Nouveau Riche: Difference between revisions

How they made the money depends where they come from and when the work is set. If British, expect them to be from either [[Oop North]] (with wealth made from industry) or more recently, London/Essex (with wealth from the financial sector). If American, expect them to be fat Texas oil barons, cattle tycoons, or even a cotton-pickin', slave-whippin' [[Fat Sweaty Southerner in a White Suit]].

 

 

A common method of playing with the trope—and one more common in modern works where traditional aristocracy and 'old money' aren't quite as revered as they used to be—is to have the Nouveau Riche character despite their lack of 'class and breeding' be a lot more likeable and down-to-earth than the [[Blue Blood]] types, usually because they know exactly how lucky they are now and how unfortunate they were before. In this depiction, expect the 'class and breeding' the [[Blue Bloods]] and old-money types obsess over to be codewords for snobbery, arrogant entitlement and stuffy, fusty over-adherence to pointless tradition.

 

{{examples}}

* In ''[[Gankutsuou]]'', Danglars is the epitome of greedy new money with no class- this is well represented by the fact he always wears a golden suit.

* Kazuya and his family in ''[[Hana Yori Dango]]'', though Kazuya himself is a more sympathetic example.

* Haruka Suzushiro's family in [[My-HiME]], apparently. Her best friend Yukino, in her special, reflects on a time when her family was not nearly as wealthy.

 

* Victor's family in ''[[Corpse Bride]]'', who have very recently come into mass fortune after inventing canned fish, and are determined to ''shove'' their way into the blue-blooded world.

* Many ''[[James Bond (film)|James Bond]]'' villains, who are contrasted with [[Cultured Badass]] Bond.

* In ''[[Layer Cake]]'', the [[London Gangster]] Jimmie Price is a rather vulgar, crude jerk and is contrasted with his old friend Eddie, who is the [[Magnificent Bastard]] to Jimmie's [[Smug Snake]], and has managed to make himself [[Wicked Cultured]], despite coming from the same background.

* This is how Franco Zeffirelli depicted the Capulets (Juliet's family) in his version of ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''. This is emphasized through [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]]: the Capulets and their retainers are dressed in loud, bright colors, while the Montagues (the older and more respected family of Romeo) favor more conservative clothing hues.

* The Spanish movie ''Hay Que Educar A Papá'' shows two families: Rich, aristocratic [[High-Class Glass]] -wearing Count De Ronda versus hard-working [[Self-Made Man]] Severiano Paredes who lacked social graces but made money with his work. Their children want to marry. Paredes's daughter convinces her dad to become a Nouveau Riche ''on purpose'' to impress De Ronda.

 

== Literature ==

* Frederick Winterbourne's main problem in ''[[Daisy Miller]]'' is that his aunt and every other American in Europe keeps telling him that the titular heroine, whom he is falling for fast, and her family are this.

* Although there aren't really any characters who fit the type, ''[[Night Watch]]'' contains several references to the New Russian described below, particularly their use of bodyguards and participation in shady business, as well as their ostentatious use of wealth.

* In the ''[[Sweet Valley High]]'' books, Lila Fowler's family was looked down on by Bruce Patman's family because they were considered this.

* Alec D'Urberville in ''[[Tess of the D'Urbervilles]]'' fits this trope almost perfectly. By contrast, the [[Character Title|eponymous Tess]] is (very distantly) an [[Impoverished Patrician]].

* In ''[[Boardwalk Empire]]'', black Prohibition gangster Chalky White was born to an uneducated poor family, but made millions through his criminal enterprises. He wears fine suits, drives a ostentatious car, and has married a light-skinned, classically educated wife. Their children are raised from birth to be wealthy. He's called out for being uppity by both black and white characters and suffers from culture clash within his own family.

*James Onedin in ''The Onedin Line'' was a shipmaster who became disgruntled with his boss and married a wife whose father was dying and needed a husband to inherit. This alliance gave him a ship, a female vice CEO, and a loving wife(in apparent order of importance), and helped him become a shipping magnate.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

** The kayfabe explanation for his purported wealth was due to a massive insurance settlement after his father "Iron" Mike DiBiase [[Died In The Ring]], so this trope definately applies.

* The Fabulous Moolah, greatest Women's Champion of all time.

 

== Theater ==

* In ''Le Bourgeois gentilhomme'' (''The Would-Be Noble''), Molière acidly criticizes this trope through Monsieur Jourdain, the pretentious and snobbish bourgeois main character. He takes the chance to throw pot shots at aristocrats as well, though.

* The Hubbards in ''[[The Little Foxes]]'' remind William Marshall that they are not aristocrats but traders as they close a deal with him that will make them definitely rich.

* The title character of Giacomo Puccini's opera ''Gianni Schicchi'' is a member of the Nouveau Riche.

 

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'', one of the Preps Tad Spencer is new money, a fact he is ashamed of and tries to mask by speaking with a stuck-up [[British Accent]].

* In ''[[Mitsumete Knight]]'', the Zakroid family became aristocrats of this type thanks to a boom in the diamond and rock phosphate markets. [[Alpha Bitch|Linda]], the heiress of the family, [[Berserk Button|doesn't like at all]] being called "Nouveau Riche" though, because {{spoiler|[[Lovable Alpha Bitch|she worked hard to become an aristocrat, and wants to prove to all she's worthy of this rank]].}} However, to get her Ending, she'll have to {{spoiler|[[A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted|witness the family's business go to bankruptcy]], so she can see the people who really care for her (i.e. the protagonist)}}.

** The problem is that how he got rich isn't really explained making it look like he got payed by the former rich guy on the island turning him into the [[Impoverished Patrician]].

 

 

== Western Animation ==

 

== Real Life ==

** And "tufthunter", which referred to college students who tried to hang out with the nobility (who wore distinguishing tufts on their caps).

* A late 1890's (English) newspaper editorial complained that the English nobility was losing its class, what with all the penniless aristocrats marrying off their sons to the daughters of filthy rich American cattle-barons and tycoons.

* Molly Brown, best known for surviving the sinking of the ''Titanic'' and demanding that her lifeboat return to the ship to search for more survivors.

* Much like the "New Russians," we now have half a million recently-minted Chinese millionaires, most of whom are former "[[wikipedia:Little Emperor Syndrome|Little Emperors]]". As one might expect, they are reported to have rather crass tastes; the most disgusting (to purists) is the oft-repeated tale of [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13284481 mixing different fine wines in a punchbowl].

** The children born to the first generation of post-reform entrepreneurs are known as the "fu er dai" (second prosperous generation), and are notorious for spending huge amounts of money (given to them by their parents, of course) on fancy European cars, designer clothes, and trips abroad. Lots of Chinese publications decry that the fu er dai, unlike their parents, have all the lavish benefits of economic reform, but never had to work or suffer hardship for any of them.

*The original Rothchild's including were money smugglers, black market bankers, and stock manipulators.

*The English gentry was made of a merchant princes, naval and military officers, and Empire builders who set up in the country.

* The Bonapartes came from an obscure backcountry chief.

* Merchant city-states of the Middle Ages could absolutely terrify blue blooded nobles. They might look down on their lineage but didn't say much about it when Hansa cogs or Venetian galleys arrived at their castles.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Trope Names From the French]]

[[Category:Money Tropes]]

[[Category:Rich People]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]