This question reminds me of a movie I saw a few years a go called Trading Places. The movie stars Dan Aykroyd and Eddy Murphy. In the beginning of the movie, Aykroyd is a wealthy investment banker who has everything he wants and has no financial worries at all. Murphy starts off as a petty thief who is trying to get by day by day. The wealthy investors who own the bank that Aykroyd works at end up deciding to switch the two’s rolls after Murphy runs into the firm trying to steel something. Eventually, Aykroyd is thrown into the life of a street criminal and Murphy is given everything he ever wanted. They learn to adapt to each other’s life style and eventually end up switching back. I thought this story was interesting mainly because of the idea of people switching classes in an instant. The adaptation within the film shows the willingness of the lower class to try to rise given any opportunity possible, while the upper class have a much harder time reverting to the lower class. Also, the different types of knowledge it takes to succeed in either class is shown. The investment banker is a well educated and “cultured” individual and is very book smart where the petty thief is less book smart and more street smart. This can show the effects of the environment that one lives in as a child, being either privileged or not and being forced to learn either aspect of society.
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