My grandfather used to say “It’s much more comfortable to cry in a warm bed than under a bridge.” Money can’t solve all your problems but it can fix or at least alleviate the vast majority of them. The issue is that there comes a point of plateau or even drop off with this. Some things can’t be bought/owned.
Claire from "The Breakfast Club" seemed to be condemned by both the characters and narrative for living a comfortable lifestyle, and her parental issues almost felt brushed over. They all showed compassion with each other, why not extend it to Claire?
Agreed. I watched "The Breakfast Club" and I had and still have a soft spot for Claire because she was getting a lot of crap from Bender for being a "princess" and for other things that weren't entirely her fault. She hit back at him, of course. There's only so much that a "rich girl" can take, from her parents' expectations to Bender being a bully. Bender also felt he couldn't measure up to his father's expectations.
I would rather be rich and miserable than poor and miserable because poor is not equal to happy, it's equal to lack of money, resources and opportunities.
At least when you’re poor your friends like you for you. You can find people who might have empathy for you and your situation. Rich kid, no one feels for you. You’re alone. Life sucks for a lot of people regardless.
@@leahsundvall5894 my friends never liked me for me. No one like you for you. Everyone likes you for what you have and what you can do for them. I lost so many of my closest friends when I struggled with depression and was unemployed.
that's what I thought. They can go to a therapist. Also poor families are more stressed and more likely to have untreated mental health problems. It's hard for me to feel sorry when it only comes to imagined rich Kids in TV Series. But what IS a problem in rich families, is when there is violence. It's less likely to be seen and the children will have to go through it all their childhood without any help. That's because it's a prejudice that those things don't happen through well spoken and educated people. And when the child gets difficult they can send it to a boarding school.
@@leahsundvall5894 you can hide your richness, it's not like you're inherently prejudiced against because you have wealth. People can also elect to just lose their wealth if it's such a burden. Being rich is literally nothing to pity and it's dumb that we try to. Wealth is social power. It's almost like a just world fallacy to suggest "there must be some darker story that justifies and humanises this individual", and actively looking for whatever unrelated circumstances might not be totally alleviated by being wealthy. The rich are not a class that need any kind of further supports, including sympathetic representation in media. The rich don't need to exist.
This is why the end of Succession was so perfect. Especially for Kendall. He was free of all chains, richer than ever, with endless possibilities at his fingertips, but had no idea what to do with any of it because it was outside the familiarity of his father's shadow.
That’s not how I saw the ending. I thought it was implying that everything Kendall has worked for will never happen and, in his mind, he now has nothing left to live for. In a capitalist society, no one, not even the richest person, is safe.
I feel like "Downtown Abbey" is a more nuanced look at how wealth shapes you. Simply having money comes with many societal responsibilities and expectations. And once you have that wealth it becomes a constant job to hold on to the legacy and luxury.
It was once. Nowadays the social norms and etiquette is completely off kilter. Look at weirdos like Musk or Bezos. They can rocket to low orbit and literally move buildings for their yachts to sail and no one bats an eye.
I think it's important to remember that financial abuse is a real thing and deserves to get talked about. From the outside looking in it's funny to laugh at a rich kid who doesn't know how to clean, do their own laundry or know what a reasonable price for some items are, but some of those kids were raised that on purpose so they wouldn't know HOW to live free from their parents. It's actually quite horrifying for your family to demand that you stay in the closet or make you go into a college major you hate on the threat of loosing your car, apartment, or anything else you need, and then when you go talk about it with someone else their response is "But look how BIG this apartment is and you don't have to pay a dime for it. You should be grateful."
Look at Bobby from Water Boy his mom sheltered him from the world because she didn't want him to leave her like his father left her. She didn't teach him to cook, clean, properly educate him, let him interact with kids his own age.
@@tamaralukudu5717The thing is that still is setting up someone to either be abused because they rely on others for their survival, or in the "best" case scenario, creating room por a future abuser and a child doesn't deserve that.
I doubt that lack of empathy is the issue here. We are constantly asked to empathize with the wealthy while they expliot our planet's resources, refuse to pay an adequate share of taxes and price us out of our homes and third spaces. Empathy without discernment is like pouring from an empty cup while dying of thirst. Yes, empathy is necessary*, and so is self respect. *Edited because I misspelled "necessary," my spelling is atrocious, sorry!
well a kid that is growing up in a rich household is certainly not responsible for their parents not paying taxes...and so i think lack of empathy if they grow up in a non loving household sure is an issue here...child abuse just because they are rich doesnt make it okay
@@misswiss278, the poor little rich kid is so unlikely it's fantastical, that's why it's seen in fiction. In real life, children from wealthy homes fare far better than most people. They can afford therapy or to take time off of work or school. Your comments, and others like it, are why I am calling for *discernment*. This trope exists so we do not tackle how real class disparities cause mental/emotional damage to more people by population. There really are bigger problems. You feel what you feel, but a lack of discernment along with empathy leads to distraction and derailment.
@amy675fly we are talking about kids here and every kid abused at home wether it's a rich or a poor household deserves to be heard and get help. just because that number is lower doesn't mean it doesn't happen. kids cannot choose the family they are born into and they are always at the mercy of the people around them.
Materialism can only go so far for people in terms of bringing happiness. That lack of genuine affection from some wealthy parents and “superficial” or “fake” friends can be horribly damaging to their rich kids
I had toxic parents and they were poor as dirt. They weren't better or braver just by being poor (and would not have been good people if rich). And sure as hell I didn't feel against materialism when my pocket money (and my part time jobs after) was spent on groceries for everyone.
@@azmodanpc I'm sorry to hear about that. But I was mainly speaking about rich kids cuz people have that perception that if they have all the things they want in the world, they should be happy. Not to be rude, but yeah being poor is miserable and it def doesn't equate to having good parents .
@@comicalcosmonaut959 And I understand that, I feel that poverty is made much more palatable by criticizing rich people when they fail parenting. Poor people do that en masse and it’s justified and children of those parents are told to suck it up and worship the ground beneath those horrible parents.
This trope is both useful, yet able to do harm. It brings the everyday experience of most people growing up in the last 30 years, the toxic household, and puts it in a palletable form (mental breakdown in penthouse). Yet, at the same point, leaves people who experience this with the added stress of financial instability, that much more jaded through its portrayal.
The Poor Little Rich Kid seems like a self esteem program for an audience that is not as privileged. Seeing the more privileged be miserable makes the less wealthy people feel better about themselves their own lot. This trope works for rich people who do not want more people to try join their ranks. If you think rich people are miserable, you won't aspire to elevate your own wealth and become a threat.
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🫡🫡You said it !!!! And I absolutely agree with your analysis if Money really were that problematic no one would work for it : I'd also like to add that the Upper and wealthy class people are still considered the Signifers of Success in all walks of Life that even negative aspects such as Grief and Sad that they have is considered aspirational 😂😂😂🤣😆so yeah if you're gonna be sad rather be sad rich than sad poor 😂😂
Money makes life better, but it doesn't replace *genuine love.* Some people who are excellent at being successful aren't the best at the expressing love thing, and it affects their families
Facts here what I learned: I and my friends love to go out and stuff because it's fun. I love going to the mall and movies with them, us hanging out and living life is so much fun but goddammit they cost so much money fast food malls and movies anything just cost so much money going to different country and buy some cool stuff won't make you happy me going to the mall and movies are fun enough for me but money helps with paying for stuff
@@ilonat8373 Yeah, and being poor does not automatically make you are more loving, empathetic or kinder. Poor people can be as petty and toxic as their richer counterparts.
Yeah because in the real world, rich kids are living a relatively easy life, full monetary support to pursuing their dreams and are laid back. Making them miserable always seemed so odd to me and the most "struggle" they go through is not getting parental validation. MentaI heaIth issues, body image issues, grief, familial conflict and working hard to establish a stable life/realise a dream are all universal and these are thrust on to these rich characters to give them depth & seem like these are world ending problems for said rich characters, while it's pretty freaking regular for 90% of the world.
I am wealthy and more miserable than most poor kids. Growing up with completely absent parents, celebrating holidays at boarding school or Christmas alone at a hotel and having no family connection is miserable. Going to extremely competitive private schools puts immense pressure on you to be perfect. And I will always be a failure in my father’s eyes.
Also, you represent the main problem. No one every has empathy for you, no matter how abusive your parent are or if something awful happens to you. They just say, “well they’re rich so who cares”. And people are extremely jealous and spiteful around you all the time
@@0_Katt_0 Same with poor kids. Most have no father. The mom works all day and night. They’re called latch key kids. They get abused mol. Etc. go to bad schools. Their Christmas is non existent.
