Alain de Botton
4 HN recommenders · recommended in 13 months, 2015–2026
2:23:07 · 951K views · Feb 26, 2014
Alain de Botton's 2004 documentary based on his book Status Anxiety, running over two hours. It asks why people in rich societies are still unhappy, and examines how worries about success, snobbery and meritocracy drive that anxiety.
HN recommends it as an illuminating, eye-opening long-form take on status, luck and how we judge the successful and unsuccessful.
13 comments from Hacker News
Luxury goods are status symbols, we buy them because we crave status because deep down we crave recognition from others in society. So I wonder if urbanization/the trend towards more loneliness is the problem. If you have a tightly-knit community, you'd have people who appreciate you because of your character, sense of humor or good company; not because you drive a fancy car. And nowadays we don't really have real communities anymore, just polarization through the Internet, where people try to feel better about themselves by putting down others. This (2+ hours) documentary about status is quite eye opening: this video
This doc is eye-opening: this video (although it's over 2 hours and I fell asleep the first time I watched it). but TL;DW: People are always looking for status, because status means others acknowledge and praise them. And today's celebrity culture means being famous is seemingly a quick way to gain status. With a better community you'd have friends who like you and acknowledge you because they got to know you and your character.
If you found this article interesting, I can highly recommend the book (and documentary) "Status Anxiety", by modern philosopher Alain de Botton. The video has a couple of gems, such as the comparisson between an english country-side vicar, and an american TV preacher. this video
Too many people buy the American dream of "If you just work hard enough, you'll be successful.". If you believe this, then you'd have to believe the opposite: "If you're poor and unsucessful, that means you didn't work hard enough, you must be lazy.". And too many trust-fund kids or kids from rich parents who could afford to send them to expensive schools (or rich enough to live in a district with a well-funded school) dismiss their luck and believe "I'm successful, that must mean I've been a diligent and smart worker.". Also, beware of survival bias, most of people in here will have similar paths (born with smarts, good education, high-paying IT job, great success) and probably have similar beliefs about hard work and luck... This 2+ hour documentary partly talks about it, in particular from ~28m: this video
I skimmed through the review, it seems it's skewering this book and the arguments it's trying to make. But curious, if other people see expensive cars as status, me showing up in a fancy car means me showing up with status. If I'm female and I show up with a Louis Vuitton bag, that also means showing up with status, but with a Michael Kors bag? As a female friend told me a few years ago "Ewww, everyone buys that brand, it's now 'cheap'."... Interesting long-ass documentary about status: this video , but also about the "meritocracy" and the US' idea of "If you work hard you'll be successful" which imply the flip of it: "If you're poor, that means you're lazy".