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3%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!
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7%%Image chosen via crowner in the Image Suggestion thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/ImagePickin/ImageSuggestions104
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9%%Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
10[[quoteright:350:[[Series/Dynasty2017 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dynastycast.png]]]]
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12TheBeautifulElite are fun to watch. There's something satisfying in describing their ConspicuousConsumption, dressing them in [[CostumePorn beautiful and expensive]] {{Unlimited Wardrobe}}s, and the shady or otherwise dealings that ''keep'' them rich. There are so many settings in which the rich can play as well -- they can be favored OldMoney nobles in a CostumeDrama, popular kids at a prep or RoyalSchool, celebrities living large, cutthroat executives of high-powered companies, drug lords, heads of state, politicians, or politician-wannabes. Hence this trope, which is about when the majority of characters in a work are RichPeople (maybe even Fiction500) and the plot milks their glitz and glamour as much as it can.
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14One reason for this is that drama is heightened with such characters. Since they usually don't have to worry about financial problems (except for the BrokeEpisode), they can devote their time to all the LuxuryTropes the writers want to add in, like hosting lavish dinner parties on [[WealthyYachtOwner yachts]], remodeling their {{Big Fancy House}}s, living it up in affluent communities like Beverly Hills or the Hamptons, going on extravagant shopping trips and holidays, participating in high-stakes gambling, attending [[UpperClassEquestrian horse ballet]], and other fun activities only the one percent can afford. This isn't necessarily good, however -- the work may be out to portray them as [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense out-of-touch]] and or [[UpperClassTwit stupid]] for the sake of comedy or drama, or as [[RichBitch mean]], ruthless, or {{corrupt|Corporate Executive}} so they can maintain or grow their finances.
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16Another reason might be WishFulfillment on the part of the writers and audience, most of whom don't come from rich backgrounds. In fact, the term "[[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2017/mar/06/big-little-lies-fifty-shades-grey-darker-billions-wealth-porn wealth porn]]" was coined to describe society's almost morbid fascination with media depicting how the rich live, especially in a time of increasing income inequality. Because of this, works that utilize this trope will likely have a middle-class or poor character as an AudienceSurrogate, reacting with shock or disgust as the real-life audience would to all the over-the-top wealthy shenanigans -- see PennyAmongDiamonds. This may cross over with InformedPoverty when even the supposedly not-rich surrogate still has the lifestyle trappings of their well-off peers.
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18The UrExample is probably the "silver fork novels" of the second quarter of the nineteenth century, telling melodramatic tales of aristocratic life with lots of CostumePorn and NoCelebritiesWereHarmed. In modern times, this trope crops up often in {{Prime Time Soap}}s and RealityTV.
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20Note that the main character/s don't have to be rich to qualify for this trope -- but most of the characters they interact with must be. Conversely, if the main character/s is/are rich but everyone around them isn't, it isn't this trope either.
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22See also AristocratTeam for when it's a ''team'' full of rich people.
23----
24!!Examples:
25[[foldercontrol]]
26[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
27* ''Literature/TheCaseFilesOfJewelerRichard'' focuses on Richard Ranasinghe de Vulpian, a well-off jeweler from a staggeringly rich family, whose family, work associates, and wealthy customers make up the bulk of the cast. Seigi, his two college friends, and his parents are the only ones not absurdly wealthy in the series--and it spends far less time on all but Seigi. Given how much Richard pays Seigi, their RelationshipUpgrade to "partners," and Richard's lavish gifts, Seigi is hardly considered middle-class by the later books.
28* In ''Manga/HayateTheCombatButler'' the titular character works for Nagi, heiress to the mind-boggling Sanzenin fortune. Most of Nagi's peers at her spiffy private school are very rich as well.
29* The cast of ''Manga/KaguyaSamaLoveIsWar'' attends Shuchiin Academy, a school meant for Japan's wealthiest families, with the parents of most students being politicians, corporate [=CEOs=], and so on. While Kaguya is the only one whose extreme wealth has much plot relevance, many students casually talk about having expensive vacations on cruise ships or to foreign countries. Student Council president Miyuki Shirogane, however, is from a poor family and only got into the school on an academic scholarship, and he works incredibly hard to keep his grades top-notch in part so the rich kids don't look down on him.
