Movies & TV shows also seem have a lot of weird ideas about a number of careers. Check out our video unpacking the most unrealistic things about portrayals of work on screen! Click to watch: ua-cam.com/video/7pxt6byFciY/v-deo.html
Netflix's GirlBoss is probably one of the most realistic shows in how they portray finances. The main character literally collapses because she can't afford a hernia operation.
Also how the group of friends just conveniently have all the time to always meet up with each other and they all have the same work schedule apparently 😂
That's why Iike Sex and the city (original series), because they don't always meet up, they have their own lifes and they sometimes don't even see each other for a while because of life and man, and that's real life
Exactly. I could accept that Carrie could get a good apartment on her salary. However, I found it unrealistic that all 4 characters could regularly meet up.
Not only that in Malcolm the all Wilkersons are bad persons but they sufer the consequences of their actions. In crapy shows like Friends, TBBT, Two and a Half Men and like 95% of the sitcoms the characters are horrible people that never sufer the consecuences of their actions and most of the time they are NOT even presented as bad people. Thats why Malcolm is awesome. Its realistic and relateble most of the time and teachs you that arrogance, selfishness, stupidity, violence and betreyall will eventually come and get you and you will pay the cost of your actions.
To me, the most egregious thing about Emily in Paris is her wardrobe. She's a marketing assistant from Chicago who arrives wearing a plaid button-down and then starts wearing Chanel. And not just handbags. She has about half a million dollars worth of Chanel clothes in Season one alone and never rewears any of her clothes.
@@Missmagazinebura that's fine! But it's never explained. And she doesn't show up to Paris looking like that. Plus, Chanel etc don't really give away free clothes to influencers. I like and watch the show but it's a detail that annoys me.
Yeah but season one got lambasted for that... They had more variety in season 2, and the girls dressed more "trendy", like most young fashionistas do, as opposed to the "classic and expensive" wardrobe of season 1. Why would a 28 year old wear something like that, she won't have appreciation for it LMFAO 😂 Only reason some reality TV celebs slap on the Chanel is to say they're rich, not because they appreciate it, and know why it's timeless... It's not just out of her budget, it's just uncommon (very uncommon) for someone her age to look for something timeless as opposed to something trendy
Actual Parisian women don't even wear the loud, blinged up and stereotypically French outfits she wears; those are for Americans and Chinese tourists. Real Parisians tend to wear clothes that are much more understated and affordable
Friends also have this episode in which they discuss the friction between friends who have very different budgets and how hard it is to hang out together as they can afford very different experiences (The One with Five Steaks and an Eggplant)
The Friends money thing started as part of the Obama campaign for president when Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Reich started promoting it. It's an absolute lie, Monica had a rent-controlled apartment and that she got from her grandmother few episodes had plots around this. Chandler was some sort of corporate executive that the show made clear was making a lot of money I think in one episode he had a personal secretary. And Ross was a Jewish University professor in New York, so he wasn't really a working-class guy.
That's where I actually liked Devil Wears Prada. She has an excuse for the clothes, she's raiding her company closet, and she gets all the gifts for her friends because they're throwaways from the boss. I've worked under pretty wealthy bosses a couple of times and experienced something similar haha. Not sure about her living situation, but it feeels feasible.
@@discardeddedeShe had had a stomach upset shortly before getting the job so had lost a lot of weight so went down to a size 6. But she was still fatter than her colleagues and in particular the Emily Blunt character also a secretary to Miranda Priestley.
@@discardeddede That doesn't bother me overly, but if I wanted to come up with a reason in my head, I headcanon that the "bigger sizes" weren't used as frequently, and as long as she returned the clothes, the other staff didn't care much.
@@discardeddede fashion magazines constantly receive clothes samples which sometimes are given out to staff members to borrow or keep. Otherwise the magazine's store rooms eventually run out of space. Ditto jewellery and cosmetics. It's actually a major perk of working at a fashion magazine. And Andy was hardly fat to begin with
There is a reason the show Roseanne was so popular back in the 90's ( interesting you didn't choose to discuss that) because they discussed real life struggle. Meals on a budge, do they pay the electricity bill or water. The kids wants something, but they can't afford it. Becky has no college fund. Dan attempted to start a business- failed. The first season is Roseanne working at a factory and eventually leaving after being harassed by her boss. There is SO MUCH more. I won't get into season 9 (the fever dream), but in general, Roseanne was a fairly accurate depiction of lower-middle class life.
I agree 100%. I find the show to still be relatable. I mean the repeats, I never really got into the remake, but it seems to be similar (or so I hear).
The episode where Becky finds out they spent her college fund due to hardship was brutal. I could understand her anger but the things she said to them..I thought Dan was going to go for her but Roseanne told him to leave it. Brilliant tv.
The Gilmore Girls example can also be used to depict unrealistic eating habits in movies in TV. How many times can slender characters eat junk food without gaining weight?
A bit harsh on HIMYM, when Lily got all that debt Marshall had to leave the job he wanted, being an environmental lawyer, and work at the evil corporation with Barney, which clearly depressed the hell out of him. He stays there for quite a while too, it isn't like they just forget that in a couple of episodes.
HIMYM is the most realistic in my opinion. Ted is an architect, lily a teacher, and Marshall worked at the bank for a while and made good money. And like you said, the credit card debt was addressed and Marshall cleared it out by working at the bank.
@@nathaniahenry141 Ted is interesting because he seems to flip both ways. Firstly, him, Marshall and Lily have a giant apartment, despite his job appearing to be fairly low down the pecking order, Lily being a teacher and Marshall a student. But then he designs a freakin' skyscraper, so I feel like he should be absolutely loaded, but there never seems to be much about him suddenly having way more money.
@@mankytoes Didn't Marshall cover Ted's rent for a while, too? Maybe he never said anything about having more money because he immediately paid Marshall back?
The Simpsons did in older seasons. Not with specific numbers but they addressed the family struggling financially. The first episode has a plot around the family having no money for Christmas presents.
I think one of the things missing in these shows is depicting characters applying for social services like food stamps, public housing, housing vouchers, Medicaid, or emergency rental assistance. Very often working young people are either on or trying to get on some form of welfare together by. I have needed these services when I was working, but didn’t have enough to survive. And because needing that kind of assistance is seen as shameful, no one ever talks about how horrible these programs are administered. They’re designed to keep poor people from getting help, and that too needs to change.
@@bowtoyoursensei554 I respectfully disagree. Poor people are just as capable of finding humor in their lives as middle-class and wealthy people. If someone wanted to make a comedy centered around poverty and applied for various social welfare programs, they'd just need to talk to people stuck in poverty.
I always feel like the costs of having a pet are never adressed nor an issue. Pets are very, very expensive, especially if you want them to have a species-appropriate life and pay their vet bills - be it dogs, cats or rabbits - the latter being especially misjudged in regards to species-appropriate life and finances (nevermind the time that needs to be invested).
How costly is it to own a pet in the USA? My two cats cost me 40€ per month and have a health insurance, 20€ per month. And we split those costs between me and my partner, so 30€ for everyone.
@@auraluna7679I don't have cats. But even if I had, your calculations are not accounting for regular vet check ups, vaccinations and emergencies, which can easily amount to a whole lot. Then there's food, play toys, furniture and so on.
Having lived in Paris as a student in 15m² I had a really good laugh when watching Emily in Paris - and not just for the financial part but also the overall glamour of the city (it barely exists), her means of transportation, the lack of strikes... BUT it's supposed to be a comical and feel good show, I don't expect to depict the real Paris - way too stressfull, depressing and hard to market.
Not to mention visiting Paris as a tourist and living there are totally different experiences. I used to be a corporate lawyer and worked in our Paris office for a while. The lawyers in Paris worked the same 12 to 14 hour days as we did, they never took long lunches and nobody walked home at midnight admiring the beauty of the city; people just wanted to sleep before doing it all again the following day. And if people walked to the office in the morning while eating a pastry it's because they didn't have time for a proper sit down breakfast, not because it was glamorous.
Every woman you see on tv wants to break into fashion or acting or something and the jobs 99,9% of people in cities actually do are portrayed as a misery and looked down on as boring or giving up on your dreams. That always annoys me.
So what do you want to watch after the entire day spent at a corporation? People sitting in their offices and talking about bookkeeping? If movies were realistic, nobody would watch them.
@@paulinegallagher7821 To be fair most people have friend with similar interests so being an artist having mostly artsy friends makes kind of sense. The demand is another story though.
Let’s not forget how Gilmore Girls is a story of generational wealth. Lorelai doesn’t want to ask her wealthy parents for tuition but she is able to and does to send her daughter to private schools. Most people are not in a position to do that.
She had a hard time affording it, there are several times where it was shown she was borrowing from the guys. She also had to work multiple shifts to try and make ends meet until she finally got the pharmacy job, where she made more money than Leonard. Honestly though Pasadena is a very expensive place and I don't think working for a university really pays that much that Leonard and Sheldon would have been able to live together without a couple more roommates, much less Penny living alone.
I lived alone in a one bedroom apartment from 2004-2014 working as a cashier. My rent was $475 a month. That’s not possible today, but it was back then. Best years of my life.
@@rb5078 yeah, I remember my first apartment in 1988 was only about $385/mo. The last time I could comfortably afford rent was 2013 and the rent was $750. That same place is now $1350 with no visible upgrades to the property.
The "how did Monica afford that apartment" questions bug me so much. They say in the pilot it's an illegal sublet. It's technically her grandmother's place
they focus on hers, but forget that Ross lives alone for a lot of the series and is unemployed for a long time, too after he loses his job at the museum. I do think they were paying him with his first leave of absence, but after "GET OFF MY SISTER" I wondered if they still were.
I think for Ross, he was the first or second (the other being Chandler) to be financially stable of the friend group and lived in a dual income housing situation while married since his ex-wife has a job and career. Given his character, he likely did the responsible thing and kept a decent emergency fund that he dipped into while not being paid. I'm more surprised by Pheobe being able to afford her place once her roommate moved out and she just lived alone.
Phoebes place was also her grandmothers place. After the fire that Rachel caused and the apartment was refurbished, it is mentioned that it was her grandmothers place.
I love Ugly Betty I think they did a good job showing a more realistic budget for the characters. Even the richer characters had money problems once in a while.
Still even watching American reality tv it shows that houses are affordable in America or that there’s been a lot of family help passing on through generations.
I grew up in Queens and felt very seen by the show. Most people who grew up in the city live at home well into their 20’s and even though the city has a lot of jobs its competitive and if you’re not careful you could end up with a sh*t deal if you say yes too quickly which Betty learns multiple times.
I appreciated that they went to free clinics, got beauty school haircuts, clipped coupons, shopped at at Goodwill and rewore the same clothes all the time. Then again, the apartment they were always calling a shit hole was actually pretty great.
@@brokencandy1797 they did keep saying things like appliances were falling apart, lighting the pilot light was an extreme sport, shower was icky(literal poop water), toilets getting clogged, mold in the bathroom, a nail sticking out of the floor, mushrooms on the bathmat(probably exaggerated for comedic effect and remember they're too broke and don't have enough time on their hands) to name a few. Probably wouldn't be watchable if it didn't look cute and eclectic
@@woolfmcwolf if there's mushrooms growing in your bath mat, you have only yourself to blame. And yes, I remember Nail Patrick Harris. They could have just pulled him out with a hammer.
