What does it mean to be born rich?
It's not uncommon to wish for this. When you are struggling to make it, you are naturally gripped by the fantasy of having been gifted great riches for you to capitalize on. If only...
Watching Jamie Johnson's documentary, Born Rich, one must think twice. Johnson is an heir to the fortune surrounding the well known medical and consumer health firm Johnson and Johnson. The problem is that his supposed "friends" -- or at least the "friends" that allow him to film them for his documentary -- are essentially unbearable.
There are some exceptions. Ivanka Trump -- the Donald's daughter -- is actually quite impressive. In one vignette, she explains how her father pointed to a beggar at the step of the Trump Tower and said, "That man is 8 million dollars richer than we are." Given the extraordinary debts that the senior Trump was experiencing at the time, the statement had some validity. Ivanka explains that this was a moment that drew her closer to her father and encouraged her to follow in his footsteps.
Other characters in the documentary are far less sympathetic. S.I, Newhouse IV, heir to the Conde Naste fortune, and Josiah Hornblower, heir to the Vanderbilt/Whitney fortune, come off as sad, lost and pathetic figures -- incapable of capitalizing on their wealth, unable to communicate with their families.
What bothered me about this film was its predictability. Doesn't it make those of us who are not born rich feel better to find that wealthy heirs are actually more screwed up than we are? The Germans have a name for this dark impulse: schadenfreude.
Indeed, the filmmaker is apparently sued by one of his "friends" -- Luke Weil, heir to a gaming empire. This nutcase cops to massive drug use, misuse of women and even posing as an inner city "gangsta" back when that was the cool thing to do. The lawsuit -- an afterthought to his camera preening -- is apparently an effort to ensure his inheritance is not taken away as a result of embarrassing footage.
And this is a dark shadow that seems to hang over those who are born rich. Their riches, in many cases, can be taken away by elders who find their behavior reprehensible -- or inappropriate in some fashion. They are not as free as one might think.
Which left me to wonder. How representative was this movie of those born rich? I suspect they are not -- on balance and on average -- much different than those of us not born rich.
Johnson admits that he found it very difficult to find members of his social set to go on camera. Perhaps the ones that did were not representative of the whole. Perhaps the ones who did were more hungry for attention -- more damaged than the rest. Johnson, arguably, made his participants look pretty bad (all except Ivanka, that is). He played the typical confidence game of a documentary filmmaker.
However, viewers can watch this movie and realize that there really is no great advantage associated with being born into extraordinary wealth -- not in America, anyway. Here, people are generally judged on what they accomplished on their own. Those who are born on third base in America often feel very guilty about it -- and that guilt can be destructive.
Then again, I suspect there are many good and wealthy kids that were unwilling to take part in this documentary. They had the good sense to stay out of it. Others did not have that good sense.
Nothing wrong with being born rich, of course. Just recognize that if you are, there's a market out there waiting to see you fail on the big screen.
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