DISILLUSIONMENT: Adult life might not be as decadent as Rich Kids of Beverly Hills’ Dorothy Wang makes it seem.
By Antonio Serros, Staff Writer
In E! Network’s new reality television series, Dorothy struts down a yellow-brick-road-turned-Rodeo-Drive, finding her amiable forest friends replaced with cynical sales associates at Chanel. While she may have exchanged her iconic ruby slippers of Frank L. Baum’s Wizard of Oz for a pair of red-soled Louboutins, her wondrous world of Oz is still very much in tact.
No, Judy Garland was not resurrected from Hollywood Hills; rather, Dorothy Wang, the star of Rich Kids of Beverly Hills, came to fill her place as the girl lost in Oz.
Dorothy Wang, daughter of business mogul Roger Wang, spends her days coasting through Santa Monica, getting her nails done and shopping for luxury condos—all with Daddy’s money.
Hmm. At least Baum’s Dorothy had a sense of work ethic.
Within the first episode, an instantaneous hit, we discover that Dorothy’s Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion have been replaced with Morgan Stewart, the girl without a brain, and Roxy Sowlaty, the craven, soon-to-be poor kid of Beverly Hills. Together the girls form an iconic trio, invincible against bad selfie lighting, credit card debt and flat Cristal.
The elite socialites immediately take us along on a real estate hunt for the perfect Los Angeles property. “I need to be within a five mile radius of Barney’s at all times,” Wang explains as she overlooks all of Los Angeles valley from a three million dollar palace. It isn’t until later that Dorothy finds the perfect condo, as sky-high as her heels, and takes up a permanent residence in the mystical land of Oz.
Rich Kids of Beverly Hills, as it turns out, is nothing more than a misnomer since the show’s main characters are all in their mid-twenties. Champagne, private jets and Hermès birkins are all fine and dandy as juvenile allowances, but unfortunately these adults have outgrown the Mercedes they got for their sixteenth birthdays. In their mid-twenties now, these adults have no realistic perception of a world beyond the Hills. Where is their sense of financial independence? Where are their careers? If Daddy’s black card gets denied, where will our princesses of Beverly Hills find themselves? Are they going to run a lemonade stand?
However, the show reveals a flaw in our society that runs deeper than the stars’ pocketbooks. Rich Kids of Beverly Hills projects a false notion about adult life, perpetuating an image of lounging at Chateau Marmot and tweeting all day rather than actually working. Every time Dorothy swipes her black card at Barney’s, every time Morgan’s boyfriend buys her a Givenchy bag she’s been dying for and every time the group spends $20,000 for a day on a yacht, these “kids” support the growing sense of disillusionment with adult life that they project.
Dorothy Wang lives in a world in which poolside tanning and trips to Cabo replace the very real responsibilities associated with adult life.
The last thing America’s teenagers need is to idolize a girl who was born into a life of opulence and effervescent champagne dreams. America’s teens don’t need yet another excuse to evade the evil monkeys that are taxes and overtime and—above all—the boring reality that is life with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry.
Whereas Baum’s Dorothy had a desire to return to the sepia reality of life on the farm, Beverly Hills’ Dorothy Wang will forever be stuck in the technicolor fantasy world of Oz.
Photo courtesy of tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com