ode to commodity fetishism

28Oct09

if i were to follow that title, this post would have tags related to marxism, consumerism, capitalism, even baudrillard. but i am not about to delve into a serious discussion on commodity fetishism here. as you may have noticed, i much prefer to keep my academic capers away from a space that i use to vent my frustrations on health and parents and ex-boyfriends.

we were just discussing the concept of commodity fetishism in class yesterday, and i got  to thinking about how material objects have become such an important part of my life since summer this year. granted, i have always been an avid shopper and i like to have things, but never to an extent where i felt as if i should sit for a serious shopping addiction test, or that i would actually fail it. it is fortunate that my singaporean head is screwed on rather tightly, and i have not (yet) gotten into debt or those financial woes that seem to beset some shopaholics.

all the readings on social psychology have instead forced me to psychoanalyze myself and question my compulsion to shop, dress up, and surround myself with pretty things. i don’t have an answer. things… commodities… just make me feel happy and secure, and for the past few months, much less lonely. take my mind off fears, make me feel powerful because i have the money to make life better, and give me something to look forward to when i open my mailbox (therefore the obsession with online shopping)… make me feel connected to a world that, otherwise, feels so far away.

for the first time in my life, i am checking out fashion blogs, fashion magazines, learning to do up my own clothes, looking at people on the streets and mannequins in store windows. feeling absolutely superficial because in my world – in the world of academia – you don’t quite embrace commercialism and consumerism, even if you choose not to condemn it. but i am shamelessly in love with this superficial world. it doesn’t make me sad like the other world does.

maybe i have a problem. but as long as my wallet (and wardrobe) holds up, i won’t let it bother me. not for a while. maybe not for a long while.

Filed under: random, reflections   |  1 Comment
Tags: consumerism, fashion