I’m not sure about elsewhere in the world, but daytime TV in the UK is full of programmes where people want to move house to somewhere a little nicer or chilled - whether it’s to escape the rat race, bring up kids outside of a city, to retire, whatever. They have the strangest “contestants” though, like (and I’m pulling these from my arse but I doubt they’re far from the truth) meeting Tarquin, 44, a part time artist; and Helena, 49, who volunteers at the local farmers market.
“Their budget is 1.2 million pounds”
what the actual fuck
The fake jobs are euphemisms for having a trust fund.
That, or having bought their first property long enough ago, and in the right place, that it’s appreciated massively more than the place in the country that they’ve got their eye on. The property ladder is, possibly was, a thing.
Still is, at least to an extent. Bought a house 10 years ago for $110k, and while I’ve paid down about $30k of that between my modest down payment and 10 years of mortgage payments, the house has appreciated ~2x, meaning that I could potentially bring a $100k down payment to a new property. Even with everything else appreciating in the meantime, that makes viable many more options than I would have had if those mortgage payments had been rent checks.
Same. I bought my house a year before the housing market went up. Paid 110,000, now my bank says it’s worth 250,000.
Honestly, as cool as it is for me, that’s just not fair to everyone else. We barely made enough for the 110k loan, and this house is barely big enough for everyone. No fucking way could we have gotten 250k in any sort of loan.
Also when I say barely I mean barely, the seller actually went down to 110 from 120 because that was the max we could get, and we knew him personally. So on top of the price spike, we actually couldn’t afford our house, if I hadn’t made friends with the guy previously.
My (half serious) conclusion is the contestants like you describe are either the no-I’m-not-wealthy class of idiots that have simply come from money and don’t realise that’s not the norm, or they’re drug dealers that found a skilled accountant.
I’m under the impression that these shows are designed to make regular people think one or more of the follwiing:
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if you stay in the race long enough and work hard enough, you can attain the same thing
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if you can’t, you’re a failure = go drown your sorrows by being a good consumer.
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be unhappy with their situation and persuaded to blame minorities or the government.
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Yeap, same thing with “find my dream house” shows in America. I think the major difference is that instead of the people being in their 40s, it’s usually people in their 20’s. The source of the funding is ultimately the same, rich parents. The likely difference is between trust fund kids in the US and just people whose parents have finally taken their much awaited dirt naps in the UK.
I think rich parents are basically a prerequisite to owning a home for anyone under 40 nowadays. I’m one of the only people in my friend group of people in their late 30s who owns a home, and that was due to what I consider a minor miracle.
I was lucky and bought an abandoned house from the bank for 30k after the last recession, and that was only possible because I got a loan I probably shouldn’t have qualified for through USAA. So, still a bit of nepotism, but because my dad was in the service, not because he was wealthy.
My first house appraised for less than what we were paying for it. Not a lot, but more than we really had access to. My grandfather spotted the difference. So whole it’s true I worked hard, it’s little moments of privilege like that that really helped put me where I am today. I think folks in my position tend to over look it often. I’m 33 now. I think I’d still own a house, but all of this stuff compounds into each other. I would’ve had to pay exorbitant rent longer at an apartment complex. When I ended up selling that house I wouldn’t have gotten that extra year’s worth (or however long) back. It would’ve been less money to invest. It would probably mean we couldn’t have bought as nice of a new house when we moved. All these little extra things from a family member being able to help spot the difference between the first appraisal and loan.
Yeah that’s the House Hunters trope. It’s in the US too on HGTV.
Lisa is a 25 year old retired yoga instructor and Drew is a 28 year old brick layer who does crack in the alley behind his apartment. They are looking to upgrade into a home in the suburbs because Lisa is expecting any day now! Their budget is 3.5 million. Can they find a home?
oh no, they have a bunch of requirements and accidentally spent double their budget on the house but are still just fine somehow
Every single episode of those shows features a couple that has already purchased a house, and they pretend to give them two other choices to “pick” between.
