Trashy commercialism

Is our society being slowly destroyed by greed and consumerism gone haywire? Are values, ideals, truth, beauty, humanity and soul being sacrificed daily to the idolatrous altar of trashy commercialism? None of this is new news, but what is particularly disturbing to me is that we seem to be entering into an era in which people are so flooded with the mediocrities of mindless consumerism and so completely distanced from what is of true value that their perceptions get distorted and they lose sight of what is of true value, venerating, instead, the mindless trash that we are flooded by. I find it really disturbing to reflect on the reality that our modern culture is so overwhelmingly shaped by commercial forces that it loses all touch with human realities, turning, instead, into an extended commercial advertisement for some product or other, completely negating the truths of human nature.

Here are some interesting links on the subject:

The Information Superhighway, Media Culture, and the Struggle for the Future By Douglas Kellner

A souped-up Super Bowl is just what we want by Douglas S. Looney

A Book Review:
The curse of ultra-democracy
The New Elites: Making a Career in the Masses
by George Walden, 210 pp
Noel Malcolm weighs up George Walden’s assault on contemporary politics and culture

This is seriously how I think

Making the Couch Potato

Popular Culture

A discussion forum:
Rural advertising: Should the ban be lifted?

CHRISTMAS - NO TIME LIKE THE PRESENT

Rogue advertisers by John Shreve

Feel free to add your comments and citations to this thread.

Why decry pop culture? Celebrate it! if it weren't for pop culture, we wouldn't have any culture in this country at all. Celebrate B-Movies, Marvel Comics, cheesy sitcoms, Bruce Willis, lame adverising slogans, "It's like Punk Rock, but it's a Car!" Learn to love all the trash you come across every day, from Spongebob to Pro-Wrestling, and everything in-between! Cheer up, Django, and enjoy America in all it's trashy glory!

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"You, me, everyone...we are all made of star stuff." - Neil Degrasse Tyson

https://shawnsmovienight.blogspot.com/

I don't think what you deem 'greed' and 'consumerism' is destroying society, because the fabric of our (by our, I mean American) culture has always been rooted in capitalism and its consequences. There is plenty of 'mindless trash', yes, but the beauty of American society is that it's still fairly easy to create something of value, something that improves or reflects humanity as a whole.

It's sometimes difficult to separate commercialism from its products when those products are valuable to society, anyway. Movies like Fight Club were paid for by people who had a Brad Pitt star vehicle in mind, and what they got was a 2 1/2 hour revolutionary homoerotic soap opera, a movie whose effects are still reverberating throughout the world of contemporary cinema. Fight Club says a lot about human nature, both onscreen and off, and it would never have been made so brilliantly if it weren't for that greedy executive.

I'm writing this because you sound like you believe there's no hope for truth or art or humanity in our society - please, listen to me when I say that there is. Poetry in all its forms run rampant in the world, from South Park to Punch Drunk Love to Martin Amis. There's plenty to complain about, but please don't do it at the expense of what's keeping the human race afloat.

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**** the Lakers!

Exactly.

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You're not hopeless...

Back to this again, but let's finish before it gets tiring. (geez, now I'm forgetting what I was gonna say... stupid alzeheimer's) Oh yeah, homoerotic soap opera indeed. Did you know that there's a small fanbase of gay writers who have written these pornographic stories featuring our beloved characters Tyler and Jack into what they call "slash fiction". I've seen it on the net. It's fascinating. Much more explicit and truthful than the movie.

And now back to commercialism.

Sounds interesting. If you have the link you should post it, I'd like to check it out.

Yes, it is here: Fight Club Slash Archive (erotic writing)

That's all there basically is, at least all that I've found.

Yeah, top notch points Steve.

It's true djangini that our cultures are fully inundated with manipulative and "negative" crap. But like the others say, the jewels amongst the **** shine that much brighter. A decision to fight for what you like/want etc from/in this world comes about coz of coming into contact with inspiring things in the first place. Don't we all love movies coz a good one struck a chord. And books and music etc etc etc, whatever floats your boat.

Don't worry, media execs have to live miserble coke-fuelled lies where all their money can never make them feel fulfilled. They may **** up the world more than is nescessary, but they can just highlight what is good in this world and spurs us towards it/sustaining it.

