Who wants to be a Millionaire?
Anachronistic Ideals in the Folklore of Late Modernity
The article is an intertextual analysis of media stories about gambling winners. The structure and the content of the narratives are examined and recurrent themes are discussed. The aim is to investigate the norms and ideals that are embedded in the stories and to explore how they correspond to prevailing ideals in society.
The genre consists of two categories. Whereas the first depicts happy winners just after having won the first prize, the other deals with those winners who, after some time, are struck by tragedies as a consequence of their inability to handle their fortunes. Although the content of these categories might differ, they convey the same message to the reader. In different ways, they underline the importance of a modest appearance, of a conscientious life and, above all, of a wholesome distance to wealth.
The analysis of the winner stories takes its point of departure in the moral dilemma, emerging from all the new options and possibilities in life that are bound up with the lottery prize. Crucial choices have to be made between egoism and altruism, individualism and collectivism. The stories could be seen as a modern kind of folklore that serves to define and to stake out the boundaries of acceptable behavior. Role models and warning examples reflect the morally good life, while similarity and equality within the social group are imperative features. Since the acquirement of large amounts of money has to be justified as rightfully earned, righteousness is another important aspect of the narratives. This is frequently constructed by depicting the life of the winner before winning the prize as characterized by poverty and great hardships. However, through the lottery coincidence suddenly makes up for the lack of justice.
The ideals reproduced by the winner stories evoke visions of the Swedish welfare state of the 1930s, the People’s Home, rather than of the spirit of late modernity. The importance of collectivism, solidarity, altruism and diligence are underlined, while too much individualism is depicted as morally dubious. In the concluding discussion, the correspondence between these seemingly anachronistic ideals and the individualization process of the 20th century is analyzed.
