A (very) brief examination on class and money in the CU world
AKA: I found out how much Krupp is possibly making per year.
I was thinking about the CU series when I realized something regarding class/socio-economic placement of the characters. I thought I’d take a look at a few things.
The rich and most successful (TetoCU)
Most of the characters who are rich or have a career that likely required a major education and possibly pays a lot of money are POC characters:
-Cash Networth: Has a noticeable tan skin tone. Rich enough to literally throw money away and is also one of the nicer adults.
-Jessica’s mom: We get a look at the Gordon’s house in the Christmas special and it looks like it belongs to someone who is able to make quite a bit.
-Cleveland: Well known action movie star. African American with a complexion darker than George’s.
-Grace Wain (AKA future!Erica): self made woman who becomes President of Earth in her timeline.
-Moxie Swaggerman: African American Astronaut.
-And if the series keeps to canon, we know that George will become a famous comic book writer and will make quite a lot of money.
For traditional white rich folk I suppose there’s the actor Lee Dingman (though we don’t get to personally know him) and the Sneedlys (they work for the government and their house looks pretty pricy). But the point is that I think its cool that most of the rich and successful adults are POC characters.
Farming (The Krupp family vs. the Peets family in TetoCU)
There’s an interesting contrast between the families. We know both families are able to make enough money to support themselves, but I can’t help but think back on something:
-I’m not sure how many people are needed to handle a cattle farm, but Bernice was expecting Benny to watch cows and milk them. Isn’t watching cows more of an adult job, not to mention how potentially dangerous a cattle farm can be? Was she not wanting to hire someone more capable just to make more money? I feel that would have been in character.
-Meanwhile you have Stanley’s family–farming and produce is such a part of their identity that their genetic habit of sweating a lot lets them grow produce of their own bodies. Given the rise of agriculture and how Ohio apparently has a lot of agriculture in some parts, its possible that Stanley’s family has quite a bit of money. (And unlike Krupp, Stanley seems to enjoy growing produce alongside his family and it seems his own family is a lot happier with healthier relationships compared to Krupp’s family). EDIT: It’s also possible that Stanley’s parents would hire actual help around the farm, even if their children seem to enjoy agriculture. They don’t strike me as someone who’d force their kids to spend too much time working like Bernice did).
Class within the school staff (AKA here’s some fan fiction fuel)
-So first off, we have Krupp. Given that is highly likely he has a Masters degree, he should be making the most... right? Then I remembered ‘Oh yeah, he’s likely paying off student debts and house and car loans’ in addition to taxes, and suddenly the emptiness of his house makes sense. He likely did so between getting his Masters and at the time of the film, but we don’t know if everything was finally paid off or not. (Plus, without a significant other to help out, he possibly always has to spend the bare minimum).
Also, this adds to him getting rightfully pissed off during the carnival scene. Not only would there be a great financial cost for repairs, but some of that money would likely be taken from his paycheck.
We don’t know how much financial help he got as a teenager/young adult in the books/film, but its safe to say that Bernice likely didn’t help him out with paying for college in the series. Yet not only was he so easily willing to throw away much needed money for a trip to Ecuador for a pointless quest, but he would easily spend one million dollars for a chance to put a stop to the boys rather than keep it to support himself. (Not to mention him wanting to marry someone who’d be willing to share a joint bank account).
(According to statistics, an Ohio Principal would be making around $75,000 a year. That seems like a lot, but again keep in mind what Krupp likely has to pay for and how much it probably costs in real life Piqua Ohio.)
-So I’m not sure what the salary is for a teacher in Ohio, but we know that most of the teachers have made enough to live in their own houses (Anthrope, Meaner, Ribble, etc.) In movie!Fyde’s case, Krupp mentions a family and if movie!Fyde is married, he is likely the most financially well off. Maybe not as much as Krupp, but given how most of them don’t have a family and probably didn’t go on to get a masters, they are likely able to keep more money than him, if not the same amount.
(I just checked and Ohio teachers can make between $35,000 to $75,000 depending on percentiles and locations).
-Ironically the staff who possibly gets paid less than Krupp or the teachers are the nicest of the adults. First off, Edith. I did a quick look and it says that if you worked in a place like Columbus Ohio, you’d make $23,628 dollars (or you could make close to $27,000) as a lunch lady... which is a LOT less than what a teacher makes. And that adds weight to what Edith said about being in ‘It’s a Amore’ and thinking it fancy–she probably came from a poor/lower class background (especially if she’s NOT an alien).
Then there is Ree. We don’t know how much he made working from the government, but a janitor would make... well the average says $30,201. Again, not as much as a teacher or Krupp, but it’s likely he has more stashed away from his government days.