30* ''Manga/{{Lady}}'' focuses on Lynn Rusell, the half Japanese daughter of Viscount Marble who's suddenly moved to England and has to learn how to be a ProperLady. She interacts with fellow noble families including the Waverlys, the Brightons and the Spencers, and the second season focuses on a school for the rich.
31* ''Manga/OuranHighSchoolHostClub'': Everyone except ScholarshipStudent Haruhi is fabulously wealthy, owning lavish mansions, artificial jungles, private islands, and ''private armies''.
32* Implied in ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'': the Student Council Duelists are implied to be made up of rich kids. Touga and Nanami are explicitly wealthy and live on an off campus estate, Miki and his twin sister live in an apartment by themselves and are shown to have a large house at home, Juri is a model, and Anthy and Akio have a SleekHighRiseApartment and are close with the namesakes of the school. The only exceptions are Utena, an orphan, and Saionji, who seems to have a bad relationship with his family [[spoiler:and has to ask Wakaba, a fellow student, to let him stay with her while he is expelled]]. The trope is downplayed in that the wealth of the characters rarely comes into play.
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35[[folder:Arts]]
36* Most of the characters in ''Art/ASundayAfternoonOnTheIslandOfLaGrandeJatte'' are implicitly of high class, thanks to indicators like outfits and military status.
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39[[folder:Comics]]
40* ''ComicBook/RichieRich''. Richard $ Rich, Junior, is the son of stupendously wealthy parents, and lives in a sprawling mansion where even the household staff qualify as millionaires. Richie's chief rivals are Reginald Van Dough and Mayda Munny, likewise very wealthy, but also spoiled rotten. As part of Richie's PetTheDog personality, he keeps company with working-class FreeRangeChildren Freckles and Pee-Wee.
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43[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
44* ''Film/{{Clueless}}'': The movie revolves around the Bronson Alcott High students who live in the famously affluent Beverly Hills, with two of the main characters, Cher and Dionne, both living in a mansion, wearing stylish designer clothes, and loving to go shopping.
45* ''Film/CountYourBlessings'': Grace comes from money, with her father being a knight who has a mansion in the fancy Mayfair district of London. But Charles comes from even more money, having homes all over France, including a home in Paris, another home in Paris that is so lavish it's been turned into a museum, and a vineyard, and a goddamn castle. Also, he's a marquis and will eventually be a duke.
46* ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'' wastes no time in establishing just ''how'' conspicuously wealthy Southeast Asia's one-percent is. The Youngs (real-estate moguls) have a BigFancyHouse in famously land-strapped Singapore, Astrid casually buys a pair of earrings costing over a million dollars in her EstablishingCharacterMoment, and Colin's and Araminta's bachelor/ette parties are a rave on a luxury cruise ship and a luxurious getaway on a private island, respectively. Even Rachel's old college friend, Peik Lin, is also rich. She drives sports cars and lives in a mansion that has everything covered in gold, although the implication is that she's NouveauRiche compared to everyone else. Rachel winds up being a PennyAmongDiamonds, unsure of her status among them.
47* ''Film/CruelIntentions'': It focuses on the lives of wealthy Upper East Side prep school students, including popular girl Kathryn Merteuil and playboy Sebastian Valmont, who are stepsiblings.
48* ''Film/GetAClue'': It's about a group of high school students who investigates their missing teacher. The said students happen to be rich Upper East Side teenagers attending an elite private school.
49* ''Film/MarciX'': The two main characters in the movie are rich, one is the titular character, a spoiled JewishAmericanPrincess, and the other one is a famous rapper. Other wealthy characters also exist, such as Marci's socialite friends and Senator Spinkle.
50* ''Film/MyPast'': Hey, it may be 1931 and America may be wallowing in the depths of the Great Depression, but that doesn't stop John and Robert from being wealthy steel magnates who throw lavish parties, live in opulent mansions, and take pleasure cruises on John's private yacht.
