The next character in this series is Will Smith’s cousin and in the show is basically his step-brother, Carlton Banks. Carlton is an incredibly book smart young man who has always had a life of luxury and great promise thanks to how his father, Uncle Phil raised him and gave him the ability to have the education he did. He also has an urge to prove that he is better than Will without any hostilities or true competitions, but just by living life in his grand way.
Who else do we know lives like this? Tom Buchannan perhaps. Looking at Tom’s upbringing he had a luxurious childhood living off of daddy’s money and being given a great education, and unlike Carlton was athletically gifted and most likely had special training because of his family’s wealth. Carlton to Will is also like comparing Tom to Gatsby minus the whole thing with Tom basically sending a hitman to kill Gatsby. For Tom and Gatsby, it is a battle between old money and new money. Tom has his club of old money men that they prefer to keep as exclusive as possible, and Gatsby with the new money who seeks to gain popularity and rise to the social stature of these old money men. Carlton and Will do not have as intense of a rivalry and it tends to be more of a back and forth kind of thing where neither side truly seeks to be the other, but in some ways they try to non-mockingly imitate one another. Because of this Carlton is the Tom of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air world.