Friday, January 21, 2011

Born Rich

Watch at least 20 minutes of this documentary.

(If the embedded video doesn't appear on your screen, here's a link.) This is a film made by Jamie Johnson, heir to the Johnson & Johnson empire. The movie garnered a lot of controversy when it came out, and Johnson was even sued by one of the kids who participated in the movie. Here's a link to Jamie Johnson's articles for Vanity Fair. Read one of them. Think about what the concerns of the ultra wealthy are and how they behave. Does this insider's perspective offer you any new insights into the upper class? Write a paragraph about what issues this video and article raise for you and leave it as a comment. Make sure to include your name as it is listed on the roll.

26 comments:

  1. My view on: What are Rich People Worried about in 2011. I think the focus is mainly on keeping up with the lavish life style of the next . They also worry about becoming poor(that at any given time they can be dropped from the elite society). There is allot of jealousy among the rich. Just like in the clip I viewed the rich live lavish life styles. Luxuries such as costly estates, yachts, and other exquisite items.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Connie Coleman

    My viewpoint: Uninspired Gifts of the Rich and Disinterested; I find it sad that the rich can not familarize themselves with the meaning of Christmas, that it is not the gift. But I guess if you have it all, there is no need to be thankful for what you are given.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Connie Coleman

    My Viewpoint: What are rich people worried about in 2011. In the article, I found they worried about social status, not keeping up with other rich people, the economy, trust and being conned. The article tells me that the rich have issues too.

    ReplyDelete
  4. After listening to the video of James Johnson and hearing some of the views of other ultra wealthy heirs, I was not surprised. Jamie Johnson, Johnson & Johnson heirs, still made the video regardless of how his father scrutinizes this video.
    After reading the article that Jamie Johnson wrote, “Rich Boys Gone Bad, from John Wilkes Booth to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab called the (Underbomber)”. My insight on the rich and famous children is that they are looking for attention. No matter how you view it, you still see that Jamie Johnson rebelled and produced the short film. John Wilkes Booth probably was reaching out to his family views on politics, but since they didn’t respond, that probably triggered him to assassinate the President. And for Umar Abdulmutallab it seems he was looking for love from his family. He turned to another profound family and almost committed these terrible acts on the Airline. The rich and famous spend so much time to keep the wealth and less time being a father figure. The wealthy pay people to clean their houses, cook their food, watch their children, and pay other men to entertain their wives. This contributes to corrupted families in the household of the rich and famous.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Burnett King

    I feel that the rich and wealthy desire attention but at the same time want to be confidential. In the article i found they are very caught up their social status and the way other rich people view them.

    ReplyDelete
  6. After reading the article “Your money or your life: is there really a choice?” and reviewing the video “Born Rich,” I believe the money has been chosen for the heiress, by default. From the subject matter, it seems that those born into money only know money, not life. Sadly, there is more to life than money. Watching the video I felt sad for some of the kids on the video. They were missing love, family, friendship and the feeling of just belonging to something.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Brandon Rice
    I found it hard to stop watching the movie at 1st because I like to obtain knowledge and the lifestyles of the rich and famous is not my strong point. But something that I realize is something people say all the time. "we want what we cant have" now none of the people in the film said that they would rather be poor but they longed for a normal life and to be treated normal. Many of them also wanted to do things with their lives and to not just accept all the money that they ancestors had left for them. This is why i say that the middle class is everyone and we are some of the happiest people. we are the biggest class of dreamers and the most motivated.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I think rich people are always stressed out and they are unhappy. They base their life off of money as the big picture and they are scared off falling from the top of the wealthy class. Usually they tend to compete with each other. The wealthy class pay more attention to materialistic items. Also, they forget about the things that we have to face as other classes. The most important effect i see in the movie and article is that these people are forced to live this type of lifestyle. They never really tried to do what they wanted to do.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Kourtney Vance

    The only thing that the rich have to worry about is how to hold on to the values and money that they have. Other than that, they are on top of the economic food chain. The ones who inherit these profits only have to worry about staying within the loop. They stress over the unneccessary and loose focus of what's really important; which is living a life that can be the same as the middle class. Yes, being in high places can help out at some points, but it doesn't help to worry yourself over swomething that you have control over. Why? because you're rich and you have the power to!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Lois Alexis

    Well i think that after watching the video a lot of the points that we made in class about the rich is actually true. Descriptions such as depressed, doing drugs, stressed etc. the way it seemed in the video, being born into a rich family can be both hard on some individuals and also easy on some. As some of the heir and heiress mentioned they and to work for things in their family where as others didn't have to worry about a thing. They also had to live up to family standards and this was some added pressure on them. They also had it easier than other individual and was given leeways by deans of colleges if they were failing just because of there wealth.