51* ''Film/{{Opfergang}}'': Albrecht can just sail around the world whenever he wants, it seems. Octavia and Als, the two women in his LoveTriangle live in neighboring mansions on the coast, have domestic staffs, and go riding around the countryside on horseback whenever they're bored.
52* By the time of [[TheMovie the movies]], the ladies of ''Film/SexAndTheCity'' have become this. Carrie is a successful author and is married to a Wall Street executive, Miranda is a lawyer, Samantha owns her thriving PR company, and Charlotte was born from Connecticut BlueBlood and is married to a lawyer.
53* ''Film/TroopBeverlyHills'': It focuses on a girl scout troop whose members come from affluent Beverly Hills families, with its new leader also being a spoiled, wealthy socialite. Their activities are also lavish, such as jewelry appraisal at Cartier boutique, mani-pedis, camping at a luxury hotel, patch ceremony on a yacht, and even a fashion show to sell cookies.
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56[[folder:Literature]]
57%% * All of Creator/JaneAusten's books are about relationships and social dynamics of wealthy English society members.
58* ''Literature/CrazyRichAsians'' trilogy focuses on the lives of Asia's uber rich, with the first book focusing on the lives of the elite in Singapore, and the later books focusing on the lives of the even richer elite in China.
59* Creator/BretEastonEllis made a specialty of it. His characters are vapid, morally depraved lunatics with name brand clothing, luxury cars and huge mansions.
60** ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'' has a Wall Street trader who moonlights as a serial killer.
61** ''Literature/{{Glamorama}}'' has a cast of fashion models who are secretly a terrorist cell.
62** ''Literature/LessThanZero'' has a ''slightly'' more moral protagonist, but he's compared to a bunch of cocaine dealers who have a twelve year old girl SexSlave ChainedToABed...
63* ''Literature/TheGreatGatsby'' and its film adaptations are about the lives of a cast of wealthy New Yorkers who live extravagantly in TheRoaringTwenties. The book in particular explores the idea of the American Dream and the conflict between the "OldMoney" and "[[NouveauRiche New Money]]" subclasses of rich people.
64* ''Literature/TheHouseOfMirth'' by Edith Wharton tells the story of Lily, a single-minded socialite who suffers a fall from grace after a failed marriage proposal reveals the rigid rules of her wealthy society friends leave no place for her.
65* ''Literature/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'' stars Catarina Claes, the daughter of a duke and the fiancee of a prince. Most of her friends and schoolmates at the kingdom of Sorcier's WizardingSchool are wealthy nobles. One of the few exceptions is Maria, a commoner who happened to be born with the rare light magic (something that caused her to be mistaken for a noble's illegitimate child, since few besides nobles can use magic).
66* ''Literature/ThePortraitOfALady'' is focused on the lives of people from the English upper-class (like Lord Warburton) and American expatriates living in Europe in high style. They're all rich, beautiful and eccentric.
67* ''Literature/PrincessesOfThePizzaParlor'': The titular {{Princess Protagonist}}s are automatically high-class / rich due to being princesses, but they also meet up and / or fight other current, former, and/or ancient and/or undead princesses / ladies of noble birth on their way to a point approximately on the other side of the world from their starting point. Their other enemies mainly have forsaken civilization by being bandits or worshipping a GodOfEvil, or are following the orders of a ruling figure like a tribal leader.
68* Due to its focus on politics, this applies to ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. Most of the major characters are high-ranking lords and ladies of Westeros. With this status comes old estates, intricate costumes, jockeying for power in the DecadentCourt, the works. There are some less well-off point of view characters (eg. Davos, Areo), but they tend to serve the nobility and provide insight on their lives. There are also some commoner [=POVs=] (usually one-offs for the prologue and epilogues) and supporting characters (such as those in Jon's and Arya's storylines), but these are the minority.
