# Works that show the rich as hardworking and in a positive light **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 26, 2015, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427 "2015-12-26T21:32:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![3trew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/13edae/32.png) [@3trew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3trew)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/21 "2015-12-27T04:15:06Z")
How are we defining “rich” here? Cliff and Claire may own their house and some assets, but they still work for income. They might be in the top 5%, or the top 1%, but the curve after that gets considerably steeper. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/22 "2015-12-27T04:20:28Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > It’s a commonplace to show the rich at leisure or scheming , or the mill-owner kicking the pleb, or the crooked share-dealer, or the generic evil capitalist ruining people’s lives, but many - if not most - rich people are self-made, and work hard for their money. So what are the works that show the rich actually at work positively or at least sympathetically? _Joy_, now in theaters, is about how the title character (based on Joy Mangano) became a self-made woman through hard work, good ideas, and determination. For most of the movie she’s struggling, but there’s a fairly lengthy sequence near the end showing her as a successful businesswoman who lives in a mansion but is still decent, honest, and hardworking. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/23 "2015-12-27T05:58:46Z")
Jean Valjean in his guise as M. le Mayor in _Les Miserables_, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/24 "2015-12-27T06:36:25Z")
Well, in “Tommy Boy,” the Callahan family is rich, but family patriarch Brian Dennehy is portrayed as an admirable guy who made his fortune honestly in the auto parts business, and who genuinely cares for his employees and for the people of Sandusky, Ohio. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/25 "2015-12-27T06:40:56Z")
“Death of a Salesman” actually does have a character who’s both a wealthy businessman and a decent, hard working individual: Willy’s neighbor Charlie. Willy seems like proof that the American dream is a hoax, but Charlie shows that even Arthur Miller can’t completely dismiss Horatio Alger. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/26 "2015-12-27T07:08:47Z")
> [@3trew](#): > > How are we defining “rich” here? Cliff and Claire may own their house and some assets, but they still work for income. They might be in the top 5%, or the top 1%, but the curve after that gets considerably steeper. Just for fun, I looked up current salary figures. For some reason, they’re all over the place–I have a feeling that different sites may be using different definitions. [Payscale.com](http://Payscale.com) says that the median lawyer’s salary is about $77,000/year. [Medscape.com](http://Medscape.com) says that only 10% of ob/gyns earn less that $100,000, with the majority earning over $200,000. For convenience, let’s say $200,000 for Cliff. So that’s $277,000 per year. The median household income is about $53,000. According to this handy calculator, they would certainly be in the top 3%. > **[Business News - Latest Headlines on CNN Business | CNN Business](https://www.cnn.com/business)** > > View the latest business news about the world’s top companies, and explore articles on global markets, finance, tech, and the innovations driving us forward. If Cliff was toward the top end of the payscale, they would probably be in the top 1%. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/27 "2015-12-27T08:34:16Z")
Pursuit of Happyness Meet Joe Black ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/28 "2015-12-27T08:58:43Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > If Cliff was toward the top end of the payscale, they would probably be in the top 1%. Yes, there is a definition problem here. You aren’t rich if you have to work for a living. Arguably, you aren’t really rich if your children have to work for a living. You can be rich and also hard working, or rich and lazy, or rich and canny, or even rich and well-connected. But if you are poor unless you go to work, you aren’t rich. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/29 "2015-12-27T12:45:48Z")
I don’t agree with the thesis of the OP. America worships wealth. The Rich are usually Heroes and the Poor are often presented as criminals. I think the Evil industrialist trope is used sparingly. And usually it is when finally some White Collar Crime is in the the news, such as Enron, Bernie Madoff, or the 2008 collapse. The Evil Corporation is more common but often the face of the “Evil Corporation” isn’t the CEO but some Middle Manager doing the dirty work. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/30 "2015-12-27T14:56:39Z")