A lot of them are miserable because they are lonely They have have all the money in the world but they don’t have the human connections we have And they never know who to trust and whether or not people like them for them or for their money That’s why we are the trope like in princess and the pauper how they just want normal lives
I mean geing rich and having absent parents are two different things. Money is an advantage the later isn’t. So I don't get the trope at all, it feels more like media is trying to make us believe that rich people suffer by having too much money, even though that is a problem easily solved. Give your money away. The absent/not caring parents is something you can always have. And I would say with poor parents you have that even more since rich parents can at least afford having one parent (or both) stay at home. Poor can't they have to work.
SO much screen time is devoted to exploring every angle of the rich kid’s emotional landscape. Yet they are hardly the only people to experience emotional abuse and chronic feelings of disconnect-try being in foster care or be raised in a violent home in a violent neighborhood. And rich kids have FAR more access and resources to treatment and support and far less likelihood of ending up on the street as the result of their unresolved trauma. Because of their wealth, they can get the very expensive and hard to access high quality mental health treatment the rest of us can’t, and enjoy safety nets the rest of us don’t, especially in a country with high inequality and such paltry social welfare programming. Why aren’t there nearly as many nuanced dramas and meditative depictions of poor kids’ pain and inner lives? Could it be because to make it in Hollywood and in an industry like media requires wealth and connections that only nepo babies and rich kids have so it’s mostly their stories that get told?
Rich kids and nepo babies sell. Poverty doesn't. Poor people can watch those tropes and feel better for themselves. Or live vicariously through their struggles. I would never watch a nuanced poor kid struggle through what I've felt growing up poor surrounded by far better off kids. It would be very far from entertaining.
@@TristanJosephNotimportant Poverty doesn't elevate you above others by itself. It's not a superpower, it's just bad luck, added discomfort and hard choices. I've known countless assholes who grew up poor and struggled only to fall by the wayside and become criminals, some where my middle school bullies. Good and moral people can be well off, middle class or dirt poor, rich assholes are more blatant. My parents were disfunctional and inept. Poverty was just the cherry on the s it sundae.
I always see this thing about “Omg which rich kids are these? We never knew them.” like even the most obnoxious portrayals of rich people comes from some grain of truth. Also, privileged people cosplaying as relatable is worse than a clueless loaded person.
The film A Little Princess had me misled. When I was in middle school the kids from well off families weren't sad almost orphans. They were obnoxious, mean, and even cruel because of the example their parents led by.
There are. But I guess the numbers of poor kids struggling with addict mothers / fathers (and becoming addicts themselves or being thrown into sex slavery to survive) is not as eye catching.
No mention of Mad Men (Roger and daughter Margaret, Pete Campbell's family and by contrast Trudy Campbell's family and how Pete tries to rectify with his daughter Tammy as compared to Roger and Don), As Told By Ginger (Macie Lightfoot and her family), The Crown (Queen Elizabeth's kids), Never Have I Ever (Ben Gross), Dead Poet's Society (Todd Anderson), The Nanny (how the Sheffield kids were doing when Fran came in and how Maxwell's upbringing impacted his relationships)? For shame
Being a working-class person, the wealth of rich people in both real life and fiction was never relatable to me, however I did have some sympathy for them. The societal pressures, needing to excel for legacy purposes, and the traumas they may have gone through can make for good television and/or film that captures our attention. However, I do find these things in real life examples. Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth fortune, had everything money could buy but discovering her mom's dead body at age 4 and being sent to live with various relatives thereafter caused a lot of trauma, leading to addiction and failed relationships. Her only child's tragic death also added to her trauma and mental health issues. Then there's Prince Harry. While not a fan of him, I did sympathize with his mental health issues and how his mother's death when he was 12 on such a huge public scale affected him. So, while I don't sympathize with their wealth and status, I do feel compassion for some things, and it shows that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
It’s funny that Poor Little Rich Kid is a trope. Most rich kids are well loved by their parents. And parents make sure that their kids have a future, and learning multiple languages or going to great schools is easier when those school gives private tutoring in confortable environnement and when you have private tutors that are great pedagogues… It’s not that hard to go to rich kids school when you are rich…
Eh having grown up around rich kids it’s not really a trope.A lot of them have mental health issues/drug addiction which are exasperated by the pressure to maintain generational wealth and their parents physical &/or emotional absence from neglectful to exhaustion of both working. Gotten so bad they willfully got themselves kicked out of some of their private schools just to get their attention.
The guy who bullied me in high school came from an ultra rich family. He drove a white Lexus that his parents bought for him, he wore designer clothes, his family belonged to the nicest country club in my town, he always threw LEGENDARY parties (not that I would know from personal experience, because I was never invited), but people TALKED about these parties for MONTHS after they happened. He always treated me like shit for virtually no reason (having Asperger’s, I had some notable quirks, admittedly). He would ALWAYS advertise parties in front of me, and when I asked about them, he would say “oh no! YOU’RE not invited!” The guy LITERALLY sent me a Facebook message to tell me that they were having a pre for some grad event and that I wasn’t invited! His friends told me that he has a lot of issues in his personal life, but because he seemingly had it all and was a real prick to me, it was REALLY difficult to feel sorry for him.
I think it’s an issue when you see how the kids act like because they’re rich they can have whatever they want, therefore act extremely entitled and selfish. Therefore, nobody wants to be around them, leaving them to be all alone, and with no one to blame for that but themselves.
@@osmanyousif7849 ain’t THAT the truth. Many of them complain that “nobody likes me for me!” I’m like “well… maybe if you tried being NICE to people and treating everyone with respect, they WOULD like you for you.”
Me too. Their cruel actions toward people they see as dirty bugs still speak louder than their smiles during charity galas and ribbon cutting ceremonies for a hospital.😒😅
5:09 Repressed English aristocracy and Boarding is a whole other subgenre of content. P.S. I’m reminded of the Baroness in ‘The Sound of Music’ saying: “Haven’t you heard of a marvellous thing called Boarding School and Meredith Blake in ‘The Parent Trap’ talking about boarding school.
My book character is pretty much this trope; she's a rich girly girl living in the 1980s with her distracted, overworked, neglectful Yuppie father, and her shallow stepmother (a superstitious beauty model whose only interests are astrology, psychics, mediums, beauty salons, and aerobics). Having grown up rich, she develops the flaw of laziness, but deep down wants to do something with her life. Her birth mother was the only down-to-earth and humble, realistic and loving person in her life before she died. The Rich Kid goes to a public school, but doesn't have many (true) friends except for the middle class bookworm daughter of miserly bankers, Reaganites and debt collectors (who also are displeased with their daughter because she wasn't born a boy), And the working class tomboy daughter of devout Catholic but bickering, loveless butchers (who can't stand each other and had a gunshot wedding but foolishly refuse to divorce because of their Catholicism).
I’m surprised this video didn’t mention one of the BIGGEST examples of the “poor little rich kid” trope: London Tipton from the Suite Life Franchise! There was LITERALLY an episode titled “Poor Little Rich Girl”! London has a father who is literally NEVER there for her. He always cancels appearances to see her, and Mr. Moseby the hotel manager has to serve as a father figure to her. As kids, we all thought London Tipton was really annoying and a piece of work. As I got older, I actually genuinely DID feel sorry for her. There was even an episode where it’s revealed that she has a shopping addiction to cope with her cold loveless life.
I mean yeah… No one likes you by default because you have it “easy”, you aren’t allowed to complain about or have problems because you are privileged and rich, your parents (often) aren’t very present in your life, you are sheltered most likely, maybe pressure of being an heir/heiress and taking over a family business meaning you have no choice in what you want to do in the future, you don’t know if people are actually friends with you because they like you or because they think you are a good business contact, you get hated for using the resources you have at your disposal because it’s unfair that you get those resources and others don’t (even though not using any of them makes absolutely no sense). (And maybe your parents raised you into a terrible entitled person on top of that.) No wonder those kids are miserable and then lash out. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy. They get hated simply for being born rich and privileged (not their choice) so they start hating on people who were born poor (also not their choice). Pretty much a game of “who can dehumanise the other more”. I remember seeing discourse when something unfortunate happens to one of these people, like bad stuff and people will just say “Well she’s rich so it’s not gonna effect her in the long run” which is pretty cruelw in my opinion. Why do people only have friends and contacts within their own class? Because when they don’t the people make you feel unwelcome and uncomfortable and that goes in both directions. We often make it so incredibly hard for these people (on both ends of the spectrum) to socialise with different groups of people that they simply stop trying and then we wonder why they hate us so much and have no compassion for us (again this goes in both directions). Literally the only way for things to improve is to connect with each other and forge relationships
The amount of extreme jealousy I face from coworkers when they find out I’m wealthy is almost scary. Jealousy is a very dangerous emotion, and people become cruel and hateful towards me the moment rhey find out I come from money
@@0_Katt_0 jealousy indeed seems to be one of humanity’s driving forces. I think it’s interesting how much people can villainise and dehumanise each other because of it. It’s ridiculous, just because you are poor/rich doesn’t mean you don’t have feelings like any other person. I don’t come from money but I’m not poor (think upper middle class). I’m also chronically ill, disabled, whatever you want to call it and I remember having someone tell me “Well your parents are rich (they aren’t Germany just has good universal and private healthcare) so it’s not that hard for you like imagine if your parents didn’t have money for fancy doctors and meds…” I mean yes but that’s not the point? It can literally always be worse. *ALWAYS!* This narrative that because someone else has it worse your problem isn’t a real problem or your feelings aren’t valid or your freaking disability isn’t as bad, because you are privileged is so stupid and counterproductive.
