Consumed by a Culture of Consumption

Where desire and discontentedness merge

It’s the fall of 1999, and the movie Fight Club is gaining popularity among teenage and young adult crowds. A film based on Chuck Palahniuk’s debut novel, Fight Club explored many contemporary themes — most notable, for me, was the piercing criticism of consumer culture. In a now iconic statement, the rowdy and unpredictable Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, says the narrator, “We are consumers. We are by-products of a lifestyle obsession. Murder, crime, poverty, these things don’t concern me; what concerns me is celebrity magazines, television with five hundred channels, some guy’s name on my underwear, Rogaine, Viagra. I say never be complete. I say stop being perfect. I say let’s evolve. Chips fall where they may.” And to add a firm punch to the face of consumer reality, he ends by saying, “the things you own end up owning you.”

We live in a society that has waged a full scale war on our contentment. Our age is one punctuated by the sheer access to what would have once been considered the height of luxury. Most of us have access to a cornucopia of consumer goods that promise us any manner of pleasure, status, accomplishment, relief, belonging, and pride.

Despite ready access to so many commercial goods promising us contentment, we find ourselves increasingly unhappy. In a society that…