Especially noticeable when they find a fake option that’s a better fit for their wants/needs than the one they actually chose and the same price or cheaper.
Yeah the one episode I watched beginning to end you could see the lady dying inside while touring her actual dream home that cost significantly less than the one they “ended up going with.” I didn’t know that was how the shows were set up so her reactions puzzled me until I learned that fact.
After that I figured that episode was the peak of the genre and never bothered again.
Yeah, same thing with House Hunters in the US. Those made really good memes. “Stacy, 23, who is a professional whistler, and her husband, Joe, 25, a part time stick weigher, are looking for a more relaxed pace and a smaller, cozier home. Their budget is 7 million, and they’re looking for no less than 3,000 sq meters”
Those are good shows to hate watch in a hotel when you don’t have anything else to do.
Except for this one time. It was an African American family where a single working mom had to use the dinner table to get work done after hours, her mom lived with them and had to sleep in the same bed as the younger daughter, and the teenage boy had outgrown the length of his bed.
I can’t make fun of that. This family needs a new house.
Next episode had a white family. Their biggest problems were that the kids didn’t each have their own bathroom, and they didn’t live close enough to the golf course. Now that’s more like it.
It’s absurd, but then again; The post above this one in my feed was how the “starter home” price in 200 different us cities is now $1 million.
You picked quite suitable names
I don’t mind unrealistic housing as long as it’s not directly referenced. Nothing worse than a character inviting someone into their home saying something like “sorry it’s so cramped” and then the shot reveals a living room large enough to fit my entire apartment.
seriously. or they’ll have some 25yo running the CIA or something.
This is one of the reasons nobody likes movies anymore. Hollywood is so disconnected from the struggle of the working class it’s just sad. The Oscar’s have become a joke
You got me thinking over here.
Perhaps it’s a two way street, and both sides have changed.
It used to be that people wanted to suspend their beliefs for an hour and a half and live in a fantasy. I feel like most people look more for reality and relatability in cinema these days, but Hollywood is still trying to provide the escape.
It’s just not lining up.
My theory is Instagram and “insta-type-influencers” stole that market. It’s glamour fantasy, distilled. Less attention required, no complicated movie stuff in the way. And it gets a lot of eyeballs.
Glamour movie celebs are relics coasting on inertia, hence the constant stories of a $10 million paycheck for one movie being, uh, unsustainable.
Hence, I’m hoping Hollywood has a “medium sized” indie renaissance kinda like gaming is having now. Animation and filming is still pretty expensive, but it feels like tech has to be eroding the mega studio cost advantage.
LPT from a local: Skip this tourist trap and just go to Ohiopyle down the road for natural rock slides. It is, perhaps, my favourite park.
This is one of the reasons I hate and ignore all advertising. Commercials have NO IDEA who they are marketing to anymore. All I can think about when any commercial or advert plays is how fucking out of touch the company is to be showing the product getting used in a 26000 sq foot house EVERY TIME. I don’t have a garage, I don’t have a lawn, I don’t have a basement, I dont have a house, I don’t have a dog, I don’t have kids because none of this shit is sustainable or affordable. What world are you marketing to you board rooms upon board rooms of assholes?
If a vacuum cleaner company wants to correctly advertise a vacuum to the masses, they would now have to have the commercial show a lonely man getting off of the night shift of his 3rd job, taking a bus back to his squalor closet of an apartment, and then passing out gazing at the vacuum which has been sitting unused in the corner of the bedroom for 8 months, because the only world where he has the time and energy to use it is in his fucking dreams.
I don’t think Hollywood and advertising are out of touch, they know what they’re doing. They’re not just selling products, they’re selling an ideal. It’s about shaping how people see the world. For working-class viewers, it feels fake because it’s their reality being distorted. But for middle and upper-class audiences, it subtly shifts their perception, makes working-class life look manageable, maybe even confortable. They know it’s not 100% accurate, but they don’t realize how far off it is. That’s the real effect: it makes things look better than they are, and pushes people further out of touch without them realizing it.