69* Creator/LeoTolstoy:
70** ''Literature/AnnaKarenina'' is about the intertwined relationships of several families in the Russian nobility, with a focus on skewering the value system of Society at the time.
71** ''Literature/WarAndPeace'' is also about the loves and relationships of interconnected noble families. Being rich allows them to be mostly unconcerned with Napoleon marching on Russia until the invasion is at their doorsteps.
72* PlayedForDrama in Creator/CarolineKepnes' ''Literature/{{You|Kepnes}}'' and its sequel, ''Literature/HiddenBodies''. All of the main characters are very wealthy, except [[StalkerWithACrush Joe]], who is legitimately poor, and the object of his affection, StarvingStudent, Beck, who is constantly broke just trying to fit in. Even more so in ''Hidden Bodies'', where Joe moves to LA and almost every single major character is a trust fund baby and/or famous, and the "poorest" other character is a cop.
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75[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
76* ''Series/AnotherPeriod'' can be best described farcically as ''Series/DowntonAbbey'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY meets]] ''Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians'', set around the fictitious Bellacourt family in TheGildedAge. Daughters [[RichInDollarsPoorInSense Lillian and Beatrice]] are only concerned with fame and wealth and actively shun any attempts at women's equality. The cast also includes maids and servants, who are constantly belittled by the Bellacourts and other bluebloods.
77* Played with in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment''. The Bluth family is pretty well off when the series begins, but then patriarch George Sr. is arrested for various crimes and the company's finances are frozen. Much of the show involves the Bluths trying to adjust to "normal people" life while still trying to fit in with affluent society.
78* ''Series/{{Baby}}'': All the main students go to an elite private school in Parioli, a wealthy district of Rome, since it's also the place where [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory the real-life scandal happened]]. Ludovica, however, is not actually rich, and is in danger of being kicked out of the school, since her single mother can't afford it.
79* Both ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' and its SequelSeries, ''90210'', revolve around the lives of (mostly) rich Beverly Hills students attending West Beverly High.
80* ''Series/BigLittleLies'' is about rich Monterey, California suburban moms whose priorities initially seem to be their wealthy families and their children's private-school activities. Their fashion and beautiful homes are given much focus by the SceneryPorn. Middle-class single mom Jane acts as the PennyAmongDiamonds.
81* With a name like ''Series/{{Billions}}'', wealthy characters are certainly expected. The two main characters are rich, with Bobby Axelrod being a hedge fund billionaire, and Chuck Rhoades coming from a very rich OldMoney, with his trust fund being locked on his own command, despite working as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Chuck's deputy prosecutor, Kate Sacker, also has a wealthy father and her own trust fund. Bobby's employees at Axe Cap, including Chuck's wife, Wendy, and associates, are also rich by working for him.
82* ''Series/TheCrown2016'', given that it deals with a young Queen Elizabeth II and the rest of the British royalty and nobility, who lead appropriately lavish lifestyles. For example, Elizabeth sets out on a tour with a different hand-crafted gown each day.
83* ''Series/{{Dallas}}'', a primetime soap about a family of oil barons and their associates in Texas.
84* ''Series/DeviousMaids'': While the maids themselves are not rich (except for Marisol, who's actually a college professor, going undercover as a maid), their employers belong to the rich and powerful who all live in Beverly Hills and always showcase their luxurious lifestyle.
85* ZigZagged on ''Series/DowntonAbbey''. Half the cast is the wealthy Crawley family (though much of the plot is about them having money troubles and dealing with the decline of the nobility), and the other half is the people who work for them.
86* ''Series/Dynasty1981'', a primetime soap bout a family of oil barons and their associates in Colorado (fittingly a rival show to ''Dallas'').
87* ''Series/Dynasty2017'', the remake of the above, is about the dealings of the extremely wealthy Carrington family within and outside their high-powered big oil conglomerate. Given this, schmoozing with other rich people is part of the show's bread and butter.
88* ''Series/Elite2018'': While most of the students at the fancy private school of Las Encinas hail from the wealthy and powerful Spanish elite, a few of them, such as [[ScholarshipStudent Samuel, Christian, Nadia]], and [[MockMillionaire Cayetana]], are [[PennyAmongDiamonds not.]]
