from the normal lifestyle of a youth, from shy, bashful, introverted girl to prom queen winning the heart of the guy she adored was the exact template for cool girl transformation. This is what the pop culture has put us into.
The transformation cost a lot of cash, obviously. Julia Roberts in the movie‘ Pretty Woman’ who was a prostitute, was portrayed wearing fishnet stockings and flashy top and she have to spend money to look like proper lady. Looks may be deceiving but the way we dressed is a way of self-expression. Our freedom of expression is doomed because of our how the popular culture has molded the way we view ourselves. We ended up buying more and more stuff in order to fall into the description of perfect and beautiful as deemed in the movie.
The pop culture had caused us to buy more stuff. The iPhone is an example which a form of technological advancement that was once used to allow the users to have a better experience in communicating but nowadays it is viewed as a need, as a possession or a status of a social ladder. The music videos featured by the pop culture never fail to cease our attention by making us feel insecure and not enough with our current lifestyle. The music video is designed to show and portray the lifestyle of the riches. Just name it, the clothing, the car, the house and the fashion accessory used in the music video. Being a millennial, we cannot afford to live the life where materialism is the number one priority in this struggling economy.
Juggling in between two jobs, in order to fulfill the requirement of the needs in the Maslow’ s Hierarchical Needs, we cannot fit in to the lifestyles that are lived by the Kardashians nor Cardi B. Quoting Tyler Durden in the movie Fight Club,“ advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working we hate so can buy shit we don’ t need.” All of this is the impact of pop culture and its relation to consumerism. To hustle and make money, better yet to fall under the spell of the pop culture, by idolizing the riches does nothing but harm. Spending within our means is the way to go.
The pop culture always has a special place in our heart as its idea is densely based with the American Dream, the place where everyone can dream and be everything they dreamt of. The rags to riches story is not a dream or a fairytale. Putting our priority wrongly would cost us suffering and trouble in the future. The hard earned cash, deliberately spent to buy unnecessary items due to the influence of the pop culture in a long run is a ticking time bomb.
Consumerism is what we spend our money to, how we spend them and the reasons why we spend them. The pop culture has a serious impact on consumerism and what are we going to do about that? Only time will tell.
SASARAN JURNAL KRITIKAN MEDIA. 41