How our generations live and die by the search for wealth
What is the modern standard for wealth? Is it intrinsically tied to items purchased, or is it attached to the ways in which we carry ourselves? In any way, it is most likely some combination of the two, which leads a person further from the surface and closer to the perception of success.
But what is success if it is tied to something that can be destroyed so easily? Lauren Greenfield has built a lifetime of work around the excess of society and how those with so much come to terms with what has been left behind. Her documentary on the subject, aptly titled “Generation Wealth” panders to her past and childhood of fortunate circumstances (think hoity-toity private schools learning French and fantastic trips around the world) all at the price of having a mother who was more absent than available.
She struggled with the wealth of peers as they gloated about famous parents and expensive cars, but decided to travel outward to see other parts of life. She soon returned to document the excess of the Californian culture she ran from before.
We see various forms of wealth either maintained or lost, and yet one, perhaps unintentional, thread can be found:
Where are the people who still work hard for wealth and don’t come close to touching it?
Where are your middle class professionals?
Where are your masses of government/city/town employees?
Where are your aging and disenchanted rural communities?
All of the people I’ve ever come close to knowing are not present in this sprint for wealth.
While Greenfield does not have to hold a lens to every faction of society, it would have been more complex of a piece to see where the person who works 50 hr. weeks with the beat up old Toyota is. The same person who lives in a crappy apartment with the busted AC and tries to buy seemingly designer clothing for $10 on Amazon.
This person’s understanding of wealth is no different than any other person detailed in the course of the documentary.
After all, we all go on Instagram, watch TV, see advertisements and cross paths with the white Mercedes owners on their way to Whole Foods. The average American sees all that the wealthy American does, and yet we are all perceived to be materialistic snobs with no inkling of what to do with money once we attain it. Some piss it away on cosmetic surgery, big houses and insane trips, but there is another faction to consider.
Jordan Peele’s hit horror film, “Us” mimics the society we all know. His characters are comfortable with their sensible, yet luxury car, family lake house and nice clothes.
Yet they are rivaled by their trashy friends who boast a clunky new car, high-tech lake house and heinously loud designer duds. This is the modern clash of the classes, one with a modicum of wealth but still envying their richer counterparts.
However, the realest depiction of society is the one that literally comes from the Earth in the form of our shadows. They mimic our behaviors and desires yet they are amplified in both severity and simplicity.
Now, what if Greenfield's participants rose from the Earth in their animalistic forms – what would become of the class distinctions then? It could become the divide she creates, of those with and those without. But we no longer live in a totally feudal system seen in pre-Industrialized society.
The distinction now lies in how well you can fake your way through the deception of wealth and style. In a time where having nothing must be met with having something, perhaps Peele has shown us a way through our deepest of dichotomies in which we either have it all or have none of it. Without it all are we truly just animals willing to destroy before the moment of total collapse?
Some have said this will be our total undoing, that all of this wealth will run its course before the destruction of modern society. This destruction could be described as more of a degradation in which we become less capable and more willing to appease through our manners, wants, wishes, actions, clothing, cars, houses etc…
It all seems quite fatalistic and damning to assume that wealth will be the collapse of culture, but it will probably be one piece in a much more complicated puzzle. All I know is that I want to see how we continue to deal with this ever escaping concept of wealth. We are no longer keeping up with the Joneses or the Kardashians, for we are now keeping up with generation us. Each person has a role that they play on social media, in the trips they take, houses they buy, and clothes they flaunt. If nothing else, we must be conscious of the roles we play and the props we use.
This may never get better, but it can be better understood through creative works and actions alike. Create the narrative you want to see continue. Give the person with the beat up old car a chance at breathing life through words, paintings, films, anything at all to make sure that the marginalized don’t become forgotten completely. We may all be climbing toward Mount Olympus but we may too soon realize the peaks and valleys below serve just fine for a beautiful life.
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