On the Medium is the Message with The Big Short

Falling somewhere between Margin Call (2011) and a Christopher Guest mockumentary, The Big Short is an unusual cinema experience. Part traditional narrative, part to camera fourth wall breaking narration in style and in genre a mix of comedy and tragedy, it is impossible to second-guess how The Big Short will unfold. This is certainly something only cinema could achieve as the text from which The Big Short is inspired has only one method of delivery – the page. So, the medium is message as McLuhan taught us, but unfortunately here, the relationship is one sided and the message becomes lost in a busy, frustrating exploitation of the medium. Cinema can, and should be used for experimenting with storytelling, but here the message is the financial corruption within Wall Street that led to the 2007-08 crash that crippled thousands of ordinary savers worldwide. There are few more important stories to tell in the 21^st century and The Big Short deserves a less fractured narrative in the telling of this story. Perhaps this will appeal to a younger audience who feel disconnected from words like austerity and crisis and need educating and this is no bad thing, but from a cinema point of view, the aforementioned Margin Call was a greater piece of storytelling whilst passing along the same message. No film that seeks to criticism and satirize those responsible for the crash is bad and The Big Short has its heart in the right place, but a style that one could settle into may have benefitted in this instance.