Ow, think i cut myself on a slash there. Or did/didn't i? Nine out of ten parts of my brain can't agree. Bargain-basement brain - one careless user- any takers? (dammit, i'll never be a callous-coke-cock by the looks of it. I hope )

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Virtual Reality chatter on a movie site? Got endless amounts of it here. Reviews over here

I just get depressed when I find our society inundated with trashiness. That's one of the hallmarks of a free society, I guess--the freedom to be trashy. But it just gets depressing and overwhelming sometimes. Whatever happened to good taste? Sure, there are exceptions--the few cases when something of genuine value somehow makes it through the commercially-oriented system and becomes famous and succeeds. But, again, that is the exception. Think of how much more quality culture we could avail ourselves of if trashiness weren't so commercially viable. Just a thought, though. I guess I'm the sort of idealist who decries commercialism in all its forms, envisioning a utopian world in which the arts are free to thrive free from the forces of commercial necessity and the ensuing trend towards mediocrity. But that is a pipe-dream, at least in today's society. I guess your advice is valid--make the most of what culture we have and strive to enhance and improve it within the boundaries of modern society, the best we can.

Are you kidding me? A non-trashy society isn't utopia. It's a mental and physical prison. The arts are free to thrive already -- it's up to you to do something about it if you want to create more. Even if your art never sells or you don't become famous, your art should always be successful to you because you are its creator and you can make your art have meaning. I believe that art is more powerful when it's your own and it's a personal thing.

If you hate how society is "inundated with trashiness", spend some time making your own private life filled without trash. Be brave. Be yourself. Stay focused. You sound confused right now - don't be.

Wise words, SC. However, what I'm referring to goes beyond one's personal private space. Sure, one can forge a trash-free private space, but society at large is inundated with trash and trashiness. I'm referring to broader societal trends. A non-trashy society is not necessarily a prison--not if people are voluntarily non-trashy. It would be a prison if restrictions were placed on people concerning "good taste". I'm all for a free society--the downside being that I have no right to dictate the tastes of others. If others enjoy things that I perceive to be trashy, that's their prerogative--they can choose to live as they like, so long as they don't get in the way of my own rights and freedoms. Still, commercialism, by and large, is trashy, and a society inundated with commercialism is inevitably inundated with trashiness and trash--which is what I am decrying here.

What is an example of a non-trashy society? What do you mean by 'trashy' anyhow?

The tiny country of Bhutan perhaps? They only got tv a few years back

Well, perhaps there isn't such a thing as a "non-trashy society," but that doesn't make the concept irrelevant, just as there isn't such a thing as a completely incorrupt society, but it doesn't mean that incorruption is irrelevant. What do I mean by trashy? I guess, synonyms for trashy would be "tawdry," "cheap," "shallow," "superficial"--that sort of thing, if you get my drift. Kind of like Las Vegas, I'd say--the ultimate in trashiness! I mean, imagine if the whole world was like Las Vegas or Hollywood. Sure, we'd all get an eyeful of silicone-enhanced women shaking their tushes, and that wouldn't be altogether bad, but how much of that can a person stand? I'd go to Las Vegas or Hollywood for a vacation and party awhile, but after awhile, it becomes a drag, and one longs for "the real world"--real people, real relationships, as opposed to synthetic people and synthetic relationships, etc. I guess, that would be another way to look at trashiness--the synthetic, the plastic, the artificially enhanced--goes with shallow and superficial, I guess! Ultimately, the commercially-oriented and commercially motivated. Kind of like Anna Nicole Smith, for example--does it get any trashier than that? Any more shallow or affected or commercially motivated? I see our culture in the 21st century as moving more and more in that direction--a culture shaped by TV commercials and magazine ads, as opposed to genuine art and culture. That's disturbing, because if commercial forces shape our culture, that leaves little room for truth. For a brilliant, insightful commentary on the trashiness of modern culture, check out the film Jesus of Montreal, in which there's a brilliant segment that echoes the Bible story of Jesus and the temple money-changers--only, in this case, the scene is the filming of a television commercial, with all the trashiness and superficiality of such a scenario. It's a great satire of modern society.

What I'm saying is that sometimes what appears 'tawdry' can yield wonderful, human things.

Synthetic people with sythetic relationships eh? How can you sit here and write yourself a license to judge others and their lives? It's quite a shame, too, that the same principle doesn't seem to apply to all those poems you posted.

I think part of this problem with tawdry, trashy, superficial, whatever-you-want-to-call-it is a lack of connection, personal connection. That moves into the commercial realm, too--to advertisers, we're not people, we're customers who can be shuffled into lowest-common-denominator demographics. Maybe that's part of what Django is upset about, although I don't want to put words into his mouth.

But therein lies the problem. Are fast and cheap (or slow and expensive, for that matter) demographically-oriented films necessarily trashy? Are places like Hollywood and Las Vegas necessarily shallow? Well, I'd say it depends on how you view those films or live in those cities. And it all depends on what kind of connection you have to them.

