Re: brushing shoulders with Holden Caulfield?

Oh, I think the notion of "class" in the older sense (we're of a certain
class) reinforces this idea in mass culture far more than any
"crypto-Marxist history teachers." That, and much popular culture --
you've seen/read the stories. The poor hotel maid marries the rich NFL
quarterback. If I had a dollar for every movie that followed THAT
plot...and nevermind the romance novels. Even dear old Jane wasn't
exempt from entertaining that fantasy.

Never mind the lottery ticket culture we have here in parts of the States.

Ernie is the exception, not the rule.

My initial impression wasn't that people on this list thought the rich
were a breed apart, but that the production of the HBO special itself
had that as a premise. Tim enlightened me -- it was produced by a rich
kid querying other rich kids. So does this mean the rich kid himself
thinks he should be happy and wonders why he isn't?

I think there's an audience dynamic feeding into this too. HBO didn't
think the appeal of their special was primarily to the rich. It
wouldn't be worth airing -- the demographic is too small. They thought
this question would be interesting to all us plebes and prols as well.

So I think we find this interesting all on our own. I think you really
nail it with this line:

"It's the group to which one can never imagine oneself belonging that becomes the infinitely, the magically desirable."

Yep, that's exactly it.

Jim

Scottie Bowman wrote:

> In most of the responses to Tim's Rich Kids I sense
> the lingering suspicion - despite Ernie's great deflator -
> that there IS somewhere a special breed called
> the RICH & that they ARE somehow different from
> you & me. Which strikes me as romantic & outdated
> as a ukulele or a racoon coat. I think it must be all
> those crypto-Marxist history teachers you chaps suffered
> in high school.
>
> It certainly doesn't accord with my observation or experience.
> Personal insecurity visits most of us at one time or another
> & different people fix on different indicators. Money is certainly
> one. Looks, even, can be another. In England (& Japan?)
> social caste is a tremendously powerful one & has little or no
> connection with wealth. And what about mental stability?
> Or sexual success? Take your pick. The level of your bank
> balance will not be the decider. It's the group to which one
> can never imagine oneself belonging that becomes the infinitely,
> the magically desirable.
>
> Scottie B.
>
>

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Received on Thu Oct 30 10:19:36 2003