    ReplyDelete
  11. This insider’s perspective offers much insight into the upper class. This video raises many issues most of which are basic questions that middle class and lower class ask everyday. The upper class creates offspring and their offspring inherit the riches of their predecessors. This video tells that even upper class has problems however the money that they inherit is often the stem of it. Even the upper class feels as they have done nothing to deserve the money they receive however, the inheritance is something that is owed to them. The upper class does not want to discuss their finances because oftentimes, they do not want people to talk negatively about the wealth of others. The main issue that concerns me is that the upper class are presented with unlimited potential through finances and rarely create opportunities for others to earn a living. On the other hand there are rich families that make their children do something to earn the money that they will inherit.

    ReplyDelete
  12. My point of view of the movie is that most of the ideas that we discussed in class about the upper class was almost true. But their are also the ones that just make us believe our opinion more. I believe that the rich people try to stay richer than the next meaning trying to out do better than the another.I also believe that their is alot of hatred in rich people to never becoming poor. In the film these kids didn't know what happiness was all they knew was money money money. The more money you have the more problems you recieve in life. this is my point of view of the movie

    ReplyDelete
  13. Viewing the video I have found that rich people go through the same problems as middle class and poor class people go through. Even if you were to get a big lump some of money it still comes with problems and not happiness. In the article that I have read a have a different perspective about money. I use to think that really rich people could get away with anything, even murder. But, as I read the article, they try to pay there way out of crimes but in some countries/cases it doesn't matter how much money you have, you can still go to jail.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Raykita Coleman:
    I think the fact that these people are heirs/heiress of these large fortunes makes them very lucky. i think their luck came at a high price. They were unhappy and had to try and hide thir lifestyle because of what other people may have thought. So in actuality they are never truly happy or satisfied because they have to deal with the constant pressures of being used by others. I personally feel as if the author of the video is daring because it really does help you get inside the life of the wealthy and you realize that they are normal people who are just a lot more priveleged than others. In the article, "For Manhattan's Rich, It's Too Cold to Party",it was interesting to see how the rich have been enjoying the cold months up north. It was also interesting to see that even the welathy participate in events such as these.

    ReplyDelete
  15. In this documentary named Born Rich I learned a lot about the problems that many rich people may inquire.The discussion that we had in class does reinforce some of our ideas but the documentary really opened my eyes. I thought all rich people did was shop and spend their money on unnecessary objects. In fact many rich people accumulate their families previous problems. Also some of the rich kids feel the need to show normal people they are regular too. It's like they want to feel equal and not be the center of attention.A lot of our points that were mentioned in class like the drugs and not having to worry about anything financial in their whole life. I thought that one interesting point was that many of the rich kids made it their point to say that they had to become something in life or they would get cut off. Even one of the rich kids made it his point to live on campus like a normal college student.The reason was to have his own place and be able to call it home.Overall the kids born still have problems it may not be the problems normal kids have but they still arise.

    ReplyDelete
  16. This docmumentary really shows the real disconnent between the 1% and the rest of the country. No matter how they want to be seen as the average American citizen, they never will be. Whenever your family does not have to stress over a lack of money or financial security, you live in a different state of mental being and the world treats you differently. Their sense of reality or normality
    is much different from mine.

    ReplyDelete
  17. After viewing quite a bit of this documentary and reading a few lines of one of the articles, I can tell that some of the participants in this movie were not happy. Two of the heirs had no idea they were rich. The S.I. heir felt safer at school than at his home. The Trump heiress knew she was rich and understood that it was her parents money. She was more concerned about how people treated her, knowing she was rich. i think they all just want to live normal lives.