89* ''Series/{{Empire}}'' is about the Lyons, a rich musician/corporate family, and their struggle to keep the family together and at the top of the music scene. Thus, many of the supporting characters are high-powered and glamorous as well.
90* ''Falcon Crest'' borrowed the ''Dallas''/''Dynasty'' template, but changed the liquid from oil to wine, and examined the lives of Napa Valley (well, actually [[NoCommunitiesWereHarmed Tuscany Valley]]) winemaking families.
91* ''Series/FilthyRich'' is about the life of a family of billionaire televangelists.
92* ''Series/GossipGirl'' focuses on wealthy Manhattan prep school students-cum-socialites who weave their way through New York's elite. Sure, they go through relationship drama and college problems like most teens, but do so surrounded by extravagance. Dan and Jenny, who are from Brooklyn, are the poor-''ish'' characters in the cast.
93* K-drama ''Series/TheHeirs'' centers around a group of wealthy young business scions, with Eun-sang as the commoner PennyAmongDiamonds.
94* ''Series/HouseOfCardsUS'': The main characters, Frank and Claire Underwood, are definitely well-off. Frank is a congressman later turned VPOTUS and eventually POTUS, while Claire, who comes from a wealthy background, runs an NGO, later turned second lady, then first lady, and eventually POTUS, replacing her husband. Some of the supporting characters are also from the wealthy and politically-connected background such as billionaire Raymond Tusk, Russian president Viktor Petrov, New York Governor Will Conway, billionaires Bill and Annette Shepherd, etc.
95* ''Series/TheMarvelousMrsMaisel'': The main character, Midge, flourishes in the elite Jewish community of New York.
96* ''Series/TheOC'': Poor and troubled Ryan Atwood is adopted by the wealthy Cohens and moves to the affluent Newport Beach in Orange County, where he also meets its wealthy residents, including his neighbor/girlfriend, Marissa Cooper.
97* ''Series/ThePolitician'''s first season is about uber-wealthy California prep school students, of which Peyton is one of the wealthiest.
98* Many RealityTV shows are devoted to chronicling how real-life rich people live.
99** ''Series/KeepingUpWithTheKardashians'' is about the FamousForBeingFamous Kardashian family and their struggles, but also about promoting their personal brands.
100** ''Series/LifestylesOfTheRichAndFamous'' chronicles the day-to-day lives of several wealthy celebrities.
101** ''Series/TheRealHousewives'' is about rich women who either married rich, were born rich, or are rich in their own right.
102* ''Series/Revenge2011'' is set in the Hamptons (an affluent summer destination for wealthy New Yorkers) and focuses on Emily Thorne as she tries to get revenge on the rich and powerful Graysons. Many of the supporting characters (including the Graysons' associates and Emily's friends) tend towards the wealthy end of the spectrum as well. Emily Thorne herself is rich as well, thanks to inheriting 49% share of Nolan's tech company, in which her father had invested.
103* ''Series/TheRighteousGemstones'': The show is about an insanely rich and dysfunctional family who lives lavishly, thanks to their success in televangelism and megachurches.
104* ''Series/RoyalPains'': It's about a concierge doctor catering to the wealthy patients in The Hamptons, so the show is practically surrounded by rich people.
105* ''Series/TheRoyals'': It revolves around the life of the fictitious dysfunctional British royal family, who showcases their glamorous and powerful life (notably shown when Cyrus becomes king). Its supporting characters are also from the wealthy and noble background.
106* Due to focusing more on the PRIDE families than [[ComicBook/{{Runaways}} the original comic]] (which had the kids run away right away and didn't give the parents much pagetime), ''Series/Runaways2017'' becomes this. The main characters are six wealthy kids and their parents. The kids all go to a fancy Los Angeles private school, while their parents are big names in STEM (the Minorus, Steins, and Yorkeses), church (the Deans), and real estate (the Wilders) who [[CrimeConcealingHobby cover up their villainy]] by pretending to be a group of {{Wealthy Philanthropist}}s.