I have always been fascinated by movies like "Happiness" and "Little Children." There is something so deliciously dark about the actual problems, challenges, and sources of misery that affect suburbanites who appear to have it all, but want so desperately to keep things concealed.
This is such a toxic worldview with LOTS of assumptions that come from bad screenwriters. If you have to pick between rich and poor parents, the chance are 95% that the rich kid had a much much more loving upbringing, way less abuse and way less trauma. If you belief otherwise, you have never meet a rich person. Being poor sucks, it makes you sick, stressed and most of all: it takes away all your time when you need to work 3 jobs just to make ends mean. I am sorry, but this one is very poor material. You feel for the same trap, as buy into the lie that "money can´t buy happyness" tells you. Actually, money can very easily buy you happiness by taking away suffering daily struggle. As for how people become rich: Actually, a lot of them are very "cuddly" and caring people. The amount of poor assholes is definitely way higher then with rich people. The only difference: nobody cares of the poor person having drama, but people love to pick up on a rich person having troubles. Please also remember that celebrities don´t represent rich people; most of what you see on TV are just wannabes. Actual rich people REALLY don´t want to be on TV and are very good at keeping their names out of the media.
@@GeorgeGlass298 I disagree. The chances of having loving parents who provide for you emotional and material needs are increased based on the education and economical situation. Poor, uneducated people make for very very bad parents simply by lack of time. Same for drug abuse, violence etc. thos factors are correlated with the economical situation. I don´t want to simplify, so you have to look into the studies yourself - and i am also not an expert on this for the US. In my country the connection is VERY clear: rich kids are way healthier, happier and much higher educated. They also have a much, much lower chance of violence, drug abuse and self-harm.
Exactly! In backwoods areas of the Southern States, or “da hood”, or any poor area of the world, there is a lot of child abandonment, sexual abuse, alcoholism, etc. which ultimately results in more poverty. On average those kids have it WAAAAY worse than a “poor little rich kid.”
Yes! Wealth does not equal happiness but neither does poverty. Poverty means lack of access to resources, and a struggle to make ends meet. If you lack access to proper housing, nutritional food, a warm bed, and barely make enough to survive, odds are you probably aren’t going to be very happy.
Church of Lottie Day Saints checking in! I was really hoping this video talked about her because she's one of the most fascinating takes on this trope. She has insane amounts of wealth, but it all means fuck-all when she's trapped in the wilderness. She knows it, too, because Natalie dunks on her in every way because this is how Nat has basically lived her entire life. Misty is also very well-off, but she's a fucking weirdo so she had to develop skills to cope with life. Jackie is the epitome of this trope, but (again) being out in the wilderness causes a complete 180° turn in how her wealth and status manifests itself. ajfdslksajslfasjqwieh I can keep ranting I just really want season 3 or at least the bonus episode already 😭😭😭
In my experience, misery does not come from money or poverty, it comes from lack of personality and flair, some people have it and sadly others just don't. On any given Sunday, I'd choose to be a Rich Kid any day.
Now I'm kinda reminded of something that's been a little recurring with villainess isekai stories, basically critiquing the rags to riches trope, that somehow specifically, it can be a part of something known as the middle-class squeeze,
Another Poor Little Rich Kid episode... with the trifecta of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Emily in Paris all mentioned. I should make a drinking game out of this... I still don't feel bad for the ultra wealthy and materialistic and never will, because I've lived in the real world - even if both worlds have people with emotional difficulties in them. Now, how about a nice big series on representations of poverty?
It's sad how consistently people qualify other people's pain. Pain is pain. Let's stop minimizing and hating because lives "appear" better. Empathy is an important emotion; exercise it.
I guess because I'm a little bit of a weirdo, essentially does anybody else get, writers trying to figure out, a maslow's hierarchy of needs? When it comes to storytelling(I guess I'm just overthinking, the correlation of characters being restaurant/food centered, is related to like that will solve physiological/safety needs, but then that motivation prevents, love and social/esteem needs)
This is a good one. Thought provoking. I wish The Take would use this voice actress more often. I really enjoy her style of delivery. She always sounds slightly cynical & amused.
Ben's dad at Never have I ever apologizing about it was healing. It was after he had to be hospitalized after a break down, but it was more than most character get.
I think the reason we don’t take these kinds problems into consideration is because we assume that people, even kids, who live insulated from high pressure problems lack lack of money, or shortage of resources automatically have a leg up from the rest of us. Sure, anyone can have their parents divorce, but not everyone can have money to shop until we feel better about it.
1. If they're rich and happy, where's the drama? They need a plot. 2. They want you to think that being poor is good because rich people are miserable.
Watch the *SCREAM* fanchise. A killer in Scream 1, both in Scream 4, AND one of them in Scream 5 all are rich kids. Rich kids with wayyyyy too much time on their hands and zero parental supervision. Woodsboro is located in the California mountains, amongst the winaries and vinyards. The Woodsboro suburbs all have houses that are a *minimum* of 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths (a downstairs powder room or bathroom plus usually two personal bathrooms upstairs). Woodsboro houses also usually a large backyard, even if right next to each other, and their own driveway plus garage. Even TARA AND SAM'S MOM, being a single (dating) recovering alocholic, is able to afford a suburban Woodsboro 2-story house with what looks to be 2-3 bedrooms at least, not to mention a full stocked liquor cabinet, high speed wifi, and a security system linked to at least 3-4 different entrances. SCREAM children are also very well off; they're dressed to fit the latest trends, all have iPhones or Androids with the latest model, most have MacBook pros and expensive headphones, and their bedrooms are practically directly out of Pottery Barn. To a "rich kid" this might not be impressive, but let's be real: Stu Macher's house WAS a mansion, with a full front and back 2-3 acres to himself and private driveway. His parents had to have made at least 6 figures EACH, as that house was an easy 1.2 million back in 1996. The Scream House TODAY is worth $3 million. So if Amber from SCREAM 2022 was living there in 2020/2021, you know her parents were rich as balls. And yet she still was unhappy and killed.
I disliked Succession. Well made but honestly, There was nobody in the show i didn't want to lose miserably. I literally rooted for every moment of every episode to have horror fall on them. At one point i was just like please everybody get hit by a bus, please go to jail. At least they all got screwed over in the end. Because they actually have no skills and no ability other than being spoiled and rich and entitled.
My divorced parents were not rich but they usually often busy with work or thrir problebatic new partners and gave me more material things to express their supposed love to me then spend more quality time with me or give me for physical or emotional affection, that really tended to feel lonely sometimes, good thing I've for most of my life been independent and gokd with keeping my emotions and thoughts to myself and been grateful to my parents for caring for me despite their flaws and moved on.
Honestly I wouldn't have been able to move on. I would've told my parents that I didn't ask to be born and I didn't ask to feel replaced to neglected because you cared more about the people you shared a bed with and your younger kids
Poor me not having any real life issues. thank god I have my trust fund it will always love me. a very hard trope for most to buy in the modern setting.
As someone who grew up in a toxic abusive poor household and was even homeless at one point when my mom lost her job during the 2008 recession, I don’t feel sorry for rich kids.
"Emily in Paris" is not an adequate example of anything ever. This video is super confusing: lumping The OC and Succession into one huge pile, trying to simultaneously call out and squeeze out pity for the subject matter people, mutually undermining both points. Now, the one major problem with The OC, Gossip Girl and the likes is not the rich element per se, but the grotesque portrayals of children living like 30-40-something adults at 15-16 years old (like 16 year old Blair Waldorf dancing on stage of a strip club). This is not even a honest attempt to explore any kind of trauma, it is just gross and borderline... well, you know.
I feel like Schitt's Creek doesn't really belong here. The family were wealthy but they immediately lost all their wealth in the first episode, and after that they had to figure out how to live without it. Not the same situation.
