A great opinion piece taking the recent Disney movie, "Cindrella," & showing how it portrays where the US, & essentially the whole developed world, is going. Of course, Europe's march towards that future where one-percenters control everything for the "commoners" is slow but the direction is same, as we can see with the harsh austerity plans Greeks have to abide by to keep themselves in the EU.
Socio-economic classes, or perhaps, social segregation, is becoming more & more evident in the developed West, where the one-percenters elites (business & political elites) live in their own little world. They socialize / network within themselves & their connections to the common public is only when they want their needs to be served. Their children don't need to study hard to get in top schools or get top marks to secure that coveted position. Why? How can that happen in such a seemingly just & fair society, like North America? (sarcasm)
Because, top jobs in business & politics are all based on networks & influence. Of course, rich elites are friends or associated with other rich elites. So, great, top jobs are guaranteed to rich kids. Good, quality post-secondary education is getting out of reach of kids of common masses, anyway.
Poor, low-quality post-secondary education & a fierce competition for low-quality jobs with no influence whatsoever leaves many frustrated. They also can keep working longer & harder (as per GOP 2016 Presidential candidate, Jeb Bush) but they would never achieve the level of wealth elites have. Upward mobility is now "Upward Friction".
To add insult to injury, if the common masses want to protest against their rising injustice & inequality, then the so-called "democratic" governments of the West have already, or still enacting, tough laws against protests. For instance, countries like Spain, Canada, US, UK etc. As the piece very correctly puts it, "The privileges of the prince & his fellow one-percenters are simply accepted as an immutable law of the universe. There’s no notion of busting up the system, Katniss Everdeen-style. Best to just accept it & grab the goodies if you can."
The last line in the piece very nicely summarizes the new social evolution of the developed world. "The film teaches ... a harsh lesson: If you’re not rich, you may as well be a pumpkin."
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Once upon a time, during a brief egalitarian period in postwar America, people of different classes did not live in separate worlds. The promise of mobility & prosperity was alive throughout the land. In 1950, Walt Disney Productions was saved from bankruptcy with its smash hit Cinderella, which audiences cheered at a time when the future looked bright & it was still possible for the dream of marrying up to come true.
A new Disney film of Cinderella is a big box-office success today, but how different things look! Cinderella marriages are getting to be as rare as golden coaches. Economist Jeremy Greenwood has found that your chances of marrying outside your income bracket have been dropping since the 1950s because of something called assortative mating, which means that we are increasingly drawn to people in similar circumstances.
Since the 1980s, inequality has grown & mobility has stalled. Today, the rich forge their unions in exclusive social clubs, Ivy League colleges & gated communities. ... Without ... magic, the gates remain closed.
At first glance, Kenneth Branagh’s remake of the classic Disney film seems to offer a sunny romp through the magic kingdom. But a closer look reveals a troubling economic message.
Economists like Thomas Piketty have been warning that if we don’t do something to stop growing income inequality, we may end up back in a 19th-century world, where hard work won’t lift you up the economic ladder because the income you can expect from labor is no match for inherited wealth. This is the world of the new Cinderella.
More so than the original Disney film, Branagh’s version highlights what happens when people are forced to compete for illusive rewards in a harsh economy. Families turn on each other, chances to get ahead are few & you’d better hope for a magic wand.
Subtle changes to the story bring the point home. In the original animated version, the father is a gentleman, a widower who remarries & then promptly dies, leaving a jealous stepmother & her mean-girl daughters to torment his beloved only child. But in Branagh’s film, the father is a merchant, & his death deprives the family of his income — leaving them all in straitened circumstances.
The stepmother’s first thought on hearing of her husband’s demise is entirely practical: How shall we survive economically? Her answer: Turn Cinderella into a servant & search for wealthy matches for her two daughters.
The marriage market illustrated in the movie reflects what economists like Robert H. Frank describe as a tournament, a “winner-take-all” game associated with economies where wealth is increasingly concentrated at the top. In these cutthroat markets, only a handful of people can win big, while the rest are left with little.
Cinderella & her stepsisters are locked in a down-and-dirty competition for scarce resources, & they understand how high the stakes are. Luckily for her, Cinderella possesses advantages that her sisters lack: She is beautiful & charming.
She is clever, too. But there’s no notion that her intelligence can be put to any use other than besting her competitors in the marriage tournament. She’s not going to be looking for a job or an education. That’s for suckers. Or peasants.
The importance of being rich is clear when Cinderella goes to the ball — the fairy godmother must make her appear to be a wealthy young lady. You can’t win the prize dressed in rags. The film may give lip service to the values of kindness & courage, but it’s the ability to gain access to luxuries like a bedazzled gown & golden coach that really gets you places.
The privileges of the prince & his fellow one-percenters are simply accepted as an immutable law of the universe. There’s no notion of busting up the system, Katniss Everdeen-style. Best to just accept it & grab the goodies if you can.
In the end, Cinderella gets the prince & the palace, & the other women get absolutely nothing. That’s the way of tournaments.
The postwar America that was demonstrates that extreme inequality does not have to be our reality. Americans can write their own story so that even people without a fortune can lead a secure & dignified life. Things like making the rich pay their share in taxes, allowing unions to organize & increasing fiscal spending on things like infrastructure & jobs would ensure that many more Americans could expect a happy ending.
