Category: Movie

Fried Green Tomatoes — I Have More Insurance

 

Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates) is waiting on a parking spot, but a car jumps in front of her. Her parking lot rage gets a bit heater and she decides to drive into the parked car since she assumes she has more insurance than they do. If she didn’t have that insurance, she probably wouldn’t have been so reckless.

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The Little Mermaid — A Kiss for Humanity

Ariel is making a deal with Ursula to become human. The clip begins with Ursula telling Ariel that she can become a human for three days by taking her magic potion. If Prince Eric falls in love with Ariel by the third day then she can stay human forever. If he does not fall in love with her, then she will go back to being a mermaid and work for Ursula. In addition, Ursula wants Ariel to give up her voice as payment for the potion to turn human.

This clip applies to the economic concepts of opportunity cost and decision-making. Life is full of choices and with each choice comes evaluating your opportunity costs. One’s opportunity cost is what they give up to obtain something else. In this clip, Ariel has to decide whether to give up her voice to become human. At one point in the clip, Ariel says that if she becomes a human forever then she will never see her family again. She has to consider if she wants to give up being with her family to be with Prince Eric. She also must decide if she wants to give up her voice in order to turn human for three days. This clip is a great example of opportunity cost and how one must evaluate their opportunity cost to make the best decision for them.

Thank you for the clip and summary Meredith Feinstein!

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Forrest Gump — Only Boat Left

 

Forrest easily enters the shrimp market by buying a boat. There are multiple buyers and sellers, and no one shrimping boat controls the price of shrimp. Therefore the shrimp market is an example of perfect competition. Once the hurricane hits it forces all the other boats to exit the market. Turning the market into a monopoly. Forrest is the sole supplier of the product, controlling the entire market, turning it into a monopoly.

Thanks for the clip and summary Keagan Rallis

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The Founder — Opening Scene

The Founder is based on the rise of Ray Kroc and the McDonald’s brothers. The opening scene of the movie can be used to talk about a variety of topics in producer theory. Michael Keaton plays entrepreneur Ray Kroc and the opening scene starts with Kroc explaining how fast food establishments can upgrade to a 5-spindle milkshake machine and boost the production of milkshakes at the restaurant. Keaton also goes describes themes that are used in monopolistic competition that focus on firms differentiating their products, perhaps by being able to focus on milkshakes.

Thanks for the submission Ryan Herzog!

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Outsourced — Made in America

Many people are upset with outsourcing, but they aren’t willing to pay the price difference to ensure their products are made in America. In this scene from Outsourced, Asha walks an angry customer through the process of locating an American-made product only to find that he isn’t interested in paying the higher price.

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Outsourced — Understanding Cultures

Mr. Todd discusses with his new Indian staff that they must understand the culture of the clients that will be calling them. They go over examples related to the differences between US and Indian culture and also practice with callers.

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The Pursuit of Happyness — Cold Calling

In The Pursuit of Happyness, Chris (played by Will Smith) is cold calling potential clients in order to increase sales for his company. The salesman who creates the most new clients will be hired on, but because of his personal life he isn’t able to put in the same amount of time as his competitors. Chris discusses a variety of ways he saves time, including not hanging up the phone and not drinking water, each of which would cost him valuable time.

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Pretty Woman — A Week’s Worth of Time

In Pretty Woman, Edward is really interested Vivian and makes a business proposition for her to spend a week with him. He offers to hire her as his companion. During the negotiation process, they attempt to settle on a price. They agree on a price of $3000, but at the end of the clip she admits to Edward that she would have stayed for $2000 (implying she has now earned $1000 of producer surplus), but Edward reveals he would have actually paid her $4000 (implying his consumer surplus is also $1000).

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