These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
Misaimed Fandom: Michael Douglas said that every time a broker said he went to Wall Street after seeing him as Gordon Gekko, he gets a little sad.
And in the DVD, Douglas and Oliver Stone say the 2008 financial crisis was caused by those Gordon Gekko wannabes, while saying people should have gone for Bud Fox instead.
The movie is oft-cited as an inspiration to people who went on to earn MBAs, despite the film's explicitly anti-greed message. The villain of the film is sometimes not even recognized as such by his fans—as in, they don't realize he's supposed to be the bad guy. Possibly caused by Strawman Has a Point.
Moral Event Horizon: It's pretty obvious early on that Gekko is a shady character, but when he lies right to Bud Fox's face about what the deal with Bluestar involves, it makes clear just how much of a scumbag Gekko is.
One-Scene Wonder: Terrence Stamp as the British financial mogul. Although he technically appears in two scenes.
The sequel has Charlee Sheen's cameo as Bud Fox. Also, Eli Wallach as "Julie", the nonagenarian centennial banker.
And fans of Warehouse 13 might be surprised to see Artie as a corporate lawyer.
"Stop Having Fun" Guys: Transport the venue from video games to high finance and you have a perfect analysis of Gordon Gekko.
Elaborated on in the sequel, in a way. In a speech, Gekko clarifies the point made in his famous earlier speech. It amounts to a gentle denunciation of stupid greed. The villain of the film could've been any one of Gekko's many young acolytes who didn't understand that crucial distinction. This may be why, in his famous first speech, he says "Greed, for lack of a better word, is good."
Strawman Has a Point: Debatably. Gordon's "Greed is Good" speech arguably counts as having a point, but he doesn't really fit the strawman aspect, as the film's creators denied that they intended an Author Tract against capitalism. Kind of complicating things, is that as noted above, Gordon's actions weren't actually criminal at the time the film was set (although they were by the time it was made), although they could still be considered unethical. All in all, Gekko was definitely not intended to be a positive character, but it does not make his business ideas and practices reprehensible per se.
Perhaps the biggest point people agree with Gordon on was his casually mentioning how all of the C.E.Os who were fighting his takeover had very little to lose, as they had minimal investment in the company itself - as in, if the company sank, they'd have an escape-route, while the average worker (or shareholder) wouldn't. On top of this, he points out that the company in question (Teldar Paper) has thirty-three Vice-Presidents, each one drawing a $200,000/yr salary in a time when the company had posted a $110,000,000 loss the year before, and even though he's been researching the company for a year, he still doesn't know what all of them do.
