Satire, Arrested

Arrested Development is a hilarious TV show that satirizes the antics of a very wealthy family. The Bluths are a family in Southern California that have gotten rich off of their housing company. The show centers on how the family copes when the family patriarch, George Bluth, is arrested for committing "light treason" by building homes in Iraq.

The comedy comes from the fact that the family is completely dysfunctional, with few members of the family able to maintain a job, a healthy relationship, or a less-than luxurious lifestyle. The show also uses verbal irony often to subtly make fun of the characters. By portraying the majority of the family as irresponsible and out-of-touch, the show takes an exaggerated look at how too much privilege can be corrupting.

Many of the show's main characters exemplify how being too spoiled can be damaging. A great example is Buster Bluth, a socially awkward perennial "momma's boy." Despite being an adult in his 30s, he has no job, lives with his mother, and is incapable of interacting with any women who are not his mother. He is so dependent on his mother's approval, he gets jealous of the orphan she adopts from Korea and tries to compete with him for his mother's attention.

Another example of privilege gone awry is Lindsay Bluth, Buster's sister. Once her father is arrested and she no longer has the money to maintain her luxurious lifestyle, she resorts to shoplifting to keep getting the clothes she wants. Lindsay is also known to become passionate about various social causes, then quickly lose interest in them, making fun of how nonchalant she can afford to be about most social issues.

The show does not suggest being rich makes one inherently bad. The main character, Michael Bluth, is as rich as the other members of his family, but is still responsible and more down-to-earth than the rest of his family. The show's message seems to be that everyone, no matter their class, should have to learn to be responsible and unselfish.