Non-Idle Rich: Difference between revisions
m
→Western Animation
Jason taylor (talk | contribs) |
|||
| (16 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 5:
'''Thomas Wayne''': No, I work at the hospital. I leave the running of our company to much better men.
'''Bruce Wayne''': Better?
'''Thomas Wayne''': Well, more ''interested'' men.
|''[[Batman Begins]]''}}
A rich character does a job involving public service (often a cop, [[Officer and a Gentleman|soldier]], or doctor) despite obviously not needing the pay. Instead, they do the work to help people or for personal satisfaction—or [[Rich Boredom|even to avoid boredom]]. They will often have conflict with both their family, who wonder what they're doing down in the muck with the "common people", and their work peers, who class them sight unseen as a dilettante after thrills. They spend all their time having to prove themselves.
Line 25 ⟶ 26:
* Roger Smith from ''[[The Big O]]'' could fit this or [[Rich Idiot With No Day Job]], depending on one's point of view.
* In at least one of the continuities of ''[[Tenchi Muyo!]]'' Mihoshi might count, as in the OAV, her and her family are apparently Nobles in Seniwa space, yet most of them still work for - and run - the Galaxy Police.
* ''[[Soul Eater]]'': Thanks to being Death's son, and having a privileged position in
* Most of the nobles in ''[[Black Butler]]'' have important jobs such as Angelina Durless (AKA Madame Red),who is a doctor, Ciel's father Vincent Phantomhive, who was said in the anime to have done lots of work to help the poor and needy, and Undertaker (give a wild guess as to what he does). Ciel himself works as the Queen's Watchdog, taking care of problems in the criminal underworld (though sometimes the work he does enters more dubious territory).
* In the Lewis Carroll-inspired manga ''[[Pandora Hearts]]'', the 19th-century land in which it is set is governed by four dukedoms, which are in charge of running the organisation known as Pandora, whose job it is to protect the public from and take care of matters involving the dimension known as the Abyss.
* While Detective Shiratori's rich family background may help him to climb the bureaucratic ladder in ''[[Detective Conan]]'', he is certainly one of the more competent police officers there.
* Yuichiro in ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' comes from a very wealthy family but works regularly, eventually taking a steady job as a short of "chore boy" at the shrine Raye's grandfather owns. Partly because he liked Raye and partly because he's ashamed of his rich, self-absorbed family.
** There's also Ami/Sailor Mercury's mother who also comes from a very wealthy family (in one continuity, she collects diamonds) but works full time as a doctor. Ami herself intends to follow this path as well.
* By this point,{{when}} [[Golgo 13]] owns property in multiple countries, has several Swiss bank accounts, and ''owns his own island''. He still takes assassination jobs.
* Who can forget Alice Malvin of ''[[Pumpkin Scissors]]''
== Comic Books ==
Line 39:
* [[Iron Man|Tony Stark]]. Sure, he attends parties all over the world (though, for [[The Alcoholic|understandable reasons]], he no longer drinks), gambles, plays sports, and dates glamourous women. Still, the other half of the time, he is either holed up [[Gadgeteer Genius|working on some new invention]], negotiating deals for his company (sometimes overlapping with the playtime above), or, sometimes, ''running major government agencies'', having been appointed once to head the Defense Department, and later to lead SHIELD.
** You forgot his standard pastime, "putting on a suit of armor and kicking ass for justice."
** Stated rather explicitly in a trailer for ''[[The Avengers (2012 film)|The Avengers]]'':
{{quote|'''[[Captain America (comics)|Steve Rogers]]:''' Big man in a suit of armour. Take that away and what are you?
'''[[Iron Man|Tony Stark]]:''' A genius billionaire playboy philanthropist. }}
Line 48:
* [[Lex Luthor]] is very much actively involved in [[Mega Corp|LexCorp]]'s scientific research, personally building groundbreaking prototypes and conducting cutting-edge experiments with his own genius.
* Herschel Clay from ''[[PS238]]'' is implied to be the owner and main stockholder of Clay Industries (which makes sense, {{spoiler|since he's eventually revealed to be an [[Expy]] of [[Iron Man]]}}). His day- night- and apparently only job? Janitor at a grade school. At a grade school for superheroes, mind you, but a janitor nonetheless. {{spoiler|It's eventually revealed that the entire teaching staff of the school belonged to an old superhero team and had to hang up their capes and become teachers as part of a non-disclosure agreement over an illegally elected metahuman president. Said president became the school's headmaster for good measure.}}
* [[Richie Rich]]; pretty much the whole point of his comic. Whether it's for diplomacy, exploration, investigation, and/or philanthropy, or foiling crooks bent on stealing his family's money or someone else's, he always has a lot to do. His parents tend to be this as well.