    ReplyDelete
  18. After watching this video Born Rich my thoughts about rich people changed. I understand that the more money you have, will inquire more problems. Money is the rule to all evil. Rich people don't always get out of problems. I thought money could get you in and out a lot of trouble. I understand that people with a lot of money is still not happy.The Born Rich video shows that upper class is about the same as a middle class. Yes, the insider's perspective offer new sights into the upper class after reading the article "Your Money or Your Life"

    ReplyDelete
  19. After watching part of this documentary and reading Like All Rich People, Louis C.K. Hates Spoiled Rich Kids by Jamie Johnson I feel like some of these kids don't understand how much power they have. I must say this insider's perspective showed me some insight into the upper class. With all the money they inherit they could do so many things to help others. It seems to me that since they have all the money they need, that they don't have aspirations for themselves. One thing they should think about would be if the money ever ran out. What would they have to support themselves if all their money was gone tomorrow? I personally think these people can't even express themselves without being criticized so they always have to put on a front. Even though they have had everything they ever needed all their life they lack what normal people have, which is the drive to pursue your true passions.

    Yulia Calderon

    ReplyDelete
  20. Chanta Beard

    I watched the documentary from Johnson & Johnson heir, it validated exactly how I thought the life of rich person would be like. Watching the documentary most of the heirs emotions varies from each heirs. Some heirs loved the fact they are rich and others loved it also but something was missing in their lifes. Most heirs are bored with life nothing to do get everything he or she want. What confused me the most was they never talked about money that's strange to me. I took it as since they got so much money no point of talking about it. After looking into their lifes I would rather stay in the class i am in.

    ReplyDelete
  21. Wow! After viewing the "Born Rich" documentary and reading the "Your Money or Your Life" article, I think that the behavior of the ultra wealthy is even more impulsive than I ever imagined. Though most of the points we mentioned in class were typical stereotypes, I found them to be factual. Their social circles are relatively small and still, it seems they exert much of their energy fretting over public opinion. When they should be happiest, for example, planning a wedding they're already considering that the marriage will only last a couple of years. At a glance, many of the wealthiest persons in society are arrogant, stressed, unhappy, lonely, and spoiled.

    ReplyDelete
  22. after watching that video i found my view of the ultra wealthy has changed quite a bit. Before the video i thought that the wealthy were amougnst the happiest people in the world and had very little to worry about.This video has made me realise that the rich are people too and are very insecure. i thinks its a little unfair that people judge the rich just because there rich it's not there fault that they inherited money, you can't choose who your family is so its unfair to blame them. i think now I'll be slower to judge people for who they are.

    ReplyDelete
  23. Di'Shun Melbert
    This video has allowed me to see that the rich are troubled by the mere psychological aspect of being rich. Some people believe that the rich live the easiest lifestyles and are treated differently because they are rich. I feel the rich also believe this which is why some of them try to hide the fact that they are. Some of the parents of the rich children didn't even tell their children they were rich because they wanted them to grow up normal without being raised to a higher pedastol by some with the hopes of gaining what they have thru friendship, without being sterotyped as snobs because they have money, and without them having the mindsset that they dont have to do anything because everything will be provided for them. Rich people are troubled just trying to live a simple life more than they are trying to stay rich.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Morgan Brenton
    This video was pretty interesting too me because it showeed me how some rich people feel about being rich. Some were afraid to reveal how rich they were. It was odd that none of the parents never really told the children that they were rich, it was as they never wanted anyone to know who they were. The rich stereotype seems only slightly true. It seemed that some of the people justed wanted to live a normal life even though they had more money than most other people.

    ReplyDelete
  25. JOSEPH ALEXANDER
    My outview on the rich has changed some, but not too much. the rich are worried about how other rich people look at them. They are very insecure about their statuses.Still to me, most people with money are lonley and to themselves.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Brandon Prince

    After watching this video I personally have a different view of what it is like to be born rich. Even though you might inherit money as a minor it is important that you do something with your life instead of sitting there on top of money, watching it steadily decrease by the minute. Also, being rich is has its flaws, such as the taxes and also keeping a good reputation.

    ReplyDelete