History Main / Yuppie

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thatguy.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"It's all about appearances. That's why it's time to update our company's stodgy image and give it the sleek, dazzling veneer of the 1980s."]]

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' parodied this trope mercilessly in "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E21FutureStock Futurestock]]" with Steve Castle, a typical '80s corporate raider who had been [[HumanPopsicle cryogenically frozen]] when he was in his 30s, in a bid to survive a then-untreatable disease. He dresses in an expensive suit with suspenders, has a cell phone seemingly attached to his hand, is obsessed with the latest trends and gadgets, works in finance, and thinks greed is a virtue. He quickly takes over Planet Express and grooms Fry in the yuppie lifestyle, acting like the eighties hadn't ended a thousand and ten years before, [[spoiler:only to end up abruptly dying of the very disease he was frozen for, because he had been too busy "being an eighties guy" to get himself cured.]]

* ''Film/{{Beethoven}}'': Brad and Brie are two venture capitalists who try to swindle family patriarch George Newton out from under his nose. They’re smug, snobby, and notedly don’t like kids. They get their comeuppance [[HeroicDog thanks to the family’s titular dog]].

* The song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzTV4r9n8L0 "Yuppie Drone"]] by The Pheromones is a satiric review of all the annoying characteristics and cliches that made yuppies so hated during the 80s and 90s.

* Carter Burke in ''Film/{{Aliens}}'' is a yuppie in space, a young [[CorruptCorporateExecutive junior executive]] for [[MegaCorp Weyland-Yutani]] who serves as the company's liaison on the military expedition to Hadley's Hope. He initially presents himself as a friend to Ellen Ripley, but [[BitchInSheepsClothing it turns out]] that he's [[SuitWithVestedInterests actually there]] to collect a sample of the xenomorph for Weyland-Yutani to study. When a xenomorph takes him out, [[AssholeVictim nobody mourns]].

-->-- '''Website/UrbanDictionary's [[https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Yuppie definition]] for "Yuppie"'''

'''''Yuppie''''' is an acronym of ''young urban professional''. The term first appeared in the media in 1982 and came to be one of the more characteristic period tropes of TheEighties.

* [[Music/RemainInLight "Once in a Lifetime"]] by the Music/TalkingHeads is a very obtusely about this, as it is a about a yuppie who is so work-obsessed they didn't even realise they became opulent and materialistic.

* Sam and Molly are yuppies in ''Film/Ghost1990''. Sam is a Wall Street financier and Molly is a potter, and they live together in Soho, and Sam is murdered [[spoiler:because of his friend/co-worker Carl's greedy money laundering scheme.]]

Despite their material wealth, it was common in [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructive works]] to have yuppies facing failure in their personal lives with such problems as substance abuse, marital strife, or [[WhenYouComingHomeDad lack of family commitment]]. Their perceived [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorption]], along with other potentially off-putting qualities (insufferable trendiness, snobbery, latent class anxiety, [[TheHedonist decadence]], smugness, and fixation on making money), also made them [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets easy comic targets]], or even [[HateSink outright villains]], in many works during the '80s and '90s. In a SlobsVersusSnobs conflict, yuppies would definitely be the snobs, unless they were coming up against an even snootier old-boy network.

Outside of the office, yuppies tended to live in pricy, and often gentrified, inner-city apartments or restored older homes. More affluent ones could be classified as NouveauRiche since they were prone to displays of ConspicuousConsumption, albeit usually of the SimpleYetOpulent variety. Until such devices became commonplace, the yuppie's most distinctive attribute was the use of the StatusCellPhone, which allowed them to become a ClockKing with a meticulously planned work schedule. As [[TechnologyMarchesOn technology marched on]], other attributes came to define them, such as trendy physical exercise (including yoga and advanced weight machinery), novelty electronic devices, a CoolCar (usually a BMW, Mercedes, or Porsche[[note]]In the '80s, American luxury brands like Cadillac and Lincoln were considered passé and [[AudienceAlienatingEra a long way from their glory days]], and usually driven by the yuppies' older bosses[[/note]]), and [[MustHaveCaffeine caffeine addiction]], with an [[OvercomplicatedMenuOrder elaborate taste for exotic kinds of coffee]]. Quite a few had [[WorkHardPlayHard wild personal lives]].

