It seems to me that too many of the novels that I have been reading recently
make some mention of orchids in a way that stereotypes them and uses them
just as a symbol to describe a person with fancy tastes.

For example, the book I just started reading includes "Jordan had done
considerable research on the billionaire. He knew about [snip ...] His
passion for opera, his famous collection of American art, from Copley to
Whistler to O'Keefe. His fondness for orchids." Grrr!!!

There used to be a time, when I was thrilled to see any mention of orchids,
but now I grow annoyed when I see them mentioned offhand like this by
someone who obviously just puts in the almost by now obligatory mention of
orchids to satisfy the fad, or to paint a stereotype with broad strokes.
Someday I would expect a book author to come up with a novel idea: a
billionaire whose tastes are so refined that he considers orchids to be
beneath his notice, since they are now available to anyone. Or a billionaire
who pretends to be interested in orchids to seem more in touch with the
common man, while in reality it's his secretary who occasionally takes pity
on the orchids and waters them just often enough to prevent them from drying
out, but since she is too busy, she luckily does not have time to overwater
them, and thus they thrive. Or the struggling school teacher who loves
flowers, but she can't afford cut flowers on a regular basis, since they
fade so quickly, she would need to spend a fortune refilling her vase, so
her thriftiness brings her to buy a few orchids to have something in bloom
all year. I have not seen anything like that in a novel yet though.

What do you think about the mentions of orchids in pop-culture, books,
movies, and what-not?

Joanna