@@Missmagazinebura she did. Which I have also done. I also remember a joke about using coffee filters for toilet paper and then using toilet paper for coffee filters...which I have actually done.
Not really considering Caroline owned a horse. Knowing she used to be rich Chestnut (who's actually a bay) is probably supposed to be some $50k+ show jumper.
I love that "The Good Place" pointed out how the Friends would never be able to afford that ridiculously expensive apartment on a chef and waitress' salary.
@HiveFleetUlfang1 And Monica was living there under false identity and bribed the superintendent by offering dance lessons from Joey. I'm sick of seeing this brought up in every click-baity Friends article/video when it was answered in the show.
The only time this trope really bothers me is when Hallmark or Lifetime movies show supposedly struggling single moms living in giant 4-bedroom houses. 😊
@@lu-themadpillow2985That house was only a 2 bedroom (maybe a 3bd, but only 2 are ever shown), and in rural Connecticut, the house itself might've been cheap. And while Lorelai was a single mother, she was also the manager at the inn. Their bills were paid, but that doesn't mean they had loads of extra money.
Depends on location. I was a single mom, rented a 1 bedroom because it was cheaper, but it was 800sqft. Lots of space and a patio. The town was just slightly more than rural. I only worked part time hours, but an hour away in a busy town for the better pay. You have to sit down, do the math, and find out what works. That means not staying near your family, everyone you know, or where it's familiar and comfortable for you. That seems to be everyone's biggest problem.
I would like to see a video about unrealistic eating habits in movies and TV. These slender characters sure do seem to pack in the calories on a regular basis without gaining an ounce.
@@wearesatellites91 I had a friend like that in college, she would only eat hot dogs and coke and still be suuuper thin. Now though, she had a baby and she couldn't lose the baby weight due to having awful eating habits her entire life. 🤷♀
That may be true for some people but in shows where they pick actresses with suspected EDs in real life, it feels disingenuous to make them play characters that eat whatever they want and are never seen to exercise.
@mandril45 this is just one example of how the "I'm skinny, I can eat whatever I want" attitude can come back and bite people in the ass as they get older. Also, if you’re slim and eat crap, your internal organs won't thank you. I've seen lots of people in healthcare who were "normal or slightly under" weight, then have heart attacks and strokes, and be bitter that chubbier people in their lives don't have the same health problems. Skinny doesn't automatically mean healthy.
Modern Family always fills me with rage because (until Claire starts working outside the home) it shows three single income families in gigantic houses with no real financial stress: how is that “modern”? And it’s especially galling that, even if you accept that financial situation, all three houses are clean with no evidence of domestic help. Are you telling me that Gloria cleans that house herself? Claire walks around with a laundry basket occasionally but come on. At least on the Brady Bunch they made it clear that Alice was a key part of how their household worked. Making that labor invisible is deeply dishonest and disrespectful. I would love it if you did a Take episode about this!
answering the first part of the comment, modern family clearly states that all the main earners in the families earn a lot of money. in fact i was surprised that the dunphys kept on living like before even after claire became the ceo. after claire became ceo, they became rich, they weren't even middle class anymore. a lawyer (mitch), a realtor (phil), and a ceo (jay) in los angeles means a lot of money, doesn't it? and as for having help, some things we just have to assume, like having help. i'm sure gloria had help, it just wasn't shown. similar to how characters everywhere are shown to have toned bodies but they are never shown to go to gym. it's implied that they go to gym.
Same with Married With Children in the 80s. The father is only a shoe shop manager and supports a SAHM gold digging wife and two children in a normal sized house.
Cam and Mitchell are only a single income household for a short time. Cam works most of the seasons. Also, Jay and Gloria mention their housekeeper several times.
I feel like Sam and Miranda in Sex and the City isn't that unrealistic. Sam is mentioned again and again to be not only working a lot but also really succesfull and she is already in her late 30ties, as a single without childern. And Miranda is also a workaholic who choose a cheaper area for her family. After all those women are women in their prime earning stage in usually well paid career fields.
Same! I never had a problem believing Sam and Miranda could afford their lifestyle - they were even truly aspirational characters for some. Charlotte was just lucky being from money, but Carrie... that was as massive question in my mind in my 30s! LOL! However they've blown it out of proportion in And Just like That. Met Balls etc...
@@pn7134especially Miranda the lawyer on the partner track. She was always out at night, breakfast, walks, brunch you name it. Of course it wouldn’t be much of a show if it showed her actual 80 hour week.
@@jenniferbond7073 weird opinion but i'd watch a show depicting her 80h week 🤣 I would love to see her be a corporate boss babe. But of course you are right
How about the trope that if someone decides to monetize their hobby, talent, or passion they are instantly successful. Like you'll have a character who is never seen baking or talking about baking for 6 seasons. But now they have to get a job and they have a bake shop open the next week and business is booming! Or the trope that a sudden financial need is solved by a get rich quick answer. Sometimes it's one time sale of something very non-essential to average customers. "Yay, we sold enough homemade candles to save the house from foreclosure by Friday'! Or it's 'One big score.' It can be marriage, it can be a lotto ticket, a heist, a scam, a competition, or someone hearing the MC sing at the grocery store and gets signed to a contract. Of course, as covered in the video, this is fiction. So by it's very nature, the action taken by the protagonist has to be a bang not a whisper. The problem is that, even though we're aware that it's fiction, it still seeps into our mind that that's what we should expect rather than working, saving, voting, and activism.
I remember watching The Good Witch, where she owns a store that sells candles, sage and trinkets, and lives in a mansion inherited from her family, which she has turned into a bed and breakfast. I’m sure she could possibly make enough money to survive from this, but you never see her DOING anything. Who cleans that huge house? Who mans the phone to take reservations? Who cooks the meals? Who does the taxes for the store. And if she hires someone to do those things, how does she afford that? It’s just ridiculous.
That's exactly what happened in The Bear. It was going so well showing all the financial struggles for keeping the restaurant, and then out of the blue 💲💲💲
I worked in retail in the suburbs. Let me tell you that the only thing women and girls loved doing was binging Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Dance Moms. Then they would try to shop high end goods they couldnt afford and take out a third credit card, as well ridculously thinking they were a main character and they were entitled to a certain piece of clothing or perfume etc. Watching television and going to the mall was the only recreational thing to do out there. I think a show thats very realistic in terms of a life of financial struggle is Kevin Can F*** Himself. It shuts down characters with Main Character Syndrome by showing the husband buying rip off sports memorabilia and the realism that it cost the wife a new house in the suburbs. She literally cant afford anything extravagant and tries to take pride of a coffee table from Pottery Barn she got from Goodwill. It also shows financial abuse from the husband.
It’s okay that these shows are unrealistic, they’re a fantasy and the reason we consume them is because we want to experience what they do vicariously. Meaning, we watch them have those lives because they’re just something that we’re not gonna do ourselves in real life.
That's right if you watch them AND have this thinkging. Also it's still good if you get ideas from these like 'I'd like a watch like the one my favorite character has...". The problem starts when people want to copy the full set and think its achievalbe because x-y charachter is so lame, so if he can do it I can do it. Social media makes it so much worse because you can see the same lifestyle on ordinar-ish people accompanied with captions such as "it's all about the right mindset". I see a lot of people struggling both financially and mentally because they feel that they have to keep up showing this level of lifestyle. But in the end I totally agree with you - it's not the shows' fault that we lost the ability to understand what's real and what not.
It was wildly selfish of Carrie to assume that its her friend’s obligation to offer financial assistance just because they are wealthy. Its one thing to ask but another to hound the person by guilt tripping them.
Carrie was not a very nice or likable character to me. It doesn't shock me that she'd do that. I would be shook to hear any of the other characters did that.
Carrie is a terrible person. Charlotte had no obligation to help her, and it would have been a much better story line to have Carrie figure out her living situation on her own.
@@janejones7638 It was just a plot device to cause tension, a fight, a realization that Charlotte was right 'Its not my job' ect, and ultimately, a realization that Charlotte needed to let go of that wedding ring. I think Carrie was more hurt/embarrassed by the fact that all the girls offered and Charlotte looked conspicuously uncomfortable and said nothing. But youre right, Carrie had no right to walk over to her apartment and demand an explanation; i mean who in their right mind would do that lol
Although Carrie was a brat, I really envied her life! Writing one column a week, living in a cute, funky apartment, and having enough money to buy designer clothes and shoes. Who wouldn’t want that? No setting the alarm every day, work a few hours on your column, go out for dinner, stay up as late as you want etc. Too bad real life isn’t like that. The thing that really chapped my ass though, was that she never really had to pay any consequences for her poor financial decisions. She ends up marrying a millionaire, living in a high end Manhattan apartment, and is able to keep her own cute little apartment. It’s basically a fairytale.
@@lisaspikes4291 I never understood at the time or even now - how much would she make? She didn't work for a newspaper - she worked for a popular magazine putting out new material weekly. That's rare, back then most magazines came out once a month. They sell millions, but how much would a columnist make?
I don’t wanna look at TV and see my life. Real life. I want to indulge in the fantasy for the fun of it. If you’re an adult and you let TV set your expectations about money then you’re a fool.
I would love to see more shows deal with the physical constraints put on relationships when you cannot afford seeing your friends at a commercial spot (coffee place, restaurant etc) nor have an apartment big enough to hang out in. Where are non-wealthy people expected to have a social life outside of work? I'd love to see that depicted more
Jake Peralta from Brooklyn 99 is one of the most lovable characters on television. However, given his CRIPPLING debt and precarious living situation, how is he not completely bankrupt and living with Charles???
I appreciated Insecure's commitment to showing Issa's realistic financial struggles especially when single and that her friends were shown as being much more financially literate and successful because of it.
Read an article recently that pointed out that when the Simpsons started, their setup wasn't unusual. Its that property prices have far outstripped average wages over the past few decades.
Leslie Knope in Parks and Rec. All the money she spent on charts, graphs, binders, parties, etc always blew my mind! All on a mid-level public servant's salary 😂
She was deputy director and it's mentioned very often that living is very affordable in pawnee. Also there's an episode where it's shown where her house is a mess. She obviously doesn't use house help. She consistently eats outside so her grocery bill must be low. Its also implied that she swaps favours often and people do things for her out of fondness. Like that police chief who provide free security for harvest festival because he liked Leslie.
@@paulinegallagher7821 it completely bowled me over. You meet Leslie and her creative streak plus her knack of getting things done so you think her house must be spotless and at the very least furnished. Lol! Ann walks in and there's nothing but trash everywhere. newspaper towers and birdhouses. That's the first time I fell in love with Leslie. 🤣
Haven't watched yet but hope they mention that Monica is illegally Subletting the place from her grandmother. They mention it multiple times and have a whole episode where they may get kicked out unless Joey dances with the super
In the Big Bang Theory pilot, Leonard and Sheldon actually sold their sperm to be able to eat out. Once the show was picked up, the boys suddenly shared a deluxe apartment--both on a school faculty salary (and Penny on a waitress' salary)--but could afford nightly takeout and replica swords. Maybe the busted elevator lowered the property value . . .
