Today in class, we watched a documentary about how to act like an upper class person. It was a little ridiculous, because as most of the class saw, the person who was trying to learn just acted awkward around the people she tried to socialize with. She didn't seem comfortable, even though she looked like she fit in. I looked for more tips on how to "be classy" online. I figured that they would give basic tips to help a person in any social situation, and I was right. HERE is what I found.
To me, being classy is just acting mostly refined and proper, as well as being clean and dressing with good taste. However, classy means "having class," which seems like saying that one has what it takes to be upper class. According to the Wordle that Mr. Bolos made, upper class people have wealth, power, high levels of education, and use their wealth to buy expensive stuff. None of that information was on the website about how to have class. In fact, the only mention of money is in two out of the 16 tips. Number 8 and Number 9. 8 says to be clean and look good. Wear clothes and accessories that flatter your body. Number 9 says to not be a slave to trends, and don't look high-maintenance. So one says to spend money to look good and the other says not to spend excessively.
I find this advice to be so neutral that it almost doesn't help at all. It fails to advise the public about how to do upper-class-ish things, like shop, go places, not act awkwardly, and assimilate to an upper-class lifestyle. Also, it doesn't mention anything about race. It doesn't say that most non-whites will most likely have a hard time fitting in to a white-dominated upper class. I believe that this is to maintain neutrality, but in doing so, important information is lost. While this one article may not be the best to analyze in this manner, I believe that it would be more helpful to give advice other than basic guidelines on how to interact with others. How does this article and its problems/solutions reflect our societal class system?
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ReplyDeleteDavid-
ReplyDeleteInteresting post! I agree with you that this website would not be very helpful for people wanting to fit in with members of the upper class. A lot of these suggestions, like "be real", "never gossip", and "treat others the way you want to be treated", don't seem to fit with the things the movie in class was saying. For example, Bill Blass talked about Ivana Trump in an unflattering way and the people around him were accepting and almost amused because it seemed typical of him. It seems to me that if you were too nice and considerate at that type of social gathering, you might get lost in the mix and seem isolated and shy.