Movies & TV’s Most Unrealistic Personal Finances: Friends, SATC, Emily in Paris, & more

Film and TV love to show partly-relatable, partly-aspirational lifestyles that… actually don’t make a whole lot of sense when you really think about them. Of course, we’re not always watching movies and shows just to see real life, and it can sometimes work well when media choses to let go of realism a little bit to have more fun. But this can also lead to some pretty unrealistic ideas about life and money… So let’s take a look at some of the most nonsensical finances in media, from Friends to Sex and the City to Emily in Paris and beyond, why we’re influenced by them, and how we can enjoy our favorite shows without comparing ourselves to the fantastical examples on screen. Plus, we'll explore some shows like Broad City that are much more realistic in their portrayals of personal finances.


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CHAPTERS
00:00 Unrealistic personal finance is everywhere on screen
00:41 Gigantic tv apartments
03:19 Fun but financially unrealistic lifestyles
05:21 Credit card culture (& character's magically disappearing debt...)
07:58 The surprising way bad on screen finance can affect us in real life
11:02 Continuing to enjoy the fantasy (without putting ourselves down)

CREDITS
Executive Producers: Debra Minoff & Susannah McCullough
Chief Creative Director: Susannah McCullough
Associate Producer: Jessica Babineaux
Writer: Cassondra Feltus
Narrator: Jessica Babineaux
Video Editor: Daniel Wolff