Another example of this trope was Oh Il-Nam, the old man in Squid Game. The guy literally confessed that he created these games for no other reason than that he was just… bored. He said that once you get to a certain level of wealth, life becomes immensely boring because you can just buy yourself out of all your problems. I’m like… bro, those financially struggling people are not “bored.” Their lives are MISERABLE. He was an example of a “poor little rich kid” even though he was an old man.
So nothing a rich person could ever possibly experience is worthy of your empathy? Rape, abuse, self-harm, losing their child, PTSD, addiction, discrimination, eating disorders, depression, etc.? It’s only worthy of empathy once there are no poor people in the world? No one person can overturn the class system, and there will never be a time when everyone’s needs are met, financial or otherwise. So why are you waiting for the date when 6 billion humans are all comfortable before you acknowledge that some things are always bad?
@@EnigmaticLich they are more likely to have resources or to have better resources. Easier does not = easy. But no one who has lost their child or almost died from cancer deserves to just be shrugged off because they have some help. Those experiences are ALWAYS devastating. But you think that it doesn’t matter how bad someone’s experiences are if they have support. You think that either everyone has resources and everyone deserves sympathy or a few people have resources and only everyone else deserves sympathy. It’s not like someone watches their child die and because they can afford to bury them properly it’s all sunshine and rainbows but the next day everyone can afford to bury their children and now suddenly the person is in agony. The very fact that they need resources proves that they deserve your empathy
well they can fix that misery by giving their money to poor kids and leaving that world behind. I'm sure that be much happier living as working class people with authentic relationships, let them give the burden of being rich to poor unsuspecting working class kids. don't poor people owe it to rich people to take the burden of wealth off their hands and give them their poor privilege?
those who grow up poorer are better more honerable humans who actaully fit in and know real life struggle i feel ashamed wish i fit in and no im not nescarlly rich
We should be talking about how being "the poor little rich kid" shapes them into being just like their parents, the people who consistently make the decisions that affect everyone in society... THAT'S the problem...not if money doesn't buy happiness! It's the tailoring of children into adults who will refuse to be better and do better with all the power and resources they have.
I think being born into a rich family and feeling misserable is even worse than having had the experience of being poor as it now is even harder for a rich child to relate to those who aren't. And even the rich kid wants to fit in, just like almost everybody else.
I think what makes Tony Stark stand out is his mindset, and I’m not just talking about his genius. While his smugness never truly goes away, his major turning point was finding a larger purpose in life than just acquiring wealth. Yeah, he’s a flashy billionaire, but his inner qualities led him to be a lot more than that. It also helps that Pepper can read him like a book and was never afraid to (metaphorically) stomp on his balls if he got too crazy.
As an upper-middle-class gentleman, rich kids deserve to have sympathy too. We didn't choose to live in a wealthy family or go to boring private schools. Being rich is just as hard as being poor - you never had to choose which summer vacation home to visit or what car to buy. And trust me those female tutors are bonkers
honestly i feel a lot of deep shame i'm not rich or grew up rich nescarlly my dad does own small business now i feel like daddy's rich kid and i see other poorer folks and i feel guilty and ashamed not becuase i'm ungrateful or unthankfull i just don't fit in and i think there better humans i deserve to be judged and shunned so on .. i might be giving off wrong impression this is only really explaining a tiny bit .. i believe those who grow up with less are better humans than those who grow up with more - my struggles will never compare and so on ..
The people that I know in my life that are the most miserable are the most wealthy and they will try and make you think they’re not by flaunting all of the fun new stuff they’ve bought and continuously going on vacation but inside it’s hollow and you can see it.
Imo the best case of a miserable rich kid done right, is Ben Gross from Never Have I Ever. His wealth is why he almost never talks about his problems with others, because he should be "grateful" for being rich
Gender I think is also important here. It's already difficult for a teenage girl to be taken serious by others, nevermind if said girl in particular has rich parents. Let's be honest here, those of us we are not that wealthy can easily fall for the trap of jealousy. And when I was younger I was no exception.
My parents were definitely bad parents, but I do think access to limitless cash would have made their flaws even worse. If I could choose my parents, I would totally be a rich kid and/or nepo baby. Like, Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman seem like good parents and I feel like Maya Hawke is probably having a pretty good time. But I also know a couple people who come from extreme wealth and I know I definitely wouldn’t trade places with one of them in particular.
Very disappointed in your thumbnail making it seem liked you’d discuss Yellowjackets, but you only showed one single clip from the show and never mentioned Lottie at all
I don’t know If it’s fair to put Lottie in here since her wealthy is not even that important in the show. Also Lottie has some clearly mental healthy issues that doesn’t really apply the same way to the other characters.
I'm surprised they mentioned Sherry from The Midnight Club, but not ANY character from The Fall of the House of Usher. I think that show highlights these points perfectly. They all fought for their father's approval above all else and it turned them into horrible people. Roderick lured his first 2 away from their mother with riches and things went downhill after that. They stopped at nothing to keep their wealth, power, and status and prioritized pleasing their father and aunt above all. They considered all others expendable, even their own spouses/partners. They were, hands-down terrible people (though very well-written and entertaining to watch).
My grandfather used to say “It’s much more comfortable to cry in a warm bed than under a bridge.” Money can’t solve all your problems but it can fix or at least alleviate the vast majority of them. The issue is that there comes a point of plateau or even drop off with this. Some things can’t be bought/owned.
Claire from "The Breakfast Club" seemed to be condemned by both the characters and narrative for living a comfortable lifestyle, and her parental issues almost felt brushed over. They all showed compassion with each other, why not extend it to Claire?
Also given that Alison's parents are painted as Yuppies, wouldn't they count?
Agreed. I watched "The Breakfast Club" and I had and still have a soft spot for Claire because she was getting a lot of crap from Bender for being a "princess" and for other things that weren't entirely her fault. She hit back at him, of course. There's only so much that a "rich girl" can take, from her parents' expectations to Bender being a bully. Bender also felt he couldn't measure up to his father's expectations.
I would rather be rich and miserable than poor and miserable because poor is not equal to happy, it's equal to lack of money, resources and opportunities.
Yeah, poor people have all these same problems, but don't have access to resources if they wanted them.
At least when you’re poor your friends like you for you. You can find people who might have empathy for you and your situation.
Rich kid, no one feels for you. You’re alone.
Life sucks for a lot of people regardless.
@@leahsundvall5894 my friends never liked me for me. No one like you for you. Everyone likes you for what you have and what you can do for them. I lost so many of my closest friends when I struggled with depression and was unemployed.
that's what I thought. They can go to a therapist. Also poor families are more stressed and more likely to have untreated mental health problems. It's hard for me to feel sorry when it only comes to imagined rich Kids in TV Series.
But what IS a problem in rich families, is when there is violence. It's less likely to be seen and the children will have to go through it all their childhood without any help. That's because it's a prejudice that those things don't happen through well spoken and educated people. And when the child gets difficult they can send it to a boarding school.
@@leahsundvall5894 you can hide your richness, it's not like you're inherently prejudiced against because you have wealth. People can also elect to just lose their wealth if it's such a burden. Being rich is literally nothing to pity and it's dumb that we try to. Wealth is social power.
It's almost like a just world fallacy to suggest "there must be some darker story that justifies and humanises this individual", and actively looking for whatever unrelated circumstances might not be totally alleviated by being wealthy.
The rich are not a class that need any kind of further supports, including sympathetic representation in media.
The rich don't need to exist.
This is why the end of Succession was so perfect. Especially for Kendall. He was free of all chains, richer than ever, with endless possibilities at his fingertips, but had no idea what to do with any of it because it was outside the familiarity of his father's shadow.
That’s not how I saw the ending. I thought it was implying that everything Kendall has worked for will never happen and, in his mind, he now has nothing left to live for. In a capitalist society, no one, not even the richest person, is safe.
That was Roman’s ending. Kendall’s ending is simply him killing himself because he has nothing to live for anymore.
@@nont18411 no, Roman went back to being an aimless playboy. Kendall felt lost instead of free, but the show didn't show him end his life.
I feel like "Downtown Abbey" is a more nuanced look at how wealth shapes you. Simply having money comes with many societal responsibilities and expectations. And once you have that wealth it becomes a constant job to hold on to the legacy and luxury.
It was once. Nowadays the social norms and etiquette is completely off kilter. Look at weirdos like Musk or Bezos. They can rocket to low orbit and literally move buildings for their yachts to sail and no one bats an eye.
I think it's important to remember that financial abuse is a real thing and deserves to get talked about. From the outside looking in it's funny to laugh at a rich kid who doesn't know how to clean, do their own laundry or know what a reasonable price for some items are, but some of those kids were raised that on purpose so they wouldn't know HOW to live free from their parents. It's actually quite horrifying for your family to demand that you stay in the closet or make you go into a college major you hate on the threat of loosing your car, apartment, or anything else you need, and then when you go talk about it with someone else their response is "But look how BIG this apartment is and you don't have to pay a dime for it. You should be grateful."
