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Conspicuous Consumption: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
▲{{quote|''I'd build a big tall house with rooms by the dozen,<br />
▲Right in the middle of the town.<br />
▲A fine tin roof with real wooden floors below.<br />
''And one even longer coming down,
▲There would be one long staircase just going up,<br />
''And one
In a nutshell, conspicuous consumption is any extravagant spending that has no real purpose other than just to show off someone's wealth. Sometimes this leads to a vicious cycle of "keeping up with the Joneses", when two people or families each feel that they need to buy more things to show they're just as wealthy as the other, sometimes going [[Up to Eleven]].
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This can apply just as often in [[Real Life]] as in fiction, but with fiction, some of the spending can even defy reality, thus overlapping with [[Fiction 500]]. Also common among the [[Nouveau Riche]] (often leading to [[A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted]]).
A [[Super
Compare [[Money Fetish]], [[
Contrast [[Bankruptcy Barrel]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] & [[Manga]] ==
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Speed Grapher]]'', there was a Euphoric who literally eats diamonds. If she eats enough, she becomes a walking, talking diamond.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]] had gold-plated, gem-studded ''everything''.
== [[Film]] ==
* In Disney's ''[[Pocahontas]]'', Ratcliffe envisions himself wearing [[Bling Bling Bang|a suit of armor made of solid gold, beset with gemstones]].
* In ''[[
* A long sequence in ''[[Apocalypto]]'' highlights the conspicuous consumption of the Mayan royalty to construct their ostentatious buildings. The damage this causes to the environment and their peasants is shown to be terrible. The nobility is also shown to be covered practically from head to toe in jade jewelry. In the DVD commentary, director Mel Gibson uses the name of the trope frequently to point out his thinly-veiled commentary on modern society.
* [[
* The title characters in ''[[Fun
* ''[[Laura]]'' actually got a [[Deleted Scene|scene cut from the original run]] due to the consumption going against war time rationing.
* ''[[Melancholia]]'' features an extravagant wedding at a castle as the world ends. The director actually contacted a wedding planning service and let them go wild.
* ''[[Casino]]'': Expected since it takes place in [[Las Vegas]], but especially anything to do with Ginger, from her [[Costume Porn|clothes]] and her [[Pretty in Mink|furs]] to her [[Big Fancy House]] and her vault full of [[Everything's Sparkly
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[Older Than Feudalism]] example - in the ancient Hindu epic, the ''[[
* ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'', which also deconstructs the American Dream and the [[Roaring Twenties]] into teeny, tiny pieces. Gatsby regularly throws the biggest parties just to show off, in hopes of attracting the attention of his childhood crush. In one notable scene, a guest enters his impressive library and wonders if the all books are fake. He examines them and sees that all of the books are quite real, but none of their pages have been cut. It's an entire library of unread books, just for show.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' story "A Witch Shall Be Born", Salome goes in for this.
* ''The Satyricon'' by Petronius, written in Roman times, is full of this. In the chapter describing banquet of Trimalchio, a heavy silver platter is dropped by one of the household slaves, and the wealthy Trimalchio commands that the platter be left on the floor and swept out with the rest of the garbage. Between courses, the guests have their fingers washed with wine instead of water. The narrators are obviously party-crashers, but no one cares.
* The yuppie characters in [[American Psycho]] go to fancy restaurants, order impractically extravagant food, and then [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich|don't actually eat it]].
* ''[[Dark Future (
* In ''[[Charlie and
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Interestingly averted by ''[[
* On ''[[Lost]]'', several characters, especially evil tycoon Charles Widmore, make a show of drinking the fictional MacCutcheon whiskey, a bottle of which costs several thousand dollars.
* On ''[[
* In ''[[The Office]]'' Michael Scott manages to do this in the absence of actual wealth. When Oscar examined his finances to explain his debts he ended up dividing his spending into three categories, of which the third was the largest: Things that he needed, things that he didn't need, and things that no one, anywhere, ever needed.
