You may not be following the dramatic recovery of the luxury goods market, after its spectacular cratering during the pandemic. Why should you if, like most people, you can’t afford any luxury goods? But it has been reported on with all the wide-eyed belief in how much the rich benefit the rest of us that is typical of our culture; in the words of management consultant Federica Levato, “It’s likely that the crisis will mark a turning point for luxury as we knew it — luxury brands will continue to redefine themselves, expanding their mission beyond creativity and excellence, becoming enablers of social and cultural change.”

That same anxious solicitude characterized the tone of most movies made about the experience of the pandemic, almost all tending to center on extremely affluent characters. Comedy or thriller or relationship drama, The Bubble, KIMI, Malcolm & Marie, Locked Down, and Together all asked the question, “Will these affluent people be okay? Can they possibly withstand the pressures of lockdown that are taxing their mental health and personal relationships?”

Maybe there’s a movie or something on television that I’ve missed about what it was like to handle the pandemic while being forced out of work, impoverished, and threatened with eviction. But if it exists, I bet it was a documentary. And I bet it didn’t exactly achieve much popularity.