Yuppies were members of the later Baby Boom generation, or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones "Generation Jones"]], who became successful (or at least well-paid) [[WhiteCollarWorker white-collar workers]] in their twenties and thirties, usually in finance, law, sales, architecture, or management consulting. In the era's StandardOfficeSetting, yuppies stood out because they were often young for their rank, typically {{workaholic}}s, and obsessively materialist. The men were [[SharpDressedMan sharply dressed]] in suits made for Wall Street financial types, and the women made such [[TheFashionista fashion statements]] as [[LadyInAPowerSuit power suits]] with [[ShouldersOfDoom large shoulder pads]], [[EightiesHair voluminous]] or [[BoyishShortHair slick]] hair, and work-appropriate makeup that was also heavy and striking.

Outside of the office, yuppies tended to live in pricy, and often gentrified, inner-city apartments or restored older homes. More affluent ones could be classified as NouveauRiche since they were prone to displays of ConspicuousConsumption, albeit usually of the SimpleYetOpulent variety. Until such devices became commonplace, the yuppie's most distinctive attribute was the use of the StatusCellPhone, which allowed them to become a ClockKing with a meticulously planned work schedule. As [[TechnologyMarchesOn technology marched on]], other attributes came to define them, such as trendy physical exercise (including yoga and advanced weight machinery), novelty electronic devices, a CoolCar (usually a BMW or Mercedes), and [[MustHaveCaffeine caffeine addiction]], with an [[OvercomplicatedMenuOrder elaborate taste for exotic kinds of coffee]]. Quite a few had [[WorkHardPlayHard wild personal lives]].

Despite their material wealth, it was common in [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructive works]] to have yuppies facing failure in their personal lives with such problems as substance abuse, marital strife, or [[WhenYouComingHomeDad lack of family commitment]]. Their perceived [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorption]], along with other potentially off-putting qualities (insufferable trendiness, snobbery, latent class anxiety, [[TheHedonist decadence]], smugness, and fixation on making money) also made them [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets easy comic targets]], or even [[HateSink outright villains]], in many works during the '80s and '90s. In a SlobsVersusSnobs conflict, yuppies would definitely be in the former category, the exception being if they were coming up against an even snootier old-boy network.

Since they looked similar upon first glance, especially in their taste in fashion, it was easy to confuse a yuppie with [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant a preppy]]. However, there was one key difference between the two: yuppies were [[NouveauRiche new money]] while preppies were OldMoney. There was also some slight overlap between the yuppie and the archetypal SelfMadeMan, except that the latter grew up lower-class in economically stressful circumstances while the former grew up middle-class in comfortably stable surroundings.

The yuppie trope was at its strongest during the '80s and early '90s, but is now becoming a DeadHorseTrope with the aging of the Baby Boomer demographic group. By the mid to late [[TheNewTens 2010s]], the concept of yuppies had evolved into {{Bourgeois Bohemian}}s and {{Hipster}}s, who are similar but whose media depictions emphasize their lifestyles rather than their careers, and {{Tech Bro}}s working for or running Silicon Valley tech companies.

'''''Yuppie''''' is an acronym of ''young urban professional'', which first appeared in the media in 1982, and came to be one of the more characteristic period tropes of TheEighties.

Yuppies were the members of the later Baby Boom generation, or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones "Generation Jones"]] who became successful (or at least well-paid) [[WhiteCollarWorker white-collar workers]] while in their twenties and thirties, usually in finance, law, sales, architecture or management consulting. In the era's StandardOfficeSetting, yuppies stood out in that they were often young for their rank, typically {{workaholic}}s, and obsessively materialist. The men were [[SharpDressedMan sharply dressed]] in suits made for Wall Street, while the women made such [[TheFashionista fashion statements]] as [[LadyInAPowerSuit power suits]] with [[ShouldersOfDoom large shoulder pads]], [[EightiesHair voluminous]] or [[BoyishShortHair slick]] hair, and work-appropriate makeup that was also heavy and striking.