As I don't live in the US I literally thought for the majority of my life that ordering in must cost very little there since all the young TV people mostly eat pizzas and chinese food.
Big Bang Theory is one of the worst offenders. They have takeaway food every single night. I hope they all have regular checkups for their cholesterol, sodium levels and liver health!
In fairness to Seinfeld, it is made obvious early on that Jerry is a successful comedian when is ‘loses’ a $1500 payment for a weekend show at the laundromat. A lot of money in the early 90’s.
The Friends argument is SO TIRED! They established from early on in the show that the apartment belongs to Monica’s grandmother. It’s rent controlled and they were living there ILLEGALLY. That’s how they were able to afford it. Joey and Chandler’s apartment, Chandler paid for most of it. He was an executive at his corporate job and was the richest out of the six of them. He could afford the apartment on his own income. I don’t understand why people bring up the same nonsense over and over when there is a clear answer. They literally had a whole episode about how Rachel, Joey and Phoebe don’t make as much money as the rest and it was an issue that they always went out to fancy restaurants. They had an episode where Monica had to borrow money from her parents when she lost her job, when she had to borrow money from Joey when Chandler quit his job. Money was almost always an issue for Joey. I really want to know if people even WATCH THE SHOW before they say these ridiculous things.
Did you watch the video? They talk about the Monica/rent control thing. Chandler's is a bit more shaky though, in the early seasons we see him at work and he doesn't look like he's in a very senior position. Even Ross having his own apartment like that- do professors make that kind of money in America? Academia isn't that well paying in the UK.
@@mankytoes You clearly did not watch the show then because there is an episode in one of the early seasons where Chandler quit his job and then they offered him a senior position at the company with a huge raise to stay and he decided to stay and he got a big office and became a boss there. He has a high powered corporate job in NYC, like me. He was making a lot of money! Ross worked at the museum for half of the show and then academia for the second half. Yes, he made good money. He was also married before the start of the show so he had two incomes and stability for most of his adult life.
@@signalfire15 ...but he's already supporting himself and Joey in a central Manhatten apartment before that promotion. If you think people who work in museums make that kind of money, I think you're one of the people this video is aimed at.
@@mankytoes Chandler comes from WEALTH. What don’t you understand?! He is the only child of two rich parents. His mother is a famous writer. He went to private school growing up and had a pool boy and butler. He had enough money to afford an apartment in NYC on his own. I work a standard corporate job in NYC and afford rent on my own. Corporate jobs in NYC pay a lot. Ross made enough. Museums in NYC pay a lot. This isn’t a museum in Hicksville USA and he wasn’t a tour guide, he was a paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History. He was making a lot. Not to mention cost of living at that time was nowhere close to what it is today. YOU SEEM TO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT NYC SALARIES so please stop talking like you know anything! You readily admit in your comment that you live in the UK so you haven’t a clue what you are talking about. I literally LIVE IN NYC and have for the past 33 years. I’m telling you how it functions and you’re still going to argue for no reason.
I remember watching “That Girll” played by Marlo Thomas in the ‘60’s”. She was an underemployed actress living in New York City. She had the most fashionable clothes and the coolest apartment. I truly thought at the time that was realistic. I imagined that I could grow up and work as a sales clerk or something and have a similar life. I thought at the time that employed people who had cheaply made clothes or crappy apartments simply had bad taste and not lack of money.
The episode in Friends where they actually talk about their differences in incomes. But they completely gloss over this important conversation. By the end of the episode, Monica loses her job and switches sides to join Rachel, Phoebe and Joey! To this day, doing things with friends can be burdensome because I don't make the same amount of money! We still haven't found a way to discuss financial discrepancies between family and friends!
I had a friend who'd pay when we went out about 1/2 the time. He'd let me know beforehand, if I had to pay so there'd be no uncomfortable scenes. He made about 3x what I did, but he had a lot of bills of his own too.
@@janejones7638 Well that is also the problem when you make more money. More money, more bills. You get a nicer place, clothings, cars, etc. By the end, you end up in the same situation as when you were poor. We haven't seem to realize that we don't need to increase the bills if our income increases. Who cares the big house, the cars, the clothes.
I did notice how the beginning of “Friends” pre-Rachel ,the coffee house was a bar/pool hall before it was converted and all of a sudden everyone was upscale.
I agree, but my one gripe is that house. No problem whatsoever with the fact that it was hardly going to be modern palace, but..the decor.. the lime green..that yuky brown shagpile. You dont need to be rich to have a bit of taste lol.
Also, when real life (meaning real income) is depicted, it's always sad and struggle. Wealth is always fun. As if regular people can't have a funny and interesting life and wealthy people can't be boring.
I think even worse are the shows that market themselves as "realistic" like Girls living unrealistic lives. Hannah lived by herself in Greenpoint, Brooklyn while working at Cafe Grumpy's at one point. Greenpoint is one of the most expensive NYC neighborhoods there is. Then she magically gets a job as a professor and buys a house in upstate NY
@@BellesView Her parents were from Michigan I believe. At the end of the final season it's just this rather abrupt transition from Hannah saying "I'm going to leave NYC" to her having a multi level house in upstate NY.
Not only that, but Hannah’s teaching job is just for one year-with no guarantee that her contract will be renewed. Yet she thinks she’s in a position to buy a house-AND RAISE A CHILD!
@@CrocusSeal HATED the last episode. Marnie was insufferable, the other characters were absent, and HOW was she suddenly living the country life in the sticks, and why, WHY did she have to go full frontal? put it away!
I would much rather have characters with iconic fashion sense and a desirable lifestyle than a realistic depiction of real life, I’m watching TV to feel good and I personally don’t want a ‘real’ lifestyle, I want something impossible and aspirational because it’s fun and it’s escapism!!
@@Missmagazinebura Yes, definitely Gossip Girl. Nearly all the characters were stinking rich and we could just enjoy the clothes and ridiculous parties. I liked the realistic way they showed the monotony of fashionable catering, especially those giant strawberries that don't really taste arranged in cone shapes - a sort of meme. But the Humphries family were ridiculous. That loft was worth a fortune and the failed rock singer with a little out-of-the-way art gallery wasn't making enough for those school fees. But I loved the clothes.
Feel the same. Our life is "realistic" enough. Most of us need an escape from that. As long as we understand the life on the screen is n o t the real life, anything's fine.😅
This was such a great topic to cover. And it really is hard out there, I moved from my hometown of L.A to live in Tijuana just to afford rent while commuting to San Diego for work.
For Friends, we have known since the very first episodes that Monica's grandmother left for Florida leaving her the apartment which was rent-controlled.
I think shows and movies where they don't do this really stand out for this reason. I honestly never really got into Friends and most sitcoms but Roseanne, Golden Girls and That 70's Show were always staples for me and I think this pinpoints why I always found those characters more relatable. Roseanne and Dan both work crappy jobs they hate because they have kids to provide for and a mortgage to pay on a home they could only afford because her parents gave them the down payment and in the early seasons they live in a constant stress of losing the house. When she quits at the end of the first season because of how abusive her boss is she later regrets it and feels guilty because she's not able to instantly find another job and now they're finances are stretched wire tight. When Dan takes a gamble on starting his dream business and it fails we feel even worse for him because we know what it cost them to try and make that dream a reality in the first place. It's why their generosity with David is so meaningful, because they really aren't in the position to take another kid on but do it anyway. So in a later season when they open the restaurant and that actually takes off it means a lot more than when a character like Rachel finds professional success because we saw them climb and work and struggle every inch of that ladder and it feels really earned when it finally pays off.
I didn’t like Carrie guilt tripping Charlotte to sell her engagement ring to fund her downpayment. Just because Charlotte is well off, it doesn’t mean she needs to lend Carrie the money. Carrie is a grown adult who can make her own money by taking on extra work, find better paying jobs, or sell her expensive shoes. She also doesn’t really have to live in the heart of NYC as she’s only writing a weekly newspaper column and working from home most of the time. Even Miranda is willing to move to Brooklyn.
I'm a woman who loves clothes. Always amazed how many awesome and timely outfits "regular" people own and wear. Nothing worn twice. Not really referring to shows like SATC but more like "regular" people in Friends etc.
I honestly wish there were more shows where the characters live in realistic poverty. First of all, everyone's place is so CLEAN and you never see anyone pick up after themselves or clean the house
personally, the financial situation of the belcher family in bob's burgers is stressing me out :D it's like they're always late with the rent and barely even manage to pay. but hey, i'm here for tv magic. :P
I'd say some kdramas have the same issue -- not the apartment but like when it comes to the trope of the "poor FL", yet despite her "poor" status she never outfit repeats (and a majority of her outfits are NICE) and has the latest phone (and this is without the typical rich ML intervening for a shopping spree or whatever).
I watch a lot of kdramas, and one of them (can't remember which one) showed the class divide in that the rich kids all had the latest Samsung phones and the poor kids had Apple iPhones. 😂
I'm not sure about Gilmore Girls, you could argue its poor money management, but she has a good job in a small town, and Chilton is a lot of money for anyone who isn't rich. The only time I can think of them having money troubles is big unexpected expenditures like Chilton, termites ruining the house, or losing her job after the inn fire while trying to start an inn with Sookie.
Also diner food and pop tarts aren’t particularly expensive. Luke’s pancakes are like $3.50 most episodes (according to the signs on the wall) Loralei mentions not paying at least on one occasion.
As a NYer, I also notice the lack of diversity in some of these shows. When certain people get here, especially recently after things were returning to normal after covid, they’re surprised by all the minorities here. It was a mess hanging out with friends in 2022 and getting dirty looks and people moving away from us, assuming the worse. Never had anything happening like that prior to 2020.
People like to hang around those who remind them of themselves with similar cultures and values. As an Asian I tend to gravitate towards other Asians because they get me. That doesn't mean I have an issue with white or black
It's kind of like the soap operas in the 80s where these people had these fancy houses with high powered jobs but you never really see anybody actually work. General Hospital was more general and less hospital.
Can I say I hated that sex and the city episode where Carrie wanted to make Charlotte the bad guy because she didn’t offer her money for her apartment😒
I remember one winter when me and my best friend shared a trailer that had a jacuzi. Really. A jacuzi. I also lived in a story and half house wherein the half story was basically an indoor balcony. And then my first rental was a cabin with a bedroom, small shower bathroom, and bar seating separating the kitchen and living room for $250 a month (utilities included). Most of my twenties was spent moving around a college campus, hustling for interim and holiday housing when classes were not in session. I ended up homeless due to someone being on maternity leave. Now put all that in a show.
I do think Luke might have given Lor and Rory a lot of free stuff lol but yeah take out is expensive lol. I do wish the writers would stop making movies and tv shows in New York and LA have them move to Midwest or even a city in North Carolina get out of the bubble
Luke defs gave Rory and Lorelai free food a lot and let's not forget that Lorelai's best friend was a chef at the inns and I'm sure she gave Lorelai a bunch of extras/left overs or foods that didn't "make the cut" for their client, remember the episode where the retiree kept changing his mind about the theme and Suki had to keep making different cakes?
As a blerd (black nerd), I always found it funny that the characters of the Big Bang Theory often times had the money and time to sit down every night and play video games and eat Chinses food considering that they're scientists who don't make a lot of money and would have highly conflicting schedules.
