Is it Worse to be Born Terrible, or to Aspire to it?

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Since Saltburn hit streaming a few weeks ago (my review), it seems like I’ve scrolled past a flood of takes about how it failed as a satire of elites, or that it wasn’t mean enough to Oxford Fauntleroys. I’m all for being mean to rich people, especially British ones, but it seemed like a lot of the criticism was missing the whole point of the movie. The entire line of criticism eerily mirrors a lot of similar complaints we heard about The Menu last year (I had a fun conversation about this with Luke O’Neil last year at WelcometoHellWorld), and some of the ones about Parasite from a few years earlier.

You could say that Saltburn (which featured a number of extended gross-out gags like Barry Keoghan’s character sucking spent semen out of a bathtub drain) was too gross, or that it could’ve depicted Oxford students as even snobbier and more depraved, and I wouldn’t necessarily disagree (though I do love most things deliberately gross and graphic). But at its heart, Saltburn is not an exposé of old money. It’s a strivers-vs.-swells dramedy that asks which is more truly depraved, to be born obscenely wealthy or to aspire to it?

It further struck me that this is a very similar dynamic to the one in Succession, which furthered its status as one of the most acclaimed and written about televisions shows of the decade (no show on Earth could match its words-per-viewer numbers) this past Sunday with four Golden Globe wins. That show had its own climbers-vs-nepo babies plot, in the form of Tom Wambsgans and the Roys’ disinherited cousin Greg (aka “The Disgusting Brothers.”). They were my favorite characters, and Succession’s creators seemed to know this, hence the ending.

Anyway, I wrote a whole thing breaking down Saltburn and Succession’s sort of equal-yet-opposite takes on strivers-vs.-swells, and I was about to publish it here. Then I realized that it had mostly proper grammar, not that many swears, and didn’t have much in it I could imagine being objectionable to advertisers. So on a whim I sent the whole thing to Alex, my editor at GQ, and he said he’d pay me genuine American currency to publish it in a national magazine— er, the website of a national magazine.

So, go check it out over at GQ. You should be able to read it for free. Also, there are spoilers for Succession and Saltburn in it, so reader beware. Hope you like it, and that you don’t mind the extra click.

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In other news, yes, we recorded a new Frotcast this past week (about Katt Williams and Natalia Speaks). We should have another one in a few days — Matt and I are attending a 25th anniversary Sopranos thing tonight for Pod Yourself A Gun. We’ll also be recording new episodes of Pod Yourself The Wire soon, as we prepare to begin season five. Subscribe to the Patreon (even if it’s just for free) for relevant updates.

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