Mock Millionaire: Difference between revisions

A [['''Mock Millionaire]]''' is an ordinary person who is pretending to be someone who's rich, powerful, or otherwise highly influential. Maybe he's part of [[The Con]] selling a [[Get Rich Quick Scheme]], or an infatuated beau pursuing a [[Spoiled Sweet]] gal, or caught up in a [[Prince and Pauper]] or [[Fawlty Towers Plot]]. Whatever the reason, expect the [['''Mock Millionaire]]''' to play the charade [[Up to Eleven]] with displays of [[Conspicuous Consumption]], casual references to [[Scenery Porn|exotic places]], lots of [[Money to Throw Away]], name-dropping the [[The Beautiful Elite|rich and powerful]], an [[Unlimited Wardrobe]] complete with [[High -Class Glass|monocle]], and maybe "borrowing" a [[Cool Car]] or [[Big Fancy House]].

Contrast with [[King Incognito]] as well as the more general [[Secretly Wealthy]]. See also [[Princess for Aa Day]] and [[If I Were a Rich Man]]. Sister trope of [[Penny Among Diamonds]].

* The Frank Capra film ''[[Lady for Aa Day]]'' has a woman named "Apple Annie" who has been telling her daughter in Spain that she's part of New York's high society. When her daughter arrives with her fiancee, the son of a Spanish count, Annie has to be a genuine [[Mock Millionaire]] and [[Princess for Aa Day]] to avoid derailing the engagement.

* In an old black'n'white movie, an actual millionaire who fell in love with a poor, aspiring actress, and pretended to be a normal guy (a traveling salesman, to be precise) because he figured she'd be intimidated if she knew. [[Hilarity Ensues]], and eventually, he's asked to act like a [[Mock Millionaire]] to fool the girl's boss, with nobody involved (except for him) realizing that he's ''actually'' a millionaire. Would probably count as a subversion...

* The movie ''[[Metropolitan]]'' is about a group of young upper-class Manhattanites blithely passing through the gala debutante season. They are stirred by the arrival of Tom, a [[Mock Millionaire]] who's actually a middle-class boy.

* ''[[Gone Withwith the Wind]]'' has Scarlett trying to pass off a set of curtains as an expensive gown in order to impress Rhett Butler.

{{quote| ''(talking on cellular phone)'' "How did the market close? Uh-huh. Well, roll over my amalgamated, split my utilities, and double my capital venture overlays. Now call me in an hour, and tell me what the hell I'm talking about!"}}

* ''[[OceansOcean's Eleven]]'': "My name is Limon Zerga."

* Essential in the plot of Spanish movie ''Hay que educar a papá.'' {{spoiler|[[High -Class Glass]] -wearing Count De Ronda is discovered to be a con man.}}

** Gatsby's case is aversion and deconstruction: He truly is a [[Nouveau Riche]] millionaire because of his criminal activities, but he lacks the education of the rich culture (he thinks San Francisco is a Midwestern City, he really doesn’t get the subtle clues that show that he is not invited to a party). He displays an over the top show of [[Conspicuous Consumption]], casual references to [[Scenery Porn|ExoticPlacesexotic places]] (Montenegro anand Oxford) in his [[Multiple Choice Past]], parties with [[The Beautiful Elite]] in his [[Big Fancy House]] and his [[Cool Car]], his [[Unlimited Wardrobe]] ''"such beautiful shirts"''. [[You Were Trying Too Hard|And that show is the clue to everyone that he must be a]] [[Mock Millionaire]].

* "Oily" Carlisle, among quite a few other [[PGP. Wodehouse (Creator)|PGG. Wodehouse]] characters, pulls this as a scam. Several other Wodehouse characters stumble into it as well, such as Sue Brown in the ''[[Blandings Castle (Literature)|Blandings Castle]]'' novels ''Summer Lightning'' and ''Heavy Weather''.

* In an [[O. Henry]] short story, "Transients in Arcadia", the hero and heroine do this to each other.

* "[[The Necklace (Literature)|The Necklace]]" by [[Guy De Maupassant (Creator)|Guy Dede Maupassant]] is about a woman who borrows a friend's diamond necklace for a party to pretend she's well-to-do but then loses it and spends the rest of her life trying to pay for a new one only to be later told it was fake.