Look at Bobby from Water Boy his mom sheltered him from the world because she didn't want him to leave her like his father left her. She didn't teach him to cook, clean, properly educate him, let him interact with kids his own age.
Thank you! I am surprised by how no one talks about this
Or... they believe people will do the work for them.
@@tamaralukudu5717The thing is that still is setting up someone to either be abused because they rely on others for their survival, or in the "best" case scenario, creating room por a future abuser and a child doesn't deserve that.
I doubt that lack of empathy is the issue here. We are constantly asked to empathize with the wealthy while they expliot our planet's resources, refuse to pay an adequate share of taxes and price us out of our homes and third spaces. Empathy without discernment is like pouring from an empty cup while dying of thirst. Yes, empathy is necessary*, and so is self respect.
*Edited because I misspelled "necessary," my spelling is atrocious, sorry!
🎯
Preach!
well a kid that is growing up in a rich household is certainly not responsible for their parents not paying taxes...and so i think lack of empathy if they grow up in a non loving household sure is an issue here...child abuse just because they are rich doesnt make it okay
@@misswiss278, the poor little rich kid is so unlikely it's fantastical, that's why it's seen in fiction. In real life, children from wealthy homes fare far better than most people. They can afford therapy or to take time off of work or school. Your comments, and others like it, are why I am calling for *discernment*. This trope exists so we do not tackle how real class disparities cause mental/emotional damage to more people by population. There really are bigger problems. You feel what you feel, but a lack of discernment along with empathy leads to distraction and derailment.
@amy675fly we are talking about kids here and every kid abused at home wether it's a rich or a poor household deserves to be heard and get help. just because that number is lower doesn't mean it doesn't happen. kids cannot choose the family they are born into and they are always at the mercy of the people around them.
Materialism can only go so far for people in terms of bringing happiness. That lack of genuine affection from some wealthy parents and “superficial” or “fake” friends can be horribly damaging to their rich kids
I had toxic parents and they were poor as dirt. They weren't better or braver just by being poor (and would not have been good people if rich). And sure as hell I didn't feel against materialism when my pocket money (and my part time jobs after) was spent on groceries for everyone.
@@azmodanpc I'm sorry to hear about that. But I was mainly speaking about rich kids cuz people have that perception that if they have all the things they want in the world, they should be happy. Not to be rude, but yeah being poor is miserable and it def doesn't equate to having good parents .
@@comicalcosmonaut959 And I understand that, I feel that poverty is made much more palatable by criticizing rich people when they fail parenting. Poor people do that en masse and it’s justified and children of those parents are told to suck it up and worship the ground beneath those horrible parents.
This trope is both useful, yet able to do harm. It brings the everyday experience of most people growing up in the last 30 years, the toxic household, and puts it in a palletable form (mental breakdown in penthouse). Yet, at the same point, leaves people who experience this with the added stress of financial instability, that much more jaded through its portrayal.
The Poor Little Rich Kid seems like a self esteem program for an audience that is not as privileged. Seeing the more privileged be miserable makes the less wealthy people feel better about themselves their own lot. This trope works for rich people who do not want more people to try join their ranks. If you think rich people are miserable, you won't aspire to elevate your own wealth and become a threat.
&what might be included, is that it could also related to, keeping the rich people in check(prevents the rich from turning on each other)
Sounds more like you're concerned with old money vs new money, not rich vs poor
"Elevate your own wealth and become a threat" - to become a threat, you need power that is martial, not monetary.
This is it. THIS IS IT 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🫡🫡You said it !!!! And I absolutely agree with your analysis if Money really were that problematic no one would work for it : I'd also like to add that the Upper and wealthy class people are still considered the Signifers of Success in all walks of Life that even negative aspects such as Grief and Sad that they have is considered aspirational 😂😂😂🤣😆so yeah if you're gonna be sad rather be sad rich than sad poor 😂😂
Money makes life better, but it doesn't replace *genuine love.* Some people who are excellent at being successful aren't the best at the expressing love thing, and it affects their families
Facts here what I learned: I and my friends love to go out and stuff because it's fun. I love going to the mall and movies with them, us hanging out and living life is so much fun but goddammit they cost so much money fast food malls and movies anything just cost so much money going to different country and buy some cool stuff won't make you happy me going to the mall and movies are fun enough for me but money helps with paying for stuff
And not all poor people are loving or kind. I feel like we repeat this to feel better about ourselves.
@@ilonat8373 Yeah, and being poor does not automatically make you are more loving, empathetic or kinder. Poor people can be as petty and toxic as their richer counterparts.
Yeah because in the real world, rich kids are living a relatively easy life, full monetary support to pursuing their dreams and are laid back. Making them miserable always seemed so odd to me and the most "struggle" they go through is not getting parental validation.
MentaI heaIth issues, body image issues, grief, familial conflict and working hard to establish a stable life/realise a dream are all universal and these are thrust on to these rich characters to give them depth & seem like these are world ending problems for said rich characters, while it's pretty freaking regular for 90% of the world.
I am wealthy and more miserable than most poor kids. Growing up with completely absent parents, celebrating holidays at boarding school or Christmas alone at a hotel and having no family connection is miserable. Going to extremely competitive private schools puts immense pressure on you to be perfect. And I will always be a failure in my father’s eyes.
Also, you represent the main problem. No one every has empathy for you, no matter how abusive your parent are or if something awful happens to you. They just say, “well they’re rich so who cares”. And people are extremely jealous and spiteful around you all the time
@@0_Katt_0 Same with poor kids. Most have no father. The mom works all day and night. They’re called latch key kids. They get abused mol. Etc. go to bad schools. Their Christmas is non existent.
@@0_Katt_0No one cares about poor people. They don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. They are looked down on. And avoided.
A lot of them are miserable because they are lonely
They have have all the money in the world but they don’t have the human connections we have
And they never know who to trust and whether or not people like them for them or for their money
That’s why we are the trope like in princess and the pauper how they just want normal lives
I'd rather be a poor little rich kid than a poor little poor kid anyday
Many shows and movies and soaps will introduce this person who is a poor little rich girl or boy and we are suppose to feel sorry for this person.
I mean geing rich and having absent parents are two different things.
Money is an advantage the later isn’t.
So I don't get the trope at all, it feels more like media is trying to make us believe that rich people suffer by having too much money, even though that is a problem easily solved.
Give your money away.
The absent/not caring parents is something you can always have.
And I would say with poor parents you have that even more since rich parents can at least afford having one parent (or both) stay at home.
Poor can't they have to work.
SO much screen time is devoted to exploring every angle of the rich kid’s emotional landscape. Yet they are hardly the only people to experience emotional abuse and chronic feelings of disconnect-try being in foster care or be raised in a violent home in a violent neighborhood. And rich kids have FAR more access and resources to treatment and support and far less likelihood of ending up on the street as the result of their unresolved trauma. Because of their wealth, they can get the very expensive and hard to access high quality mental health treatment the rest of us can’t, and enjoy safety nets the rest of us don’t, especially in a country with high inequality and such paltry social welfare programming. Why aren’t there nearly as many nuanced dramas and meditative depictions of poor kids’ pain and inner lives? Could it be because to make it in Hollywood and in an industry like media requires wealth and connections that only nepo babies and rich kids have so it’s mostly their stories that get told?
Rich kids and nepo babies sell. Poverty doesn't. Poor people can watch those tropes and feel better for themselves. Or live vicariously through their struggles. I would never watch a nuanced poor kid struggle through what I've felt growing up poor surrounded by far better off kids. It would be very far from entertaining.
those who grow up in poverty are better humans and my struggles will never compare
@@TristanJosephNotimportant Poverty doesn't elevate you above others by itself. It's not a superpower, it's just bad luck, added discomfort and hard choices. I've known countless assholes who grew up poor and struggled only to fall by the wayside and become criminals, some where my middle school bullies. Good and moral people can be well off, middle class or dirt poor, rich assholes are more blatant. My parents were disfunctional and inept. Poverty was just the cherry on the s it sundae.
I always see this thing about “Omg which rich kids are these? We never knew them.” like even the most obnoxious portrayals of rich people comes from some grain of truth.
Also, privileged people cosplaying as relatable is worse than a clueless loaded person.
I knew someone like Blair when I went to private school . I was like Jenny Humphrey
Depends how it’s done
If they are doing it as a mockery
Sure but if it’s a prince and the pauper situation maybe it’s better
@@Missmagazinebura Jenny was fierce
The film A Little Princess had me misled. When I was in middle school the kids from well off families weren't sad almost orphans. They were obnoxious, mean, and even cruel because of the example their parents led by.