Cripes, I'm just throwing that word around and not really explaining it. Let me know if I'm being too vague--surely somebody will...

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I'm just reading a marvellously well researched book recommended to me by r3port3r66 called "Junk Food Nation". Not an obvious candidate for this thread, but his explorations into the horrifically manipulative and "evil" (see Beale's evil thread for my windy-version of what i think "evil" is) advertising techniques and business practices are astounding (i knew about all of them, but not about these details. My god but these people really should be locked up in a box and just left to mull on their own worthlessness)

Beliefs like "survival of the fittest" meaning survival of the strongest/most brutal seem to thrive amongst these guys (not "survival of the most fitting to their environment" as it should be interpreted. Heigh ho, that's the prob with a jorno reducing a whole book down to a catchphrase ). Get to the kiddies first or someone else will! Get 'em while they're two when they can recognise brands but don't know their own name!

The worrying thing about this is the more it proliferates (and it is and does for the most part in my opinion) the dummer we all get in our critical faculties, but more importantly: the more we have to be mindlessly-brutal to "fit" into these dubiously-directed societies of ours. Life and our survival has always relied on a mixture of competition where nescessary and cooperation where possible.. These guys have got the wrong end of the stick and they're waving it about. And they pack a big clout.

Synergy between products/businesses (hollywood, fast food, toy/game manufacturers etc etc) was invented by the lovely (evil evil!! ) mr Disney it seems. Kiddie-capturing-techniques pioneered by both him and Ray Kroc are still exploring new ways to make us brand-loyal for life. But even worse, these guys have proliferated a life-sucking fordism into the work place that keeps wages low and even endangers workers. This kind of trend desperately needs reversing.

I'll let you know when i get to other good bits (tho i've left lots out )

It's like pedophilia of the child's mind -- big corporations seducing youngsters with their toys, their drinks, their cookies, their movies, on and on... Disney and their partnership with McDonalds, which gives out Disney characters as toys in "Happy Meals" for the kids... Christmas and the toy store... Holiday seasons and summers with big eye candy cinema... an alluring, sensual looking anorexic Barbie doll (little girls play with them, little boys decapitate them or take off their clothes!). And have you seen those BRATZ dolls in stores? Yikes.

Is this good or is this bad? Is it shaping the minds and thus the future of our civilization? What would happen if Barbie was wiped out and replaced by Dollywan, a hideously plain and ugly young lady with librarian looks and caveman clothes? What if little boys were given hot wheelchairs instead of hot wheels? Would that make them stop being aggressive and power hungry?

Or could it all just be something innate? Are little girls and boys just naturally attracted to these things? And what about the little boy who wants an oven for Christmas? (Django, I hope this doesn't make you cry...) Does nature make us crave these sources of thrust in our lives? Afterall, we buy the food at McDonalds because we need to eat, don't we? And don't we want to taste something exquisitely divine and appetizing? Are we forever french fried? Okay, I'm done now. Heigh ho, Golgot! Heigh ho, the dairy-O, the farmer in the dell....

I'm dealing with this right now--my daughter's 6 years old, and everytime I turn around, people buy her all this stuff. She adores those BRATZ dolls... and she saw a Mary-Kate/Ashley preview, so now she wants to see one of thier movies. I've forbidden it, which is to say that I just keep saying, "We'll see," anytime she asks about it.

That isn't going to work much longer. She's on to me.

The problem is that kids retain so much of this stuff. A three-year-old can recognize the McDonald's logo and knows what it means. They'll remember the jingles they hear on commercials and sing them in the stores. Their minds are wide open, and this is what they're being filled with--buy our stuff, buy our stuff, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain...

But what are you going to do? Shut your child away from television? Well, might as well keep them from going to school so they can't get it there. And then you'd have to keep them from hanging out with any other kids, period.

Don't even get me started on gender roles in society.

I'm dealing with this right now--my daughter's 6 years old, and everytime I turn around, people buy her all this stuff. She adores those BRATZ dolls... and she saw a Mary-Kate/Ashley preview, so now she wants to see one of thier movies. I've forbidden it, which is to say that I just keep saying, "We'll see," anytime she asks about it.

That isn't going to work much longer. She's on to me.

The problem is that kids retain so much of this stuff. A three-year-old can recognize the McDonald's logo and knows what it means. They'll remember the jingles they hear on commercials and sing them in the stores. Their minds are wide open, and this is what they're being filled with--buy our stuff, buy our stuff, pay no attention to that man behind the curtain...

But what are you going to do? Shut your child away from television? Well, might as well keep them from going to school so they can't get it there. And then you'd have to keep them from hanging out with any other kids, period.

Don't even get me started on gender roles in society.