Outside of the office, yuppies tended to live in pricy, and often gentrified, inner-city apartments or restored older homes. More affluent ones could be classified as NouveauRiche since they were prone to displays of ConspicuousConsumption, albeit usually of the SimpleYetOpulent variety. Until it became commonplace, the yuppie's most distinctive attribute was the use of the StatusCellPhone, which allowed the yuppie to become a ClockKing with a meticulously planned work schedule. As [[TechnologyMarchesOn technology marched on]], other attributes came to define them, such as trendy physical exercise (including yoga and advanced weight machinery), novelty electronic devices, a CoolCar (usually a BMW or Mercedes), and [[MustHaveCaffeine caffeine addiction]], with an [[OvercomplicatedMenuOrder elaborate taste for exotic kinds of coffee]]. Quite a few had [[WorkHardPlayHard wild personal lives]].

Despite their material wealth, it was common in [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructive works]] to have yuppies facing failure in their personal lives with such problems as substance abuse, marital strife, or [[WhenYouComingHomeDad lack of family commitment]]. Their perceived [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorption]], insufferable trendiness, snobbery, latent class anxiety, [[TheHedonist decadence]], smugness, and fixation on making money also made them [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets easy comic targets]], or even [[HateSink outright villains]], in many works during the '80s and '90s. In a SlobsVersusSnobs conflict, yuppies would definitely be in the former category, the exception being if they were coming up against an even snootier old-boy network.

The yuppie trope was at its strongest during the '80s and early '90s, but is now becoming a DeadHorseTrope with the aging of the Baby Boomer demographic group. By the mid-late [[TheNewTens '10s]], the concept of yuppies had evolved into {{Bourgeois Bohemian}}s and {{Hipster}}s, who are similar but whose media depictions emphasize their lifestyles rather than their careers, and {{Tech Bro}}s working for or running Silicon Valley tech companies.

Yuppies were the members of the later Baby Boom generation, or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones "Generation Jones"]] who became successful (or at least well-paid) [[WhiteCollarWorker white-collar workers]] while in their twenties and thirties, usually in finance, law, sales, architecture or management consulting. In the era's StandardOfficeSetting, yuppies stood out in that they were often young for their rank, typically {{workaholic}}s, and obsessively materialist (see below). The men were [[SharpDressedMan sharply dressed]] in suits made for Wall Street, while the women made such [[TheFashionista fashion statements]] as [[LadyInAPowerSuit power suits]] with [[ShouldersOfDoom large shoulder pads]], [[EightiesHair voluminous]] or [[BoyishShortHair slick]] hair, and work-appropriate makeup that was also heavy and striking.

Yuppies were the members of the later Baby Boom generation, or "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones Generation Jones]]" who became successful (or at least well-paid) [[WhiteCollarWorker white-collar workers]] while in their twenties and thirties, usually in finance, law, sales, architecture or management consulting. In the era's StandardOfficeSetting, yuppies stood out in that they were often young for their rank, typically {{workaholic}}s, and obsessively materialist (see below). The men were [[SharpDressedMan sharply dressed]] in suits made for Wall Street, while the women made such [[TheFashionista fashion statements]] as [[LadyInAPowerSuit power suits]] with [[ShouldersOfDoom large shoulder pads]], [[EightiesHair voluminous]] or [[BoyishShortHair slick]] hair, and work-appropriate makeup that was also heavy and striking.

* In ''Film/VampiresKiss'', Creator/NicholasCage plays a young, affluent literary agent in '80's New York who balances out his business days with hedonistic nights filled with casual sex. His character then comes to believe he's turned into a vampire, a metaphor for the predatory nature of uncontrolled capitalism and the yuppie class.