Took a a scroll down, but I was kind of waiting for this. The fact that every example was white speaks volumes. Having white, upper-class (real or fake) characters still appeals to most audiences.
If characters actually ate all the takeout and junk food they show them buying and eating, they'd be obese. And most of these characters never have to exercise regularly.
As a woman from the 90s, I hated 'Friends', since it was not real. I had to work full-time, study Uni full-time, no much time left to enjoy life...... Now, almost 50 yr old, I own my apartment, live very comfy, have a job, and a lovely cat, and at the end of the day, that's real life.....
It’s not just the beautiful apartments in very expensive cities, and their designer wardrobe’s. It’s also the amount of food and alcohol they consume. The nothing but cake and chips and drink a lot of alcohol. But they never seen bloated or with bad skin or overweight. So that’s the part that always gets me. That being said you’re watching it for entertainment. It’s a fantasy.
In some cases,if you’re part of the diaspora this is why your friends & family back home expect the world from you because they think we are all swimming in cash in America because of the unrealistic shit they see on tv 🤣🤣🤣 money grows on trees here to them…
I could very easily see how shows could give that impression to people who don’t live in the US. However, I don’t really understand people from the US seeing these types of shows and moving to a big city thinking that their lives are going to be like those of characters on TV shows. I always wonder if the people who went to NYC to live like the Friends characters also left their doors unlocked 24/7 like on the show, so that just anybody could walk in at any time.
The resale value of most expensive items turns out to be only a fraction of the original prices. (That’s why people who think these items are good “investments” are mistaken.)
Easy answer is characters need the freedom to be where they need them to be for plot and story purposes. Cant have alot of stories if characters are struggling for money and where to live. Its easier to just not explain it
The Flash (in the TV show) lives with his adopted dad and half-sister partner way into his adulthood because he can't afford anything else as a forensic intern. He does make fun of Supergirl's huge apartment that she somehow pays for even though she is an intern herself.
Coronation Street and EastEnders in the UK too. Coronation Street was set on Manchester but it looks more like Salford with those old terraced houses even in the 70s as there was slum clearance in inner city Manchester in the 60s. EastEnders was set in Hackney from the start in 1985 hence the three storey Victorian houses. Hackney was starting to be be gentrified at the time as it is close to Islington. None of the characters would be able to live there if they existed in real life. So when I watched it I used to think East Ham or even West Ham or Poplar.
thank you for this episode! It would be so refreshing to see realistic portrayal of an average person's living arrangements! sadly it hardly ever happens indeed! honestly I can't stand those shows where everybody (including unemployed or underemployed folks) having huge, decked up with designer decor apartments and houses. or how about basement apartments lol? I myself lived with very unglamorous roommates for ages, and now I have a small and very simple apartment with cheap furniture. but yeah, showing such place wouldn't be good for ratings I suppose.
My sister and I loved Friends when we were younger *haven't seen the other examples), but a lot of the financial components didn't really make sense. Like a lot of sitcoms, young, upper middle class, usually white characters just had these huge apartments and near-limitless money and we never questioned it. Thankfully, we never took those examples to heart when it came to managing money. We have parents who grew up in working class families (our father being from African country) in the 60's and 70's. They busted their asses to become professionals and instilled that same drive and money management skills to their kids. I keep an excel spreadsheet of every dollar I spend and update it every week. It isn't glamorous or sexy, but I know where my money is going and I know how to save for what I want and invest for the future.
Growing up, I thought all aspiring actresses lived like “Anne Marie” in “That Girl” with a great apartment, a cute boyfriend, and lots of fun jobs. My life in New York was nothing like that!!!
The problem is, I was watching SATC as a teenager, and of course I was enamoured with the lifestyle. Unless you have a wise and realistic adult sitting with you and educating you on what you're seeing, you WILL believe that moving to a fancy world-class city lends itself AUTOMATICALLY to a glamorous lifestyle. Even Miranda, perhaps the financially wisest and most realistic of the 4 women, had unrealistically TOO much time to spend hanging out with her friends. That kind of upper-echelons law career means burning the midnight oil day in, day out. They don't show enough of that in the series. Now a millennial in my mid- 30s, I wish I had learnt the lesson earlier. Too much travelling and spending money on experiences or occasional fashion "treats" to self did not lead AT ALL to a long-term sensation of happiness or anything of the sort. Luckily, I was wise-ish and not too lavish, but still I now wish I'd spent less on BS until the other day and had more cash for things that really matter. Dare I say (but this is a more complicated matter)...wouldn't it be a post-80s, hyper-capitalist system that led to such TV PRODUCTS (because that's what they are) that are, essentially, part of the system to keep you poor? Just an idea. I wonder if TV shows pre-Reaganism/Thatcherism had a more "educational"/"realistic" take on the depiction of life? Any two cents from other viewers appreciated! (Hopefully no keyboard warriors....I'm so tired of them I self-censor myself and most of the time I don't comment on videos :) )
As a young conservative, I can tell you not much has changed... It's capitalism at work. Entice young people to sell their souls to huge corporate conglomerates. It was the same in the 60s and 70s with Mary Tyler Moore and That Girl to nowadays
Honestly I feel like I've always paid attention to the style of characters more than their spaces. I can suspend my disbelief about renting apartments with the low salaries they make more than I can the fact that everyone is always portrayed a dressed up or business casual with full makeup in so many shows. And when they do dress down its for episodes about depression or being sick or hung over or a breakup. I always liked in the first season of Degrassi The Next Generation the teens did their own makeup and whatever the wardrobe budget was more limited, we'd actually see in the same season outfits being repeated. I'd say for Friends Season 1 and part of 2 they dressed more casual, you'd see Rachel in a tshirt and shorts or monica in polo. Obviously as their budget grew for the series so did th wardrobe, but so many shows out the bat have teens and adults in designer clothes with full on makeup, all the time even when just chilling in their apartments/home. No one I know dresses like this 24/7 unless they are going out to a club/party/wedding/business meeting. Now in other shows the people who dressed up are either the ridiculously wealthy (Gossip Girl) or it was a personalty trait of a character to be very trendy/experimental (IE The Nanny). But since the 2000s forward, everyone who is supposed to be "normal" teen or adult is soo dressed up even if it wasn't in a big city (NY/LA) or if they are broke/middle class. How do they afford rent AND designer fashions they do not repeat lol
I lived on the upper west side NYC for 2 yrs. I promise all of these portrayals are very realistic. It’s mind boggling how many ppl “somehow” afford to live there with no on face explanation.
That was common in Manhattan in the 80s to the 00s. That's why even a lot of expensive apartments only came with tiny kitchens. You weren't supposed to cook a full meal in it.
Movies & TV shows also seem have a lot of weird ideas about a number of careers. Check out our video unpacking the most unrealistic things about portrayals of work on screen! Click to watch: ua-cam.com/video/7pxt6byFciY/v-deo.html
Netflix's GirlBoss is probably one of the most realistic shows in how they portray finances. The main character literally collapses because she can't afford a hernia operation.
Now, that’s the one part of media world that I do like. They step out the box & come up with so many different professions we rarely hear about.
Also how the group of friends just conveniently have all the time to always meet up with each other and they all have the same work schedule apparently 😂
Agreed, especially Monica, as a chef, her nights would be taken up with work, and she'd barely get to see her pals.
That's why Iike Sex and the city (original series), because they don't always meet up, they have their own lifes and they sometimes don't even see each other for a while because of life and man, and that's real life
Maybe the only reason they're friends is that they were the only people around with the same schedule 😂
@@trinaq I remember a few episodes in which Monica has to stay up late at work but thats it
Exactly. I could accept that Carrie could get a good apartment on her salary. However, I found it unrealistic that all 4 characters could regularly meet up.
Malcolm in the Middle showed a lower class family and their struggles. Mom and Dad had jobs they hate, but did it for the family.
I loved that show growing up, specially the siblings life as well
Young and Hungry wasn’t great but the 2 girls did share a one bedroom apartment with one of them sleeping in the living room.
So did “The Middle” with Patricia Heaton
Not only that in Malcolm the all Wilkersons are bad persons but they sufer the consequences of their actions. In crapy shows like Friends, TBBT, Two and a Half Men and like 95% of the sitcoms the characters are horrible people that never sufer the consecuences of their actions and most of the time they are NOT even presented as bad people. Thats why Malcolm is awesome. Its realistic and relateble most of the time and teachs you that arrogance, selfishness, stupidity, violence and betreyall will eventually come and get you and you will pay the cost of your actions.
They're not lower class. They're working class, and their house is huge
To me, the most egregious thing about Emily in Paris is her wardrobe. She's a marketing assistant from Chicago who arrives wearing a plaid button-down and then starts wearing Chanel. And not just handbags. She has about half a million dollars worth of Chanel clothes in Season one alone and never rewears any of her clothes.
Maybe she gets free clothes and bags because she’s an influencer
@@Missmagazinebura that's fine! But it's never explained. And she doesn't show up to Paris looking like that. Plus, Chanel etc don't really give away free clothes to influencers. I like and watch the show but it's a detail that annoys me.
@@Missmagazineburaat the beginning of the show you can see her follower count and insta profile...she is 1000% not an influencer
Yeah but season one got lambasted for that...
They had more variety in season 2, and the girls dressed more "trendy", like most young fashionistas do, as opposed to the "classic and expensive" wardrobe of season 1.
Why would a 28 year old wear something like that, she won't have appreciation for it LMFAO 😂
Only reason some reality TV celebs slap on the Chanel is to say they're rich, not because they appreciate it, and know why it's timeless...
It's not just out of her budget, it's just uncommon (very uncommon) for someone her age to look for something timeless as opposed to something trendy
Actual Parisian women don't even wear the loud, blinged up and stereotypically French outfits she wears; those are for Americans and Chinese tourists. Real Parisians tend to wear clothes that are much more understated and affordable
Friends also have this episode in which they discuss the friction between friends who have very different budgets and how hard it is to hang out together as they can afford very different experiences (The One with Five Steaks and an Eggplant)
That was really good episode!
I was so grateful for that episode! Lack of financial empathy can be a real problem for a lot of people and I'm glad they adressed it.
The Friends money thing started as part of the Obama campaign for president when Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz and Robert Reich started promoting it. It's an absolute lie, Monica had a rent-controlled apartment and that she got from her grandmother few episodes had plots around this. Chandler was some sort of corporate executive that the show made clear was making a lot of money I think in one episode he had a personal secretary. And Ross was a Jewish University professor in New York, so he wasn't really a working-class guy.
@@FilipCordasalso Ross, Monica and chandler had family money. Chandlers family had a “house boy!” And Phoebe also inherited her apartment.
that was one of their best early episodes
That's where I actually liked Devil Wears Prada. She has an excuse for the clothes, she's raiding her company closet, and she gets all the gifts for her friends because they're throwaways from the boss. I've worked under pretty wealthy bosses a couple of times and experienced something similar haha.
Not sure about her living situation, but it feeels feasible.
There's a scene where Andy has dinner with her father and he gives her money so she doesn't fall behind on rent.
But why is she allowed to wear the company's valuable clothes and how did she suddendly fit into them over night?
@@discardeddedeShe had had a stomach upset shortly before getting the job so had lost a lot of weight so went down to a size 6. But she was still fatter than her colleagues and in particular the Emily Blunt character also a secretary to Miranda Priestley.