107* ''Series/{{Suburgatory}}'': George and his daughter, Tessa, moves to the affluent suburb of Chatswin, where they meet its wealthy residents, including George's dentist best friend, Noah, and George's love interest, Dallas, along with her popular, ValleyGirl daughter, Dalia.
108* All of the main characters on ''Series/{{Succession}}'' are obscenely wealthy, as they are a media dynasty. However, the main family is ''very'' dysfunctional, and the dynamic only worsens as the titular SuccessionCrisis comes to a head. Instead of enjoying their vast riches, they seem more concerned with ''keeping'' the wealth.
109* ''Series/TheWhiteLotus'': Besides a few of the staff, the series mainly revolves around a set of wealthy guests who are all staying in suite rooms at the titular Hawaiian luxury beach resort.
110* ''Series/WillAndGrace'': Out of the four main characters, three of them are well-off, with Will, a lawyer and later, law professor, and, Grace, an interior designer, living together in a nice apartment at Upper West Side, and also Karen, Grace's assistant, being an extremely rich multi-millionaire socialite.
111* ''Series/You2018'':
112** Joe [[spoiler:marries the super-rich Love]] and the two move to an opulent California suburb in season three, where they rub elbows with several obnoxiously rich neighbors.
113** The fourth season's characters are an ultra-wealthy London social circle, comprised of several children of aristocrats and millionaires. They provide elite settings for plots, such as an extremely exclusive club, a posh art gallery, and a palatial country house.
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116[[folder:Video Games]]
117* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'' is set in a MilitarySchool for royals and nobles, so the majority of the cast are the offspring of rich landed nobility, with one imperial and one royal heir in the mix. There ''are'' a couple commoners accepted into the academy on their combat merits, as well as a handful of {{Impoverished Patrician}}s, but they are the exceptions confirming the rule.
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120[[folder:Web Original]]
121* ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse:'' For reasons which no one has ever figured out, there is a disproportionately high rate of mutant manifestations among the uber-rich[[note]] though some of have darkly suggested that this is because many of the poorer ones [[CapePunk don't survive]], or at least [[SuperhumanTrafficking remain at liberty]], long enough to get to Whateley[[/note]]; a disproportionate number of those are [[HeroicBuild high-level Exemplars]], too. While they are a relatively small part of the student body, the sway some of them hold over the rest of the school is substantial. In addition to the Golden Kids (the primary [[Characters/WhateleyUniverseSchoolClubsAndCliques school club]] for the scions of wealth and prestige) and the Alphas (Whateley Academy's AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil), the leading members of groups such as The Good Ol' Boyz and the New Olympians are mostly well-off or better. Most of the Bad Seeds' parents are also wealthy, what with being successful supervillains and all. One of the primary characters, Phase, is from a family whose business is at the very top of the Fiction500, and despite being disowned and left a mere pittance ($300 million), he has managed to [[YoungEntrepreneur turn his fortunes around before the end of his first year at the school]]. Even the founder of [[BreakfastClub Faction Three]], Thuban, is immensely wealthy (and good looking during the brief periods he can hold his human form), as is Tisiphone, one his primary supporters, though in their cases the good looks aren't part of the package.
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124[[folder:Western Animation]]
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126* ''WesternAnimation/BeverlyHillsTeens'': This animated series is about the lavish lives of the filthy rich teenagers who live in Beverly Hills, who all belong to a very fancy and palatial country club called Beverly Hills Teen Club.
127* The cast in ''WesternAnimation/NeoYokio'' were wealthy socialites and demon hunter. Unfortunately, they were also mostly shallow, clothing and status obsessed {{Upper Class Twit}}s.
128* ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'': The three main characters, Sam, Alex, and Clover, certainly come from money, as they live in the elite Beverly Hills (they lived in their mansions, before they live in a posh beach house together in later seasons) and love to go on numerous shopping sprees. Additionally, their arch rival, Mandy, is shown to be even richer than them.
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