Taking the Joy Out of Art: The Menu, Parasite, and Other “Eat the Rich" Films.

The concept of “eat the rich” is not a new one. There has long since been a war between the upper and lower class. This war is demonstrated through real life politics, music, education, food, and film. In fact, it might be accurate to say that there is hardly any facet of life that cannot be used to represent this conflict in some way, shape, or form.

There is a distinct gap between those who occupy the lower class and those who occupy the upper class.

Sometimes, this gap is unintentional. For example, a woman born to “old money” may have a hard time relating to someone who has grown up in a lower class their entire life. This is not the fault of either party, it is merely the circumstance of their lives that creates this divide.

However, for lifetimes the upper class has made it a point to integrate hobbies, ideologies, and their own form of etiquette that is used to intentionally distinguish themselves from the lower class.

We can have the same 10,000 conversations about the problem that the upper class imposes upon the middle and lower class society. But to say “The rich are bad and the poor are good” is a gross generalization that neglects the how and why the desperate need for status impacts the common man’s livelihood.