And then he starts masturbating…
How many Mercedes and Audis are actually sold vs the ridiculous amount of commercials they run? It really feels like people in this country are living in two different realities
They’re not for people looking to bought a car but for people that already bought one. To reinforce that they took the correct decision and that the next one they bought should be another of the same brand
To be fair, the important part about buying a Mercedes isn’t that you know what a Mercedes is, it’s that others know what a Mercedes is before you drive past them.
You’re talking about them right now
And funnily enough ads are way way more targeted now than any other time in history.
Apart from the obvious privacy concerns i actually prefer non targeted ads, because they are less effective.
But of course, you’re auto-opted into personalized ads and the majority of users couldn’t be bothered to figure out how to opt out
Well of course they live there; that’s one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s worst designs. They’re not going to live in one of his masterpieces, are they?
Is that really a Frank Lloyd?
Yes, that’s Falling Water.
To be honest, i don’t know specifically, but that’s very much in his prairie school of architecture.
If you ever get a chance, try walking around in Oak Park (a nice suburb of Chicago on the far west side); a lot of Wright’s earlier architectural work is there. One of his earliest buildings is there, from before he developed his prairie school, and it’s… A real change of pace.
70’s architecture and water damage, name a more iconic duo.
But does it come with asbestos fireproofing?
Nah, you don’t need it, the relative humidity is 100%.
It was completed in 1937, not the 70s.
'37, '73, same thing.
Is that a Frank Lloyd Wright?
Yup, thats Fallingwater in Pennsylvania. Its a museum now and you can take tours of it
Despite subsequent repairs to the parapet, the cracks there periodically reappeared. Fallingwater’s problems were so numerous that Edgar Sr. referred to it as “Rising Mildew”.
This part never fails to amuse me.
lmao yeah thats great. Cantilever structures are interesting to look at, but boy would I not want to be in charge of maintenance on that
I think his general style was really good, how his buildings could look futuristic and naturalistic at the same time, but FLW kinda didn’t give a shit about structural integrity or insulation.
The interior is also very cramped for such a large structure. The surrounding land is gorgeous though.
The designer was fond of liminal space. He likes narrow hallways and sudden openings to big rooms. Personally, I was surprised by how low the ceiling is in most of the rooms. From the pictures, it looks taller and more imposing than it is IRL.
Rising Mildew
This was my first thought upon processing wtf was happening in the pic. I mean, sure, that’s neat. But also a nightmare.
Kentuck Knob is nearby, which is another FLW house you can get a tour of. Less busy, very pretty, and the owners have an obsession with cast-iron French public urinals. I’d recommend checking it out too if you are in the area.
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Yup, I believe it’s Fallingwater
I’m not even sure who can afford just the Lego Set of Fallingwater.
What about the Atom Brick set? (3/4-Lego-scale bricks).
80s had a different definition of being a part time mum to 20 kids
The trope continues though.
I’m always sort of happy when I see realistic apartment situations. Like how Ruby Sunday on Dr. Who lives with her foster family as an adult.
Sopranos have a tidy house but they have a maid, when tony lives on his own, his house is littered with dirty laundry, cereal bowls, pizza boxes and tony isn’t wearing pants. I appreciated the realism of that show
I find most video games and other media far more unrealistic in that nobody ever needs to go to the bathroom.
Sounds like you don’t play Ark: Survival Evolved.
Imagine my surprise when I didn’t know stimberries did that too. So much!!
It’s all that tip money.
Malcom in the middle had a realistic home.
Having a home in general isn’t exactly realistic anymore
Things really have changed.
Rosanne was about a poor, blue-collar family struggling to get by that had a house with a detached garage and 4 bedrooms.
Which they only had because multiple people were murdered in the house, and Lois didn’t tell the family.