A😂@@Missmagazinebura
There are actually some very messed up stories about rich kids who grew up abused and later became addicts
There are. But I guess the numbers of poor kids struggling with addict mothers / fathers (and becoming addicts themselves or being thrown into sex slavery to survive) is not as eye catching.
No mention of Mad Men (Roger and daughter Margaret, Pete Campbell's family and by contrast Trudy Campbell's family and how Pete tries to rectify with his daughter Tammy as compared to Roger and Don), As Told By Ginger (Macie Lightfoot and her family), The Crown (Queen Elizabeth's kids), Never Have I Ever (Ben Gross), Dead Poet's Society (Todd Anderson), The Nanny (how the Sheffield kids were doing when Fran came in and how Maxwell's upbringing impacted his relationships)? For shame
Yikes, it’s a common theme. That’s why they call it a trope. It’s impossible to mention all of them.
Being a working-class person, the wealth of rich people in both real life and fiction was never relatable to me, however I did have some sympathy for them. The societal pressures, needing to excel for legacy purposes, and the traumas they may have gone through can make for good television and/or film that captures our attention. However, I do find these things in real life examples. Barbara Hutton, heiress to the Woolworth fortune, had everything money could buy but discovering her mom's dead body at age 4 and being sent to live with various relatives thereafter caused a lot of trauma, leading to addiction and failed relationships. Her only child's tragic death also added to her trauma and mental health issues. Then there's Prince Harry. While not a fan of him, I did sympathize with his mental health issues and how his mother's death when he was 12 on such a huge public scale affected him. So, while I don't sympathize with their wealth and status, I do feel compassion for some things, and it shows that the grass is not always greener on the other side.
EXACTLY!!!! Finally someone who gets my point! (As a middle class person)
I feel like Meadow and AJ Soprano need to be mentioned more in this vid. They fit a lot of these tropes.
It’s funny that Poor Little Rich Kid is a trope. Most rich kids are well loved by their parents. And parents make sure that their kids have a future, and learning multiple languages or going to great schools is easier when those school gives private tutoring in confortable environnement and when you have private tutors that are great pedagogues… It’s not that hard to go to rich kids school when you are rich…
Eh having grown up around rich kids it’s not really a trope.A lot of them have mental health issues/drug addiction which are exasperated by the pressure to maintain generational wealth and their parents physical &/or emotional absence from neglectful to exhaustion of both working. Gotten so bad they willfully got themselves kicked out of some of their private schools just to get their attention.
The guy who bullied me in high school came from an ultra rich family. He drove a white Lexus that his parents bought for him, he wore designer clothes, his family belonged to the nicest country club in my town, he always threw LEGENDARY parties (not that I would know from personal experience, because I was never invited), but people TALKED about these parties for MONTHS after they happened. He always treated me like shit for virtually no reason (having Asperger’s, I had some notable quirks, admittedly). He would ALWAYS advertise parties in front of me, and when I asked about them, he would say “oh no! YOU’RE not invited!” The guy LITERALLY sent me a Facebook message to tell me that they were having a pre for some grad event and that I wasn’t invited!
His friends told me that he has a lot of issues in his personal life, but because he seemingly had it all and was a real prick to me, it was REALLY difficult to feel sorry for him.
I think it’s an issue when you see how the kids act like because they’re rich they can have whatever they want, therefore act extremely entitled and selfish. Therefore, nobody wants to be around them, leaving them to be all alone, and with no one to blame for that but themselves.
@@osmanyousif7849 ain’t THAT the truth. Many of them complain that “nobody likes me for me!” I’m like “well… maybe if you tried being NICE to people and treating everyone with respect, they WOULD like you for you.”
Bruce Wayne is kind of a good example of how to do that right.
I love you kendall Roy there’s needs to be a book about this because it’s deeper than money doesn’t equal happiness freeing
I still do not empathize with them, sorry.
Me too. Their cruel actions toward people they see as dirty bugs still speak louder than their smiles during charity galas and ribbon cutting ceremonies for a hospital.😒😅
5:09 Repressed English aristocracy and Boarding is a whole other subgenre of content.
P.S. I’m reminded of the Baroness in ‘The Sound of Music’ saying: “Haven’t you heard of a marvellous thing called Boarding School and Meredith Blake in ‘The Parent Trap’ talking about boarding school.
I love the breakdown but still can't emphasize with rich kids. I'm old poor.
My book character is pretty much this trope; she's a rich girly girl living in the 1980s with her distracted, overworked, neglectful Yuppie father, and her shallow stepmother (a superstitious beauty model whose only interests are astrology, psychics, mediums, beauty salons, and aerobics). Having grown up rich, she develops the flaw of laziness, but deep down wants to do something with her life. Her birth mother was the only down-to-earth and humble, realistic and loving person in her life before she died. The Rich Kid goes to a public school, but doesn't have many (true) friends except for the middle class bookworm daughter of miserly bankers, Reaganites and debt collectors (who also are displeased with their daughter because she wasn't born a boy), And the working class tomboy daughter of devout Catholic but bickering, loveless butchers (who can't stand each other and had a gunshot wedding but foolishly refuse to divorce because of their Catholicism).
I'm going to assume the stepmom is closer in age to her than her dad
@@K1ng1995 nope. She's twenty something.
The rich kid is grade school age.
@@sammyvictors2603 ok that's fine I'm just sick of seeing that trope in fiction. I appreciate you not going that route kudos to you
I'd like to read that book! I hope you get it published!
My dad says “money can’t buy you happiness but it makes misery more comfortable”
I’m surprised this video didn’t mention one of the BIGGEST examples of the “poor little rich kid” trope: London Tipton from the Suite Life Franchise! There was LITERALLY an episode titled “Poor Little Rich Girl”! London has a father who is literally NEVER there for her. He always cancels appearances to see her, and Mr. Moseby the hotel manager has to serve as a father figure to her. As kids, we all thought London Tipton was really annoying and a piece of work. As I got older, I actually genuinely DID feel sorry for her. There was even an episode where it’s revealed that she has a shopping addiction to cope with her cold loveless life.
I mean yeah… No one likes you by default because you have it “easy”, you aren’t allowed to complain about or have problems because you are privileged and rich, your parents (often) aren’t very present in your life, you are sheltered most likely, maybe pressure of being an heir/heiress and taking over a family business meaning you have no choice in what you want to do in the future, you don’t know if people are actually friends with you because they like you or because they think you are a good business contact, you get hated for using the resources you have at your disposal because it’s unfair that you get those resources and others don’t (even though not using any of them makes absolutely no sense).
(And maybe your parents raised you into a terrible entitled person on top of that.) No wonder those kids are miserable and then lash out. It’s a self fulfilling prophecy. They get hated simply for being born rich and privileged (not their choice) so they start hating on people who were born poor (also not their choice). Pretty much a game of “who can dehumanise the other more”.
I remember seeing discourse when something unfortunate happens to one of these people, like bad stuff and people will just say “Well she’s rich so it’s not gonna effect her in the long run” which is pretty cruelw in my opinion.
Why do people only have friends and contacts within their own class? Because when they don’t the people make you feel unwelcome and uncomfortable and that goes in both directions. We often make it so incredibly hard for these people (on both ends of the spectrum) to socialise with different groups of people that they simply stop trying and then we wonder why they hate us so much and have no compassion for us (again this goes in both directions). Literally the only way for things to improve is to connect with each other and forge relationships
Blair hates poor people while Serena gets hate even when she’s nice but she had daddy issues
The amount of extreme jealousy I face from coworkers when they find out I’m wealthy is almost scary. Jealousy is a very dangerous emotion, and people become cruel and hateful towards me the moment rhey find out I come from money
@@0_Katt_0 you can always pay them off lol 😂
@@0_Katt_0 jealousy indeed seems to be one of humanity’s driving forces. I think it’s interesting how much people can villainise and dehumanise each other because of it. It’s ridiculous, just because you are poor/rich doesn’t mean you don’t have feelings like any other person.
I don’t come from money but I’m not poor (think upper middle class). I’m also chronically ill, disabled, whatever you want to call it and I remember having someone tell me “Well your parents are rich (they aren’t Germany just has good universal and private healthcare) so it’s not that hard for you like imagine if your parents didn’t have money for fancy doctors and meds…” I mean yes but that’s not the point? It can literally always be worse. *ALWAYS!* This narrative that because someone else has it worse your problem isn’t a real problem or your feelings aren’t valid or your freaking disability isn’t as bad, because you are privileged is so stupid and counterproductive.
@claracatlady9844 It's because of a little thing called TRIBALISM. For some historical examples look at Rwanda and Ireland.