** Reacher Gilt from ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'' might qualify. Though he conducts himself in a very lavish manner, throwing grand parties and dining at expensive restaurants, it might all be part of his [[Devil in Plain Sight|masquerade]] as a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]. He himself teaches that wealth is an illusion, and stole the Grand Trunk through embezzlement and accounting tricks. It's never clear how much actual liquidity he actually has; in the end, {{spoiler|when he is caught by Vetinari after fleeing the city, he's clearly disheveled and impoverished.}}

** Granny Weatherwax in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Maskerade|Maskerade]]'' ''definitely'' does. To try to get into the opera house, Nanny Ogg uses the proceeds from her book to make Granny look like a lady. Granny just acts like herself, and her overbearing, towering arrogance is enough to [[Bavarian Fire Drill|intimidate everyone into not questioning it.]]

* The [[Mark Twain]] story ''The £1,000,000 Bank-Note'' -- a—a poor American traveler in London is given this by two men as part of a bet. He is expected to return it in a month. By presenting it and asking for change, he obtains a reputation as an eccentric American millionaire, obtains credit, and becomes rich in the end through investments. This story was adapted into the movie ''Man with a Million'' starring Gregory Peck.

* Inverted in ''[[ER]]'' when [[Non -Idle Rich]] Carter spent half a season pretending to be a debt-ridden med-student after he heard the girl he fancied mock the "rich doctors who looked down on them". His attempt to use a laundromat was... [[Crowning Moment of Funny|inspiring.]] [[Irony|Then he managed to piss off his grandmother and became a bona fide poor med-student.]]

* In the ''[[DawsonsDawson's Creek]]'' episode "Kiss", Joey pretends to be wealthy to avoid looking like a small-town girl when she pursues a handsome stranger named Anderson.

* Was also explored recently in an episode of ''[[Castle]]''. That [[Mock Millionaire]] is a con artist initially intent on bilking his heiress fiancée, who then fell in love with her. He is then killed by his partner to avoid potentially ruining the con.

* ''[[White Collar]]'' has Neal do this a good chunk of the time during investigations, especially since he's already got several rich fake identities already set up (to say nothing of the fact that he's [[The Charmer]] and a ''very'' [[Sharp -Dressed Man]], adding credibility to the image). Plus, it's fun to make the government pay for you to throw a bitchin' party.

* Anthony DiNozzo Sr., Tony's dad, on ''[[NCIS (TV)|NCIS]]'', is a formerly wealthy businessman, who is trying to keep up the appearance that he is still wealthy.

* The [[Victim of the Week]] in one episode of ''[[Law and Order: Criminal Intent]]'' was this.

* One [[Victim of the Week]] in ''[[Unforgettable (TV)|Unforgettable]]'' was an abused West Virginia housewife who fled to New York and successfully passed herself off as the heiress to a fictional Texas oil tycoon. {{spoiler|She was murdered by her publicist when she tired of living a lie and wanted to come clean}}.

* An episode of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' had Taub running into and treating his former high school classmate Neil who invites him to his fancy office and asks him for advice on improving a medical device he invented. Taub, who misses his former privileged life, had just lost a bunch of money in the housing bubble crash and had gone through a particularly humiliating day with House asks him for a job and he proposes they become business partners. Taub hands his resignation to House and goes to meet Neil with the money...and finds a secretary who tells him that Neil was just a temp using the CEO's office to con a bunch of doctors out of their money (using the "high school classmate" and fake illness ploy for all of them) and was just arrested. [[Humiliation Conga|Taub then spends the entire following episode trying to convince House not to fire him.]]

* Recurring through-out ''[[Seven Sins|7 Sins]]'', which encourages fraud for it'sits own sake, [[Spoof Aesop|then rewards the character with sex, money, fame and power]].

* In an episode of ''[[FostersFoster's Home for Imaginary Friends]]'', several charities compete for the attention of such a character.

* ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]''

** In one episode parodying ''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven_Up!:Seven Up!|Seven Up!]]'', Homer pretends to be a millionaire by moving into Mr. Burns's house without his knowledge (Burns is out of town).

* Double subverted in ''[[SpongebobSpongeBob SquarePants]]'' when Squilliam Fancyson pretends to be a Mock Millionaire to bait Squidward... only to finally reveal he actually ''is'' rich.

* In ''[[Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats (Animation)|Heathcliff and The Catillac Cats]]'', Riff Raff does this to impress his mother in "Riff Raff's Mom".

* The [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Mazher_Mahmood:Mazher Mahmood|Fake Sheikh]] Mazher Mahmood, who uses his disguise to further his nefarious undercover reporting goals.

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