But Branagh’s Cinderella in no way attempts to question, much less abolish, a paradigm of haves & have-nots that leaves us with fewer opportunities. The film teaches little viewers a harsh lesson: If you’re not rich, you may as well be a pumpkin.
Socio-economic classes, or perhaps, social segregation, is becoming more & more evident in the developed West, where the one-percenters elites (business & political elites) live in their own little world. They socialize / network within themselves & their connections to the common public is only when they want their needs to be served. Their children don't need to study hard to get in top schools or get top marks to secure that coveted position. Why? How can that happen in such a seemingly just & fair society, like North America? (sarcasm)
Because, top jobs in business & politics are all based on networks & influence. Of course, rich elites are friends or associated with other rich elites. So, great, top jobs are guaranteed to rich kids. Good, quality post-secondary education is getting out of reach of kids of common masses, anyway.
Poor, low-quality post-secondary education & a fierce competition for low-quality jobs with no influence whatsoever leaves many frustrated. They also can keep working longer & harder (as per GOP 2016 Presidential candidate, Jeb Bush) but they would never achieve the level of wealth elites have. Upward mobility is now "Upward Friction".
To add insult to injury, if the common masses want to protest against their rising injustice & inequality, then the so-called "democratic" governments of the West have already, or still enacting, tough laws against protests. For instance, countries like Spain, Canada, US, UK etc. As the piece very correctly puts it, "The privileges of the prince & his fellow one-percenters are simply accepted as an immutable law of the universe. There’s no notion of busting up the system, Katniss Everdeen-style. Best to just accept it & grab the goodies if you can."
The last line in the piece very nicely summarizes the new social evolution of the developed world. "The film teaches ... a harsh lesson: If you’re not rich, you may as well be a pumpkin."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Once upon a time, during a brief egalitarian period in postwar America, people of different classes did not live in separate worlds. The promise of mobility & prosperity was alive throughout the land. In 1950, Walt Disney Productions was saved from bankruptcy with its smash hit Cinderella, which audiences cheered at a time when the future looked bright & it was still possible for the dream of marrying up to come true.
A new Disney film of Cinderella is a big box-office success today, but how different things look! Cinderella marriages are getting to be as rare as golden coaches. Economist Jeremy Greenwood has found that your chances of marrying outside your income bracket have been dropping since the 1950s because of something called assortative mating, which means that we are increasingly drawn to people in similar circumstances.
Since the 1980s, inequality has grown & mobility has stalled. Today, the rich forge their unions in exclusive social clubs, Ivy League colleges & gated communities. ... Without ... magic, the gates remain closed.
At first glance, Kenneth Branagh’s remake of the classic Disney film seems to offer a sunny romp through the magic kingdom. But a closer look reveals a troubling economic message.
Economists like Thomas Piketty have been warning that if we don’t do something to stop growing income inequality, we may end up back in a 19th-century world, where hard work won’t lift you up the economic ladder because the income you can expect from labor is no match for inherited wealth. This is the world of the new Cinderella.
More so than the original Disney film, Branagh’s version highlights what happens when people are forced to compete for illusive rewards in a harsh economy. Families turn on each other, chances to get ahead are few & you’d better hope for a magic wand.
Subtle changes to the story bring the point home. In the original animated version, the father is a gentleman, a widower who remarries & then promptly dies, leaving a jealous stepmother & her mean-girl daughters to torment his beloved only child. But in Branagh’s film, the father is a merchant, & his death deprives the family of his income — leaving them all in straitened circumstances.
The stepmother’s first thought on hearing of her husband’s demise is entirely practical: How shall we survive economically? Her answer: Turn Cinderella into a servant & search for wealthy matches for her two daughters.
The marriage market illustrated in the movie reflects what economists like Robert H. Frank describe as a tournament, a “winner-take-all” game associated with economies where wealth is increasingly concentrated at the top. In these cutthroat markets, only a handful of people can win big, while the rest are left with little.
Cinderella & her stepsisters are locked in a down-and-dirty competition for scarce resources, & they understand how high the stakes are. Luckily for her, Cinderella possesses advantages that her sisters lack: She is beautiful & charming.
She is clever, too. But there’s no notion that her intelligence can be put to any use other than besting her competitors in the marriage tournament. She’s not going to be looking for a job or an education. That’s for suckers. Or peasants.
The importance of being rich is clear when Cinderella goes to the ball — the fairy godmother must make her appear to be a wealthy young lady. You can’t win the prize dressed in rags. The film may give lip service to the values of kindness & courage, but it’s the ability to gain access to luxuries like a bedazzled gown & golden coach that really gets you places.
The privileges of the prince & his fellow one-percenters are simply accepted as an immutable law of the universe. There’s no notion of busting up the system, Katniss Everdeen-style. Best to just accept it & grab the goodies if you can.
In the end, Cinderella gets the prince & the palace, & the other women get absolutely nothing. That’s the way of tournaments.
The postwar America that was demonstrates that extreme inequality does not have to be our reality. Americans can write their own story so that even people without a fortune can lead a secure & dignified life. Things like making the rich pay their share in taxes, allowing unions to organize & increasing fiscal spending on things like infrastructure & jobs would ensure that many more Americans could expect a happy ending.
But Branagh’s Cinderella in no way attempts to question, much less abolish, a paradigm of haves & have-nots that leaves us with fewer opportunities. The film teaches little viewers a harsh lesson: If you’re not rich, you may as well be a pumpkin.
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