#wealth and privilege

[dgspeaks]

Bridgerton: A Diverse Fantasy or a Distorted Memory?

“Bridgerton” has captured the hearts and imaginations of viewers around the world with its sumptuous visuals, compelling storylines, and groundbreaking diverse casting. Created by Chris Van Dusen and produced by Shonda Rhimes, this period drama has been lauded for showcasing Black, brown, and Asian actors in roles traditionally reserved for white actors in Regency-era settings. As a celebration…

[afriblaq]

Jasmine Crockett

[lifewithchronicpain]

Based on this post

I decided to be kind and add an answer between once or twice and annually.

Bonus question, how many of you as kids started to figure out the wealthy kids based on all your classmates who went to Disney every year and you never went once? I think I figured it out by 8.

[writingwithcolor]

Diversity Win: Is "Crazy Rich" POC Representation Necessarily Empowering?

sodapopsculptor asked:

I’m writing a story with two sets of protagonists: A trio with a Black girl, a Latino, and a Vietnamese-American boy who all come from middle-upper class to ridiculously rich families, and a pair of white working-middle class sisters. They’re all heroes of this story. I’ve seen way too many rich white people and poor poc people in fiction, and I’m kinda getting sick of it, but I’m worried that by having the poc kids be rich and the white girls not so much, I’ll be reinforcing the idea that poc somehow rule the world. The only time the rich kids use their status as leverage is when the Asian threatens to sic his cop dad on a bully (race unstated but I imagined him as white) picking on a freshman, and during the Black girl’s birthday party, when she pays the biggest jock there fifty bucks (And later says offhandedly that it was just what she had in her pocket) to chase off a creep hitting on her.

OP, have you ever seen the “diversity win!” meme before?

I understand that your motivation for these narrative choices is to give POC a chance, if you will, to be the rich characters. But it is evident from this ask that you have not asked yourself what this entails. I want to ask you to critically examine the race and class intersections you’re creating here, as well as these kids’ roles in oppressive systems.

You explain that these rich POC are heroes and only have righteous reasons for leveraging their power.

But is your Black girl character aware of the potential disciplinary and/or legal consequences her jock accomplice might face while she has the resources to keep her hands clean? Are you?

Is your Asian character aware of how much of an abuse of power it is to “sic” a cop on someone, and the sheer amount of harm a criminal record or incarceration does to a juvenile with behavior issues? Are you?

So you want to put POC in positions of power for #representation.

Does it resonate with the group you’re representing?

Do you research and portray the unique ways race, ethnicity, class, and majority vs. minority status come together?

Or are you putting these characters in oppressive hegemonic roles for the sake of a power fantasy, on behalf of a group you're not even in?

To your question, you're not reinforcing the idea that "POC rule the world" because such a generalized belief does not exist. Instead, you're reinforcing:

The idea that society has “winners” and “losers.”

The idea that the problem with disproportionately powerful people is the lack of “equal opportunity” as opposed to the power imbalance to begin with.

The idea that those in oppressive positions of power need only have the right intentions to justify their use of it.

To be clear: that is not to say that you can't have jerk aristocrat billionaire millionaire crazy rich POC. Evil or mean rich characters are fun! I have some myself! You can even have rich characters who are gentle-hearted and well-intentioned, but you have to know the ways in which they’re privileged and decide how aware of that your characters are. That’s no problem.

But if you think that wealthy and powerful POC would have the same values and priorities as their poorer counterparts, you’re deluding yourself. There’s a reason why the quote “power corrupts” exists. There’s a reason why no matter where you look on the globe, there are historical dictators and tyrants.

If you want bratty rich POC who lack regard for the consequences of their actions, because you want bratty rich characters, great! If you want them because it would be uplifting or empowering representation? You’re doing it for the wrong reason.

~ Rina

I fully agree with Rina, and truly want to emphasize the last paragraph.

If you want bratty rich POC who lack regard for the consequences of their actions, because you want bratty rich characters, great! If you want them because it would be uplifting or empowering representation? You’re doing it for the wrong reason.

I don't think you need to aim to subvert or purposely make all the BIPOC rich and powerful and the white people poor and suffering. Add diversity and include upper class rich and class privileged BIPOC, sure thing! And you can avoid your fears of intentional subversion message by including rich and powerful white characters as well, even if they're not the focus of your story. Just their existence helps. You could also include middle-class characters of Color as well.