@@discardeddede That doesn't bother me overly, but if I wanted to come up with a reason in my head, I headcanon that the "bigger sizes" weren't used as frequently, and as long as she returned the clothes, the other staff didn't care much.
@@discardeddede fashion magazines constantly receive clothes samples which sometimes are given out to staff members to borrow or keep. Otherwise the magazine's store rooms eventually run out of space. Ditto jewellery and cosmetics. It's actually a major perk of working at a fashion magazine. And Andy was hardly fat to begin with
There is a reason the show Roseanne was so popular back in the 90's ( interesting you didn't choose to discuss that) because they discussed real life struggle. Meals on a budge, do they pay the electricity bill or water. The kids wants something, but they can't afford it. Becky has no college fund. Dan attempted to start a business- failed. The first season is Roseanne working at a factory and eventually leaving after being harassed by her boss. There is SO MUCH more. I won't get into season 9 (the fever dream), but in general, Roseanne was a fairly accurate depiction of lower-middle class life.
Roseanne Barr was once a decent, astute person who actually “got it”.
What the heck happened to her mind?
I agree 100%. I find the show to still be relatable. I mean the repeats, I never really got into the remake, but it seems to be similar (or so I hear).
That was one of the reasons I liked The Middle. They were coastally struggling with their finances.
The episode where Becky finds out they spent her college fund due to hardship was brutal. I could understand her anger but the things she said to them..I thought Dan was going to go for her but Roseanne told him to leave it. Brilliant tv.
It was the anti-Cosby.
In more ways than one.
The Gilmore Girls example can also be used to depict unrealistic eating habits in movies in TV. How many times can slender characters eat junk food without gaining weight?
And never exercising!
Seems like they both were secretly bulimic😬
this! this used to make me livid.
Actually yes. Sometimes it really seems like it and they even make jokes hinting to that. :S
my explanation to it is that bc they lived in a little town they walked everywhere, a lot LOL
A bit harsh on HIMYM, when Lily got all that debt Marshall had to leave the job he wanted, being an environmental lawyer, and work at the evil corporation with Barney, which clearly depressed the hell out of him. He stays there for quite a while too, it isn't like they just forget that in a couple of episodes.
yeah and doesn't she have to sell most of her clothes too? And then she starts selling paintings to vets that calm animals.
HIMYM is the most realistic in my opinion. Ted is an architect, lily a teacher, and Marshall worked at the bank for a while and made good money. And like you said, the credit card debt was addressed and Marshall cleared it out by working at the bank.
@@nathaniahenry141 Ted is interesting because he seems to flip both ways. Firstly, him, Marshall and Lily have a giant apartment, despite his job appearing to be fairly low down the pecking order, Lily being a teacher and Marshall a student. But then he designs a freakin' skyscraper, so I feel like he should be absolutely loaded, but there never seems to be much about him suddenly having way more money.
Plus in later seasons they have two houses one apartment and other house in sub urbs if they sell one there would be some more spare money
@@mankytoes Didn't Marshall cover Ted's rent for a while, too? Maybe he never said anything about having more money because he immediately paid Marshall back?
I love Bob's Bugers because it's the only animated adult sitcom that actually talks about their financial issues.
I love how the Belcher's live above the restaurant. It's how a lot of businesses operated long ago.
True! And even that seems like a luxury now, in most cities😔@@Gabster1990
The Simpsons did in older seasons. Not with specific numbers but they addressed the family struggling financially. The first episode has a plot around the family having no money for Christmas presents.
I only watched 1 or 2 episodes of Shameless, but or seems To ne a big topic there as well..
I think one of the things missing in these shows is depicting characters applying for social services like food stamps, public housing, housing vouchers, Medicaid, or emergency rental assistance. Very often working young people are either on or trying to get on some form of welfare together by. I have needed these services when I was working, but didn’t have enough to survive. And because needing that kind of assistance is seen as shameful, no one ever talks about how horrible these programs are administered. They’re designed to keep poor people from getting help, and that too needs to change.
What do you mean they are designed to keep people from requesting help?
Having young characters apply for social services would be "REALITY TV." Probably would be a low-rated show, unfortunately
The Netflix show, Maid, portrayed this very well. Worth watching.
Yeah...that will never happen, because these shows are comedies, and those topics simply do not lend themselves to the genre.
@@bowtoyoursensei554 I respectfully disagree. Poor people are just as capable of finding humor in their lives as middle-class and wealthy people. If someone wanted to make a comedy centered around poverty and applied for various social welfare programs, they'd just need to talk to people stuck in poverty.
I always feel like the costs of having a pet are never adressed nor an issue. Pets are very, very expensive, especially if you want them to have a species-appropriate life and pay their vet bills - be it dogs, cats or rabbits - the latter being especially misjudged in regards to species-appropriate life and finances (nevermind the time that needs to be invested).
It was A LOT cheaper to own a pet in the 90's
How costly is it to own a pet in the USA?
My two cats cost me 40€ per month and have a health insurance, 20€ per month.
And we split those costs between me and my partner, so 30€ for everyone.
@@auraluna7679I don't have cats. But even if I had, your calculations are not accounting for regular vet check ups, vaccinations and emergencies, which can easily amount to a whole lot. Then there's food, play toys, furniture and so on.
@@guacamoli5813 That was actually all included.
Wait, I didn't include the cat tree and co.
Ok, plus 100€ for one time furniture.
I feel like ‘Sex and the City’ was definitely like an 8 ball for shopaholics.
The movie literally zoomed in on a car trunk revealing perfectly good shopping bags from a high end store.
Brutally spot on
😂😂😂😂8 ball
1. Romantic interests are always wealthy
2. They don’t mind spending a month’s worth of rent on riding taxi cabs all over New York
Gossip girl
@@Missmagazineburaand SATC
Good one! That always bugged me because you can get around pretty easily in New York with the subway, and it's most likely faster too.
Having lived in Paris as a student in 15m² I had a really good laugh when watching Emily in Paris - and not just for the financial part but also the overall glamour of the city (it barely exists), her means of transportation, the lack of strikes... BUT it's supposed to be a comical and feel good show, I don't expect to depict the real Paris - way too stressfull, depressing and hard to market.
Not to mention visiting Paris as a tourist and living there are totally different experiences. I used to be a corporate lawyer and worked in our Paris office for a while. The lawyers in Paris worked the same 12 to 14 hour days as we did, they never took long lunches and nobody walked home at midnight admiring the beauty of the city; people just wanted to sleep before doing it all again the following day. And if people walked to the office in the morning while eating a pastry it's because they didn't have time for a proper sit down breakfast, not because it was glamorous.
Every woman you see on tv wants to break into fashion or acting or something and the jobs 99,9% of people in cities actually do are portrayed as a misery and looked down on as boring or giving up on your dreams. That always annoys me.
Or how about the trope where theyre all writers, all in demand, all have friends in the arts, gallery openings ect,
So what do you want to watch after the entire day spent at a corporation? People sitting in their offices and talking about bookkeeping? If movies were realistic, nobody would watch them.
@@paulinegallagher7821 To be fair most people have friend with similar interests so being an artist having mostly artsy friends makes kind of sense. The demand is another story though.
Let’s not forget how Gilmore Girls is a story of generational wealth. Lorelai doesn’t want to ask her wealthy parents for tuition but she is able to and does to send her daughter to private schools. Most people are not in a position to do that.
Mm.. but I think that the parents pay for Rory education, it was say that is kinda like the agreement they come.
In exchange for Friday Night Dinners
I am so glad they said something about Carrie asking Charlotte to offer the loan. I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST ME BOTHERED BY THAT. IT’S HER $$!!
I also wondered how Penny from Big Bang Theory could afford her apartment on her own
She had a hard time affording it, there are several times where it was shown she was borrowing from the guys. She also had to work multiple shifts to try and make ends meet until she finally got the pharmacy job, where she made more money than Leonard. Honestly though Pasadena is a very expensive place and I don't think working for a university really pays that much that Leonard and Sheldon would have been able to live together without a couple more roommates, much less Penny living alone.
She did some escorting job as a freelancer from time to time. 😊
I lived alone in a one bedroom apartment from 2004-2014 working as a cashier. My rent was $475 a month. That’s not possible today, but it was back then. Best years of my life.
@@rb5078 yeah, I remember my first apartment in 1988 was only about $385/mo. The last time I could comfortably afford rent was 2013 and the rent was $750. That same place is now $1350 with no visible upgrades to the property.
@ucruci2 I think this just proves how porn warps your mind on women.
The "how did Monica afford that apartment" questions bug me so much. They say in the pilot it's an illegal sublet. It's technically her grandmother's place
they focus on hers, but forget that Ross lives alone for a lot of the series and is unemployed for a long time, too after he loses his job at the museum. I do think they were paying him with his first leave of absence, but after "GET OFF MY SISTER" I wondered if they still were.
I think for Ross, he was the first or second (the other being Chandler) to be financially stable of the friend group and lived in a dual income housing situation while married since his ex-wife has a job and career. Given his character, he likely did the responsible thing and kept a decent emergency fund that he dipped into while not being paid.
I'm more surprised by Pheobe being able to afford her place once her roommate moved out and she just lived alone.
Phoebe lived in her grandmother's apartment as well@@birdpaladin9332
Phoebes place was also her grandmothers place. After the fire that Rachel caused and the apartment was refurbished, it is mentioned that it was her grandmothers place.
@birdpaladin9332 he also financed 3 divorces somehow. He's a good guy so he probably also pays his child support.
I love Ugly Betty I think they did a good job showing a more realistic budget for the characters. Even the richer characters had money problems once in a while.
Still even watching American reality tv it shows that houses are affordable in America or that there’s been a lot of family help passing on through generations.
It’s the contrass between the high world of fashion and the humble reality that makes the show more realistic and relatable.
Yes! I miss Ugly Betty.
I grew up in Queens and felt very seen by the show. Most people who grew up in the city live at home well into their 20’s and even though the city has a lot of jobs its competitive and if you’re not careful you could end up with a sh*t deal if you say yes too quickly which Betty learns multiple times.
2 Broke Girls is probably the closest to reality but even they had many moments where they just got lucky.
I appreciated that they went to free clinics, got beauty school haircuts, clipped coupons, shopped at at Goodwill and rewore the same clothes all the time. Then again, the apartment they were always calling a shit hole was actually pretty great.
@@brokencandy1797 they did keep saying things like appliances were falling apart, lighting the pilot light was an extreme sport, shower was icky(literal poop water), toilets getting clogged, mold in the bathroom, a nail sticking out of the floor, mushrooms on the bathmat(probably exaggerated for comedic effect and remember they're too broke and don't have enough time on their hands) to name a few. Probably wouldn't be watchable if it didn't look cute and eclectic
@@woolfmcwolf if there's mushrooms growing in your bath mat, you have only yourself to blame. And yes, I remember Nail Patrick Harris. They could have just pulled him out with a hammer.
Didnt Caroline staple her pants? 😂
@@Missmagazinebura she did. Which I have also done. I also remember a joke about using coffee filters for toilet paper and then using toilet paper for coffee filters...which I have actually done.
'Two broke girls' was the only realistic show when it comes to financial lifestyle of a 20 something adult.
