From the figure of the obscene rich to the fantasy of its destruction: on Succession, schadenfreude and the godlike power of the super-rich on screen

Abstract

A significant part of contemporary popular culture portrays the rich as obscene, self-destructive, addicted and deranged. This article analyses the affective intensities circulating around this trope by close reading the award-winning television series Succession and its media reception. Drawing from cultural analyses of the entrepreneurial myth and of the tensions between patrimonial capitalism and the ideals of meritocracy, the article analyses the figure of the obscene rich, the ambiguities such portrayals seem to carry and the experiences of schadenfreude they generate. The article asks what is at stake in the tendency to represent the rich as obscene and analyses the subjectivities and affects this trope creates or postulates both for the rich characters and the audience. Looking beyond the critical concepts of ambiguity and ambivalence, the article asks to what extent the affects around the obscene rich are linked to the contemporary economic formation, characterised by a strong belief in meritocracy but growing dynastic tendencies. It argues that Succession creates a fatalistic sense of no escape, leaving its audiences with ambiguous affects, mixing disgust with envy and moral superiority. Ultimately, the article analyses Succession as a series that fosters a fantasy in which rich dynasties will eventually destroy themselves, or at least suffer, while the rest of us are left entertained.