== Film ==
Line 55:
* Will Smith's charcter in ''[[Bad Boys]]'' is a rich-kid playboy as well as a bad-ass cop.
* Det. Tracy Atwood in ''[[Mr. Brooks]].''
* Dr. Emmett Brown in ''[[Back to the Future (film)|
* After ''[[Forrest Gump]]'' became [[The Gump|an early investor in Apple]], he began to cut the park's grass for free because he liked doing it.
* Hooper from ''[[Jaws (film)|Jaws]]''
== Literature ==
Line 81 ⟶ 80:
* The titular heroine of ''[[Honor Harrington]]'' cannily invested much of her prize-money from early in her career, took advantage of the investment opportunities when she was made a member of the Grayson nobility, and was awarded some rather rich territory when she became a member of the Manticoran nobility, making her one of the richest people in the Manticoran Star Empire, but she still goes to work as a military officer every day.
** Another such character is her valet, who could have easily retired from his share of prize money and his own investments, and the ''millions'' he received in her will when she was thought dead (and she refused to accept back) but insisted on retaining his position, even when he officially retired from the navy.
* [[Castle|Rick Castle]]{{who}}{{context}}
* In [[Gene Stratton Porter]]'s ''[[Freckles]]'', Freckles is much impressed by meeting such people.
{{quote|''Now here was another class, that had all they needed of the world's best and were engaged in doing work that counted. ''}}
* Jack Ryan in ''[[The Hunt for Red October]]''. He is considered a more valuable analyst because he has tons of money he gained speculating on the stock market and tons more from marrying the daughter of multi-millionaire (who herself works as a very high paid ophthalmologist.) The reason that makes him more valuable is that this makes him invulnerable to pressure when he gives an opinion.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' gives us {{spoiler|Giles}}, who is extremely rich to the point that {{spoiler|when he dies, Faith is able to retire from Slaying on his money, which he leaves all to her.}}
* Officer Ben Sherman on ''[[Southland]]'' gets extensive grief from his [[Drill Sergeant Nasty|training officer, John Cooper]].
* John Carter of ''[[ER]]'' regularly conflicted with his parents, and especially his grandmother, regarding his job in a Chicago urban ER. In the [[Grand Finale]], he mentions that his grandfather would be rolling in his grave, if he knew that the Carter fortune was being sunk into an indigent care center.
Line 114 ⟶ 112:
{{quote|'''Rossi:''' I don't have a house, I have a ''mansion''.}}
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Trauma Center|Trauma Team]]''{{'}}s [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Tomoe]] [[The Chick|Tachibana]] is the heiress to a wealthy Japanese family. However, she [[Rebellious Princess|rebelled]] and became an endoscopist in America.▼
* Agent 47 from the ''[[Hitman]]'' series. Sure, his job is assassin-for-hire, but he's one of the highest paid assassins in the world, likely giving him quite a large bank account. And as shown in the second game, when not "on the clock" he actually lives in a monastery, working as their gardener and caretaker.
==
* Mr. Ackerman from ''[[Sam and Fuzzy]]'' runs a taxi service: He's apparently independently wealthy and doesn't need to, but states that he needs a hobby to stay active. It also explains why he decided to hire [[Weirdness Magnet|Sam]].
== Western Animation ==
Line 127:
* Amanda Carey in ''[[Hurricanes]]''. She could have simply sold the soccer team she inherited from her [[Disappeared Dad|father]] or let someone manage it for her and it's a miracle she's not forced to do either, considering she's a ''teenager''.
** Stavros Garkos, who owns the [[Opposing Sports Team]] and several other companies, fits this trope, despite being a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] and the series' [[Big Bad]].
* Charlie from ''[[Hazbin Hotel]]''. She not only fits this Trope well, being a philantropist and one of Hell's royalty, her dedication to her goals makes her a [[Workaholic]], and unfortunately, something of a [[Nervous Wreck]] until {{spoiler|gains her father's support and that of other infernal nobility.}}
▲* ''[[Trauma Center|Trauma Team]]'''s [[Yamato Nadeshiko|Tomoe]] [[The Chick|Tachibana]] is the heiress to a wealthy Japanese family. However, she [[Rebellious Princess|rebelled]] and became an endoscopist in America.
== Real Life ==
Line 137 ⟶ 133:
** Warren Buffett probably also qualifies. The man could have retired decades ago, filthy rich, but says he keeps running Berkshire Hathaway because it's fun. He also generally lives off his $100k salary, despite being worth ''62 billion dollars''.
