When I think of uptown, wealthy New York, I think of the greedy, superficial people that prey upon everyone else in New York City and only care about money and drinking wine all day. They epitomize superficiality and dubiousness. They are often living a fake life, cringing at the thought or sight of anything they deem unworthy of their touch or thought. They brought this stereotype upon themselves.
Edwards’ Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the perfect example of this fake and superficial life. Lulu or Holly or whatever her name is lives in an elegant apartment, has a huge variety of clothes to choose from, and has extravagant parties where she invites everyone except the president of the U.S. She also can’t even call her own cat anything besides Cat. She is only interested in the superficial, material things, like diamonds. Tiffany’s is her go-to place because it’s filled with her favorite thing, diamonds. She wants to buy something from Tiffany’s even though she only has 10 dollars. This is one of themes of the movie. She is a wild thing, as Fred (Paul) calls her; she wants so many things that she obviously can’t have.
The more I watched the film, the more I realized that this is the life that most wealthy people live. They are overwhelmed with the influences of money and material things. While this is a stereotype, not everybody is this way. However, most of the wealthy class in New York City lives this same life. Nobody can be the queen of Brazil as Holly thought she could be. This film reminded me of Tennessee Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire. Blanche is fixated upon the paper lantern. The actual lantern is shielded from the outside by the paper covering. Blanche wants to be something she is clearly not and hide her true self from others. She is obsessed with the dresses, the jewelry, the fine food, and she hates when people act anything but elegant and put-together. Holly acts and lives in the same life.
Both of these women also have in common that they crack when the reality of their life hits them in the face. Holly couldn’t handle it and Blanche couldn’t handle it.
This accentuates the idea that the wealthy are nothing without their money, if they didn’t have the money, they would not be able to survive. I guess money really can’t buy love.