* [[Music/RemainInLight Once in a Lifetime]] by the Music/TalkingHeads is a very obtusely about this, as it is a about a yuppie who is so work-obsessed they didn't even realise they became opulent and materialistic.

[[folder:Films]]

Yuppies grew up in {{Suburbia}} as the children of middle-class or working-class parents but had a tendency to [[CulturalCringe distance themselves from their upbringing]] due to the [[StepfordSuburbia cultural, political, social, and artistic attitudes and tastes attached to it]]. A [[{{Flanderization}} common (but not always applicable) stereotype]] about yuppies was that, in their youth, [[CulturalRebel they rebelled]] against [[DefectorFromDecadence the materialism and conformity]] of [[TheGenerationGap their parents]] and joined [[NewAgeRetroHippie the '60s counterculture]] only to later [[FormerTeenRebel re-enter mainstream society]] and [[SellOut embrace]], to [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis an even greater degree]], many of [[{{hypocrite}} the same moral failings they condemned their parents for indulging in]]. The younger boomers, who were too young to experience the sexual revolution and would have grown up during the 1970s and early 1980s, would have skipped the counterculture phase and embraced consumerism and pop culture growing up, while also turning their noses up against the antics of the earlier boomers.

Yuppies were the members of the later Baby Boom generation, or "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_Jones Generation Jones]]" who became successful (or at least well-paid) [[WhiteCollarWorker white-collar workers]] while in their twenties and thirties, usually in finance, law, sales, architecture or management consulting. In the era's StandardOfficeSetting, yuppies stood out in that they were often young for their rank, typically {{Workaholic}}s, and obsessively materialist (see below). The men were [[SharpDressedMan sharply dressed]] in suits made for Wall Street, while the women made such [[TheFashionista fashion statements]] as [[LadyInAPowerSuit power suits]] with [[ShouldersOfDoom large shoulder pads]], [[EightiesHair voluminous]] or [[BoyishShortHair slick]] hair, and work-appropriate makeup that was also heavy and striking.

Outside of the office, yuppies tended to live in pricy, and often gentrified, inner-city apartments or restored older homes. More affluent ones could be classified as NouveauRiche since they were prone to displays of ConspicuousConsumption, albeit usually of the SimpleYetOpulent variety. Until it became commonplace, the yuppie's most distinctive attribute was the use of the StatusCellPhone, which allowed the yuppie to become a ClockKing with a meticulously planned work schedule. As [[TechnologyMarchesOn technology marched on]], other attributes came to define them, such as trendy physical exercise (including yoga and advanced weight machinery), novelty electronic devices, a CoolCar (usually a BMW or Mercedes), and [[MustHaveCaffeine caffeine addiction]], with an [[OvercomplicatedMenuOrder elaborate taste for exotic kinds of coffee]].

Yuppies grew up in {{Suburbia}} as the children of middle-class or working-class parents but had a tendency to [[CulturalCringe distance themselves from their upbringing]] due to the [[StepfordSuburbia cultural, political, social, and artistic attitudes and tastes attached to it]]. A [[{{Flanderization}} common (but not always applicable) stereotype]] about yuppies was that, in their youth, [[CulturalRebel they rebelled]] against [[DefectorFromDecadence the materialism and conformity]] of [[TheGenerationGap their parents]] and joined [[NewAgeRetroHippie the '60s counterculture]] only to later [[FormerTeenRebel re-enter mainstream society]] and [[SellOut embrace]], to [[BecameTheirOwnAntithesis an even greater degree]], many of [[{{Hypocrite}} the same moral failings they condemned their parents for indulging in]]. The younger boomers, who were too young to experience the sexual revolution and would have grown up during the 1970s and early 1980s, would have skipped the counterculture phase and embraced consumerism and pop culture growing up, while also turning their noses up against the antics of the earlier boomers.

