I went to go see Confessions of a Shopaholic a couple weeks ago and surprise, surprise the “shopaholic” was of course a woman, and the audience was 98% female. Although consumer society is pervasive in the lives of most of us living in the West, I would argue women, more than ever, are represented within visual culture, such as film, as “shopaholics.” We will apparently sacrifice a hefty portion of our paycheques for designer shoes, like Carrie from Sex and the City. We will work in fashion, primarily for the major discounts, like Rachel from Friends. And of course, we will dig ourselves deep into debt for that special Denny and George scarf, like Rebecca from Confessions of a Shopaholic. I can’t help but connect the rampant images of shoe-buying, fashion-obsessed women of popular culture to the fact that gender inequality continues to be a problem within our society.
I feel consumerism, to some extent, has gained considerably with the great strides taken by the Women’s Liberation movement. Consumer society has gained a massive population of female shopaholics within the last century, with the opportunity of women to become more independent from men, and often even make the same amount of money as men (though the glass ceiling continues to remain unbroken). Of course, women were able to shop before, but primarily with their husbands’ salaries. It seems many advertisements, however, attach the messages of female empowerment and independence to products (like the Nike ad in Chapter 7 of Practices of Looking), essentially to make women feel empowered by their ability to make their own living and spend their own hard-earned cash on themselves. I feel the proliferation of characters such as Carrie and Rachel in pop culture is often intended to give a feminist twist to the modern city gal, yet work to keep women focused on designer handbags and shoes as opposed to the continuing prevalence of patriarchy within our society.
One of the final scenes of the recent Sex and the City movie depicts the elusive Mr. Big slipping a pretty high-heeled shoe on Carrie’s foot, in the place of a diamond ring on her left ring finger. Although the intentions of the creators of the film may have had the intention to show the traditional wedding proposal with a diamond as old-fashioned, I thought this scene was doubly patriarchal. This scene seems to reiterate my thoughts exactly: Men and shopping ultimately complete women.
Thanks to allmoviephotos.com for the pic