* Anderson Cooper, who was born into ''obscene'' wealth and privilege: his mother is Gloria Vanderbilt, which besides making him part of the venerable Vanderbilt clan (i.e. [[Blue Blood|the closest thing the US has to nobility]]), makes him, well, the son of [[wikipedia:Gloria Vanderbilt|Gloria Vanderbilt]]. He went to school and became a journalist who routinely travels to war-torn and/or disaster-stricken nations to directly speak to those affected. And he seems to genuinely care, too.
* Oliver Stone, who was born into a wealthy family, dropped out of Yale to join the Army and fight in Vietnam, where he won a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart. ''[[
*
* [[Bill Gates]] left his position as CEO of Microsoft to work full time at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Would actually have qualified as this ''as'' the CEO, given that someone worth $54 ''billion'' doesn't need the work.
** Since most of the hugely successful tech companies of the 80s and 90s started off very small, today's hyper-rich tech magnates tend to be engineers who personally developed the stuff that made them worth billions.
* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' writer Simon Rich was born into a wealthy family (his dad is ''New York Times'' legend Frank Rich) and attended Harvard and elite NYC private schools. Also doubles as an [[Incredibly Lame Pun]].
* Jackie Kennedy Onassis became a book editor following the death of her second husband, Aristotle Onassis.
** Likewise, her two children. Eldest daughter Caroline works as a lawyer, and before kicking it her brother John Jr. worked as a magazine publisher/editor.
* Philanthropist Brook Astor definitely qualifies.
* Athina Roussel Onassis could have easily lived from the money inherited from her maternal family, being the last living Onassis. (There's still the matter about her actually inheriting only her mother Christina's money or the whole Onassis fortune, though). She, however, is a show jumper and a sponsor/patron of the Global Champions Tour.
* Many entertainers (actors, musicians, etc.) continue to work for love of the job, or at least the fame, long after they're set for life financially. [[Oprah Winfrey]], for example.
* Jill Biden is a professor of English at Northern Virginia Community College and is thought to be the first woman to hold a paying job while her husband
* New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is the 20th richest person in the world. He's also a very popular and, by most accounts very effective, three term mayor. Also probably incorruptible, for the simple reason that it's hard to bribe a man who has $22 billion.
* You probably. If you have internet access (like everyone here) and live in a place of high technology and [[The Trains Run On Time|reasonably competent government]] as do a good portion you are by comparison definitely rich, [[First World Problems|even if it doesn't feel that way.]] You are, it follows, either [[Idle Rich]] or [[Non-Idle Rich]] or [[Take a Third Option|each by turns depending on the situation.]]
* According to legend when [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Ney Marshall Ney]'s (
* Juan Trippe (he was actually as [[New England|Yankee as they come]]; the out-of-place name comes from his great-uncle's wife), was one of the founders of the Pan Am Empire. He was born to [[Old Money]] and leveraged that into his real interest which was airplanes. He was a Yale man and a member of the Skulls & Bones society, and would sponsor Yale's first flying team. Later he became one of the bosses of one of the most recognized commercial lines in the world and [[Spy From Weights and Measures|incidentally]], through under the table subsidies, an instrument of [[Hegemonic Empire|secret power projection]] at a time when the US Army was a skeleton, the Navy and Marines were busy with [[Gunboat Diplomacy|constabulary]] [[The Sand Pebbles|duties]], and when there was no [[OSS]]. This helped increase his private empire as well as incidentally increasing Uncle Sam's, not to mention preparing for [[World War II]] secretly during the time of Isolation. This was also, not incidentally, the time of the famous "Clipper" flying boats, which invoked romantic memories of ships in the sailing era. During the war Pan Am provided a route for fast travel including the only route to China for a long time.
* Donald McKay was a famous shipbuilder and was known for some of the most beautiful ships in US history, ships which appeared in paintings and in poems.
* The various clipper merchants could qualify. They were with the exception of one company drug smugglers, but we have to at least grant them [[Magnificent Bastard]] status for the way they dared the winds and raced each other.
* Later Captains of Industry such as [[Railroad Baron]]s and [[Cattle Baron]]s helped develop America. They were all a hard-nosed lot, and go down in history with varying reputations. On the one hand, not only did they bring about production in wealth, when they retired they usually devoted themselves to philanthropy. On the other hand they were often involved in bitter and sometimes deadly labor feuds. However [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|whatever your opinion]] they sure worked hard for their money.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Rich People]]
▲[[Category:Non-Idle Rich]]
| |||