Blog Post 4: The American Dream
For this week’s discussion post, I have chosen to discuss McLuhan’s concept of advertising and the “American Dream.” As part of our class lectures, we discussed the American Dream and its connection to consumer capitalism and commodity fetishism. In the American Dream, a person lives their best life, having high status, money, and happiness all at once. This was brought about by advertising, which has transformed consumption and created the idea that a more satisfying lifestyle depends on consuming goods and services that create euphoric happiness and fulfillment. Thus, consumers are manipulated into buying products based on their desire rather than their actual need. According to McLuhan, consumer capitalism is the American Dream. It conveys the idea that more is better. Using mass marketing concepts, advertising agencies and corporations have increased consumer demand, pushing them towards hyper-consumption. As McLuhan noted, commodity fetishism has transformed the human relationship with products. He maintains that advertising remains a mythic system of cultural meaning. He argues that for a myth to be alive, it must be meaningful to an individual and be a vital part of their collective memory. As a result of consumer capitalism and commodity fetishism, products are now produced in response to the desires of individuals and are designed to meet those needs. An example of this discussed in class slides remains the American Dream Mall in New Jersey.
A film that remains a favourite of mine demonstrates this message as well. The movie Confessions of a Shopaholic portrays a young woman obsessed with shopping, unable to resist the impulse to acquire new items regardless of whether she needs them. The film exemplifies how this obsession has resulted in her having a false consciousness in which she sees her self-image reflected in her purchases. Thus, these products hold the myth of cultural meaning. With her constant consumption of capitalist products, her working wage continues to return to the economy. She remains stuck in the cycle of consumer capitalism and commodity fetishism.
- Do you know of movies, TV shows, music videos, or games demonstrating this idea of achieving the American Dream through consumer capitalism?
- Have you ever been consumed by purchasing goods, whether clothes, accessories, sports attire, video games, shoes, or anything else? What aspect of the product enticed you to keep buying more/ different variations of it?
Great post. The American dream is such an interesting concept because people have different opinions on what the "American dream" really is. I always understood the idea of the American Dream as giving people equal opportunity to achieve their goals and reach a point in their lives where they are truly happy. Usually this idea of the American dream was sold to new immigrant citizens as a way to welcome them into their society. I cannot remember the amount of times I have been watching a movie and the American dream is mentioned. In the movie 'Don't mess with the Zohan', there is a scene where Zohan asks a taxi driver what his dream was. The driver tells him that it was to make enough money so the rest of his family could come join him in the freedom of America. Here, it shows that the idea of achieving the American dream is less about consumer capitalism and more about achieving whatever brings the most happiness to you. In essence, this could also mean buying goods that bring you happiness, and thus you become a consumer who is being manipulated into believing thee material goods are the American dream.
ReplyDeleteGreat Post! I would like to respond to your second question as I it pertains more to my own life. I for one have never been much of a spender. I have always kept my financials rather tight and I believe that stems from my father. However, there was one stint where I was rather addicted to purchasing sports cards. This was a rather popular trend that came back just before and during the pandemic. I was fascinated by the community around sports cards as well as the potential return on investment if you played your cards right (no pun intended). My passion and love for the game of basketball was certainly a contributing factor as well. Those components created a perfect storm for what quickly became an addiction. Like you discussed in relation to the film Confessions of a Shopaholic I was seeing myself reflected through these purchases. It becomes a false sense of fulfillment and can honestly be dangerous in a sense. I have since not fallen back into to any sort of addictive buying but I know of others who continue to do so.
ReplyDeleteHi Maggie, great blog post! The American dream has definitely arisen out of the “picture perfect” and utopian stories of America. It is an ideology that is completely based on materialism, the ideal is to acquire as much money as possible to ensure a white picket fence. Although the American dream is a highly viewed ideal in the United States, it has a serious amount of setbacks like the rise in income inequality, health coverage, and social mobility.
ReplyDeleteI also absolutely love the movie Confessions of a Shopaholic. A film that remains a favourite of mine is The Truman Show, if you or anyone else have seen it then you know that everything around Truman is manufactured to represent the white American dream. He lives in a house with a white picket fence, has a beautiful wife, has a career as an insurance salesman, and has financial stability. Truman eventually discovers his whole life is a reality show and he has been observed and filmed since birth, he is the star of his own life. Truman tries to take control of his own life and escape the world that has been a lie all along. The false world Truman lives in makes profit for its producer, the audience is its consumers. An innocent child was used and taken advantage of for the sole purpose of making money. His wife can be seen promoting house and food products multiple times during the show in which Truman believes is normal and is his life. Truman signifies how blind people are, they go through life trying to follow and live a certain lifestyle. He represents the people stuck living a false dream, unwilling to reach outside.