History Main / SnobbyHobbies

* Appreciating ClassicalMusic, {{Opera}}, {{Ballet}} and/or [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]][[note]]enjoying the theatre in general is ''possible'', but it's almost always Shakespeare[[/note]].

* Ballroom dancing.

* ''Literature/BulwerLyttonContest'': From [[https://www.bulwer-lytton.com/2022 2022]], one of the Dishonorable Mentions of the Odious Outliers category, talks about classy (AKA rich) people activities:

* ''Series/FreshPrinceofBelAir'': Used to differentiate Carlton and Hillary from Will. At the same time, it is often subverted. Even in the pilot episode, Will is shown to be able to play a Beethoven sonata flawlessly.

* ''Series/TheOffice'': Emphasized a little more in the season with Robert California as boss. California plays golf and takes a liking to the garden party that Rain Wilson is hosting.

** ''Film/AViewtoaKill'': Zorin is into horse racing. He sizes up potential business partners and enemies based on their ability to keep up with this hobby.

* ''Film/AViewtoaKill'': Zorin is into horse racing. He sizes up potential business partners and enemies based on their ability to keep up with this hobby.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E14ScenesFromTheClassStruggleInSpringfield Scenes From the Class Struggle in Springfield]]", Marge meets with an old high school classmate, who invites her and the Simpson family to the country club she's part of, and the Simpson family attempts to acclimate themselves. Even Lisa, who usually isn't impressed by the upper-class, finds herself intrigued [[AllGirlsLikePonies because of its ponies]].

** "Any Old Port in a Storm" has the detective investigate the death of the partner of a wine connoisseur. The victim owed a large sum to bookies, and he was poised to sell his stake in the winery to cover his debts. The wine connoisseur slew his partner to preclude the sale. During the investigation, Columbo discovers the suspect owns many bottles of rare, vintage wines worth thousands per bottle.
** "Ransom for a Dead Man": The murderer flies a private plane as a hobby. Columbo convinces her to let him ride along on a flight to interview her and she takes great delight in making him airsick.

* In ''Anime/GreatPretender'', ArcVillain James Coleman is a rich art appraiser who is famous for his appraisal skills and his rediscovery of several lost paintings, and who likes collecting art in his spare time. He's immediately established as an unlikeable snob because whenever he buys paintings, he hides them away in a secret room in his house so no one else can see them.

* In ''Film/DirtyRottenScoundrels'', Lawrence drags his unwanted protégé Freddy to an art show and a garden both to demonstrate how proper gentlemen are supposed to spend their wealth and to try and disgust the boorish Freddy in the hopes that he'll quit his apprenticeship and return to America.

* The ''Film/JamesBond'' films provide quite a few examples -- after all, Mr. Bond, with his globe-trotting adventures and very particular tastes, especially in drinks, [[CoolCar exotic cars]] and [[BillionaireWristband luxury watches]], created an entire trope about [[TuxedoAndMartini debonaire gentleman spies with a taste for the finer things in life]]. Many of his enemies have [[WickedCultured similar tastes]], too:

* Exemplified by the "[[UsefulNotes/HorseRacing Ascot Gavotte]]" scene in ''Film/MyFairLady''. The plot of the movie is that a phonetics professor from the upper class is convinced he can make a lady out of a lower-class flower seller, and she is put to the test during the horse-race watching, where the ''créme de la créme'' of [[TheEdwardianEra Edwardian English society]] is in attendance: the ladies in fine dresses, extravagant hats and parasols, and the gentlemen in gray tuxedos and top hats, everyone with binoculars at hand to watch the horse racing.
* Macleane from the ''Film/PlunkettAndMacleane'' duo loves playing cards, exquisite clothes, playing cards, fine dining and wine, dancing, romancing and playing some more cards -- and he is a ''terrible'' player. He is introduced to the audience while doing time in debtors' prison. [[WorkingClassHero Plunkett]] only ever gets involved with him, because '''[[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs Captain]]''' James Macleane can pass himself off as a gentleman, which is handy for their highwaymen gig and opens even more doors. Once the money starts rolling, Macleane turns into a full-blown UpperClassTwit whenever not on the job and what's not wasted on gambling, he spends on newest fashion.

* ''Film/BatmanBegins'': Deliberately invoked by Alfred when he advises Bruce Wayne to cultivate such hobbies so that nobody asks questions about what he does with his time and money. Alfred suggests polo. Bruce refuses; but develops a reputation for wild partying, driving expensive cars, and apparently burning down his own house while drunk.
** Continued in ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', where Bruce uses his being a WealthyYachtOwner as a cover for going to Hong Kong.
* ''Film/JohnWickChapter4'': Whenever [[BigBad The Marquis]] isn't seen making the motions to systematically destroy John or [[BadBoss cruelly abusing his own underlings]], he's shown indulging in a manner of hobbies that [[ConspicuousConsumption casually display his exorbitant wealth]], from horseback riding, fencing, possessing a private art gallery, and attending a ballet performance (judging by how he appears to be the only audience member, it's suggested that he bought the entire theatre for himself).

* Wealthy aristocrat ''Literature/LordPeterWimsey'' has two main hobbies. The first, collecting rare books, establishes him as a wealthy intellectual. The second, [[AmateurSleuth solving mysteries]], is what drives the plot. He is also a connoisseur of fine wines, to the point where one short story centers around a man trying to figure out which of three people claiming to be Lord Peter is really him by challenging them all to a wine tasting competition.
* In ''Literature/TheForsyteSaga'' by John Galsworthy, we find that Soames Forsyte eventually becomes a serious collector of art by the time the story has entered the 1920s.

