Wealthy Marry Wealthy
A recent (as in 2022) celebrity marriage that garnered quite a bit of attention was the engagement of Nicola Peltz and Brooklyn Beckham. Both come from crazy rich families. Brooklyn Beckham, eldest son of former soccer star David Beckham, and Nicola Peltz, daughter of billionaire businessman Nelson Peltz have a combined family net worth of around 3.5 billion dollars. But even though their relationship was sudden and fans didn’t expect it, they were very quickly accepted as a couple. This made me think a little.
Whenever we think of celebrities getting married, we typically imagine them marrying another celebrity, someone on the “same level”, which is something I didn’t even realize prior. This has become very apparent to me as I looked through recent news on social media, and how every couple announcement and every wedding all typically involved those with a lot of money, fame, or if they were in the same social circle.
This example of the wealthy being drawn to the wealthy has even been shown in The Great Gatsby. One of the more prominent examples of this is the union of Daisy and Tom Buchanan. Tom comes from a very wealthy and established old-money family, he also inherited a great amount of money. Likewise, Daisy also came from a wealthy background. We know their marriage wasn’t exactly a happy one, so we know the only thing that could’ve brought them together is their wealth.
But this doesn’t mean all wealthy individuals exclusively marry within their financial level. Love, compatibility, and shared values are often more important factors in a successful relation rather than wealth alone, and this is becoming increasingly important. As societal norms continue to evolve, people turn to value a range of qualities beyond financial status when choosing a partner
I loved this! It was a very interesting way to relate The Great Gatsby to real life. I think it's also thought-provoking how, although people are generally allowed to marry whoever they want to, there are still societal pressures that force certain people to marry others of a shared community.
ReplyDeleteHi Vanshika! I really like how you related the Great Gatsby to a real life scenario. I think the whole Beckham marriage ordeal relates to the idea of 'keeping wealth in the family'. I like how you connected this idea to Daisy's and Tom's relationship and showed how it relates to societal norms, and I think you did a great job of analyzing :)
ReplyDeleteI loved how you noted that we never seem to think twice about two wealthy people or those perceived of the same status marrying each other. It really shows an unconscious bias that many of us have that has been ingrained into society.
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