Viewers Think Rich People Completely Missed the Point of “Saltburn”

Whether you watched “Saltburn” because of the internet’s reactions to the wild moments in the film or because you are a massive fan of writer/director Emerald Fennell’s previous film, “Promising Young Woman,” there is a lot to unpack about the real villain of the film.

“Saltburn” is a black comedy about a rich family inviting Oliver (Barry Keoghan) to stay the summer at Saltburn after the discovery of his poor living conditions. As the summer progresses, a series of horrifying events plague Felix’s family.

After several films released back-to-back about rich people becoming the victims of their creations, the message in “Saltburn” seems pretty straightforward. It asks us who is worse: a snobby rich family that only offers attention and charity to those who fit their mold or Oliver for shunning his perfect life because of greed.

These viewers who missed the message of the film took to TikTok to record themselves  recreating Oliver’s iconic run through the humongous house to Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s “Murder on the Dancefloor.”

The “Saltburn trend” is fun, there is no doubt about that, but the problem is that the people flaunting their houses seem distasteful given the context of the film.

What makes the ending so impactful is that Oliver is dancing over the graves of the family that he got rid of for his benefit. Oliver is a “hero,” to an extent. He is the bringer of death to a family that is out of touch with reality and ostracizes those who are not as wealthy as them.

While Gen Z believes that these TikToks are tone-deaf, Fennel defended the film and the criticism toward those who grew up rich. Fennel told Polygon in November that she considers the slogan of the movie to be: “Lick the rich, suck the rich, and then bite the rich, and then swallow them.”

The “Saltburn” TikTok trend is meant to be fun for people who happened to grow up rich. If you interact with this content and feel bothered by it, maybe you side more with Oliver and feel the same sort of jealousy that he had.

This wasn’t the only “Saltburn” trend. In fact, over Christmas, many Gen Zers were watching the film with their families. Because “Saltburn” is available on Amazon Prime Video, many were able to watch the shocking film with older generations.

Many audiences believed that “Saltburn” would share characteristics of “Call Me by Your Name,” but they were gravely wrong. While some generations can sit through the film, the shock will make the entire experience uncomfortable.

“My recommendation of Saltburn to my parents went down as well as a s*** sandwich,” one user posted on X/Twitter, with another adding: “Saltburn genuinely ruined my life.”

Personally, I don’t believe “Saltburn” is all that crazy, nor do I think the trends are harmful to anyone (but I also watch the AD house tour videos while eating lunch). The entire film’s shock value has been blown out of proportion, but they are satisfying to watch when they finally do happen.