Along with family trauma, “Eat the Rich” seems to be another common theme explored in media nowadays. We have seen it in “The Menu”, “Glass Onion” and the one film that was able to grab a Best Picture slot “Triangle of Sadness”.
Set aboard a luxury yacht, Carl and Yaya — models and social media influencers — are surrounded by wealthy guests of all backgrounds and a crew that will stop at nothing to meet their needs. When tragedy strikes the yacht, roles are reversed to see who can survive.
There is a lot of commentary out there about the top 1% of society and this film’s approach is to make it as a satirical black comedy. It is broken up into three parts: Carl and Yaya, The Yacht and The Island. Part One focuses on the relationship dynamics between Carl and Yaya. Even though they are in the same line of work, Yaya gets paid more as a female model while also gaining a huge following online as an influencer. We see how Carl is treated as a male model, feeling uncomfortable with the campaign he is doing and not getting front row seating when he is at one of Yaya’s runway shows. But what this part focuses on is the relationship between the two. After a dinner, Carl is expecting Yaya to pay the bill as she has promised she would pick it up the last time they went out, while Yaya automatically assumes Carl will pay for it as he is the man in their relationship. Their conversation takes place in the restaurant, in the cab, and in the elevator of their hotel until it is (somewhat) resolved in the end. This part of the movie not only introduces us to our protagonists, but establishes what they want out of life. Both have a strong focus on the importance of providing. Carl claims that he does not want to focus on gender roles when it comes to things like money because he wants them to be equals in their relationship. But I think this is an excuse that Carl tells himself because he wants to be a provider for Yaya but cannot in their current moment in life. He does not make as much money as her, which goes against the traditional standards the previous generation has gone through. He feels bad that he cannot give Yaya everything that she wants to make her feel secure, so he gets in arguments with her about something as simple as paying the bill. Yes, he wants to be seen as an equal to Yaya when it comes to their relationship, but the fact that he cannot give her the basics of her lifestyle means that he will never be good enough for her. When Carl is able to provide something for two women in the third part of the movie, we see him feel better about himself and what he is doing because he is filling in that role as a provider. This part not only establishes what Carl thinks of his relationship with Yaya, but Yaya herself tells us that she is only with Carl for the followers for both of them and how it can help both of their careers. She is providing for them in a more untraditional way with the rise of social media and how fake relationships can boost sales or clicks or whatever is making them the money. Yaya says she will stay with Carl until she meets a rich man that can give her everything she needs for the rest of her life. Yaya, like Carl, cares about have things provided for — but instead of being the provider she feels comfort in being the providee. There is nothing wrong with feeling comfort in knowing that your basic needs will be taken care of by your partner. Her needs might not really all fall under the umbrella of being “necessary” but she deserves that feeling of being provided for just as much as anyone else. We see both sides of what it means to have the feeling of knowing you are okay for the present and future, which plays into how their relationship ends up by the final part.
For Part Two, we are on the yacht, where Carl and Yaya have been invited for free in exchange for promotion of the trip. We are introduced to the staff of the yacht, broken up into the staff that has more face-to-face interaction with the customers on board and those who are doing more of the behind the scenes work. It is not surprising that it is mostly white, good-looking individuals that are apart of the customer satisfaction crew and people of color working away from the cruise-goers; they are even wearing white and navy shirts respectively. Paula, the head of staff, make sure to tell the white-shirt employees to follow and accept any kind of offer the guests might ask, no matter how absurd. If they follow every single request, there is a great chance they will end up getting a very big tip. They end this meeting by chanting “Money! Money! Money!” because even those who are not seen as the rich that are on board, they still care about how much they will make at the end of their shift. As someone who has worked a variety of customer service jobs, I understand the want of making people feel good about the service we are providing. But I will also be the first one to tell you that the customer is not always right. There are better ways of making sure all guests are satisfied, but having your only response be “Yes sir” and “Yes ma’am” is not what makes great service. We see this when Vera, the wife of a Russian oligarch, insists that the entire staff take a break and go for a swim. You can see how much Alicia, the young worker, is struggling to say yes as she is the first one to be asked to go in the hot tub with Vera; she was told she has to please the guests but she also has a duty to complete her work. When you have money and power, you think that everyone will bend over backwards to make your life better because you have something they do not. Whatever you are doing at that present moment is not as important as the request that they have of you. After Alicia finally gets in the hot tub, Vera calls Paula over and makes the entire crew, both white-shirts and navy-shirts, stop what they are doing and take a slide down the blow-up slide the yacht has because they are all working so hard they deserve a break. Because Paula has put in place this “Don’t Say No” rule, she also has to follow it and requires the crew to stop everything. This includes the cooks, as they are preparing the dinner and cannot leave their stations in risk of the food going bad. But the rich Russian lady wants you to go swimming so you must obey! There is a lot of entitlement that comes with having the means to do extravagant things, but that does not mean that you always have to listen to them. It is okay to say no to people in power because they are not always right. You also cannot put people who work below you at such a risk of displeasing someone that it could get them fired essentially by the guest and not from you as the boss. Rich people do not always need to have power, but unfortunately that is what our society has come to. Vera sure is regretting making the entire staff do something at her whim by the end of this part though.
After tragedy hits the yacht, few characters are left stranded on a deserted island with little resources and no knowledge on how to actually survive. Most of the people that end up on the island are the rich guests that have not had to do anything themselves in who knows how long. Living a life of privilege does not always guarantee that you will get through all aspects of life. You have access to more knowledge and resources than the average person to learn how to survive in the wilderness but you never take advantage of it because your daily life does not require you to utilize those skills. Only one person, Abigail (who is part of the custodial staff on the yacht), can build a fire and catch the food and has to be the provider for everyone on the island. One of the best parts of the movie is when Abigail realizes her power she has while they are all stranded on this island and makes all of the rich people and her boss say that she is the captain of the island. And she has every right to because she is the only one that can keep them alive. She knows that the power dynamics have shifted in her favor, something she has probably never experienced before. When she crashed on the island, Paula was still giving her tasks to do because Paula’s only focus was keeping the guests happy. But they are not on the yacht anymore — it should not be run the same way it was before. The one with the most knowledge should be the one that is in charge, something we are not used to in society because money usually is what gets you power. But just because you have the power when you deserve it does not mean you are immune to what comes with it. Abigail runs the show at the beginning of their time on the island, but as everyone else is learning how to adapt and fend for themselves, she begins to feel threatened that her skills will no longer be beneficial to the group, therefore she will not need to be in power anymore. They are all about to become the most equal amongst each other as the rich guests’ skills grow, and Abigail does not want that. Even though she will still be the top dog, she will not have as much power as she once had. Especially if there are threats to get them off of the island because she wants that power for as long as she can have it because if they leave that island, she will never have that same kind of rank again. Power corrupts and it is why she can convince Carl to give her sexual favors in exchange for food for him and Yaya. She knows the kind of grip she has on him and she will stop at nothing to keep that control.
There is time for change when it comes to how we view money in relation to power but also how we view power over those we find weaker than us, which is why it should win Best Picture.
This one is for the social media critics.