Not really considering Caroline owned a horse. Knowing she used to be rich Chestnut (who's actually a bay) is probably supposed to be some $50k+ show jumper.
@@krn2683keeping a horse alive and healthy costs a bitch apparently, so you're right
"Where's the bathroom?"
"Where ISN'T the bathroom?!"
That's literally the best thing I've heard all day! 😂❤
The real fantasy: Friends always got sit sit on the Big Orange Sofa in the coffee shop. Every time.
I love that "The Good Place" pointed out how the Friends would never be able to afford that ridiculously expensive apartment on a chef and waitress' salary.
It belonged to Monica and Ross' grandmother.
@HiveFleetUlfang1
And Monica was living there under false identity and bribed the superintendent by offering dance lessons from Joey.
I'm sick of seeing this brought up in every click-baity Friends article/video when it was answered in the show.
Wasn't the apartment rent controlled?
@@woolfmcwolfyes, and Monica was illegally subletting the apartment from her grandmother
Why are you everywhere?
Notice how Darren Star is responsible for like 80% of it 😂
Him and his damn Pink Dollars
The only time this trope really bothers me is when Hallmark or Lifetime movies show supposedly struggling single moms living in giant 4-bedroom houses. 😊
Exactly!
Struggling people in movies and tv shows dress pretty fancy.
Cough cough Gilmore Girls
@@lu-themadpillow2985That house was only a 2 bedroom (maybe a 3bd, but only 2 are ever shown), and in rural Connecticut, the house itself might've been cheap. And while Lorelai was a single mother, she was also the manager at the inn. Their bills were paid, but that doesn't mean they had loads of extra money.
Depends on location. I was a single mom, rented a 1 bedroom because it was cheaper, but it was 800sqft. Lots of space and a patio. The town was just slightly more than rural. I only worked part time hours, but an hour away in a busy town for the better pay. You have to sit down, do the math, and find out what works. That means not staying near your family, everyone you know, or where it's familiar and comfortable for you. That seems to be everyone's biggest problem.
I would like to see a video about unrealistic eating habits in movies and TV. These slender characters sure do seem to pack in the calories on a regular basis without gaining an ounce.
Genetics
@@wearesatellites91 I had a friend like that in college, she would only eat hot dogs and coke and still be suuuper thin. Now though, she had a baby and she couldn't lose the baby weight due to having awful eating habits her entire life. 🤷♀
That may be true for some people but in shows where they pick actresses with suspected EDs in real life, it feels disingenuous to make them play characters that eat whatever they want and are never seen to exercise.
Gilmore Girls comes to mind. Especially combined with their blatant fat shaming it's upsetting.
@mandril45 this is just one example of how the "I'm skinny, I can eat whatever I want" attitude can come back and bite people in the ass as they get older.
Also, if you’re slim and eat crap, your internal organs won't thank you. I've seen lots of people in healthcare who were "normal or slightly under" weight, then have heart attacks and strokes, and be bitter that chubbier people in their lives don't have the same health problems. Skinny doesn't automatically mean healthy.
I fall for the "treat yourself" mentality all the time. That and the horror of doing nothing seems worse.
I always laugh out loud when that properties lady says "where isn't the bathroom?!". Broad City was legend!
Modern Family always fills me with rage because (until Claire starts working outside the home) it shows three single income families in gigantic houses with no real financial stress: how is that “modern”? And it’s especially galling that, even if you accept that financial situation, all three houses are clean with no evidence of domestic help. Are you telling me that Gloria cleans that house herself? Claire walks around with a laundry basket occasionally but come on. At least on the Brady Bunch they made it clear that Alice was a key part of how their household worked. Making that labor invisible is deeply dishonest and disrespectful. I would love it if you did a Take episode about this!
answering the first part of the comment, modern family clearly states that all the main earners in the families earn a lot of money. in fact i was surprised that the dunphys kept on living like before even after claire became the ceo. after claire became ceo, they became rich, they weren't even middle class anymore. a lawyer (mitch), a realtor (phil), and a ceo (jay) in los angeles means a lot of money, doesn't it? and as for having help, some things we just have to assume, like having help. i'm sure gloria had help, it just wasn't shown. similar to how characters everywhere are shown to have toned bodies but they are never shown to go to gym. it's implied that they go to gym.
Would the audience want to watch people cleaning their bathrooms? Unless it is important to an episode plot it seems like a waste of time
Same with Married With Children in the 80s. The father is only a shoe shop manager and supports a SAHM gold digging wife and two children in a normal sized house.
@@LeticiaAGentilI would
Cam and Mitchell are only a single income household for a short time. Cam works most of the seasons. Also, Jay and Gloria mention their housekeeper several times.
I feel like Sam and Miranda in Sex and the City isn't that unrealistic. Sam is mentioned again and again to be not only working a lot but also really succesfull and she is already in her late 30ties, as a single without childern. And Miranda is also a workaholic who choose a cheaper area for her family. After all those women are women in their prime earning stage in usually well paid career fields.
Same! I never had a problem believing Sam and Miranda could afford their lifestyle - they were even truly aspirational characters for some. Charlotte was just lucky being from money, but Carrie... that was as massive question in my mind in my 30s! LOL! However they've blown it out of proportion in And Just like That. Met Balls etc...
While I could believe that Sam and Miranada could afford their lifestyle, I could never believe that they had thag much free time
@@pn7134 but Miranda and Sam are Not portrayed to have that much free time, Miranda is often at Home/working. Sam is out networking.
@@pn7134especially Miranda the lawyer on the partner track. She was always out at night, breakfast, walks, brunch you name it. Of course it wouldn’t be much of a show if it showed her actual 80 hour week.
@@jenniferbond7073 weird opinion but i'd watch a show depicting her 80h week 🤣 I would love to see her be a corporate boss babe. But of course you are right
How about the trope that if someone decides to monetize their hobby, talent, or passion they are instantly successful. Like you'll have a character who is never seen baking or talking about baking for 6 seasons. But now they have to get a job and they have a bake shop open the next week and business is booming!
Or the trope that a sudden financial need is solved by a get rich quick answer. Sometimes it's one time sale of something very non-essential to average customers. "Yay, we sold enough homemade candles to save the house from foreclosure by Friday'! Or it's 'One big score.' It can be marriage, it can be a lotto ticket, a heist, a scam, a competition, or someone hearing the MC sing at the grocery store and gets signed to a contract. Of course, as covered in the video, this is fiction. So by it's very nature, the action taken by the protagonist has to be a bang not a whisper. The problem is that, even though we're aware that it's fiction, it still seeps into our mind that that's what we should expect rather than working, saving, voting, and activism.
2 Broke Girls was realistic in this regard with their 1 step forward and 2 steps back approach.
Or the trope of the annoying, not that good looking girl or boy always, ALWAYS able to get dates? and sex? yea right..
I remember watching The Good Witch, where she owns a store that sells candles, sage and trinkets, and lives in a mansion inherited from her family, which she has turned into a bed and breakfast. I’m sure she could possibly make enough money to survive from this, but you never see her DOING anything. Who cleans that huge house? Who mans the phone to take reservations? Who cooks the meals? Who does the taxes for the store. And if she hires someone to do those things, how does she afford that? It’s just ridiculous.
That's exactly what happened in The Bear. It was going so well showing all the financial struggles for keeping the restaurant, and then out of the blue 💲💲💲
I worked in retail in the suburbs. Let me tell you that the only thing women and girls loved doing was binging Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Dance Moms. Then they would try to shop high end goods they couldnt afford and take out a third credit card, as well ridculously thinking they were a main character and they were entitled to a certain piece of clothing or perfume etc. Watching television and going to the mall was the only recreational thing to do out there.
I think a show thats very realistic in terms of a life of financial struggle is Kevin Can F*** Himself. It shuts down characters with Main Character Syndrome by showing the husband buying rip off sports memorabilia and the realism that it cost the wife a new house in the suburbs. She literally cant afford anything extravagant and tries to take pride of a coffee table from Pottery Barn she got from Goodwill. It also shows financial abuse from the husband.
I love that show!
It’s okay that these shows are unrealistic, they’re a fantasy and the reason we consume them is because we want to experience what they do vicariously. Meaning, we watch them have those lives because they’re just something that we’re not gonna do ourselves in real life.
That's right if you watch them AND have this thinkging. Also it's still good if you get ideas from these like 'I'd like a watch like the one my favorite character has...". The problem starts when people want to copy the full set and think its achievalbe because x-y charachter is so lame, so if he can do it I can do it. Social media makes it so much worse because you can see the same lifestyle on ordinar-ish people accompanied with captions such as "it's all about the right mindset". I see a lot of people struggling both financially and mentally because they feel that they have to keep up showing this level of lifestyle. But in the end I totally agree with you - it's not the shows' fault that we lost the ability to understand what's real and what not.
It was wildly selfish of Carrie to assume that its her friend’s obligation to offer financial assistance just because they are wealthy. Its one thing to ask but another to hound the person by guilt tripping them.
Carrie was not a very nice or likable character to me. It doesn't shock me that she'd do that. I would be shook to hear any of the other characters did that.
Carrie is a terrible person. Charlotte had no obligation to help her, and it would have been a much better story line to have Carrie figure out her living situation on her own.
@@janejones7638 It was just a plot device to cause tension, a fight, a realization that Charlotte was right 'Its not my job' ect, and ultimately, a realization that Charlotte needed to let go of that wedding ring. I think Carrie was more hurt/embarrassed by the fact that all the girls offered and Charlotte looked conspicuously uncomfortable and said nothing. But youre right, Carrie had no right to walk over to her apartment and demand an explanation; i mean who in their right mind would do that lol
Although Carrie was a brat, I really envied her life! Writing one column a week, living in a cute, funky apartment, and having enough money to buy designer clothes and shoes. Who wouldn’t want that? No setting the alarm every day, work a few hours on your column, go out for dinner, stay up as late as you want etc. Too bad real life isn’t like that.
The thing that really chapped my ass though, was that she never really had to pay any consequences for her poor financial decisions. She ends up marrying a millionaire, living in a high end Manhattan apartment, and is able to keep her own cute little apartment.
It’s basically a fairytale.
@@lisaspikes4291 I never understood at the time or even now - how much would she make? She didn't work for a newspaper - she worked for a popular magazine putting out new material weekly. That's rare, back then most magazines came out once a month. They sell millions, but how much would a columnist make?
I don’t wanna look at TV and see my life. Real life. I want to indulge in the fantasy for the fun of it. If you’re an adult and you let TV set your expectations about money then you’re a fool.
I would love to see more shows deal with the physical constraints put on relationships when you cannot afford seeing your friends at a commercial spot (coffee place, restaurant etc) nor have an apartment big enough to hang out in.
Where are non-wealthy people expected to have a social life outside of work?
I'd love to see that depicted more
why couldn't you sit in a coffee house? It's free. We used to have the crazy places called malls....
Jake Peralta from Brooklyn 99 is one of the most lovable characters on television. However, given his CRIPPLING debt and precarious living situation, how is he not completely bankrupt and living with Charles???
His grandmother leaves him a rent controlled apartment too. He loses it when her building goes co-op.
I appreciated Insecure's commitment to showing Issa's realistic financial struggles especially when single and that her friends were shown as being much more financially literate and successful because of it.
