is this: Instead of rejecting Avarice, he continues to live by it. So how about this: Disunity: A greedy man living a meager life. He wants MORE and a LOT of it, and the means is money as well as the ends is money. Deconstruction: Whatever aspects of his persona which represent honesty and playing by the rules, that all gets squashed. Also the trappings of his meager life. Gone. Including his first wife. Reconstruction: Jordan gives full expression to his Avarice and lust for money, as well as pleasure. I would argue his drug use is masking some part of his conscious or subconscious self which actually KNOWS what he's doing is WRONG, and that his lifestyle is ACTUALLY bull shit, but his greed and ego don't allow that to emerge in any substantive way. Unity: His crash and burn is a big part of his arc, however turning state's evidence and bringing down Donny and the others is a fuller expression of the embrace he has made with Avarice. Instead of a positive arc we see in so many movies, whereby a Protagonist goes from selfishness to selflessness -- J. Campbell defines a hero as someone who gives themselves over to a cause bigger than them -- Jordan ends up having dived into an ocean of selfishness, even sans his fortune, he chooses to save his own self by giving up his supposed friends and compatriots. So in a way, he has changed... but hasn't really changed. Changed in that he comes to embrace his shadow. Unchanged in that his shadow was always there as a powerful agent, now just given full expression. Perhaps then using your language, we can say he's transformed, but not reformed.