The Complexity Of The Economy In The Film Boom Bust Boom

The film Boom Bust Boom by film maker Terry Jones basically sums up to a cartoon film explaining how our economy came to be and how the people made it work. In order to explain the correlation between risks and stability, Jones used special animations and puppets to make it more entertaining for viewers to understand the complexity of the economy more easily. Some points discussed in the film, such as the bubble, were similar to the ideas of Adam Smith, because it draws parallels to the idea of the invisible hand in the free market. Just like how the bubble goes through constant cycle because stability leads to instability, optimism leads to increases in prices, the economy is self-regulating. This film emphasizes on the idea of how instability
within the market positively correlates with how high of a risk the people are willing to take.
Throughout the film, Jones incorporates dark humour and jokes to keep the viewers intrigued as to what is being discussed. Although there were funny moments, this film is far too rapid. The narrator, Terry Jones, spoke way too fast and the ideas he talked about seemed to jump from one to another in a speed too quick for the people to process and digest. Despite the visual representations, it can be difficult to understand what is the main idea of the film because of the many facts and background history the film throws at the viewers. For example, Jones attempted to incorporate the ideas of Keynesian economics. Keynes believed that government intervention is key to a thriving economy. For example, in the 2008 Crisis,the banks started to offer incentives to trick people into buying houses and charged them at variable loans, which is similar to how Keynes believed that financial incentives should be offered to boost the economy. All in all, Boom Bust Boom is a great film for those who are fast learners that want to learn more about the basics of economics.