* In the first series of ''Series/{{Cluedo}}'', one of the murder victims is a bridge hustler, who is introduced to the house by Professor Plum, and tries to cheat Mrs. Peacock and Miss Scarlett out of a lot of money.

** The episode "Any Old Port in a Storm" has the detective investigate the death of the partner of a wine connoisseur. The victim owed a large sum to bookies, and he was poised to sell his stake in the winery to cover his debts. The wine connoisseur slew his partner to preclude the sale. During the investigation, Columbo discovers the suspect owns many bottles of rare, vintage wines worth thousands per bottle.
** In "Ransom for a Dead Man", the murderer flies a private plane as a hobby. Columbo convinces her to let him ride along on a flight to interview her and she takes great delight in making him airsick.

* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': Tahani is a British socialite from the highest of upper classes. She got into the Good Place by hosting several posh fundraising events, which raised a lot of charity money. She also mentions an interest in art, [[SnootySports playing croquet]], and [[UpperClassEquestrian watching dressage]] growing up. This is in contrast to her supposed "best friend" Eleanor and "soulmate" Jason, who are {{Lower Class Lout}}s with trashy hobbies and who initially find it difficult to relate to her.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E14ScenesFromTheClassStruggleInSpringfield Scenes From The Class Struggle In Springfield]]", Marge meets with an old high school classmate, who invites her and the Simpson family to the country club she's part of, and the Simpson family attempts to acclimate themselves. Even Lisa, who usually isn't impressed by the upper-class, finds herself intrigued [[AllGirlsLikePonies because of its ponies]].

* Wealthy aristocrat ''Literature/LordPeterWimsey'' has two main hobbies. The first, collecting rare books, establishes him as a wealthy intellectual. The second, [[AmateurSleuth solving mysteries]], is what drives the plot. He is also a connoisseur of fine wines, to the point where one short story centers around a man trying to figure out which of three people claiming to be Lord Wimsey is really him by challenging them all to a wine tasting competition.

* ''ComicBook/EightBillionGenies'': While the rest of the world struggles to survive in a [[AfterTheEarth Genie-induced apocalyptic hellscape]], the lawyers of Exactitude are [[EstablishingCharacterMoment first seen]] playing Tennis and Golf in their wish-proofed exclusive sanctuary, without a care in the world.

* In ''Film/DirtyRottenScoundrels'', Lawrence drags his unwanted protege Freddy to an art show and a garden both to demonstrate how proper gentlemen are supposed to spend their wealth and to try and disgust the boorish Freddy in the hopes that he'll quit his apprenticeship and return to America.

* Macleane from the ''Film/PlunkettAndMacleane'' duo loves playing cards, exquisite clothes, playing cards, fine dining and wine, dancing, romancing and playing some more cards - and he is a ''terrible'' player. He is introduced to the audience while doing time in debtors' prison. [[WorkingClassHero Plunkett]] only ever gets involved with him, because '''[[TheyCallMeMisterTibbs Captain]]''' James Macleane can pass himself off as a gentleman, which is handy for their highwaymen gig and opens even more doors. Once the money starts rolling, Macleane turns into a full-blown UpperClassTwit whenever not on the job and what's not wasted on gambling, he spends on newest fashion.

* You'll have a tough time finding a more rich-people-only hobby than that of John Beresford Tipton, ''Series/TheMillionaire''. Tipton gives away one million dollars (in 1950's money -- that's the equivalent of over 10 million dollars today) to a different individual each week....oh, and all taxes are already paid on it. Tipton only insists each recipient can never reveal where the money came from, otherwise they'll forefit it. Why does Tipton do this? It's explicitly identified in the series as Tipton's hobby, a sort of a sociological experiment he performs just to see what happens. Over the course of the series, Tipton gives away over a quarter of a billion dollars.

* ''WesternAnimation/LifeWithLouie'': When Earl Grunewald, Mike's father, gets promoted to middle management, his family suddenly starts having a lot of extra income - and the attitude that goes with it. The episode centres on the Grunewalds taking all their friends to a ski resort, explicitly to show off their newfound wealth. Each of the Andersons attempts to deal with the fact that they stand out like sore thumbs in the crowd of rich folks.

A MillionairePlayboy, {{Socialite}}, or WickedCultured villain will be well-versed in at least a couple of these. A WickedPretentious or NouveauRiche character will ''pretend'' to have the same knowledge, but will most likely end up [[OnlyTheKnowledgableMayPass getting outed]] as clueless and humiliating themselves. The DecadentCourt will enjoy period-appropriate Snobby Hobbies as well. Any [[UptownGirl rich-meets-poor romance]] or RagsToRiches story has a good chance of including a scene where the poorer protagonist [[FishOutOfWater struggles to join in with a Snobby Hobby]] (and possibly vice versa).

A SnobsVersusSlobs contrast may also transpire, with the lower class’s interests used as a {{Foil}} to be portrayed as more down-to-earth than the rarefied pursuits of the wealthy ([[RockIsAuthenticPopIsShallow Rock music is genuine and opera is pretentious]], football is for real men and polo is effete, and so on) -- or the exact ''reverse'', where all the crudeness of low-brow activities is pointed out.

A SnobsVersusSlobs contrast may also transpire, with the lower class’s interests used as a {{Foil}} to be portrayed as more down-to-earth than the exclusive pursuits of the wealthy ([[RockIsAuthenticPopIsShallow Rock music is genuine and opera is pretentious]], football is for real men and polo is effete, and so on) - or the exact ''reverse'', where all the crudeness of low-brow activities is pointed out.