Post Class

In class this week the question arose if the recession was affecting the consumerist society that the United States of America had previously always been associated with. The United States has always been known as a Capitalist, so much so that our culture itself has been transformed into a commodity. At first I believed that our views on money and spending were changing as a culture because of the coverage in the media on the recession. Being frugal seems to be a ‘fad’ in today’s culture. The news is full of ways to ‘cut back’ and save money. Fashion magazines glorify stars that dress in reasonably priced clothing. However, though the fixation is focused on low prices, the act of consuming is still present. Instead of developing as a culture to be less consumerist, we are justifying it in a time of bad economic standings. The media is allowing and telling the public to continue buying what they ‘need’ and to not be shy about it because they can do it ‘reasonably’. The act of justifying the spending proves that consumerism is still a big part of our society. Another question that arose this week is whether there is a possibility that all inventive ideas have already been created, and all that is left is to improve upon these ideas. This can be explicitly seen in fashion. Fashion is constantly reoccurring. Vintage is ‘in’ and the ‘fads’ of the past generation resurface with slight alterations. In the beginning of the term culture was described as an aura rather than an era for just this reason. By defining culture as an aura allows it to reoccur, to move throughout time. An era is fixed in a particular space, but an aura has the ability to move, change, and reoccur. I do not know the answer to this question, but it is a bleak outlook on life. It almost states that we as a people are done evolving and are simply mimicking.