I have always been fascinated by movies like "Happiness" and "Little Children." There is something so deliciously dark about the actual problems, challenges, and sources of misery that affect suburbanites who appear to have it all, but want so desperately to keep things concealed.
This is such a toxic worldview with LOTS of assumptions that come from bad screenwriters. If you have to pick between rich and poor parents, the chance are 95% that the rich kid had a much much more loving upbringing, way less abuse and way less trauma. If you belief otherwise, you have never meet a rich person. Being poor sucks, it makes you sick, stressed and most of all: it takes away all your time when you need to work 3 jobs just to make ends mean.
I am sorry, but this one is very poor material. You feel for the same trap, as buy into the lie that "money can´t buy happyness" tells you. Actually, money can very easily buy you happiness by taking away suffering daily struggle. As for how people become rich: Actually, a lot of them are very "cuddly" and caring people. The amount of poor assholes is definitely way higher then with rich people. The only difference: nobody cares of the poor person having drama, but people love to pick up on a rich person having troubles. Please also remember that celebrities don´t represent rich people; most of what you see on TV are just wannabes. Actual rich people REALLY don´t want to be on TV and are very good at keeping their names out of the media.
Right? Don’t statics show there is more abuse in lower income families?
How about Lily from gossip girl who uses money to keep poor people away ?
That's only because there's a lot more poor people out there than there is rich people.
@@GeorgeGlass298 I disagree. The chances of having loving parents who provide for you emotional and material needs are increased based on the education and economical situation. Poor, uneducated people make for very very bad parents simply by lack of time. Same for drug abuse, violence etc. thos factors are correlated with the economical situation.
I don´t want to simplify, so you have to look into the studies yourself - and i am also not an expert on this for the US. In my country the connection is VERY clear: rich kids are way healthier, happier and much higher educated. They also have a much, much lower chance of violence, drug abuse and self-harm.
@@BernhardWelzel Serena does drugs on gossip girl and gets drunk . She didn’t remember Dan in flashbacks
It keeps popping up because all the writers are all poor little rich kids
Bruce Wayne is arguably the most famous example of this trope.
1:29 Just look at the Vanderbilts and Astor. Both have been documented brilliantly by Anderson Cooper.
While I may not always agree with him, Anderson Cooper is a rich kid who is at least trying to do good in the world.
Anderson VANDERBILT Cooper
never trust any elite who interns for the CIA@@karrihart1
Poor people can be neglectful and absent parent figures as well.
Exactly! In backwoods areas of the Southern States, or “da hood”, or any poor area of the world, there is a lot of child abandonment, sexual abuse, alcoholism, etc. which ultimately results in more poverty. On average those kids have it WAAAAY worse than a “poor little rich kid.”
I think i would still rather be rich and miserable than poor and miserable. At least with the former, i can go to a decent therapist.
Yes! Wealth does not equal happiness but neither does poverty. Poverty means lack of access to resources, and a struggle to make ends meet. If you lack access to proper housing, nutritional food, a warm bed, and barely make enough to survive, odds are you probably aren’t going to be very happy.
Not y'all got Lottie in the thumbnail 💀💀
Saw that and was like “they better be nice to her” lol
Church of Lottie Day Saints checking in!
I was really hoping this video talked about her because she's one of the most fascinating takes on this trope. She has insane amounts of wealth, but it all means fuck-all when she's trapped in the wilderness. She knows it, too, because Natalie dunks on her in every way because this is how Nat has basically lived her entire life. Misty is also very well-off, but she's a fucking weirdo so she had to develop skills to cope with life. Jackie is the epitome of this trope, but (again) being out in the wilderness causes a complete 180° turn in how her wealth and status manifests itself.
ajfdslksajslfasjqwieh I can keep ranting I just really want season 3 or at least the bonus episode already 😭😭😭
What? No Logan Echolls? He's the epitome of poor little rich kid (and I love him)
In my experience, misery does not come from money or poverty, it comes from lack of personality and flair, some people have it and sadly others just don't. On any given Sunday, I'd choose to be a Rich Kid any day.
Now I'm kinda reminded of something that's been a little recurring with villainess isekai stories, basically critiquing the rags to riches trope, that somehow specifically, it can be a part of something known as the middle-class squeeze,
Basically money cant hide emotional neglect. Funny because i see same exact issue in poor kids as a teacher
I would be better to be a miserable rich rather than a poor any day!!!! judge me all you want :)
Another Poor Little Rich Kid episode... with the trifecta of Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Emily in Paris all mentioned. I should make a drinking game out of this... I still don't feel bad for the ultra wealthy and materialistic and never will, because I've lived in the real world - even if both worlds have people with emotional difficulties in them. Now, how about a nice big series on representations of poverty?
It's sad how consistently people qualify other people's pain. Pain is pain. Let's stop minimizing and hating because lives "appear" better. Empathy is an important emotion; exercise it.
Some people are so poor all they have is money
I guess because I'm a little bit of a weirdo, essentially does anybody else get, writers trying to figure out, a maslow's hierarchy of needs? When it comes to storytelling(I guess I'm just overthinking, the correlation of characters being restaurant/food centered, is related to like that will solve physiological/safety needs, but then that motivation prevents, love and social/esteem needs)
Will this be on Spotify? Will new episodes be simultaneously posted on Spotify and RUclips now?
This is a good one. Thought provoking. I wish The Take would use this voice actress more often. I really enjoy her style of delivery. She always sounds slightly cynical & amused.
Ben's dad at Never have I ever apologizing about it was healing. It was after he had to be hospitalized after a break down, but it was more than most character get.
I think the reason we don’t take these kinds problems into consideration is because we assume that people, even kids, who live insulated from high pressure problems lack lack of money, or shortage of resources automatically have a leg up from the rest of us. Sure, anyone can have their parents divorce, but not everyone can have money to shop until we feel better about it.
I'm not sure that the shopping actually makes them feel better, though. Temporarily, perhaps, but not really.
@@Seraphina-Rose well what I'm saying is, people not in that tax bracket dont even get the option
1. If they're rich and happy, where's the drama? They need a plot.
2. They want you to think that being poor is good because rich people are miserable.
Watch the *SCREAM* fanchise. A killer in Scream 1, both in Scream 4, AND one of them in Scream 5 all are rich kids. Rich kids with wayyyyy too much time on their hands and zero parental supervision. Woodsboro is located in the California mountains, amongst the winaries and vinyards. The Woodsboro suburbs all have houses that are a *minimum* of 4 bedrooms and 2.5 baths (a downstairs powder room or bathroom plus usually two personal bathrooms upstairs). Woodsboro houses also usually a large backyard, even if right next to each other, and their own driveway plus garage. Even TARA AND SAM'S MOM, being a single (dating) recovering alocholic, is able to afford a suburban Woodsboro 2-story house with what looks to be 2-3 bedrooms at least, not to mention a full stocked liquor cabinet, high speed wifi, and a security system linked to at least 3-4 different entrances. SCREAM children are also very well off; they're dressed to fit the latest trends, all have iPhones or Androids with the latest model, most have MacBook pros and expensive headphones, and their bedrooms are practically directly out of Pottery Barn. To a "rich kid" this might not be impressive, but let's be real: Stu Macher's house WAS a mansion, with a full front and back 2-3 acres to himself and private driveway. His parents had to have made at least 6 figures EACH, as that house was an easy 1.2 million back in 1996. The Scream House TODAY is worth $3 million. So if Amber from SCREAM 2022 was living there in 2020/2021, you know her parents were rich as balls. And yet she still was unhappy and killed.
Hmmm. Terrible parents along with comfortable money...or terrible parents along with a future of debt? Hmmmm. I wonder which I would choose.
The Tubes wrote, recorded, and performed White Punks on Dope about rich but miserable children in Los Angeles.
We have apparently reached the age where we say rich people problems and dont even mention dynasty? Wow.
Fallon carrington was iconic
@@Missmagazinebura without a doubt! She was the reason I kept watching
@@lhallnance yes me too
I disliked Succession. Well made but honestly, There was nobody in the show i didn't want to lose miserably. I literally rooted for every moment of every episode to have horror fall on them. At one point i was just like please everybody get hit by a bus, please go to jail. At least they all got screwed over in the end. Because they actually have no skills and no ability other than being spoiled and rich and entitled.
Those were a lit of words for "there's no such thing as a free lunch". You pay for the luxury - end of story. One way or another, you always pay.
Idk, just another reason to redistribute wealth. It is for the wealthy's own good
My divorced parents were not rich but they usually often busy with work or thrir problebatic new partners and gave me more material things to express their supposed love to me then spend more quality time with me or give me for physical or emotional affection, that really tended to feel lonely sometimes, good thing I've for most of my life been independent and gokd with keeping my emotions and thoughts to myself and been grateful to my parents for caring for me despite their flaws and moved on.
