This week, I have compiled a list of five movies featuring rich people experiencing tragic turns of fortune. Why not a series of traditional rags-to-riches success stories? Well, from listening to certain artists discuss the trials and tribulations of being incredibly rich and famous, characters just become less sympathetic after they’ve achieved success. By bringing the 0.01% down to earth, just for a while, evokes pathos that isn’t present the other way around.
The Great Gatsby (2013)
Nick Carroway (Tobey Mcguire) moves to a wealthy neighbourhood in New York circa 1925, and is immediately intrigued by his neighbour Jay Gatsby’s (Leonardo DiCaprio) grand parties and his cousin Daisy’s (Carey Mulligan) romantic entanglements. None of it ends well.
I generally dislike Baz Luhrmann’s opulent style (Moulin Rouge!, Romeo + Juliet) but he has finally found a medium for his art. The swinging 20’s, as they were known, were a glittery flourish of fringe and art nouveau bobs before the Great Depression. But for the main characters, their downfall comes far before the stock market crash of 1929.
Anyways, the leading actors carry their iconic roles well without being overwhelmed by Luhrmann’s scenery and it’s a schaedenfreudal pleasure to see them crumble under past glories.
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is suffering a spot of post-traumatic depressive disorder after the events of The Avengers and copes by building dozens of Iron Man suits. However, a well-placed missile strike by a terrorist figure known as “The Mandarin” forces Tony to improvise without his millions.
Given the trend of darkening superhero movies ever since The Dark Knight, it was only natural that the Iron Man franchise might take a darker turn – never mind that the first installment was released a mere two months before the sequel to Batman Begins. Of course, “darker” is relative when speaking of Tony Stark. RDJ channels the obnoxiously rich billionaire philantrophist playboy as well as he ever did.
I also enjoyed the premise of forcing Tony back to the metaphorical stone age – i.e. in a dark room with a box of scraps. It’s the best way to showcase his ingenuity and reinforce that, like Bruce Wayne, there’s nothing mere about that mortal.
Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)
John Connor (Nick Stahl), future saviour of humankind in a prophesied machine apocalypse, rushes around Los Angeles and tries to shut down Skynet before it becomes self-aware. Meanwhile, paradoxen inducing Terminators (Arnold Schwarzenegger and Kristanna Loken) are getting sent from the post-nuclear-holocaust future to the past left and right.
Time travel and prophecies aside, the Terminator franchise is not a very intelligent line of action movies, culminating in the abominable Terminator Salvation. However, Terminator 2 is my favourite, because of how ickle John Connor and the Good Terminator played off each other. Terminator 3 has none of this childish charm but at least it’s better than Terminator Salvation: its plot twists make sense, fit neatly with the canonical future as we understand it, and is mostly entertaining.
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Scarlett O’Hara (Vivien Leigh), spoiled daughter of the owner of the Tara Plantation, loses her fortune and husband during the American Civil War and the tumulteous period that follows. Yawn.
This is one of my mom’s favourite movies. I enjoyed the book, but I don’t believe that this film fully embodies the passion and chaos that of the Civil War period. Perhaps it’s the style of the period but the actors looked like they were just going through the motions. Even Rhett Butler’s famed parting line feels weak with Clark Gable’s delivery. Or was the urgency lost with the four-hour running time, complete with old-timey intermission music?
Regardless, Gone with the Wind is still an excellent bit of filmmaking. It’s amazing how the production keeps the whole narrative comprehensible, even if the stars no longer can.
Cinderella (1950)
A widower with a young daughter remarries and dies, leaving her in the clutches of the evil stepmother and her two socially awkward, colour-coded daughters.
Cinderella is my absolute favourite pre-Renaissance Disney movie. I love the fairy godmother and her awful taste in formalwear. I love the fat king and the skinny duke who try to get Prince Charming hitched. Most of all, I love the little mice, with their subplots and personalities. Two of them remind me of Goscinny’s Asterix and Obelix, complete with adeptness at physically-improbable comedy.
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