"Greed is good." This quote from Gordon Gekko, a character in the movie Wall Street (1987), has become the popular reference letter about Wall Street ethics. Many films, documentaries and news reports have analyzed the financial world, but do they show the reality? Five experts from the USA, UK and Germany spoke about this topic on the framework of the congress 'Global Finance and the Moving Image', organized by the Institute for Culture and SocietySchool of Communication of the University of Navarra, Social Trends Institute and the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), and supported by Zurich Seguros, Obra Social 'La Caixa' and Fundación Bancaria Caja Navarra.

"Films dramatize the ups and downs of speculation, but don't show the consequences for ordinary people." So said Graham Murdock, sociologist and professor of 'Culture and Economy' at Loughborough University (UK), during the congress.

According to Murdock, the liberalization of the market in the 1980s gave great power to economic agents. For the expert, the consequences of the malpractice of these agents end up being suffered by ordinary citizens with austerity policies. "Criminal practices have been uncovered, but they are not prosecuted because it would damage the reputation of the banks," he criticizes. "Since banks are crucial to the Economics, they seem to be untouchable." work field

Karen Ho, an anthropologist and professor of programs of study cultural and financial capital at the University of Minnesota (USA)¸ says that "there is a continuous feedback loop between what films represent and the practices of Wall Street". The media help to understand the financial world by depicting dominant ideas or allegories, but they don't explain the day-to-day, says Ho.

She worked on Wall Street and studied how finance workers see themselves. She found an elitist social group and that they consider themselves "the center of the Economics". For her it is vital to change this vision they have of themselves since the family Economics also depends on them: "Now there is speculation on savings accounts, pensions, scholarships, loans...", she warns. Emotion management

For their part, Jörg Metelmann and Scott Loren, professors of Culture and Meida Studies at the University of St. Gallen (Switzerland), say that a healthy culture in financial companies can be achieved through cultural and social programs of study .

They teach future directors and managers to "acquire the necessary tools to gain a better perspective on their own actions and positions, to recognize what is at stake and to be able to decide accordingly," explains Metelmann.

For Metelmann and Loren, films reflect the inner world and complexity of Economics. According to the professors, they also show emotions, which are key in the financial world. Wall Street has "an emotional structure", says Metelmann, they rely on "insecurity and great pressure to create incentives".

Finally, Robert Burgoyne, Professor of Film Studies at Saint Andrews University (UK) and associate at the Cinepoetics of the Freie University (Berlin), analyzed the films Wall Street (1987) by Oliver Stone and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) by Martin Scorsese.

From agreement with Burgoyne there is a paradoxical effect: "They have a critical message about the figure of the broker, but they are received positively by finance workers". "Oliver Stone was looking for Gordon Gekko to produce rejection and he has become a hero for Wall Street workers", he concludes.