Nouveau Riche: Difference between revisions
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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]].
Often paired with [[Conspicuous Consumption]], and can lead to [[A Fool and His New Money Are Soon Parted]]. Old money, in contrast, are usually much more restrained in both taste and spending, as they have no need to flaunt the wealth they've always had and no wish to piddle away the family fortune on trivial pursuits.
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.
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{{examples}}
▲== Anime & Manga ==
* 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.
* Harold West in ''[[
==
* 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.
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* 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 ==
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* 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.
* Referenced in a couple of ''[[Discworld]]'' books, mostly to play up the aristocrats as terrible snobs. Although Seldom Bucket in ''[[
* 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]].
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* 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.
== Newspaper Comics ==
* In ''[[Bloom County ]]'', after Bill the Cat became rich and successful by selling a song he wrote to Nabisco, he actually prepares to become this sort of celebrity, having Milo call [[Welcome to Evil Mart|Sudden Success Services Inc]] to order their Deluxe Rock Package. This consisted of a home in Los Angeles three times bigger than he needed, a Porsche, a Harley Davidson motorcycle (for image), a dishonest personal business manager, a booking at the Deli Aid concert, [[Trophy Wife| a ditsy fashion model for a wife]], and a reservation for the Chevy Chase suite at the Betty Ford Center through 1988.
== Professional Wrestling ==
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** 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 ==
* Invoked by name in ''[[
* 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.
* Faninal in ''[[Der Rosenkavalier]]'', who is willing to strain his failing health to arrange the marriage of his daughter to a real aristocrat.
* The title character of Giacomo Puccini's opera ''Gianni Schicchi'' is a member of the Nouveau Riche.
== Tabletop Games ==
* [[Forgotten Realms]] got
== 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)}}.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda
** 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]].
* Ai Ebihara's family in ''[[Persona 4]]''. They were extremely poor, but Mr. Ebihara's businesses suddenly flourished as he hit the right spot, and now they're loaded. {{spoiler|Ai herself, a former [[Fat Girl]] who was bullied due to her poverty and excessive weight, uses said riches to reinvent herself [[I Just Want to Be Beautiful|into a beautiful]] [[Alpha Bitch]] [[I Just Want to Be Loved|who will be admired and loved]].}}
== Web Comics ==
* ''Offshorecomic'' has Trader ("a simple-minded, hedonistic high-frequency-trader who masquerades as a hedge fund manager") for this. As of page #185 -
{{quote|'''Trader''': Look at my new IWC Chronograph Superduper 5000.
'''P-Bird''': Why spend a fortune on something that only tells time?
'''P-Bird''': Are you a moron or do you just want to brag?
'''Trader''': This can tell time?! Cool. }}
== Western Animation ==
* Happened in an episode of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', which also spoofed ''[[Romeo and Juliet]]''. With a Cave-Duck Romeo (who had been adopted into Scrooge's "old-money" family) and a modern duck Juliet (whose family had just won the lotto).
* ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]'': [[Jerkass|Di]] [[Asshole Victim|Lung]] owns [[Cool Car|quite possibly]] '''[[Cool Car|the]]''' [[Cool Car|coolest car in the entire series]], lives in a giant mansion with that features Roman pillars and even its very own water fountain, has had both the Good Empress '''and''' the Evil Empress of China as his aunts, [[It's All About Me|once put himself into his very own television show just to show off how rich he is]], and ''[[Asian Rudeness|constantly]]'' [[Insufferable Genius|mocks other people for not being as rich and intelligent as he is]].
== Real Life ==
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** 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.
* [[Donald Trump]], to a degree. His father was a very successful low
* 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.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131030023218/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10695474 Mark Hotchin].
* 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.
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* 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.
** This is complicated by being as much [[City Mouse]] vs [[Country Mouse]] as new rich vs old. Due to the unusual political competence of the Venetian state, many Venetian dynasties were fairly secure from being destroyed in vendettas and could thus last chronologically until their blood was far bluer then that of any illiterate robber baron. What made them different was that while they spent as much time fighting as rural nobles, their wealth itself was founded on international transport rather then sharecropping and thus provided a constant challenge to their wits. Thus in a way Venetians were always new rich even when they were old rich.
* A [[YouTube]] celebrity known as [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfCsb4Ck75w RiceGum] is basically a living stereotype caricature of the Asian variety of Nouveau Riche; ironically, however, he got rich from his [[YouTube]] career rather than his parents.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Trope Names From the French]]
[[Category:Money Tropes]]
[[Category:Rich People]]
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
▲[[Category:Nouveau Riche]]
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