A Kantian Analysis of Categorical Imperative in Lucky Bhaskar and The Wolf of Wall Street

Abstract

This article used Immanuel Kant's philosophical framework, specifically his notion of the categorical imperative as expressed in the Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals, to compare the ethical analyses of financial desire and moral compromise in Lucky Bhaskar and The Wolf of Wall Street. Two main research issues served as the study's compass: how these movies created and depicted both money desire and moral compromise, and how far the characters' choices conformed to or deviated from Kantian moral standards. Using a qualitative, interpretive approach, the study compared and examined thematically the key story points, character motives, and moral dilemmas in both movies. Financial ambition was portrayed in The Wolf of Wall Street as excessive, hedonistic, and intrinsically linked to systematic exploitation, resulting in overt and persistent transgressions of moral obligation. Lucky Bhaskar, on the other hand, depicted financial desire as having its roots in socioeconomic striving and survival, leading to a more nuanced and internally contradictory kind of moral compromise. The study contended that both protagonists eventually fell short of meeting the criteria of Kant's categorical imperative despite these contextual variations. Although Lucky Bhaskar presented aspects of moral uncertainty and partial ethical awareness. The study ultimately concluded that, independent of cultural or narrative context, film depictions of financial desire.

Keywords; #kantian #imperative #moral #metaphysics #survival