It strikes me, after having seen seasons 1 and 2 of Exit,
the Norwegian series about four investment brokers--Henrik, Jeppe, William, and
Adam--in the Norwegian financial world and their (mostly miserable) personal
lives, that we have been handed a morality tale, yet again, on the evils of
greed. Much like Wall Street and The Wolf of Wall
Street, where ‘greed is good’, except that it isn’t. We the viewers know
it, the creators and producers of the series know it, and the actors know it.
There’s a price to pay for being greedy, and it’s huge, even though payment
might not come due immediately. But because Exit is a series
and not a movie, it’s possible to delve into the lives of each of these men,
and you come to learn quite a lot about them and what made them the way they
are. None of them are nice men, none of them are men you root for, and none of
them are men you’d like your daughters to marry. They are actually evil men,
except that their brand of evil is banal—they are unfaithful husbands, whore
chasers, alcoholics, and drug users—by choice. Some of them are bullying and
aggressive (violent) toward other men (Jeppe and Henrik) while one of them
(Adam) is a bona fide wife abuser. There are several scenes with William, where
the camera focuses on his face and his eyes, which hold a contempt for others
that is positively chilling. Overall, these men are dinosaurs when it comes to
their views on women and careers. Their dinosaur stance is that they are the
providers, they want to marry trophy wives who don’t work and who bear them
children who are mostly raised by au pairs, and they end up resenting their
trophy wives for loving the life and the money that they provide for them. Part
of the deal between marital partners is that the trophy wives don't complain
when their husbands work long hours, are out late, don't account for their
absences, and have little or nothing to do with raising the children.
Exit is not for everyone, definitely not for the prudish, because of the amount of sex and no-holds barred presentation of prostitution and sexual activity. It’s all staged, that I know. But nevertheless, it pushes the boundaries for what could be considered decent behavior in most circles. Perhaps there is a point to it, or perhaps not. Perhaps the series’ creators and producers are cynical enough to know that sex sells. It does, because Exit has been a ratings hit here in Norway (both seasons 1 and 2). When the series is sold to other countries, it will probably do well there also. The acting is very good, the storylines likewise. It’s a soap opera for adults with lots of sex, about the financial world, the highs, the lows, the drug abuse, the alcohol abuse, the cynicism, the hubris (that comes before a fall), and the daily abuse by these four men of people who would be seen as normal people under most circumstances. These four men have zero concept of what happiness is; the strange thing is that they know it, and still they carry on doing all the things that most of us would never do. They are on a quest for more and more money and greater and greater kicks, and that can only lead to one end—the deaths of others or the deaths of themselves, or both. At heart, they are miserable human beings who ruin the lives of most people with whom they come into contact.
The character William tried to commit suicide in season 1
after many bouts with cocaine abuse and alcoholism. He enters rehab, only to
return to the same environment that he left—an empty soulless environment that
really does not permit or encourage sobriety, monogamy, fidelity, kindness, or
empathy. So he falls again and again, and by the time season 2 ends, it’s not
clear whether he will survive. The story does not really create much compassion
for him; rather, it seemed that the inevitable outcome of the storyline will be
his death, and it seemed almost natural that it should end up that way. That
actually seemed fine with me since he doesn’t really want to continue living
and since no one can get through to him. He wants to die. The others lead
pointless lives with wives and children for whom they have little or no
feelings or connection. They would rather party, screw hookers, and dull their
consciences with booze and cocaine. They would do that 24/7, except that they
cannot because they always have to wake up, sober, and start a new workday,
until they can dull their consciences again later on in the day.
One of the best scenes in season 2 is when Jeppe manages to
get his divorced elderly parents together in the same restaurant. His mother
and father (who now has a terminal illness) divorced due to his father’s
predilection for whores, his infidelity, and his mistreatment of his wife. When
you see the father who once was like Jeppe, but who is now lonely and decrepit,
you see Jeppe as an old man, and he is aware of that on some level. His mother
has no use for his father, and only agreed to the restaurant meeting to please
Jeppe. When they all sit down at the table and begin to look at the menu, his
mother suggests to his father that perhaps he should order some ‘ung due’
(young pigeon) or ‘små rype’ (small birds). The insinuation is clear, and it is
an excellent scene showing his mother’s visceral hatred of her ex-husband.
Jeppe’s father gets the not-so-subtle message, some unkind words are exchanged,
and he leaves the restaurant. There is no reconciliation as Jeppe had hoped for
before his father dies. Again on some level, it registers inside of him that
this could well be his future as an old man.
So what is the point of their lives, of living in this way?
These men have it all—great material success and a lot of money--and yet they
have nothing. They are morally bankrupt. It’s been said many times before--the
quest for more and more money is nothing but greed. I look at the television
portrayal of these men and their ‘successful’ lives--beautiful large houses,
expensive sports cars, extensive wine cellars, built-in pools, yachts, private
planes, being able to afford expensive restaurants and to travel, and I think
to myself—so what? Absolutely none of it appeals to me—not the materialism, not
the unbridled ambition and aggression, not the greed, not the cynicism attached
to the greed, not the cynicism attached to the abuse and exploitation of women,
not the ennui. It’s a bore, all of it. To paraphrase the bible—what does it
profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Indeed. Is it
worth it? What is the meaning of life between birth and death? What should one
do with all those years in-between, if one is so lucky to have been given a
long life? Should one waste it on activities that produce nothing, like working
as an investment broker, partying, contributing nothing of value to society and
the lives around you? It seems to me that a life spent on intellectual, vocational, and/or creative pursuits is a much better life, not necessarily always happier, but much
better spent, with something concrete to be proud of at life’s end.
There are also people who don’t work as investment professionals for
whom money is paramount. They live their lives in an endless quest for more
money, and the more money they go after, the more they fail at one scheme or
another that is going to make them rich. They want money too much. They make stupid and irrational mistakes trying to attain
it. They don’t use their heads. They trust the wrong people. They exploit their
families and friends. They are rude to other people, behave like narcissists,
and think that the world owes them a living. They are ‘high maintenance’
individuals, often live (or have lived) lives of privilege, generally lack
gratitude for most of the good things in their lives, and have no idea of what
it means to be happy. Some grew up without money, some grew up with plenty of
it; thus there is no meaning to be derived from their upbringings. Some of them
have fallen on hard times. I observe such people from a distance. Like the
scientist I am, I study them and have for years. If they ever do become rich,
it will have less to do with brains and intellect and more to do with pure
luck, just statistics. Perhaps it was ‘just their time’. Or perhaps not. It is
strange, this thing called greed. It makes people behave in strange ways, it
makes them rude to others, it makes them proud, it makes them abusive, and it
makes them miserable people to be around. There are wealthy people who have
learned to live with their wealth, who live their lives wisely, who do not
abuse others, who have humility, and who do not feel the need to flaunt their
material possessions. So it is possible to behave decently and have a lot of
wealth. It's just that we rarely hear about such people.
