# Who are the upper-class heroes in modern (fiction) film and print? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 26, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580 "2015-09-26T16:39:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/61 "2015-09-28T02:40:58Z")
I think we can safely say that Bond, James Bond is upper class. Is anyone more upper than him??? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/62 "2015-09-28T03:43:55Z")
Bond is gentry from the looks of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/63 "2015-09-28T03:55:53Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I think we can safely say that Bond, James Bond is upper class. Is anyone more upper than him??? 🙂 > [@](#): > > **AK84** > Bond is gentry from the looks of it. In the books he was and its hard to imagine the Roger Moore version being anything but then again if Vesper Lynd is correct, the latest version “didn’t come from money”. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5C7LMOWyYc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5C7LMOWyYc) ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/64 "2015-09-28T04:27:39Z")
Yeah, the Sky fell on Vesper’s theory. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/65 "2015-09-28T04:56:22Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I think we can safely say that Bond, James Bond is upper class. Is anyone more upper than him??? 🙂 He is definitely not upper class. He doesn’t come that far along after Downton Abbey, in which it is a disgrace for a person of the upper class to be a doctor. He is portrayed in the books as having been a middle class kid at best, and a bit of a thug. ---
**Author:** ![stui\_magpie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stui_magpie/32/11010_2.png) [@stui\_magpie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stui_magpie)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/66 "2015-09-28T06:09:53Z")
Lamont Cranston -The Shadow. Very upper class ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/67 "2015-09-28T07:54:06Z")
> [@Horatio\_Hellpop](#): > > The Justice Society was originally a (mostly) rich boy club, except for The Spectre, the Atom and Johnny Thunder. I don’t know. Ted “Wildcat” Grant was a pro boxer, and while he was somewhat well-educated, I don’t know that he was meant to be “upper class.” But I suppose Starman and Green Lantern may have been. The Sandman was high society, I think. Hourman was well-educated, at least. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/68 "2015-09-28T08:13:28Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Both of those have protagonists that are middle class who end up getting unexpectedly turned into royalty, so I’m not sure they count, I’d argue in _The Prince and Me_, the Prince is as much a protagonist as Julia Stiles is. ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/69 "2015-09-28T10:59:20Z")
> [@drad\_dog](#): > > He is definitely not upper class. He doesn’t come that far along after Downton Abbey, in which it is a disgrace for a person of the upper class to be a doctor. > He is portrayed in the books as having been a middle class kid at best, and a bit of a thug. In You Only Live Twice, [according to Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fettes_College#James_Bond), after he was removed from Eton he attended his father’s old school, [Fettes](https://www.flickr.com/photos/17270214@N05/2688185307) in Edinburgh, which is rated among the best in the UK. Most people consider it quite posh. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/70 "2015-09-28T11:20:20Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > In You Only Live Twice, [according to Wiki](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fettes_College#James_Bond), after he was removed from Eton he attended his father’s old school, [Fettes](https://www.flickr.com/photos/17270214@N05/2688185307) in Edinburgh, which is rated among the best in the UK. > Most people consider it quite posh. In the movie, he notes that he took a first in Oriental languages at Cambridge. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/71 "2015-09-28T14:24:03Z")
I absolutely love Victoria Thompson’s [gaslight mysteries](http://www.cozy-mystery.com/victoria-thompson.html). Set in turn of the century NYC, the protagonist if Sarah Brandt, a woman who comes from a very rich, old money family. While Brandt works as a nurse/midwife in the poor of the city, her mother is waiting in the background with cash, trying to turn Sarah into a respectable upper crust lady. These books are one heck of a good read. ---
**Author:** ![Gothic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Gothic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gothic)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/72 "2015-09-28T15:13:13Z")
Amelia Peabody, but most British seem upper class to an American, and Emerson’s mom was a Lady. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/73 "2015-09-28T15:25:13Z")
Delores Swenson, the mother of Hannah Swenson in Joanne Fluke’s mysteries, is a successful published romance author (and Fluke has written and published the romance novels mentioned in the books). ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/74 "2015-09-28T15:30:40Z")
Maj. Charles Emerson Winchester on _M_A_S_H\* is a Bostonian snob and a stuffed shirt, but a gifted surgeon who outsmarts Hawkeye a time or two. Nero Wolfe is upper-class, isn’t he? ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/75 "2015-09-28T16:18:35Z")
All the Kingsmen in **Kingsman: The Secret Service** who are not Eggsy. ---
**Author:** ![Reepicheep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@Reepicheep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reepicheep)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/76 "2015-09-28T16:37:09Z")
Roark form JD Robb In Death series is always working to help Eve solve the case. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/77 "2015-09-28T17:09:15Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > In the movie, he notes that he took a first in Oriental languages at Cambridge. Those are decent points. But it sounds middle class to me. I can’t stand the idea of James Bond being a rich prick. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/78 "2015-09-28T17:19:25Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Nero Wolfe is upper-class, isn’t he? Not sure if he’d qualify. He’s a formerly poor immigrant from eastern Europe, and although he has expensive things and manages to live an upper-class style life, he’s often on the verge of running out of money. He can be tempted to take on cases or perform certain duties he finds objectionable because he needs the money but usually takes the high road and turns it down. On other occasions he decides to take on a case or follow through after the client has died in order to earn his fee. In other words, he lives an upper-class lifestyle by the skin of his teeth. He also has nothing of the social graces one usually finds among the upper class. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/79 "2015-09-28T18:12:47Z")
Up until the 60s, the vast majority of protagonists in literature were well off. For one thing, most of their readers were assumed to be educated WASPs. For another, it simply wasn’t realistic to have dirt poor people traveling the world and getting into adventures. Holden Caulfield, the narrator from The Great Gatsby, most of Hemingway’s expats, etc. Can we pin down a rough estimate on the time frame in which this changed? Or has it? It certainly seems like there are more poor or middle class protagonists these days, but are they really the majority? As I said, my guess is this changed in the 1960s. I know the OP ruled out fantasy, but pretty much all of the sympathetic characters in Game of Thrones are highborn. The series mentions several times that the common folk don’t give a shit about the landed gentry and their game of thrones, except for the fact that they’re the primary victims. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580/80 "2015-09-28T18:25:25Z")
Rajesh Ramayan “Raj” Koothrappali on The Big Bang Theory. As Sheldon Cooper put it: Raj’s family’s estimated wealth is 'halfway between Bruce Wayne and Scrooge McDuck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-are-the-upper-class-heroes-in-modern-fiction-film-and-print/732580.md?page=5)