* ''[[
* On ''[[
== Music ==
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* ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]''
** Cyrano combines this with [[A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted]]: At Act I Scene IV, [[Impoverished Patrician|Cyrano]] confides [[The Watson|Le Bret]] that [[Buy Them Off|the bag of crowns he used to pay the entrance fees of the Burgundy Theater]] was his parental bounty and so, he has not money for the rest of the month. Even when Le Bret scolds Cyrano for his folly, Cyrano calls this ''"a graceful act"''. This conduct explains better than anything why Cyrano is condemned to a [[Perpetual Poverty]] life.
{{quote|
'''Cyrano:''' Paternal bounty, in a day, thou'rt sped!
'''Le Bret:''' How live the next month?...
'''Cyrano:''' I have nothing left.
'''Le Bret:''' Folly!
'''Cyrano:''' But what a graceful action! Think! }}
** At Act II Scene I, We see Raguenaeu’s Bakery, where Ragueneau is giving free his pies to [[False Friend|his friends, the starving poets]]… who in retribution give Ragueneau their poems and hear his own poetry (and they flatter him). Ragueneau buys a lyre made of pastry from one of his own apprentices, and when he shows it to his wife, Lisa, she lampshades that is a silly consumption. Also, when a multitude of invaders comes to his bakery at Act II scene VII and break all, he doesn’t ask them for paying the damages. This attitude explains why he is ruined at Act III.
{{quote|
please you, I hope. ''(He uncovers the tray, and shows a large lyre made of pastry.)''
'''Ragueneau''' ''(enchanted):'' A lyre!
'''The Apprentice:''' 'Tis of brioche pastry.
'''Ragueneau''' ''(touched):'' With conserved fruits.
'''The Apprentice:''' The strings, see, are of sugar.
'''Ragueneau''' ''(Giving him a coin):'' Go, drink my health!
''(Seeing Lise enter):'' Hush! My wife. Bustle, pass on, and hide that money!
''(To Lise, showing her the lyre, with a conscious look):'' Is it not beautiful?
'''Lise:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|'Tis passing silly!]] }}
== [[Video Games]] ==
* An oil tycoon in ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]'' is prone to this.
* In ''[[
* ''[[GTAIV]]'' parodies it with the in-game TV show "I'm Rich", including obvious parodies of people like Paris Hilton and others.
** ''The Ballad of Gay Tony'' introduces Yusuf Amir, who spends his money on [[Bling Bling Bang]], [[Hookers and Blow]], and ridiculous vanity projects like building the tallest skycraper in Liberty City. Since he apparently has the money to buy ''anything'', the only use he has for the player character is to steal "the things they ''won't'' sell him", like military hardware.
* [[
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Both Ricci and his manager in ''[[Fite!]]'' sport solid gold jewelry once Ricci gets the belt.
* In [
== [[Web Original]] ==
* ''[[Cracked.com]]'' has a list [https://web.archive.org/web/20131030041941/http://www.cracked.com/article/188_7-great-products-telling-world-youre-rich-dick/ of real life ways to show off wealth].
** An episode of Cracked's ''Does Not Compute'' deals with the Numi, a real life $6500 toilet that comes with a tablet PC to pick various settings like seat temperature, bidet control, and a selection of music. Yes, music, which was composed specifically for the Numi.
* A [[Running Gag]] among the creators of ''[[Kingdom of Loathing]]'' is that the [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|players' donations]] go towards "solid gold Ferraris".
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* An ''[[Alvin and The Chipmunks]]'' episode had Simon develop a device that could look into possible futures. One was where the chipmunks and chipettes were incredibly wealthy. They bought their kids guitars made of diamonds, with ruby picks, and there were apparently emerald strings.
* Some of [[Goldie Gold and Action Jack|Goldie Gold's]] has a few of these that aren't even gadgets, like a diamond studded nail clipper.