More reading: Black in upper-class society

~Mod Colette

[recent-rose]

yknowwww there is something... deeply uncomfortable about the way mel never speaks directly to viktor in the 'build hextech weapons' scene. she really only speaks to jayce. plenty of people have pointed this out already but like the one scene they actually share a meaningful interaction and she treats him like he's beneath her. all this after jayce has emphasized how important viktor is, that hextech is theirs, together. she unequivocally ices him out, there's no other way to interpret this scene. the way it's shot too - from viktor's perspective, looking up at her, as though to reinforce the same belief in him. like he doesn't even bother expecting respect from her - or anyone from the upper echelon of piltover. he's fully accustomed to being dehumanized by everyone around him at this point. sometimes even by jayce, despite the trust they clearly have in each other.

then of course after this scene is viktor experimenting on himself. it's pretty clear that he has internalized his own dehumanization. crazy.

[smithsibsceo]

zane and kai bonded in the early seasons by discovering new music together. both didnt really have a great access to it growing up (there was an only an old radio or maybe a scratchy vinyl player in ignacia's library and zane's village had no electricity) so they mainly grew up hearing their respective villages' traditional live music. Hearing those 'end-of-2012-mashup' compilations changed both of their lives

[chalamet-chalamet]

"I just don't want to use those words, 'isolated' and 'fear' and 'paranoia. I just think its not the correct way to go about the fortune and blessing that it is to work, whether they ring true or not, and bring attention to that kind of feeling-state. Even if it's valid, it's not really somewhere I want to go."

-Timothée Chalamet discussing fame in Rolling Stone’s December 2024 cover story

[vixenihy]

me whenever someone brings up jfk as a kid and all i can do is weep bc he didn’t deserve to have the parents that he got

[sukibenders]

Some fans: Eloise is such a fake feminist, doesn't she see how some girls and women enjoy marriage? Doesn't she see how her privileges give her luxuries others don't? She's so selfish. She doesn't even use her words to support other women!

Also same fans: I wish Eloise would stop talking, like her speaking about feminism at every turn is getting old. Can't she just be quiet and let everyone enjoy the fun? Like yeah talking about women's lack of personhood without a male figure in society, or how they can't go to university, or how sometimes they marry men who will only hurt them but need to for their status is sad to see, but THE ROMANCE-

[liesmyth]

not to be a radical but I think rich people should have more shame

[tshifty]

tbh, and like maybe im wrong yk, but i Would be actually fucking shocked floored if taylor suddenly was a republican now. i honestly Dont think that. at ALL. what i Do think is she is further disconnected and like unimaginably wealthy now more than even comparably before tbh, that. like. she just does not care about deeper implications of politics. like trump is bad. but like yk She will be fine literally no matter what could ever happen in the world. so. like she doesnt fucking care about associating with trump supporters if theyre friends of her boyfriend or whatever bc. like She isnt one but. yk?? she'll break bread with them. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ which like damn i fucking would not but

[clonerightsagenda]

I am once again thinking about an Arcane alt ending where the hextech damage topside is bad enough that Piltover residents are forced to flee from toxic industrial magical waste to the undercity and they have to beg for scraps from Zaunite leadership instead of the other way around. And we finally check back in on Ekko's fucking tree.

[ciderjacks]

seeing a man unironically say “white women aren’t an oppressed group” are u out of ur mind brain

[jessmmariano]

Just saw a comment on the Gilmore Girls subreddit that Jess was exactly like Christopher and Logan was exactly like Luke…closed the app after that one. 😬

[3416]

do we think austons a trump supporter

yeah probably lololol... most likely he doesn't care or bother to vote but ema has commented on a trumpie christina marleau post with "proud of you 🇺🇸" before so. it's a yikes

[psychuan]

every time i read that stupid "earning 200k doesn't mean you're rich" post i want to grab OP and shake them until their fucking savings account falls out.

IF YOU HAVE A RETIREMENT ACCOUNT, YES, YOU ARE DOING BETTER THAN PEOPLE EARNING MINIMUM WAGE AND THEY HAVE A RIGHT TO BE PISSED OFF AT YOU.

if you're complaining that the stock market has affected your pension TO A PERSON WHO CAN'T EVEN AFFORD A PENSION and you get indignant when they refer to you as rich you should be forced to give them everything.

why is it the responsibility of the poorest in society to have empathy and sympathy for the "middle class" and not the other way around? why do people working service jobs not get to complain?

frankly this kind of petty 'oh you're so mean to us' attitude is what drives the "middle class" to side with conservative policies every time. "oh it's always the middle class being squeezed" NO IT'S NOT, YOU JUST CAN'T SQUEEZE THE POOR ANY MORE THAN THEY ALREADY ARE. LISTEN TO THEM.

yet another example of people with privilege complaining that people are pointing out their privilege.