Read an article recently that pointed out that when the Simpsons started, their setup wasn't unusual. Its that property prices have far outstripped average wages over the past few decades.
Leslie Knope in Parks and Rec. All the money she spent on charts, graphs, binders, parties, etc always blew my mind! All on a mid-level public servant's salary 😂
She was deputy director and it's mentioned very often that living is very affordable in pawnee. Also there's an episode where it's shown where her house is a mess. She obviously doesn't use house help. She consistently eats outside so her grocery bill must be low. Its also implied that she swaps favours often and people do things for her out of fondness. Like that police chief who provide free security for harvest festival because he liked Leslie.
@@Svengali764 that episode is hilarious. The sheepish smile and Annes horror lol. 'Two birdhouses? why do you need two?'
@@paulinegallagher7821 it completely bowled me over. You meet Leslie and her creative streak plus her knack of getting things done so you think her house must be spotless and at the very least furnished. Lol! Ann walks in and there's nothing but trash everywhere. newspaper towers and birdhouses. That's the first time I fell in love with Leslie. 🤣
@@Svengali764 Yes, Season 2 Leslie IMO is the funniest she ever was 'Leslie,youre talking to yourself again' 'Am I? I am'.
Haven't watched yet but hope they mention that Monica is illegally Subletting the place from her grandmother. They mention it multiple times and have a whole episode where they may get kicked out unless Joey dances with the super
In the Big Bang Theory pilot, Leonard and Sheldon actually sold their sperm to be able to eat out. Once the show was picked up, the boys suddenly shared a deluxe apartment--both on a school faculty salary (and Penny on a waitress' salary)--but could afford nightly takeout and replica swords. Maybe the busted elevator lowered the property value . . .
As I don't live in the US I literally thought for the majority of my life that ordering in must cost very little there since all the young TV people mostly eat pizzas and chinese food.
Big Bang Theory is one of the worst offenders. They have takeaway food every single night. I hope they all have regular checkups for their cholesterol, sodium levels and liver health!
@@LynetteMcGrath haha that's a fair point :D
In fairness to Seinfeld, it is made obvious early on that Jerry is a successful comedian when is ‘loses’ a $1500 payment for a weekend show at the laundromat. A lot of money in the early 90’s.
How many forget the 1st season when they explained how Monica could afford it.
To me it was more weird that every sitcom house always had a second set of stairs, in the kitchen!
I love watching your videos because I always leave feeling wiser and more informed. Thanks
The Friends argument is SO TIRED! They established from early on in the show that the apartment belongs to Monica’s grandmother. It’s rent controlled and they were living there ILLEGALLY. That’s how they were able to afford it. Joey and Chandler’s apartment, Chandler paid for most of it. He was an executive at his corporate job and was the richest out of the six of them. He could afford the apartment on his own income. I don’t understand why people bring up the same nonsense over and over when there is a clear answer. They literally had a whole episode about how Rachel, Joey and Phoebe don’t make as much money as the rest and it was an issue that they always went out to fancy restaurants. They had an episode where Monica had to borrow money from her parents when she lost her job, when she had to borrow money from Joey when Chandler quit his job. Money was almost always an issue for Joey. I really want to know if people even WATCH THE SHOW before they say these ridiculous things.
Did you watch the video? They talk about the Monica/rent control thing. Chandler's is a bit more shaky though, in the early seasons we see him at work and he doesn't look like he's in a very senior position.
Even Ross having his own apartment like that- do professors make that kind of money in America? Academia isn't that well paying in the UK.
@@mankytoes
Chandler got the senior position shortly into season 1.
@@mankytoes You clearly did not watch the show then because there is an episode in one of the early seasons where Chandler quit his job and then they offered him a senior position at the company with a huge raise to stay and he decided to stay and he got a big office and became a boss there. He has a high powered corporate job in NYC, like me. He was making a lot of money! Ross worked at the museum for half of the show and then academia for the second half. Yes, he made good money. He was also married before the start of the show so he had two incomes and stability for most of his adult life.
@@signalfire15 ...but he's already supporting himself and Joey in a central Manhatten apartment before that promotion.
If you think people who work in museums make that kind of money, I think you're one of the people this video is aimed at.
@@mankytoes Chandler comes from WEALTH. What don’t you understand?! He is the only child of two rich parents. His mother is a famous writer. He went to private school growing up and had a pool boy and butler. He had enough money to afford an apartment in NYC on his own. I work a standard corporate job in NYC and afford rent on my own. Corporate jobs in NYC pay a lot. Ross made enough. Museums in NYC pay a lot. This isn’t a museum in Hicksville USA and he wasn’t a tour guide, he was a paleontologist at the Museum of Natural History. He was making a lot. Not to mention cost of living at that time was nowhere close to what it is today. YOU SEEM TO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT NYC SALARIES so please stop talking like you know anything! You readily admit in your comment that you live in the UK so you haven’t a clue what you are talking about. I literally LIVE IN NYC and have for the past 33 years. I’m telling you how it functions and you’re still going to argue for no reason.
I remember watching “That Girll” played by Marlo Thomas in the ‘60’s”. She was an underemployed actress living in New York City. She had the most fashionable clothes and the coolest apartment. I truly thought at the time that was realistic. I imagined that I could grow up and work as a sales clerk or something and have a similar life. I thought at the time that employed people who had cheaply made clothes or crappy apartments simply had bad taste and not lack of money.
It was THE dream life of young girls at the time.
Don't forget she also had the perfect boyfriend and very worried loving parents 😭
If Friends was set in the early 2010s Chandler’s job would seem exciting and he would’ve made a lot more $$$. Quant? Data Scientist? Analyst?
Yeah he was the richest of them all
The episode in Friends where they actually talk about their differences in incomes. But they completely gloss over this important conversation. By the end of the episode, Monica loses her job and switches sides to join Rachel, Phoebe and Joey! To this day, doing things with friends can be burdensome because I don't make the same amount of money! We still haven't found a way to discuss financial discrepancies between family and friends!
I had a friend who'd pay when we went out about 1/2 the time. He'd let me know beforehand, if I had to pay so there'd be no uncomfortable scenes. He made about 3x what I did, but he had a lot of bills of his own too.
@@janejones7638 Well that is also the problem when you make more money. More money, more bills. You get a nicer place, clothings, cars, etc. By the end, you end up in the same situation as when you were poor. We haven't seem to realize that we don't need to increase the bills if our income increases. Who cares the big house, the cars, the clothes.
I did notice how the beginning of “Friends” pre-Rachel ,the coffee house was a bar/pool hall before it was converted and all of a sudden everyone was upscale.
One of my favorite shows was The Middle. It was so realistic including the parents ordinary jobs and tight budgets.
I agree, but my one gripe is that house. No problem whatsoever with the fact that it was hardly going to be modern palace, but..the decor.. the lime green..that yuky brown shagpile. You dont need to be rich to have a bit of taste lol.
@@paulinegallagher7821 That was a pretty typical Midwest house for that time.
I always noticed how amazing Phoebe’s outfits always were and her jewelry and flourishes and everything, so perfect every time!
I'm really glad you made this video. When I heard that HBO Max was making a reboot, my first thought was "Is this needed?" Loved that you made this.
Also, when real life (meaning real income) is depicted, it's always sad and struggle. Wealth is always fun. As if regular people can't have a funny and interesting life and wealthy people can't be boring.
I think even worse are the shows that market themselves as "realistic" like Girls living unrealistic lives. Hannah lived by herself in Greenpoint, Brooklyn while working at Cafe Grumpy's at one point. Greenpoint is one of the most expensive NYC neighborhoods there is. Then she magically gets a job as a professor and buys a house in upstate NY
I thought it was her parents’ house.
@@BellesView Her parents were from Michigan I believe. At the end of the final season it's just this rather abrupt transition from Hannah saying "I'm going to leave NYC" to her having a multi level house in upstate NY.
Not only that, but Hannah’s teaching job is just for one year-with no guarantee that her contract will be renewed. Yet she thinks she’s in a position to buy a house-AND RAISE A CHILD!
@@CrocusSeal HATED the last episode. Marnie was insufferable, the other characters were absent, and HOW was she suddenly living the country life in the sticks, and why, WHY did she have to go full frontal? put it away!
But wasn't gentrification still "in the making" when Girls was produced?
I would much rather have characters with iconic fashion sense and a desirable lifestyle than a realistic depiction of real life, I’m watching TV to feel good and I personally don’t want a ‘real’ lifestyle, I want something impossible and aspirational because it’s fun and it’s escapism!!
Like gossip girl yes but I also been to private school
@@Missmagazinebura Yes, definitely Gossip Girl. Nearly all the characters were stinking rich and we could just enjoy the clothes and ridiculous parties. I liked the realistic way they showed the monotony of fashionable catering, especially those giant strawberries that don't really taste arranged in cone shapes - a sort of meme.
But the Humphries family were ridiculous. That loft was worth a fortune and the failed rock singer with a little out-of-the-way art gallery wasn't making enough for those school fees.
But I loved the clothes.
Feel the same. Our life is "realistic" enough. Most of us need an escape from that. As long as we understand the life on the screen is n o t the real life, anything's fine.😅
This was such a great topic to cover. And it really is hard out there, I moved from my hometown of L.A to live in Tijuana just to afford rent while commuting to San Diego for work.
For Friends, we have known since the very first episodes that Monica's grandmother left for Florida leaving her the apartment which was rent-controlled.
I think shows and movies where they don't do this really stand out for this reason. I honestly never really got into Friends and most sitcoms but Roseanne, Golden Girls and That 70's Show were always staples for me and I think this pinpoints why I always found those characters more relatable. Roseanne and Dan both work crappy jobs they hate because they have kids to provide for and a mortgage to pay on a home they could only afford because her parents gave them the down payment and in the early seasons they live in a constant stress of losing the house. When she quits at the end of the first season because of how abusive her boss is she later regrets it and feels guilty because she's not able to instantly find another job and now they're finances are stretched wire tight. When Dan takes a gamble on starting his dream business and it fails we feel even worse for him because we know what it cost them to try and make that dream a reality in the first place. It's why their generosity with David is so meaningful, because they really aren't in the position to take another kid on but do it anyway. So in a later season when they open the restaurant and that actually takes off it means a lot more than when a character like Rachel finds professional success because we saw them climb and work and struggle every inch of that ladder and it feels really earned when it finally pays off.
I didn’t like Carrie guilt tripping Charlotte to sell her engagement ring to fund her downpayment. Just because Charlotte is well off, it doesn’t mean she needs to lend Carrie the money. Carrie is a grown adult who can make her own money by taking on extra work, find better paying jobs, or sell her expensive shoes. She also doesn’t really have to live in the heart of NYC as she’s only writing a weekly newspaper column and working from home most of the time. Even Miranda is willing to move to Brooklyn.
Good lord...I never watched that show but if that's what it entails I know I"d probably hate it.
I'm a woman who loves clothes. Always amazed how many awesome and timely outfits "regular" people own and wear. Nothing worn twice. Not really referring to shows like SATC but more like "regular" people in Friends etc.
