RICH, THOUGH NOT REAL:

America's Richest: The Forbes Fictional Fifteen (Edited by Michael Noer and Dan Ackman, 09.13.02, Forbes)

If fiction can be regarded as a culture's subconscious, then it's clear that we are a nation obsessed with the very rich. From avaricious caricatures like The Simpsons' Montgomery Burns to literary character studies like F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jay Gatsby, our culture--both high and low--is littered with images of billionaires and tycoons. Some characters are intentional riffs on real-life counterparts, most famously Orson Welles' blistering portrayal of William Randolph Hearst in Citizen Kane.

Others, like Gordon Gekko from Oliver Stone's Wall Street, came to symbolize both a man--convicted inside trader Ivan Boesky--and an era: the go-go 1980s. To be
sure, many are pure products of the imagination. But given the legion of publicity men and image handlers surrounding the typical real-life billionaires, understanding these
fictitious characters is as close as most of us will come to grasping the minds of the very rich.

In creating this list we took certain minor liberties with the stories as presented on the page or on the screen. We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we enjoyed writing it!

One question though: Doesn't Charlie Bucket own the Wonka empire now? Posted by Orrin Judd at October 18, 2002 8:01 PM