Was Mr. Big Upper Class or New Money?

[Anonymous]

I think Carrie thinks he is NYC upper class. But is he really? He comes across as a poseur new money finance bro who has bad habits. But! In the episode where Carrie stalks his mother at church, she certainly comes across as an upper class NYC woman.

What do we think?

[Anonymous]

The actor playing Big is not upper class or old money, thus the character didn't come across that way.

But the character was supposed to be.

[Anonymous]

New money.

[Anonymous]

I think his family was probably upper middle class, not old money rich like the MacDougals, but wealthy. Big probably went to an NYC prep school and had good connections, and got very rich in finance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think his family was probably upper middle class, not old money rich like the MacDougals, but wealthy. Big probably went to an NYC prep school and had good connections, and got very rich in finance.

But would a regular UMC woman come across as patrician as his mother did?

[Anonymous]

The writers and director didn't try to make that distinction, so the character doesn't present in a specific way. He's just extremely rich.

[Anonymous]

This is a good question! He married Natasha
— but was unhappy, was that the type of woman he thought he should marry? His ex wife I think was successful but not much info. I remember he took Carrie to an old money upper East side party ( she was uncomfortable there and after he told her he loved her). So perhaps he’s not old money but wanted to be part of that set?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a good question! He married Natasha
— but was unhappy, was that the type of woman he thought he should marry? His ex wife I think was successful but not much info. I remember he took Carrie to an old money upper East side party ( she was uncomfortable there and after he told her he loved her). So perhaps he’s not old money but wanted to be part of that set?

I see him as a poseur who wanted to be a part of the old money set, as well. It still doesn’t solve the puzzle of his patrician-seeming mother.

[Anonymous]

I thought he was supposed to be a "master of the universe," the phrase that Tom Wolfe coined about very rich NYC guys. I don't think they had to be from an old money background, just be super ambitious. He never struck me as patrician but maybe he was supposed to be. The writing wasn't necessarily consistent. He was supposed to be based on Ron Galotti who sounds like he came from.the middle class and made it big.

[Anonymous]

By the way, Candice Bushnell wrote some entertaining novels around the 2000s. One was called Four Blondes and one was One Fifth Avenue and I think there were others i likedv them much more than i expected to. They mught be too dated now.

[Anonymous]

Who cares? His mother wasn’t a focal point of the show. So what if she looked patrician but he did not?

[Anonymous]

Most old money doesn't have the drive to make it big in the finance world. They are generally lucky if they have enough, and someone who is a decent steward of the money.

The guys who made it big in the 80s were the middle class guys who were smart, hungry, lucky and weren't worried about making enemies, then polished up once they had made it. Big's mom in that scene totally seemed like a woman who came from nothing and suddenly is rich due to her son, who had been rich long enough that the "airs" were much more ingrained.

[Anonymous]

He’s definitely a finance bro. Probably came from some money but not an old money family. There are gradations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:By the way, Candice Bushnell wrote some entertaining novels around the 2000s. One was called Four Blondes and one was One Fifth Avenue and I think there were others i likedv them much more than i expected to. They mught be too dated now.

I couldn't get through Sex and the City book, but loved the show. Though I didn't start watching it until it came out on DVD and rented it at Blockbuster. I really liked One Fifth Avenue, but we looked at an apartment in the building, so I found that fascinating. By the time Four Blondes came out I had moved on from that kind of book. Though in that category of book, I loved Bergdorf Blondes (knew so many women who were actually BB) and from the West Coast, The Starter Wife.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He’s definitely a finance bro. Probably came from some money but not an old money family. There are gradations.

Big is a product of the 80s and they didn't really have finance bros back then. The finance guys were usually from Long Island or Jersey, and not the better parts, who had hustle and smarts. A great book from the time he would have been coming of age in finance was Liar's Poker by Michael Lewis. Great memoir of his days on Wall Street.