I honestly wish there were more shows where the characters live in realistic poverty. First of all, everyone's place is so CLEAN and you never see anyone pick up after themselves or clean the house
Married with children try that one
@@Rubybutterfly666-k6g Peg never cleaned! - and they ate TANG SANDWICHES
Don't forget toaster leavings lol
😂😂
Yay! Something fun to watch with my morning coffee
10:10 a more financial realistic cartoon show than The Simpsons is Bob's Burger. Lack of money is a major plot point.
personally, the financial situation of the belcher family in bob's burgers is stressing me out :D it's like they're always late with the rent and barely even manage to pay. but hey, i'm here for tv magic. :P
Monica's grandma's apartment was rent controlled. It was 200 a month. Even back then, that was cheap.
Mine was charmed they were always blowing out their windows and I always thought dang their insurance must be super high lol
If people don't know the difference between what's real and what's fictitious, they've got bigger freaking problems. Truly.
I' m just a little disappointed you didn't mention _2 Broke Girls_ as a counterpoint as well 😂
I'd say some kdramas have the same issue -- not the apartment but like when it comes to the trope of the "poor FL", yet despite her "poor" status she never outfit repeats (and a majority of her outfits are NICE) and has the latest phone (and this is without the typical rich ML intervening for a shopping spree or whatever).
I watch a lot of kdramas, and one of them (can't remember which one) showed the class divide in that the rich kids all had the latest Samsung phones and the poor kids had Apple iPhones. 😂
I'm not sure about Gilmore Girls, you could argue its poor money management, but she has a good job in a small town, and Chilton is a lot of money for anyone who isn't rich. The only time I can think of them having money troubles is big unexpected expenditures like Chilton, termites ruining the house, or losing her job after the inn fire while trying to start an inn with Sookie.
and i think luke stopped charging them at some point
Also diner food and pop tarts aren’t particularly expensive. Luke’s pancakes are like $3.50 most episodes (according to the signs on the wall) Loralei mentions not paying at least on one occasion.
As a NYer, I also notice the lack of diversity in some of these shows. When certain people get here, especially recently after things were returning to normal after covid, they’re surprised by all the minorities here. It was a mess hanging out with friends in 2022 and getting dirty looks and people moving away from us, assuming the worse. Never had anything happening like that prior to 2020.
People like to hang around those who remind them of themselves with similar cultures and values. As an Asian I tend to gravitate towards other Asians because they get me. That doesn't mean I have an issue with white or black
It's kind of like the soap operas in the 80s where these people had these fancy houses with high powered jobs but you never really see anybody actually work. General Hospital was more general and less hospital.
Can I say I hated that sex and the city episode where Carrie wanted to make Charlotte the bad guy because she didn’t offer her money for her apartment😒
Never liked Carrie to be honest. She grated.
I remember one winter when me and my best friend shared a trailer that had a jacuzi. Really. A jacuzi. I also lived in a story and half house wherein the half story was basically an indoor balcony. And then my first rental was a cabin with a bedroom, small shower bathroom, and bar seating separating the kitchen and living room for $250 a month (utilities included). Most of my twenties was spent moving around a college campus, hustling for interim and holiday housing when classes were not in session. I ended up homeless due to someone being on maternity leave. Now put all that in a show.
Notice how most TV family's lived in the 1979's. Examples such as Mary Tyler Moore, All in the Family, Sanford and Son, etc
I do think Luke might have given Lor and Rory a lot of free stuff lol but yeah take out is expensive lol. I do wish the writers would stop making movies and tv shows in New York and LA have them move to Midwest or even a city in North Carolina get out of the bubble
Luke defs gave Rory and Lorelai free food a lot and let's not forget that Lorelai's best friend was a chef at the inns and I'm sure she gave Lorelai a bunch of extras/left overs or foods that didn't "make the cut" for their client, remember the episode where the retiree kept changing his mind about the theme and Suki had to keep making different cakes?
I do believe Sookie gave them a lot of food over the yeara
As a blerd (black nerd), I always found it funny that the characters of the Big Bang Theory often times had the money and time to sit down every night and play video games and eat Chinses food considering that they're scientists who don't make a lot of money and would have highly conflicting schedules.
Took a a scroll down, but I was kind of waiting for this. The fact that every example was white speaks volumes. Having white, upper-class (real or fake) characters still appeals to most audiences.
@@UnboxingAlyss That too.
Yes, and they should have been catching up on reading the latest research and writing papers - you don't get all that done on campus.
If characters actually ate all the takeout and junk food they show them buying and eating, they'd be obese. And most of these characters never have to exercise regularly.
As a woman from the 90s, I hated 'Friends', since it was not real. I had to work full-time, study Uni full-time, no much time left to enjoy life...... Now, almost 50 yr old, I own my apartment, live very comfy, have a job, and a lovely cat, and at the end of the day, that's real life.....
It’s not just the beautiful apartments in very expensive cities, and their designer wardrobe’s. It’s also the amount of food and alcohol they consume. The nothing but cake and chips and drink a lot of alcohol. But they never seen bloated or with bad skin or overweight. So that’s the part that always gets me. That being said you’re watching it for entertainment. It’s a fantasy.
In some cases,if you’re part of the diaspora this is why your friends & family back home expect the world from you because they think we are all swimming in cash in America because of the unrealistic shit they see on tv 🤣🤣🤣 money grows on trees here to them…
I could very easily see how shows could give that impression to people who don’t live in the US.
However, I don’t really understand people from the US seeing these types of shows and moving to a big city thinking that their lives are going to be like those of characters on TV shows.
I always wonder if the people who went to NYC to live like the Friends characters also left their doors unlocked 24/7 like on the show, so that just anybody could walk in at any time.
I mean Carrie could just sell some of her shoes clothes to pay debt instead of asking her friends.
The resale value of most expensive items turns out to be only a fraction of the original prices. (That’s why people who think these items are good “investments” are mistaken.)
@@terry9238 depeds on buyer. People are able to buy any dumb shit
for ridiculous overprices.
Easy answer is characters need the freedom to be where they need them to be for plot and story purposes. Cant have alot of stories if characters are struggling for money and where to live. Its easier to just not explain it
The Flash (in the TV show) lives with his adopted dad and half-sister partner way into his adulthood because he can't afford anything else as a forensic intern. He does make fun of Supergirl's huge apartment that she somehow pays for even though she is an intern herself.
Coronation Street and EastEnders in the UK too. Coronation Street was set on Manchester but it looks more like Salford with those old terraced houses even in the 70s as there was slum clearance in inner city Manchester in the 60s.
EastEnders was set in Hackney from the start in 1985 hence the three storey Victorian houses. Hackney was starting to be be gentrified at the time as it is close to Islington. None of the characters would be able to live there if they existed in real life. So when I watched it I used to think East Ham or even West Ham or Poplar.
thank you for this episode! It would be so refreshing to see realistic portrayal of an average person's living arrangements! sadly it hardly ever happens indeed! honestly I can't stand those shows where everybody (including unemployed or underemployed folks) having huge, decked up with designer decor apartments and houses. or how about basement apartments lol? I myself lived with very unglamorous roommates for ages, and now I have a small and very simple apartment with cheap furniture. but yeah, showing such place wouldn't be good for ratings I suppose.
My sister and I loved Friends when we were younger *haven't seen the other examples), but a lot of the financial components didn't really make sense. Like a lot of sitcoms, young, upper middle class, usually white characters just had these huge apartments and near-limitless money and we never questioned it.
Thankfully, we never took those examples to heart when it came to managing money. We have parents who grew up in working class families (our father being from African country) in the 60's and 70's. They busted their asses to become professionals and instilled that same drive and money management skills to their kids. I keep an excel spreadsheet of every dollar I spend and update it every week. It isn't glamorous or sexy, but I know where my money is going and I know how to save for what I want and invest for the future.
Growing up, I thought all aspiring actresses lived like “Anne Marie” in “That Girl” with a great apartment, a cute boyfriend, and lots of fun jobs. My life in New York was nothing like that!!!
The problem is, I was watching SATC as a teenager, and of course I was enamoured with the lifestyle. Unless you have a wise and realistic adult sitting with you and educating you on what you're seeing, you WILL believe that moving to a fancy world-class city lends itself AUTOMATICALLY to a glamorous lifestyle. Even Miranda, perhaps the financially wisest and most realistic of the 4 women, had unrealistically TOO much time to spend hanging out with her friends. That kind of upper-echelons law career means burning the midnight oil day in, day out. They don't show enough of that in the series.
Now a millennial in my mid- 30s, I wish I had learnt the lesson earlier. Too much travelling and spending money on experiences or occasional fashion "treats" to self did not lead AT ALL to a long-term sensation of happiness or anything of the sort. Luckily, I was wise-ish and not too lavish, but still I now wish I'd spent less on BS until the other day and had more cash for things that really matter.
Dare I say (but this is a more complicated matter)...wouldn't it be a post-80s, hyper-capitalist system that led to such TV PRODUCTS (because that's what they are) that are, essentially, part of the system to keep you poor? Just an idea. I wonder if TV shows pre-Reaganism/Thatcherism had a more "educational"/"realistic" take on the depiction of life?
Any two cents from other viewers appreciated! (Hopefully no keyboard warriors....I'm so tired of them I self-censor myself and most of the time I don't comment on videos :) )
As a young conservative, I can tell you not much has changed... It's capitalism at work. Entice young people to sell their souls to huge corporate conglomerates. It was the same in the 60s and 70s with Mary Tyler Moore and That Girl to nowadays
Rachael's wardrobe and Carry Bradshaw's lifestyle
Honestly I feel like I've always paid attention to the style of characters more than their spaces. I can suspend my disbelief about renting apartments with the low salaries they make more than I can the fact that everyone is always portrayed a dressed up or business casual with full makeup in so many shows. And when they do dress down its for episodes about depression or being sick or hung over or a breakup. I always liked in the first season of Degrassi The Next Generation the teens did their own makeup and whatever the wardrobe budget was more limited, we'd actually see in the same season outfits being repeated. I'd say for Friends Season 1 and part of 2 they dressed more casual, you'd see Rachel in a tshirt and shorts or monica in polo. Obviously as their budget grew for the series so did th wardrobe, but so many shows out the bat have teens and adults in designer clothes with full on makeup, all the time even when just chilling in their apartments/home. No one I know dresses like this 24/7 unless they are going out to a club/party/wedding/business meeting. Now in other shows the people who dressed up are either the ridiculously wealthy (Gossip Girl) or it was a personalty trait of a character to be very trendy/experimental (IE The Nanny). But since the 2000s forward, everyone who is supposed to be "normal" teen or adult is soo dressed up even if it wasn't in a big city (NY/LA) or if they are broke/middle class. How do they afford rent AND designer fashions they do not repeat lol
I lived on the upper west side NYC for 2 yrs. I promise all of these portrayals are very realistic. It’s mind boggling how many ppl “somehow” afford to live there with no on face explanation.
SATC characters were always eating out, clubbing out, taking a cab, shopping and more shopping and more time to parties. 😅
That was common in Manhattan in the 80s to the 00s. That's why even a lot of expensive apartments only came with tiny kitchens. You weren't supposed to cook a full meal in it.
Or when they go out every evening and DRINK! It’s such an unhealthy stereotype.
Many an episode of IASIP would lack plot stability without Frank's seemingly never-ending supply of cash.