As I was scrolling through my Netflix last night, looking for something to cure my insomnia, I stumbled across Gossip Girl. I remembered those Monday nights in middle school where I would anticipate the new episode ahead. Always setting aside time just to make sure I don’t miss it. After all, Serena was perfection. She was always dressed so beautifully, her hair was always flawless, she was at the best parties, with the hottest crowd, and of course she had all the money in the world. To me as a thirteen year old girl, she led the perfect life. Looking at this show now, I see that it was only reinforcing Marx’s idea that we are a materialistic nation as reflected in our advertisement. We are constantly surrounded by advertisement that tell us what to buy, that we need this or that because ours just isn’t that good enough. Even media restlessly presents the perfect life as full of riches and possessions. Movies also portray the perfect life of as one with sports cars and mansions, poolside drinks and tuxedoes. This is the life we all seem to desire.
When I was twelve and religiously watching Gossip Girl, along with the other teenage girls across the nation, I was consuming the idea that Serena’s life was perfect because she had so many beautiful things and it only made me want to consume even more things myself. As a twelve year old girl, I felt that I had to have my closet closely resemble hers. My hair had to be just as perfect and skin just as flawless. This was what advertisement depicted as perfection and I bought it. But I know I wasn’t alone as Gossip Girl swept across the nation and became the obsession for most other girls my age.
Now although my obsession with Gossip Girl has ended, it’s still not hard to feel under constant attack by advertisements to consume. Any magazine I pick up has some sort of advertisement urging me to buy the next best thing. When I’m watching T.V I see the new Lexus commercial depicting a handsome man driving fast through the city, a man that has money and power, a reflection of the Lexus. Something we as a nation want to consume. Regardless of where I look I see how advertisement constantly portrays the perfect life, a clear reflection of Marx’s idea that we are a materialistic nation.
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