apes working together, The Mulligan Brothers’ New Movie, It Sounds Like planet of the apes movie series. Sadly, it didn’t feature Andy Serkis’ motion-capture character, and it had nothing to do with Earth being uprooted by superintelligent apes destroying civilization…
Wait a moment. or is it?
Back in 2021, a group of users on Reddit led by YouTuber Kieth Gill/Roaring Kitty invested their money in failed video game retailer GameStop. Over the past few months, Gill has been pushing back against predictions of GameStop’s imminent demise, and managed to turn a $53,000 investment into a $43 million gain.
A stock market and investing group on Reddit, colloquially known as “The Apes,” decided to follow Jill’s lead, not so much as an opportunity to make money but as a way to highlight how deregulated financial markets are designed to defraud investors of their money. Don’t honor promises to pay out potential profits.
GameStop and the Short Sale
See, under Presidents Reagan, Clinton, and George W. Bush, financial markets shrugged off the protections Congress put in place to prevent another Great Depression, like the Glass-Steagall Act. In 2021, some short-selling brokerages — mainly Robinhood — can legally sell and trade stocks they don’t necessarily own. The companies take positions betting on stocks that have fallen in value, profiting from the trade.
Confused? apes working together This example is provided: A short seller (a company like Robin Hood) borrows a bag of sugar from a neighbor and sells it to someone else for $10. For example, if the value of sugar falls to $5, the short seller would buy the sugar at the new market price and return it to the neighbor, earning $5 in the process. Of course, this business model only works when the price of the stock (sugar in this case) falls. If it rises, short sellers have to make up the difference to buy sugar and return it to the original owner.
According to this principle, in January 2021, the titular great ape apes working together Start buying shares of GameStop and AMC Theaters, a company ravaged by the COVID-19 pandemic. The sudden rush to buy has pushed up stock prices, forcing short sellers to cover the difference in costs. Here’s the problem: Robinhood doesn’t have enough capital to cover the rise in the stock price, and the investment and hedge funds that fund the company, such as Citadel, are losing money. Unwilling to reward investors, the app blocked purchases of GameStop and AMC stock, essentially fixing the market to ensure shareholders dumped their shares and ensured that the stock price would fall.
In other words, big money changed the game when the apes discovered a flaw in a system designed to benefit and profit big money.
evolved ape
If this all sounds complicated, it is. The Mulligan Brothers made it clear early on that apes working together They made this movie because it was underreported by major news outlets. The main forces in the GameStop story are complicated, and most of the media has glossed over the “short squeeze” given the basic narrative needed to understand the story. (Though the movie doesn’t specifically mention it, GameStop’s balance sheet was also eclipsed by the events of the Jan. 6 uprising around the same time.)
So the Mulligans made a movie in the style of Adam McKay big short, a film that uses illogical humor and celebrity cameos to explain the 2008 financial crisis. Set to a synthwave soundtrack and featuring lengthy interviews with financial analysts and some of the “apes” who contributed to GameStop’s short squeeze, apes working together Provides an event-by-event playback during an event.
The Mulligans — a real-life twin — also staged a few comedy sketches and even wore drag to make the details of the current financial system and brokerage firms digestible. The results highlight a financial system without any real regulation, and unable to cope with a world in which investors can buy and sell stocks at the touch of a button on their phones.
cowardly new world
most apes working together There is also a link between financial institutions and service companies, and how they essentially make higher profits by ensuring that share prices fall. The film’s most disturbing moment comes when online stock retailers — Robin Hood, Ameritrade, E-Trade, and others — decide to block sales of GameStop stock in order to prompt shareholders to sell their shares, forcing the stock price down. That action, along with growing questions about the legality of Castle’s relationship with Robin Hood, has sparked an explosion of lawsuits, most of which have yet to be resolved by the courts.
apes working together The Mulligan Brothers do a great job of explaining the financial system dynamics that allowed the GameStop short squeeze to happen, and the noble motives of the investors who caused it. Perhaps the film’s biggest problem is that it actually comes too soon: Despite the Mulligans’ best efforts to end the film, it doesn’t really end. Eventually, participants wept and talked about investing in a brighter future, with analysts pointing out how digital stock traders had an incentive to ensure investors lost money amid a montage of drones and YouTube videos.
beyond suspense
None of this brings any catharsis, and it’s probably not meant to be. But with the ongoing public and private investigation into the GameStop affair, the film more or less faded away at the last minute. The aforementioned recommendation also went on for too long, suggesting that the Mulligans might not be able to make the film into a feature film.
no matter what the shortcomings apes working together, the Mulligan Brothers deserve credit for their thorough analysis of the forces leading up to the GameStop squeeze and their insight into the scandalous events. Although they emulate Adam McKay’s approach, mixing humor and voice-over to explain the complex forces going on here, the directors avoid McKay’s tendency to take unnecessary tangents or use harsh humor.
The 21st century world of investing and finance is a madhouse of corruption, shady dealings and immorality, a behemoth victimized by a group of free thinking internet nerds who expose a system that will never be civilized.
perhaps apes working together Is a planet of the apes Movies after all. You can find out more about the film here.
Apes Together Strong is available on Vimeo, AppleTV and Amazon.