Honestly I wouldn't have been able to move on. I would've told my parents that I didn't ask to be born and I didn't ask to feel replaced to neglected because you cared more about the people you shared a bed with and your younger kids
Poor me not having any real life issues. thank god I have my trust fund it will always love me.
a very hard trope for most to buy in the modern setting.
true - poorer folks are better humans and more honerable my struggles will never compare i feel disgusted by myself
Dorota should’ve been ‘Gossip Girl’ honestly
It makes more sense than Dan
@@gamuiceyt01 She learned from observing the best.
As someone who grew up in a toxic abusive poor household and was even homeless at one point when my mom lost her job during the 2008 recession, I don’t feel sorry for rich kids.
then congrats! you didn’t get the point of the video
@@aathenaiz6151 Boo Hoo. The person above has experienced far worse and has understood the reality of this world.
Me neither
"Emily in Paris" is not an adequate example of anything ever. This video is super confusing: lumping The OC and Succession into one huge pile, trying to simultaneously call out and squeeze out pity for the subject matter people, mutually undermining both points.
Now, the one major problem with The OC, Gossip Girl and the likes is not the rich element per se, but the grotesque portrayals of children living like 30-40-something adults at 15-16 years old (like 16 year old Blair Waldorf dancing on stage of a strip club). This is not even a honest attempt to explore any kind of trauma, it is just gross and borderline... well, you know.
I feel like Schitt's Creek doesn't really belong here. The family were wealthy but they immediately lost all their wealth in the first episode, and after that they had to figure out how to live without it. Not the same situation.
yes, but because they came from wealth & don't have a clue we can feel a lot of schaedenfreude.
Another example of this trope was Oh Il-Nam, the old man in Squid Game. The guy literally confessed that he created these games for no other reason than that he was just… bored. He said that once you get to a certain level of wealth, life becomes immensely boring because you can just buy yourself out of all your problems. I’m like… bro, those financially struggling people are not “bored.” Their lives are MISERABLE. He was an example of a “poor little rich kid” even though he was an old man.
Speaking of Iron Man, you should look at Whitney Stane from Iron Man: Armored Adventures for a textbook example of the Lonely Rich Kid trope.
Hate this trope… I’ll empathize with the rich when everyone else’s needs are met
So nothing a rich person could ever possibly experience is worthy of your empathy? Rape, abuse, self-harm, losing their child, PTSD, addiction, discrimination, eating disorders, depression, etc.? It’s only worthy of empathy once there are no poor people in the world? No one person can overturn the class system, and there will never be a time when everyone’s needs are met, financial or otherwise. So why are you waiting for the date when 6 billion humans are all comfortable before you acknowledge that some things are always bad?
@@WeneedmoreGodsinTshirts they have resources to go address it…
@@EnigmaticLich they are more likely to have resources or to have better resources. Easier does not = easy. But no one who has lost their child or almost died from cancer deserves to just be shrugged off because they have some help. Those experiences are ALWAYS devastating. But you think that it doesn’t matter how bad someone’s experiences are if they have support. You think that either everyone has resources and everyone deserves sympathy or a few people have resources and only everyone else deserves sympathy. It’s not like someone watches their child die and because they can afford to bury them properly it’s all sunshine and rainbows but the next day everyone can afford to bury their children and now suddenly the person is in agony. The very fact that they need resources proves that they deserve your empathy
In my personal experience, rich kids are miserable. Just because you have a lot of stuff doesn't mean you have what you need.
well they can fix that misery by giving their money to poor kids and leaving that world behind. I'm sure that be much happier living as working class people with authentic relationships, let them give the burden of being rich to poor unsuspecting working class kids. don't poor people owe it to rich people to take the burden of wealth off their hands and give them their poor privilege?
those who grow up poorer are better more honerable humans who actaully fit in and know real life struggle i feel ashamed wish i fit in and no im not nescarlly rich
No one is excused from suffering
We should be talking about how being "the poor little rich kid" shapes them into being just like their parents, the people who consistently make the decisions that affect everyone in society... THAT'S the problem...not if money doesn't buy happiness! It's the tailoring of children into adults who will refuse to be better and do better with all the power and resources they have.
I think being born into a rich family and feeling misserable is even worse than having had the experience of being poor as it now is even harder for a rich child to relate to those who aren't. And even the rich kid wants to fit in, just like almost everybody else.
2:27 Totally problematic movie but reminded me of Constantine in ‘The Help’.
I think what makes Tony Stark stand out is his mindset, and I’m not just talking about his genius. While his smugness never truly goes away, his major turning point was finding a larger purpose in life than just acquiring wealth. Yeah, he’s a flashy billionaire, but his inner qualities led him to be a lot more than that. It also helps that Pepper can read him like a book and was never afraid to (metaphorically) stomp on his balls if he got too crazy.
As an upper-middle-class gentleman, rich kids deserve to have sympathy too. We didn't choose to live in a wealthy family or go to boring private schools. Being rich is just as hard as being poor - you never had to choose which summer vacation home to visit or what car to buy. And trust me those female tutors are bonkers
Because the average US viewer that can afford cable and streaming aren't capable of empathizing with characters that aren't as privileged as them
Wtf is Bruce Wayne here? His family loved him and wanted him in their lives they died when he was very young 8 years young
They think they've got it rough, try being a Lannister
I forgot about how Marissa’s hair always looked like she’d only just slept on it then rolled right out of bed
They're all missing one thing: LOVE
idk man i'd rather be rich and unhappy than poor and unhappy at least if i was rich i'd be able to afford therapy
honestly i feel a lot of deep shame i'm not rich or grew up rich nescarlly my dad does own small business now i feel like daddy's rich kid and i see other poorer folks and i feel guilty and ashamed not becuase i'm ungrateful or unthankfull i just don't fit in and i think there better humans i deserve to be judged and shunned so on .. i might be giving off wrong impression this is only really explaining a tiny bit .. i believe those who grow up with less are better humans than those who grow up with more - my struggles will never compare and so on ..
The people that I know in my life that are the most miserable are the most wealthy and they will try and make you think they’re not by flaunting all of the fun new stuff they’ve bought and continuously going on vacation but inside it’s hollow and you can see it.
I wish I could be as miserable as them.
Imo the best case of a miserable rich kid done right, is Ben Gross from Never Have I Ever. His wealth is why he almost never talks about his problems with others, because he should be "grateful" for being rich
Gender I think is also important here. It's already difficult for a teenage girl to be taken serious by others, nevermind if said girl in particular has rich parents. Let's be honest here, those of us we are not that wealthy can easily fall for the trap of jealousy. And when I was younger I was no exception.
A little surprised there’s no mention of The Fall of the House of Usher here.
Whoever edited this video has never seen Pretty Little Liars, they used clips of the wrong characters twice 😂
I don't find it hard to sympathize with Rich Kid characters (e.g. EJ Caswell from High School Musical The Musical The Series).
“Money can’t buy you happiness” spoken by someone who’s never experienced poverty in their life
My parents were definitely bad parents, but I do think access to limitless cash would have made their flaws even worse.
If I could choose my parents, I would totally be a rich kid and/or nepo baby. Like, Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman seem like good parents and I feel like Maya Hawke is probably having a pretty good time.
But I also know a couple people who come from extreme wealth and I know I definitely wouldn’t trade places with one of them in particular.
It's wild to think that part of the reason that some people will defend this trope is because of the effects that consumerism might have on our psyche
As long as it doesn't make it seem as if every rich person is doing something wrong to a poor and 'humble' person.
9:45 lol Fun Fact that old evil man getting married again
For a real life example, look at Prince Harry and everything he has been through and been open about.
I feel like he is making out most of his "problems" to get attention from people like you.
And even reading his book, his life wasn't that difficult.
More money, more problems.
booo hooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That wasn’t Ezra 💀
Hey The Take! Please do an analysis on Reservation Dogs!
Very disappointed in your thumbnail making it seem liked you’d discuss Yellowjackets, but you only showed one single clip from the show and never mentioned Lottie at all
I don’t know If it’s fair to put Lottie in here since her wealthy is not even that important in the show. Also Lottie has some clearly mental healthy issues that doesn’t really apply the same way to the other characters.
Take being out of touch these days smh
I'm surprised they mentioned Sherry from The Midnight Club, but not ANY character from The Fall of the House of Usher. I think that show highlights these points perfectly. They all fought for their father's approval above all else and it turned them into horrible people. Roderick lured his first 2 away from their mother with riches and things went downhill after that. They stopped at nothing to keep their wealth, power, and status and prioritized pleasing their father and aunt above all. They considered all others expendable, even their own spouses/partners. They were, hands-down terrible people (though very well-written and entertaining to watch).