YMMV / Margin Call

• Alternate Aesop Interpretation: A more positive way to view Tuld's History Repeats speech is "market crashes are a naturally reoccurring part of the economy that are always followed by periods of growth. So while times may be hard at the moment, prosperity will return in due course."
• Alternate Character Interpretation: John Tuld insists "it wasn't brains that got me here"- that is, to be the man in charge of the company- and he acts as though this is all out of his control and that if they do not sell (and ruin the market doing so), there are a number of other companies in the exact same position they are in now that will do the same and so the only ethics left are those of survival. Yet he also says that it is his job to predict "where the music is going" - that is, what the market will be months or years down the line-, and he is pretty quick to come to his ultimately very ruthless decision that might leave the company's reputation in the ruins and force him to retire but will also leave him and a handful of others very, very rich. Is he as innocent as he claims to be, or did he see this coming a mile off, know exactly what borderline / outright criminal activities his company was involved in, and is he basically the Big Bad Bitch in Sheep's Clothing of the whole movie?
• Evil Is Cool: Check out any youtube clip involving John Tuld and read the comments. Most of them are about how awesome he is despite being bone-chillingly ruthless.
• Harsher in Hindsight: All the criticism leveled at Demi Moore's character Sarah Robbertson. She is based off Erin Callan the CFO of Lehman. Callan was fired just around the time that Lehman was contemplating selling itself to a different bank, and six months later, she would attempt suicide.
• Magnificent Bastard: John Tuld is the English-American billionaire CEO of a major US bank who quickly cuts through the office politics when apprised of the possible bankruptcy of the firm because of its over-reliance on risky CDO products. Tuld ruthlessly initiates a real estate market crash by spreading the toxic assets through the rest of the economy in a fire sale, motivating his in-house salesmen with massive bonuses and bribing the analyst who originally stumbled onto the crisis before he was let go the same day to keep him quiet. Tuld's charisma and persuasion of the rest of his staff allows his firm to stay afloat at the end of day, as he starts planning his next move to somehow profit from the crisis.
• Moral Event Horizon: The movie is about a collective group of people who make the conscious decision to cross it. Dumping worthless securities on unsuspecting buyers bothers everyone, but not enough for anyone to say no. And they try to justify themselves for betraying the trust of their clients and wrecking the economy by claiming that when a bubble bursts it is their job to be the first outta the door, that the people this firm sells to are traders just like themselves and that they should know what they're selling (and buying), and if they don't, it's their own fault, failing to see the hypocrisy of blaming those who are similar to them and their own fault for not recognising that their assets were toxic to begin with.
• The Woobie: Eric Dale. Sacked just before his greatest contribution to the firm and effectively bullied into coming back. He also pulls off a Heartwarming Moment by explaining how he saved a town 1,200+ years of time by building a bridge. And ironically he has one of the kindest fates by the end of the film, he just makes it clear that money isn't everything for him.

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