99% of all US movies and TV shows exclusively feature characters firmly planted in the labor aristocracy, if not positions of even greater wealth and comfort. Just browse Netflix and take a random sample. No characters are shown to be struggling to make ends meet. On the rare occasion they are featured, its either rags-to-riches or the character is shown to be in their "station" as a result of bad choices.
What this does is create the perception for the comfortable middle classes that basically everyone lives like them, and that poverty is a rare and transient problem. Despite the fact that ~40% of workers make $10.50/hr or less (pre-COVID) or that something like 2 in 3 Americans have less than $1,000 saved. American media is ruthlessly effective in hiding the struggles of the working class and making it seem like the labor aristocracy is Default America.
For further reading on this topic, I can highly recommend the book Fear of Failling. it was written during either the late eighties or very early nineties, and it details how American culture has been hiding poverty ever since the World War II ended. Most of the book is about the professional managerial class, and how they have been affected by the political economy from the 50's all the way to the late 80's. And poverty being hidden is a major theme, since the PMC kind of found their "goal" or "purpose" in their treatment of the symptoms of poverty.
I finished the book over the last week, and I can HIGHLY recommend everyone read it. Especially if you yourself are in a kind-of comfortable position w.r.t. having a college degree and/or a pmc-type job.
Even in a lot of the "woke" shows that hogs like to whine about, they still uphold their fantasy of "rich people are the only ones that matter."
Case in point: A lot of Cartoon Network shows
Steven Universe, the kid grows up in a FUCKING BEACH HOUSE and has so many Jesus parallels its absurd.
We Bare Bears? Three bears that comfortably live in the Bay Area despite not really having a stable job. Not exactly "chosen one" per se, but there's no way that someone sub six figs lives that comfortably, let alone at all in the Bay Area.
Hell, even Scott Pilgrim is a bit of a breath of fresh air because the main character is an awkward "loser" archtype that tries to grow up. Yeah, he's a creep and the story is the textbook manic pixie dream girl, but at least Scott can be semi-relateable to young men who do feel like losers and want to grow up as well. Spider-man tells a rather working class story. But what would really be nice is the story about someone who lives in the midwest in a not-so-glamorous city: Let's say Columbus, Ohio. If they really want to mix things up, make it so that the main character never took a single college class and isn't "the chosen one" by any stretch of the imagination.
Even better? Make them NOT conventionally attractive. No abs, not even a waifish twink. If people are able to create an amazing story with all this, they have more than proven to be god-tier storytellers.
99% of all US movies and TV shows exclusively feature characters firmly planted in the labor aristocracy, if not positions of even greater wealth and comfort. Just browse Netflix and take a random sample. No characters are shown to be struggling to make ends meet. On the rare occasion they are featured, its either rags-to-riches or the character is shown to be in their "station" as a result of bad choices.
What this does is create the perception for the comfortable middle classes that basically everyone lives like them, and that poverty is a rare and transient problem. Despite the fact that ~40% of workers make $10.50/hr or less (pre-COVID) or that something like 2 in 3 Americans have less than $1,000 saved. American media is ruthlessly effective in hiding the struggles of the working class and making it seem like the labor aristocracy is Default America.
For further reading on this topic, I can highly recommend the book Fear of Failling. it was written during either the late eighties or very early nineties, and it details how American culture has been hiding poverty ever since the World War II ended. Most of the book is about the professional managerial class, and how they have been affected by the political economy from the 50's all the way to the late 80's. And poverty being hidden is a major theme, since the PMC kind of found their "goal" or "purpose" in their treatment of the symptoms of poverty. I finished the book over the last week, and I can HIGHLY recommend everyone read it. Especially if you yourself are in a kind-of comfortable position w.r.t. having a college degree and/or a pmc-type job.
Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class by Barbara Ehrenreich
Nickel and Dimed also very good, same author.
Unfortunately I know a lot of labor aristocrat libs who've read Ehrenreich and missed the point entirely.
Even in a lot of the "woke" shows that hogs like to whine about, they still uphold their fantasy of "rich people are the only ones that matter."
Case in point: A lot of Cartoon Network shows
Hell, even Scott Pilgrim is a bit of a breath of fresh air because the main character is an awkward "loser" archtype that tries to grow up. Yeah, he's a creep and the story is the textbook manic pixie dream girl, but at least Scott can be semi-relateable to young men who do feel like losers and want to grow up as well. Spider-man tells a rather working class story. But what would really be nice is the story about someone who lives in the midwest in a not-so-glamorous city: Let's say Columbus, Ohio. If they really want to mix things up, make it so that the main character never took a single college class and isn't "the chosen one" by any stretch of the imagination. Even better? Make them NOT conventionally attractive. No abs, not even a waifish twink. If people are able to create an amazing story with all this, they have more than proven to be god-tier storytellers.
Steven Universe:
spoiler
steven is literally the reincarnation of an immortal space empress