A lot of that might be due to books and other media from or set in the past being about (relatively) rich people. I love reading novels written in the late 18t

A lot of that might be due to books and other media from or set in the past being about (relatively) rich people. I love reading novels written in the late 18th/early 19th century; I give thanks that I was born in the late 20th century, because life as a middle class woman with an IT job now is far superior to life as a relatively wealthy woman then, to say nothing of life as a woman who actually did have to work outside her home (those were not fun, personally-fulfilling jobs).