Both a societal malady and video title, <I>Affluenza</I> describes
symptoms, causes, and possible cures for its viewers. It begins in a
mockumentary style of a patient visiting a doctor's office to find out
what is causing a "bloated, yet empty" feeling. The cause, of course,
...
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Both a societal malady and video title,
Affluenza describes
symptoms, causes, and possible cures for its viewers. It begins in a
mockumentary style of a patient visiting a doctor's office to find out
what is causing a "bloated, yet empty" feeling. The cause, of course,
greed and materialism. The producers make interesting comparisons
between the gilded and fabulous 50's and the excessive 90's: the
Clinton/Eisenhower years. Both decades are marked by peace and
prosperity. Affluenza symptoms abound in both eras: increasing
consumerism, increasing waste, increasing pollution. The video points to
some contemporary illustrations, like the demand for expensive and gas
guzzling sport utility vehicles which are seldom used for their original
intent. Excursions to huge shopping centers are a natural destination
for shoppers looking to fill a void in their lives. There is interesting
social commentary included from psychologists, authors, teachers,
therapists, physicians, university presidents, and historians. Market
researchers reveal secret strategies for targeting children and
teenagers, and describe the invasion of advertising into former safe
havens such as PBS, school busses, and school cafeterias. Even the
Christian conservative "Focus on the Family" gets into the act extolling
free market capitalism while at the same time decrying the woes of
excess consumerism. What sounds the alarm in the 90's declining
volunteerism, the widest historical gap between the haves and the have
nots, and a growing perceived sense of deprivation.
Affluenza, the
video not the affliction, ends with a series of anti consumer activists
describing ways to cut spending and voluntarily submit to a simpler
life. What it ultimately describes is an historic pendulum which has
been swinging in American society for 225 years between individual
success and communal movements, educational stratification and
back-to-basics, new math and old math, spend and save. Though
interesting, at $250
Affluenza is not an essential purchase.
See a review of the sequel, Escape from Affluenza
Visual material : English
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