Why Are We Fascinated By Rich People?

January 23, 2014, 5:07 am

Why Do We Like to Watch Rich People on TV and in the Movies?

By KATHERINE SCHULTEN

A recent Room for Debate post begins, “Several Academy Award contenders like ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ and ‘American Hustle’ glorify white-collar criminals and scammers, and many reality TV shows embrace the wealthy, too. A new series, ‘#RichKids of Beverly Hills,’ is the latest example of our enthusiasm for ‘ogling the filthy rich.’ Why are we so obsessed with watching the antics of the 1 percent?”

Before you read what the guest writers say, how would you answer that question?

In the Opinion article “Why We Like to Watch Rich People,” four debaters take on this topic. Here are excerpts from each:

Alyssa Rosenberg

America’s fascination with the ill-behaved rich, expressed in both reality television and this year in many movies that are contending for major awards, isn’t limited to the current recession. But the particular incarnation of our fascination seems intended to do something very specific: help us manage our covetousness, at a time when even basic financial security feels out of reach for many people.

Evette Dionne

Black women are a cash cow for cable networks. Millions of us tune in to Bravo, VH1, WE TV and the other networks that have invested in reality television franchises. It is a mutually beneficial relationship. We drive ratings, and in exchange, the networks give us a rare chance to see black women humanized in the media.

Farnoosh Torabi

Long before reality TV, I remember watching the fiercely decorated women of “Dynasty” plot and prance around their big, fancy mansions. Later in my tween and teenage years, my interest turned to soap operas. My favorite: the chic, sun-kissed cast of “Santa Barbara.” Soaps offered an entertaining escape to where budgeting constraints and bad hair days didn’t exist, where we could see how the “rich” lived, and experience — even if just for an hour a day — a part of their fictional lives that seemed vastly more exciting than our own.

Bruce E. Levine

Greed is now normal in our increasingly “money-centric” society, one in which money is at the center of virtually all thoughts, decisions and activities. While money has always been a big deal in America, greed was once seen as the practice of the spiritually sick — such as Mr. Potter from “It’s a Wonderful Life.” But today, greed is seen as both normal and acceptable by the mass media and mainstream politicians.

Now You Go: Read the entire article, then tell us …

• Before you read the responses of the debaters, how did you answer this question? Why do we like to watch rich people?
• With which of the four experts do you most agree? Why?
• Do you agree with Mr. Levine that “greed is now normal” in our society? Do you consider greed to be normal and acceptable? Why?
• Do you know what schadenfreude means? Alyssa Rosenberg contends that we like watching reality shows about rich people, like the “Real Housewives” franchise, because “part of the appeal of those shows is the opportunity to judge their casts” for their bad choices and desperation. Do you agree? Why or why not?
• What movies, shows or books that feature rich people do you most enjoy? Why?
• If you are interested in how money affected one young Wall Street trader, you might also like to read the much-emailed “For the Love of Money.” It begins, “In my last year on Wall Street my bonus was $3.6 million — and I was angry because it wasn’t big enough.” How much money is enough? How much is too much?

What Is Your Personal Credo?

By HOLLY EPSTEIN OJALVO

Steve Jobs is being eulogized the world over as a leader, innovator and risk-taker whose mantras included the Apple motto “Think different.” What are your own guiding principles?

Numerous Times articles review the legacy of Steve Jobs, including Steve Lohr’s piece “Reaping the Rewards of Risk-Taking,” in which he characterizes Mr. Jobs as a role model who turned seeming failure into opportunity and then success. He describes the often-quoted commencement address Mr. Jobs gave to the graduating class at Stanford in 2005:

“It turned out that getting fired from Apple was the best thing that could have ever happened to me,” he told the students. Mr. Jobs also spoke of perseverance. “Sometimes life hits you in the head with a brick,” he said. “Don’t lose faith.”

Mr. Jobs ended his commencement talk with a call to innovation, in one’s choice of work and in life. Be curious, experiment, take risks, he said. His admonition was punctuated by the words on the back of the final edition of “The Whole Earth Catalog,” which he quoted: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.”

“And,” Mr. Jobs said, “I have always wished that for myself. And now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you.”

And David Pogue describes Mr. Jobs’s vision this way:

Here’s a guy who never finished college, never went to business school, never worked for anyone else a day in his adult life. So how did he become the visionary who changed every business he touched? Actually, he’s given us clues all along. Remember the “Think Different” ad campaign he introduced upon his return to Apple in 1997?

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The rebels. The troublemakers. The ones who see things differently. While some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius.”

In other words, the story of Steve Jobs boils down to this: Don’t go with the flow.

Steve Jobs refused to go with the flow. If he saw something that could be made better, smarter or more beautiful, nothing else mattered. Not internal politics, not economic convention, not social graces.

Now You Go: Tell us what you think about Steve Jobs’s legacy and what your own guiding principles are. What are your core beliefs? What would you say is your personal credo? How does that credo guide you in life?