Like on principle, I know that the writer’s and actor’s guild and union shit is all good. I don’t think all the success from a movie or show should go 100% to the company, but it still feels weird saying that a Hollywood actor is working class.

What do y’all think? Am I just being a dumbass?

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[–] 17 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Actors and professional athletes are in a very similar situation.

At the end of the day they make their money from their labour/bodies. They make a lot of money, but if they are seriously injured or otherwise unable to work they don't make money anymore. This eats at the back of the mind of every worker - what happens if I'm unable to work tomorrow? Athletes with sponsorships are still the same, if they can't play they lose their celebrity and lose these endorsements.

Once someone starts making money from passive sources (investments, ownership in a team or studio) that is when their worker status changes. Now their income is secured whether they can or can't work, and can grow to a place where they no longer have to work. That is the divide.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 days ago

    At the end of the day they make their money from their labour/bodies.

    doubt

    Big name actors make most of their money from a cut of the box office, endorsements, ownership of production firms. Otherwise they make money “normally” through real estate (they all own multiple mansions which appreciate in value) and traditional financial investment. The time they spend “laboring” has very little to do with their income. And it is not wage labor, they are not laboring as proletarians. They labor in much the same way that any capitalist “labors” to manage their wealth.

    Retiring from acting or sports is meaningless. A famous actor or athlete can still easily find an income on talk shows or whatever. Most of them retire because they have enough wealth to never work again, and usually because they have converted their wealth into financial capital.

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  • They make a lot of money, but if they are seriously injured or otherwise unable to work they don't make money anymore

    That's every worker

    Im literally 1-2 degrees F hotness and a single layer of clothing from being like "fuck this job i am literally going to be the joker"

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  • [–] 3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

    At the end of the day they make their money from their labour/bodies. They make a lot of money, but if they are seriously injured or otherwise unable to work they don't make money anymore.

    Are they similar to artisans or am I confusing what artisans are?

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  • [–] 8 points 5 days ago

    An actor in a traveling troupe would be similar to an artisan, but not one who works in the studio system which is just a standard capitalist industry where capitalists own the means of production.

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