Oh, So That's Why We're All F*cked: The Big Short Ending Explained
Though the film's climax still leaves some of its actual tale unresolved, The Big Short does a fantastic job of making difficult financial subjects understandable to viewers. Based on Michael Lewis's 2010 book on the 2008 Financial Crisis, Adam McKay's film shows how some influential people in the banking industry made money off of the fall-off in the housing market. The Big Short follows Christian Bale, Ryan Gosling, Steve Carell, and Brad Pitt's ensemble cast as the key players forecast the catastrophe and demonstrate how their forecasts came to pass.
Entering the ending of The Big Short, the U.S. economy is hopeless since the Financial Crisis of 2008 is certain. The film's real-life (and some partially fictionalized) key protagonists all win from the crisis because of their bets against the market, but the triumph is sad when they learn the suffering that befalls the actual individuals impacted. All while offering a warning for the future, the conclusion of The Big Short contrasts the prosperity of its primary characters, the underbelly of the broken economic system, and how the crash affected U.S. residents.
"Bespoke Tranche Opportunity": Explained Epilogue & Warning from The Big Short
The Big Short features an epilogue covering the fates of the major characters while foreshadowing another possible system exploitation like what investors did in 2007 after showing the collapse leading to the 2008 financial crisis.
The epilogue states that in 2015 banks started offering billions in a new investment vehicle known as "bespoke tranche opportunities," which The Big Short says are essentially the same as the infamous Cdos. This detail is presented as a warning that few, if any, lessons were gained from what transpired in 2008 and that history could repeat itself once more, this time with the tailored tranche possibilities.
The Financial Ideas of The Big Short Simplified
The Big Short centers on numerous influential people who foresaw and made money off of a housing market collapse. As such, Margot Robbie and other celebrities the film feature playfully clarify various complicated financial words that the main characters toss about in the film. Though quite complex, these financial ideas are essential to grasp the events leading up the 2008 financial crisis, which eventually sets in at the ending of The Big Short following more than two hours of expectation.
A mortgage bond is a type of bond marketed to investors from a pool of mortgages merged under one instrument. Based on their degree of creditworthiness—that is, their likelihood of paying back the money—these underlying bonds get a grade from a credit rating agency. Originally quite profitable, these Mortgage Bonds started filling the bonds with riskier, "subprime," mortgages when banks started running out of mortgages to place into them, but still grading them well. Christian Bale's Michael Burry found that subprime mortgages abound in these mortgage bonds. Collateralized debt obligations (Cdo) are still another vital financial component in The Big Short. In the financial sector, CDOs are complicated instruments made from aggregating several types of debt, in the instance of The Big Short mortgages, into one product. The major characters in the movie, Michael Burry, Jared Vennett, and Mark Baum, come to see that subprime mortgages filling the CDOs are probably going to default and would so undermine their value. At the end of The Big Short, the characters wind up benefiting by betting against these CDOs. "Shorting the market" is one primary method The Big Short's players profit off of the expected fall in Mortgage Bonds and CDOs. This is when an investor borrows a security from a broker and immediately sells it with the intention of the asset's price declining, therefore enabling them to purchase it back at a reduced price, return it to the broker, and retain the difference as their profit. The main protagonists gained from betting against the CDOs this way; the concept of "shorting" the market is finally where the movie gets its moniker. Credit default swaps, which guard against the default of particular financial assets like mortgage bonds or CDOs, are insurance contracts seen in The Big Short. Purchasing credit default swaps, The Big Short's major characters all bet against the mortgage bonds and CDOs that were discovered to be unstable before the 2008 financial collapse. Purchased in the presumption that the underlying subprime mortgages would default, these credit default swaps The main characters wind up making such a large profit when they finally do at the end of the film since the credit default swaps pay them.
Why Mark Baum Refused to Sell for Such Long Period?
While Steve Carell's character, Mark Baum, is based on a genuine person engaged in the events, The Big Short alters many elements of the original narrative. It is underlined during the last part of The Big Short that Baum consistently refuses to sell his position even if others around his team already are. Baum waits to sell until the very last minute of the film, even though the fall of the economy is just about here.
Baum was among the key players who knew what was about to happen and who would profit greatly from the crash; so, it first looks perplexing that he refused to sell. But the reason he delayed selling for so long has direct bearing on the moral principles Mark Baum embodies. The 2008 financial crisis highlighted to Baum that the system was even worse than he had fIRSt believed, therefore highlighting his cynicism of the system and cynical attitude toward his employment and the people around him. Baum was outraged with the thoughtless behavior of his peers in profiting off of others' suffering after seeing how the catastrophe will effect actual people. If Baum sold his position, he would be no better than those other persons he deemed as "crooks." Baum tried to keep his integrity by not selling until the very last minute, which it was sadly too late for.
Interjective Images of Real People Expanded in The Big Short
The Big Short sprinkles still photographs of actual people between various scenes. These still shots serve numerous purposes in the rest of the film, including immersing viewers in the era of the film or depicting events occurring worldwide while this approaching crisis was under way on Wall Street.
But the look of these pictures sharpens dramatically at the climax of the film, giving The Big Short's ending a frenzied but dismal impression. Although these pictures could seem random or annoying, their increased frequency really has great significance. The focus is usually on the CDOs and earning money off of them as The Big Short presents the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis from the points of view of investors. But doing this divorces viewers from the real people the connections' fall from affects, which is the abrupt awareness Michael Burry and Mark Baum finally have. These interjecting pictures of actual people at the end of The Big Short so act as reminders of the effects of the collapse and financial crisis: the real people who lost their homes and jobs as a result of The Big Short's events.
Why Kareem Serageldin Was The Only Trader Sent To Jail For The 2008 Financial Crisis?
According to a story told by Ryan Gosling's Jared Vennett at the conclusion of The Big Short, just one person—Kareem Serageldin—was imprisoned for his activities, despite general knowledge of misbehavior by banks and investors in the run-up to the 2008 financial crisis. Serageldin concealed several millions in mortgage bond losses for Credit Suisse, something most of the major banks did on a good day during the crisis.
It appears strange that Vennett was the only one suffering the repercussions if other large banks were engaging in the same illicit activity as Serageldin during the crisis. The fact that Kareem Serageldin was the lone trader imprisoned for illegal activities exposes the evil character of Wall Street. The banks used actual individuals as scapegoats, borrowed money from taxpayers to pay back themselves, and pushed against major reform as Mark Baum foresaw. Furthermore, the Department of Justice's emphasis on obtaining settlements instead of jail terms meant minimal actual fines for their activities. This meant that, except Serageldin, many persons who helped the crisis went unpunished as eventually there were no significant adjustments implemented.
The Big Short: An Interpretive Film on Greed and the 2008 Financial Crisis
Revealing the greed, carelessness, and institutional failures leading to the collapse of the housing market, The Big Short transports viewers on a trip through the complexity of the 2008 financial catastrophe. Offering a critical commentary on the banking business and the results of unbridled greed, the movie provides a fascinating and perceptive look at the events that rocked the globe.
The ending of The Big Short reminds us sharply of the long-lasting effects of the financial crisis and emphasizes the systematic corruption and lack of responsibility that let it to start. The way the movie shows the mixed feelings of the people and the results of their actions emphasizes the moral complexity of the circumstance. The provocative movie The Big Short asks audiences to consider carefully the realm of finance, the influence of money, and the human cost of greed.
