Movies such as “The Menu,” “Triangle of Sadness” and the newly released “Infinity Pool” all have a similar theme, which is the rich and powerful suck. And for everyone who isn’t living in a mansion and is unable to go to luxury resorts every year for vacation, these movies seem like something we would enjoy.
If you’re like me, you’re a hater of many things. One of those things would be rich people. And there are numerous reasons as to why. I am extremely jealous of them for never having to worry about affording $80 in groceries. But on the other hand, I could never be a millionaire and keep all that money for myself while people are starving and homeless.
With that being said, whenever one of these “hate the rich” movies come out, you know I’m seeing it opening night. Even if they’re horror, I think they’re hilarious and I quite enjoy the demise of the greedy and wealthy.
I even enjoyed “Infinity Pool” a lot. Even if they didn’t quite get what was coming to them, I still thought it was creative, innovative, beautifully shot and had great acting. But after seeing it, something didn’t sit right with me.
I noticed a trend in these kinds of movies: A-list actors, notable production studios and millions of dollars to produce. It all started to become incredibly frustrating. These rich people are producing and creating movies that are all about hating the rich, who would, in reality, be themselves.
Brandon Cronenberg wrote and directed “Infinity Pool,” a film that entails the antics of the wealthy who realize they can torture the third-world country locals and get off totally scot-free.
Brandon Cronenberg is the son of David Cronenberg. David Cronenberg is a successful director and writer of films such as “The Fly” and “Crimes of the Future.” It is estimated that he has a net worth of $15 million.
Brandon Cronenberg is also estimated to be worth millions of dollars.
It begs the question, who does Brandon Cronenberg think he is and why does he think he’s the person to be telling us that rich people are the absolute worst? Why is someone with two filmmakers as parents selling me a story about the atrocities committed by the wealthy?
Yes, these stories are important and have a message that needs to be heard. The wealthy and powerful are not held to the same standards as us common people and get away with a lot. They use their power and money to silence accusers and hire good public relations teams and lawyers. Any normal person accused of the same crimes most certainly wouldn’t evade the law and live a normal life afterward.
Once again, I ask these filmmakers, why are you telling us stories about how awful the upper class is when you yourselves are those people you portray so negatively?
I have two guesses as to why.
I believe they are exploiting the pain of the lower class to make a story that will entertain and relate to them just to make themselves millions of dollars.
In “The Menu,” we all feel for Anya Taylor-Joy’s character who is destined for death for the wrongdoings of the rich while she herself has done nothing wrong. We sympathize with her and we root for her. The movie made almost $80 million worldwide with a budget of $30 million, making almost $50 million profit off of the angst of the lower to the middle class.
I also believe these movies are made primarily to score an Oscar nomination. “Parasite” was praised and loved by many and scored the Best Picture prize.
Esquire describes “Parasite” as “a jet black satire of class conflict and wealth inequality.”
I believe these new films are merely just made to be viewed similarly to “Parasite” and have everyone praise it for being “great social commentary” and “thought-provoking.”
These stories of the rich being awful or crazy are completely out of touch considering the people who made them are only going to be richer after all is said and done.
Making a movie about snobby elites and showcasing how twisted they truly are is just a cheap money grab, and to make the filmmakers seem like they are socially conscious and edgy for going against the 1%.
So to all the movies that will come out and be social commentary about social class, I am sorry but I will not be there opening night or any night. I’d rather just rewatch “This Is The End” with Seth Rogen and Jay Baruchel because they are at least honest about how selfish the upper class is by having everyone play themselves.