Lol didn’t know that plot twist but it tracks
Lois didn’t tell the family
that she did it during the negotiation.
This is winding me right up. You see people in movies and you think straight away - there is no way you would be able to afford this house/car.
The same goes with them living without any noticeable employment for months. Or having a job but spending their working hours doing something else.
People in movies and tv rarely have messy houses, they’re always spotless, and everyone pops in on each other and everyone is at home wearing pants.
Do you not usually wear pants at home?
I don’t know about others, but when I get home it’s, “Do we have any plans or obligations for the rest of the day?” If no, the pants come off until I’m forced to leave again.
Pants come off when I’m home unless it’s cold. I put em on if I go out again.
Hollywood has done irreparable damage to society’s expectation of reality.
And it doesn’t even stop at the financial stuff where someone has an incentive to screw with society’s expectations. All kinds of other aspects like friendships, relationships, parenting,… are strange in movies too.
There’s was a video essay on YouTube about there being less and less sex on TV and in movies and how bad that is. They argued that media should portray all aspects of life realistically; and if sex is left only to porn then it’s going to give people a more and more skewed view with no counterbalance.
That is a good point but they should also just include more awkwardness and in general more of the effort required to keep relationships (of all kinds) working, even the successful ones. That whole “find your soulmate and then coast” nonsense has done a lot of damage to relationships to take just one example.
Agree completely. None of it is well portrayed and the movies that do it well are exceptions. Any movie in which I see a man and woman having alcohol, I know there’s a sex scene coming up. Romance and sex are both so horrendously badly portrayed most of the time that I’m surprised more people don’t complain.
James Bond - typically misogynistic and women are used as Bond pleases.
1st Iron Man movie - serious investigative reporter is reduced to a hot piece of ass for a one night stand as Tony Stark clearly just picks up and sleeps with whoever he wishes.
Star Trek Into Darkness - Kirk is so alpha that the easiest way to portray this is he is in bed with 2 alien women and doesn’t even care as they beg him not to answer the phone and get back to action with them.
Honestly, I think it would already an improvement if the distinction was a bit clearer between wish fulfillment fantasy and supposedly realistic portrayal of relationships.
I don’t mind so much if men and women want fiction with their respective wish fulfillment but don’t pretend that it is realistic.
It’s the system working exactly as designed. “you, too, could have all this if you only worked hard enough. Now that you’ve spent 2-3 hours of your weekend off at the movies, get back to work, slave”
Exactly, and everything is product placement. WTF would Ford want a beater from the 80s being the car in the film? They’ll lobby for the coolest, brandnewest model even when it doesn’t make sense. Or their product placement models will be every other car on the road. I see you Transformers.
The Iron Man movies were chronic for this, Audi really made them significantly worse.
The single worst example was I Robot.
I see you Transformers.
To be fair, Transformers was always product placement. Not just “full of” it, but “entirely built of” it. They designed a line of toys first and made up a story to help sell them afterward.
That may as well be the case as I found it mostly in US movies.
Nah, it’s nothing so subtly evil. People go to movies to get taken out of their day-to-day lives. No one wants to see the protagonists struggle with the same issues they struggle with. Struggle is fine, just don’t want to see my struggle.
See: FRIENDS
Manifest was even worse. At least Friends was a sitcom, not serious and was mostly about their interactions.
Friends actually explains how Monica can afford her spectacular apartment, too. Her grandmother is the actual person on the lease and locked the rent in at $200 per month decades ago. Monica is illegally subletting the place and there’s either an episode or an arc where one of them convinced the building manager to ignore it instead of reporting it to the owner.
Fair enough. Last time I watched Friends was a couple of decades ago.
They did this in The Rookie as well. Big LA house with views.
Explained it away as him taking care of the place for his wealthy friend.
Same in fiction about modern people. Used to always wonder, “How the fuck does this guy just not work while all this shit is going down?!” People flying all over the country, dropping out of work, paying anything that needs paid, all on a middle-class job.
