Being rich is hard y'all. And you will never ever hear about in it the media. Talk about a unseen and un-heard group of people. Why does protagonists often be simple folk or people down on their luck? Because drama works on tension, which works on conflict. Rich people, having outleapt Maslow's hierachy of needs, are simply not a good vehicle for us to empathize with the struggles that come with being alive. Yet there is a sub-set of movies that have billionaires or millionaires as heroes and/or protagonists. What are they, what are they trying to tell us, let's find out:

Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo in The Thomas Crown Affair (1999)

You'd think the template for these film is the critically acclaimed Parasite. It is actually Sex and the City 2.

Edward Norton, Kate Hudson, Daniel Craig, Kathryn Hahn, Dave Bautista, Leslie Odom Jr., Janelle Monáe, Madelyn Cline, and Jessica Henwick in Glass Onion (2022)

also  ‘Horny Nerd in a Suit Has the Worst Night of his Life’. List created from a drakes article on After Hours.

Michael J. Fox in Back to the Future (1985)

Cool shows that I've been watching, but can't be bothered to rate and review in detail.

Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Mary Mouser, Peyton List, Jacob Bertrand, Tanner Buchanan, Gianni DeCenzo, and Xolo Maridueña in Cobra Kai (2018)

Set between the collapse of the USSR and 9/11, when American capitalism seemed triumphant and unchallenged. The fall of communism, "the End of History", should have brought a "and they lived happily ever after"; yet, it appeared that consumerism and materialistic wealth weren't maybe as powerful, awesome and fulfilling as we have been led to believe.

During the 1990s, a small convergent type of thematic movement emerged, which in essence addressed the dread of peace and prosperity. It is a reformulation of the theme "money doesn't buy happiness" but applied to the whole of Western society and the USA especially, e.g. on a civilizational level. It is a reflection of the promise that wealth would bring happiness, and on the (slow) realization that it did/might not. It is the pursuit of happiness beyond the free market, the cubicle and the emergent Corporation that took over the world in that decade.

These movies address this generational angst. They may differ wildly in their attitude, approach, treatment and conclusion; but they all have this thematic core. The protagonist is male and white. He is usually educated and is stuck in a monotone desk job.

Kevin Spacey, Thora Birch, and Mena Suvari in American Beauty (1999)

 Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Panic about Satan

Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in Se7en (1995)

An exploration of one of the oldest (litterally) movie monsters and a comparison between the films

Willem Dafoe and John Malkovich in Shadow of the Vampire (2000)

Jason Bateman, Jeffrey Tambor, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Michael Cera, David Cross, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat, and Jessica Walter in Arrested Development (2003)

American Zoetrope and the hopes and dreams of the New Hollywood. "You have to wanna make a film so strongly that you would kill for it."

Criticalstaff's Lists

More to explore

Recently viewed