Money Monster

The first thing I thought of when I read this weeks post assignment was King Midas and how his greed destroyed everything he cared about by turning it into gold.  Although Midas is a great example, the example I will be using is similar in that both rulers loved gold.  For my example, I will be using the tale of Robin Hood.  As we all know he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. But why?  In the tale, King Richard the Lionheart is obsessed with his wealth.  Due to this obsession, he raises the taxes making it hard for the peasants to live their daily lives.  In the Disney version, we can see that his obsession is much deeper in that he sleeps with his riches.  This obsession with his wealth and his actions are what make him monstrous/ a monster.   Not only this but his peasants viewed him as a monster. 

A more modern day tale of this type of monster would be Wolf of Wall Street.  Like King Richard, the main character Jordan Belfort, played by Leonardo DiCaprio, was obsessed with his wealth.  But unlike King Richard, Jordan acted differently with his wealth.  First, his occupation is different, he didn't have the ability to raise taxes.  However, he was able to lie to people in order to sell penny stock and make it big in the stock market.  Second, instead of saving his wealth he spent it on women, drugs, and alcohol.  This is different from the historical greed monster in that they kept their wealth.  This is confusing to me because it makes me wonder; when did this attribute change in greed? If greed used to mean you kept all your wealth, why does it mean spend all your wealth today? My guess would be capitalism and the industrial revolution began this change.