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In Chapter 1 - Consumer Society and Social Criticism I will deal with introducing certain notions and authors, crucial to the understanding of the subject at hand. Chapter 2 – A Brief history of Consumer Culture will present the evolution of circumstances which led to where we are today. Then I will shift focus to the films, analyzing them separately, first taking a closer look at David Fincher’s masterpiece in Chapter 3 – Fight Club. The next chapter, Chapter 4 – American Beauty will be about Sam Mendes’s film. Chapter 5 – Deconstructing the Consumerist Ideal will make an effort to do exactly what its title suggests, providing a meeting ground for directorial, theoretical and personal views. Naturally, the Conclusion shall contain the most important deductions and assessments which can be drawn from the totality of ideas present and presented in this paper.

Chapter 1

Consumer Society and Social Criticism

Before entering a more lengthily description of theories, authors and views on consumer culture, I would like to clarify certain terms in the context in which I will further use them. Most importantly consumerism can mean one of two things, which according to Longman Online Dictionary are either “the belief that it is good to buy and use a lot of goods and services - often used to show disapproval” or “actions to protect people from unfair prices, advertising that is not true etc”. I will mostly be using consumerism in its first meaning, but will surely mention it in its second one too. Another important term is consumer culture, in the sense best described as by following: “A culture may be understood as a pattern of beliefs, values, meanings and customs shared by a group of people, often existing at an implicit or taken-for-granted level. Consumer culture suggests that consumption - the act of buying goods or services - is a cultural activity, one imbued with meaning and driven not just by practical or economic factors. Mapping and exploring the business implications of these cultural meanings is one of the principal functions of qualitative market research.” Consequently consumer society is one very closely tied to the act of consumption, also “the society of learning to consume, of social training in consumption. That is to say, there is a new and specific mode of socialization related to the emergence of new productive forces and the monopoly restructuring of a high-productivity economic system.”

1.1 The Frankfurt School and Other Social Critics

German philosopher, economist and sociologist, as well as a political revolutionary, Karl Marx (1818–1883) was one of t本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。