The Privilege of Élite

How much injustice can the privileged get away with?

Apparently a lot.

Imagine a show about rich students attending a private school and learning all about their scandalous lives. I know you are thinking about Gossip Girl. Now imagine that, mixed with a “who did it?” murder mystery. That is the essence of the Netflix telenovela from Spain, Élite. Despite this show being entertaining and binge-worthy, it critiques how socioeconomic privilege allows people to commit injustices. Through this critique, the creators generate a connection between the social classes and their struggles, mirroring the socioeconomic differences that citizens of the United States and Spain are experiencing today.

The main reason for the rising importance of wealth inequality in this conversation is a result of the millennial struggle for economic prosperity after the Great Recession in 2008. This recession affected many young millennials in both the United States and Spain who were starting to grow in their financial independence. Reid Cramer of New America takes a look at the data and specifically points out that a “typical Millennial today holds 41 percent less wealth than a similarly aged adult in 1989.” This is astonishing to think about because many believe that the United States is growing stronger and stronger. However, when it comes down to the actual citizens and their lives, there is a very real struggle to gain the “success” of having a lot of money. The divide between the wealthy and the poor grows larger each day and the statement “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer” couldn’t be more true today.

Meanwhile, in Spain, the Socialist government run by Zapatero ended up having to “cut spending and raise taxes” to deal with pressures from allies and markets over their debt. As a result, hundreds of thousands of jobs were lost, pushing the country into an even deeper recession, splitting those who had jobs, and those left without. As time went on both economies started to recover in some ways, but the burden of uncertainty and financial insecurity remained for many, further increasing the gap between those at the top and bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.

For those at the top, being stuck with wealth allows them to keep using their privilege to help them side step the justice system. Polo is one particular character who, essentially, gets away with murder. In Season 1, Polo murders a rich girl, Marina, and is discovered by his two lovers, Carla and Christian, who swear to secrecy. Christian suffers a car “accident” and is bribed by Carla’s father to keep quiet by paying off his medical treatment in Switzerland.

Bribes are seen everywhere, from college admissions (i.e. Varsity Blues Scandal) to politicians (i.e. Watergate), further confirm that the wealthy must use their money to get their way. Élite shows just how awful this is in that it targets a highschooler who has done no wrong by wanting to tell the truth and have the murderer charged. In all these cases, the wealthy are able to get away with it, pretty much scratch free, only dealing with the public shame and moral guilt of having undermined so many people by using money.

Not everyone who is rich is able to get away with their crimes. One student uses her situation to expose the preferential treatment towards donors to the school, despite having equally, if not worse, crimes. The situation is that Rebeka decides to quit dealing drugs after one of the rich students, Carla, almost drowns after taking too much molly. Despite Rebeka’s guilt for almost causing a tragedy, she feels wronged for how she was treated, knowing it was influenced by the fact that she grew up poor and wasn’t born into wealth. She doesn’t hold back and says, in front of all the students, “Let f***ing everyone know that I’m getting kicked out! But if your moms fund a scholarship, you don’t get expelled, even if you’re a f***ing murderer!”(Season 3, episode 4). She is highlighting the fact that they clearly don’t treat her the same as Polo because of her history. By being open about the situation to the school, this creates connections between the Rebeka and Polo and how they both should have similar consequences for their actions.

Élite is critiquing institutions for having preferences towards the more privileged. This specific scene shows the irony of the school in treating them differently and how unfair the system is. I think that many American students find this topic especially relevant after the recent college admissions scandal. Through the scandal, it revealed the truth behind private institutions favoring wealthy students who are able to “boost their chances through test-prep coaching, legacy admissions, and athletic admissions.” Where some used their wealth to fabricate their applications in the scandal, many privileged students simply take advantage of the resources that they have access to. This unfortunately, gives them an upper hand against students who can’t afford these opportunities. And besides, with the cost of tuition rising each year, grants and scholarships are unable to keep up with supporting the growing number of students who simply cannot afford the tuition. Although the privileged are not necessarily at fault for using what they have available, it is still unfortunate when colleges do not factor in the differences in applicants that are a result of their upbringing and do not have control over.

Additionally, this starts a conversation about the behaviors and concerns of those who come from different backgrounds, but commit similar crimes. In a study conducted by Dubois, Rucker, and Galinsky, they discovered that the “greater resources enjoyed by higher-class individuals result in a stronger focus on the self and a reduced concern for the welfare of others.” This finding is consistent with the behavior of these characters. Due to Rebeka’s humble upbringing, she has a greater concern towards how her behavior affects others. Where Polo committed a seemingly worse crime than her, she is being treated much differently simply because she was unable to procure the same resources to cover up her wrongdoings. This shows how they feel differently about how they treat others and how they will react to being outed for their crimes.

Another wrongful way of covering up crimes that made a large impact in the show is by blaming someone from a lower socioeconomic standing. After Polo murders Marina, the police are looking for someone to blame for the incident, anyone in fact. They are able to pin the evidence against Nano, one of the scholarship student’s brothers, who is known for having a troubled background and being involved with the “wrong” type of people. Despite having no solid evidence against him, the police are able to fabricate a believable enough story to put him in jail for a crime he didn’t commit. One tragic instance of this happening was with the Exonerated Five (originally the Central Park Five), a group of five teenage boys who were wrongly accused of assault and rape in the Central Park jogger case and served many years in jail because the police forced them to fabricate their stories.

How can the police be comfortable with lying to the public about finding the criminal when they are still truly at large? It is sickening to think how many cases there may have been where they accused someone wrongfully of committing the crime, meanwhile the criminal was still free able to do what they pleased. This reveals a systemic issue where people, in this case the police, are influenced by public pressure instead of looking to serve justice. Since those accused lack resources (lower socioeconomic standings), they are unable to fully defend themselves. Those in positions of power are almost always influenced by who has the money in this situation, and this favors the public and the wealthy.

Despite the over-exaggerated and fantastical plots scattered throughout the show, Élite paints a clear picture against the privileged using wealth to prevent justice from being served. Again and again, the students escape their fate through some extraordinary means that can only be tied to their money and resources. So, if you’re looking for a show about the problems with the wealthy, or just a long 4 (Season 5 premieres April 7) seasons long rich against poor, wild murder mystery, then I recommend watching Élite on Netflix.

Works Cited:

1. Cramer, Reid. “The Emerging Millennial Wealth Gap.” New America, https://www.newamerica.org/millennials/reports/emerging-millennial-wealth-gap/.
2. Gross, Terry. “Central Park ‘Exonerated 5’ Member Reflects on Freedom and Forgiveness.” NPR, NPR, 26 May 2021, https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/1000454798/central-park-exonerated-5-member-reflects-on-freedom-and-forgiveness#:~:text='Central%20Park%205'%20Win%20%2440,Us%2C%20directed%20by%20Ava%20DuVernay.
3. Hill, Steven. “To Hell and Back: Spain’s Grotesque Recession and Its Surprising New Economy.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 18 Oct. 2013, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/10/to-hell-and-back-spains-grotesque-recession-and-its-surprising-new-economy/280678/.
4. Manstead, Antony S. R. “The Psychology of Social Class: How Socioeconomic Status Impacts Thought, Feelings, and Behaviour.” British Journal of Social Psychology, https://bpspsychub.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjso.12251.
5. Staff Writers. “A History of Privilege in Higher Education: BestColleges.” BestColleges.com, 16 Dec. 2021, https://www.bestcolleges.com/news/analysis/2020/07/17/history-privilege-higher-education/.