Sympathetically : \*Babbit Slaughterhouse -5 Annie? Les Miserable \* ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/31 "2015-12-27T14:57:53Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > I don’t agree with the thesis of the OP. America worships wealth. The Rich are usually Heroes and the Poor are often presented as criminals. We are “temporarily embarrassed millionaires.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/32 "2015-12-27T17:43:09Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > This thread isn’t really interested in philanthropy but a positive showing of _the rich working_. And that’s where you lost me. 😉 Part of the problem is that the sort of work the rich mostly do is exceedingly boring and makes terrible TV. And I think _Annie_ is a bad example. Daddy Warbucks may take an interest in a poor girl, but how he got his money is described in his name: he’s a war profiteer. He’s a philanthropist, but how many people died to make him rich? ---
**Author:** ![Sefton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Sefton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sefton)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/33 "2015-12-27T18:25:35Z")
_Silicon Valley_ is a good example. The guys are nerds, but they work hard for their wealth. I haven’t read all of Jeffrey Archer’s novels, but many of them praise the hardworking well-off. As I recall, _As the Crow Flies_ and _Kane and Abel_ are good examples. _Titan_, the biography of John D. Rockefeller, was particularly impressive. The guy may have acted like a dictator, but he worked very hard and pulled himself upward one rung at a time. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Nylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/77aa72/32.png) [@Mr.Nylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Nylock)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/34 "2015-12-27T18:42:08Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > And I think _Annie_ is a bad example. Hence the question mark 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/35 "2015-12-27T19:29:57Z")
My old billionaire boss would work a lot, staying in the office until the wee smalls. What he was working on I don’t know since it wasn’t drumming up business and wasn’t keeping the company afloat. His wife was gorgeous and nice, but for some reason he, an Aspie without the smarts, was avoiding her. At a party I almost asked why she didn’t leave him, but she did a few months later on her own, without me in the role of co-respondent. Darn! ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/36 "2015-12-27T20:06:44Z")
Plantagenet Palliser from Anthony Trollope’s Palliser novels is a wealthy duke, but he is still a very diligent Chancellor (and later Prime Minister). ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/37 "2015-12-27T20:19:05Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > Downton Abbey. There’s a lot of leisure on the surface, but Lord Grantham’s sense of responsibility to his employees and his hard work running the estate is a recurring theme. Even the girls are expected to work hard at ladylike endeavors, including charity work. Good call. Lord Grantham isn’t nearly the frivolous upper-class asshole you’d think he’d be portrayed as. Instead, he’s got a very acute awareness of his position as the employer of all the people of his estate and how his (and his family’s) actions affect them. Historically the worker/employer relationship has always been a reciprocal one beyond merely the work performed and the wages paid. What we’re seeing now is kind of like a historical swing of the pendulum- on one side you have stuff like company towns, truck systems and debt bondage, and on the other you have today’s almost entirely divorced system, where you’re worth exactly what your paid, no more, no less. That’s, I think, what a lot of the anger toward the “rich” lately is about- there’s a feeling that the historical compact is broken, and personally, I’d be willing to bet that the angst has grown at about the same rate that people are employed by faceless huge corporations that aren’t invested in their communities. I mean, if say… Callahan Auto Parts is based in Sandusky, and the vast, vast majority of their employees live in Sandusky and the surrounding areas, they have a certain reciprocal obligation to the community. But when you work for say… Home Depot, they don’t have any particular obligation to even somewhere as big as Dallas, and will shut stores on a whim and lay hundreds of people off without thinking about it. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/38 "2015-12-27T20:36:53Z")
Funnily enough, I’ve not seriously watched Downton Abbey, but now it’s over, I’ll buy the boxed set when it comes out and binge-watch it. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/39 "2015-12-27T22:14:53Z")
> [@dropzone](#): > > And I think _Annie_ is a bad example. Daddy Warbucks may take an interest in a poor girl, but how he got his money is described in his name: he’s a war profiteer. He’s a philanthropist, but how many people died to make him rich? Would you prefer that Germany won the war? My nominee is _The Pleasure of His Company_, in which Fred Astaire plays a stereotypical idle rich, and Tab Hunter plays a hard-working _nouveau riche_. ---
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 27, 2015, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427/40 "2015-12-27T22:35:08Z")
> [@](#): > > OB/Gyn In retrospect, an unfortunate choice to make in creating that character… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/works-that-show-the-rich-as-hardworking-and-in-a-positive-light/741427.md?page=3)