Despite their material wealth, it was common in [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructive works]] to have yuppies facing failure in their personal lives with such problems as substance abuse, marital strife, or [[WhenYouComingHomeDad lack of family commitment]]. Their perceived [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorption]], insufferable trendiness, snobbery, latent class anxiety, [[TheHedonist decadence]], smugness, and fixation on making money also made them [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets easy comic targets]], or even [[HateSink outright villains]], in many works during the '80s and '90s. In a SlobsVersusSnobs conflict, yuppies would definitely be in the former category.

Since they looked similar upon first glance, especially in their taste in fashion, it was easy to confuse a yuppie with [[WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant a preppy]]. However, there was one key difference between the two: yuppies were [[NouveauRiche new money]] while preppies were OldMoney. There was also some slight overlap between the yuppie and the SelfMadeMan, except that the latter grew up lower-class in economically stressful circumstances while the former grew up middle-class in comfortably stable surroundings.

* ''Film/TheWolfOfWallStreet'' deals with the life of crooked Wall Street broker Jordan Belfort and portrays him as the embodiment of the worst of Yuppie {{greed}} as he trains his employees to sell bogus stocks while being fueled by a healthy diet of [[HookersAndBlow hookers and cocaine]].

* The genie in ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}'' fits many yuppie stereotypes, including having a fantasy version of a Filofax (the Fullomyth) and something that appears to be a mobile phone (in the eighties ''and'' in a fantasy universe), using phrases like "Let's do lunch" and "Have your people call my people" (although he admits he doesn't actually have any people), and there's even a nod to gentrification when he explains that he's invested in "a set of derelict lamps in the docks area of Ankh-Morpork that had great potential, once the smart crowd got there, to become the occult equivalent of a suite of offices and a wine bar".

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}'' parodied this trope mercilessly in "[[Recap/FuturamaS3E21FutureStock Futurestock]]" with Steve Castle, a typical '80s corporate raider who had been cryogenically frozen when he was in his 30s, in a bid to survive a then-untreatable disease. He dresses in an expensive suit with suspenders, has a cell phone seemingly attached to his hand, is obsessed with the latest trends and gadgets, works in finance, and thinks greed is a virtue. He quickly takes over Planet Express and grooms Fry in the yuppie lifestyle, acting like the eighties hadn't ended a thousand and ten years before, [[spoiler:only to end up abruptly dying of the very disease he was frozen for, because he had been too busy "being an eighties guy" to get himself cured.]]

Despite their material wealth, it was common in [[DeconstructedTrope deconstructive works]] to have yuppies facing failure in their personal lives with such problems as substance abuse, marital strife, or [[WhenYouComingHomeDad lack of family commitment]]. Their perceived [[ItsAllAboutMe self-absorption]], insufferable trendiness, snobbery, latent class anxiety, [[ExecutiveExcess decadence]], smugness, and fixation on making money also made them [[AcceptableProfessionalTargets easy comic targets]], or even [[HateSink outright villains]], in many works during the '80s and '90s. In a SlobsVersusSnobs conflict, yuppies would definitely be in the former category.

* ''Film/AmericanPsycho'': just like its source novel, the film is set in the world of New York investment banking, with most of its characters either affluent and soulless office workers or bohemians. The VillainProtagonist himself is also a [[spoiler:possibly fantasizing]] SerialKiller in his downtime.

* Sam and Molly are yuppies in ''Film/Ghost1990''. Sam is a Wall Street financier and Molly is a potter, and they live together in Soho, and Sam is murdered because [[spoiler: of his friend/co-worker Carl's greedy money laundering scheme.]]

* ''Literature/TheseWordsAreTrueAndFaithful'': When Ernie first looks up Sam's apartment building, he sees that it is "marketed to young professionals, within walking distance of both the [[{{gayborhood}} gayborhood]] and the main campus of Uxbridge University, well-appointed, and not cheap." Later, when Ernie writes his personal ad to find someone different from Sam, he specifies, "No workaholics, yuppies, or college students."