Evidence is thin for a shift from startup strivers to billionaire villains

In short: A claim that TV and movies are moving from quirky startup founders to nihilistic billionaires is not well supported by the sources available here.

What's going on

A New York Times piece points to an idea about pop culture changing how it shows the tech world. The claim is that older stories, like HBO’s “Silicon Valley” (2014 to 2019), focused on awkward but motivated startup builders, while newer stories focus more on rich, morally empty billionaires and opportunists.

Based on the source material available for this write-up, there is not clear evidence that this is a real, broad shift across TV and movies as of 2026. The search results and references mainly discuss “Silicon Valley” itself, not a larger set of shows and films over time.

“Silicon Valley” is also not a clean example of one type of character replacing another. The show centers on strivers like Richard Hendricks and his team, who are portrayed as underdogs trying to build a company, often with awkward social skills and big dreams. At the same time, it includes powerful and ethically questionable characters, including tech executives and wealthy investors.

What to watch

If this is a real trend, it should show up in more reporting that compares multiple recent shows and films, and tracks how characters are written over time, like a scoreboard across many titles. For now, the safer takeaway is that “Silicon Valley” satirized both hopeful founders and cutthroat elites, and the broader “replacement” claim needs more direct, up to date analysis.

Source: NYTimes