* Similarly, ''[[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]]'' ''lived'' this trope. Fuel for thought comes when you contrast his typical attire of a sweater with the letter R on it (or a black jacket and shorts when he was younger) to his hyper-luxurious lifestyle. It's almost as if he's Zen'd past needing to display personal bling. One ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' skit plays with this, and mixes Richie with a black rapper stereotype.
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'':
** Episode "Dog of Death" Homer imagines that if he won the lottery he would become the worlds largest man and be covered entirely in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGakoCpN7kI gold].
** The original creator of Itchy and Scratchy used the money from his settlement to buy a solid gold house.
* In the ''[[Disney Ducks Comic Universe]]'', everything Scrooge McDuck owns is an example of this.
* A mother of another girl in ''[[Totally Spies!]]'' bought a clothing chain just to get the last of a pair of exclusive shoes.
* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' movie Bender's Big Score, Earth is taken over by alien scammers who buy a fleet of solid gold, [[Gem
* When Peter Griffin of ''[[Family Guy]]'' got a 150,000 welfare check every week, the first thing he did was rent the Statue of David.
* In an episode of ''[[The Looney Tunes Show]]'', [[Daffy Duck]] finally gets the wealth he so ardently desires and spends it on, among other things, a fancy-dress outfit (complete with powdered wig) and a hand-painted mural for the ceiling. He can't even go grocery shopping without embarking on a search for the most expensive brand of soup.
* Parodied in ''[[South Park]]'', when the boys are shown the evils of downloading music illegally by seeing what it does to the artists: namely, forcing them to do this to a ''slightly lesser'' extent(for example, having to fly in a private jet that's one model out of date, or not being able to give their kid a private island for his birthday).
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Live-in servants. The development of household appliances through the twentieth century reflects the increasing difficulties of finding decent hired help. The proliferation of the flush toilet in middle-class households, for instance, was due in large part to the burgeoning reluctance of increasingly better-paid servants to regularly empty and clean receptacles for other peoples' shit.
* This can apply to excessive [[Pimped-Out Dress|Pimped Out Dresses]] and [[Costume Porn]].
* The topic illustration of the gold-plated Macintosh laptop is from an [https://web.archive.org/web/20131108204311/http://www.computer-choppers.com/ actual company that gold-plates consumer electronics].
** Macs aren't alone. For a while, [[Voodoo PC]], which makes high-end gaming [[
* [
* The whole "bling" element of contemporary [[Hip Hop]] culture. Cultural critics (who cringe at the ostentation), black activists who 1) decry wasting money that could be used to benefit communities and 2) the whole [[Stop Being Stereotypical|"scandal before whitey" thing]]), and old-school rappers (who, besides agreeing with the activists, tend to regard "bling" as [[Completely Missing the Point]]) often disapprove, and [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|let's just leave it at that]].
* The Victorian Era was notorious for this. And across the pond, the (very appropriately named) Gilded Age
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* The entire concept of World's Tallest Building is very much this trope. From the Eiffel Tower to Burj Khalifa, this is essentially an enormous (pun intended) method of saying "screw you" to the rest of the planet.
* The Gaddafi family was notorious for this while in power.
* Culturally most of East Asia is prone to this. Japan has traditionally had the most status-conscious, fanatical luxury shoppers. And China who for decades had a ridiculously low standard of living has been recently experiencing bouts of conspicuous consumption, where they buy items that shout out status (e.g. factory workers spending two months worth of salary on designer bags). In fact, when abroad the average Chinese tourist, will spend more time/energy shopping than any other activity put together.
* Donald Trump and his hotels, casinos, condos, etc. From the 1980s to the present day he exemplifies this trope.
* Saddam Hussein had a golden Ak-47.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Luxury Tropes]]
[[Category:Money Tropes]]
[[Category:Spectacle]]
[[Category:Truth in Television]]
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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