The theories related to societies and sociological perspectives are eminent in Confessions of a Shopahloic film. The movie has three main sociological theories and they include symbolic interactionism, conflict theory and functionalism. Therefore, it will be very good to define these sociological perspectives before portraying how they are applied in the Confessions of a Shopahloic film. Based on the functionalism theory, a society is considered as an autonomous part meaning every individual or society function with respect to their own goals. The functionalism theory is based on cooperation and consensus of different sections of a society. On the other hand, conflict theory is based on social destructive and disruption to the correct and order of life within the society. In this regard, in case all parts of a society get into a conflict then the society will fail to operate effectively leading to destruction of the society. The essay will look at the sociological perspectives in Confessions of a Shopahloic film with respect to gratification of desire taken as a means of social control.
Gratification of desire (is) as a means of social control
The film of Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) has got different or several scenes of satisfaction or gratification of desire. For example, Rebecca buys clothes because of her immediate desire regardless of it being essential for her. In this regard, Rebecca is observed regretting in several instances within the film due to her impulsive perchance. David Report asked, “Do we actually want more chairs?” According to them, materials which are not basic or necessary for an individual only cram people’s residential places. However, the concept of “gratification to desire” comes out when people purchases things that are not necessary to them simply because of short-time and imputation self-satisfaction. Also, Bauman indicates that consumer game is an excitement of sensation and excludes tangible sense of wealth and greediness of obtainment. In this regard, consumers are advised to consume in control and consume rationally. Gratification of desire is said could be self-perpetuating motive (Rey and Ritzer, 2012). This concurs with Bauman’s opinion that desire does not desire satisfaction and that desire desires desire.
Indeed Rebecca is a great shopping addict in the film of Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) and she does it for the sake of her gratification or satisfaction. At an instance when Rebecca was asked the reason why she wore low-priced clothes, he argued that he did not want anyone to label him with his appearance or clothes. To him, what was so important was just the underlying sense of fashion and tastes that he had to satisfy. Based on the gratification to desire concept, some contrary aspects of a society concur with competition rules thus considering change as a desirable aspect of social life. In this regard, societies are considered stages where concepts like satisfaction desires are continuous and usual leads to a social drama like in the case of Rebecca. The film of Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) also embraces structural functionalism concept with Rebecca attempting to achieve some degree of satisfaction through purchasing some unnecessary clothes because he wants to gratify his love for shopping.
Moreover, giving a lot of attention to the dialogue between Luke and Rebecca in the film of Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009), it is realized that Luke is disgusted about Rebecca’s lies with regards to her love for shopping. The main objective of Luke is to inspire people with the aim of helping them control the kind of shopping habit that they have. However, Rebecca on her side believes that through shopping she will be able to satisfy her desires. Rebecca represents women in a society especially those women who love shopping and believe that through shopping they will be able to satisfy their desires even if they are shopping things which are unnecessary to them. Rebecca could even avoid the company of everyone but only to massage her ego of shopping which she believed could gratify her needs. Some of Rebecca’s friends like Luke are annoyed and even engage with a conflict with Rebecca because they are tired with her habit of unnecessary shopping which has made her to have several debts. This made several friends to be mad at Rebecca as well. Typically, when a woman loves doing something in a society, she will try doing it without succumbing to obstacles around her. In the case of Rebecca, she has tried to convince herself that all the obstacles around her cannot affect her love for shopping. Rebecca confuses when she saw gloves and she thought she needed them while at the same time she again saw Prucci boots that has 50% discount and believes they are also the best because she can afford them. This made her to get herself in dilemma, “Do I need these?” Rebecca asked herself.
“No,” I don’t need them. Rebecca answered herself and put the Prucci boots back again. In this regard, Rebecca uses gratification of desire to control herself to shop. For example, she gets confused most when she realized that the Prucci boots that she wanted to buy are already bought with another person thought she finally ended up buying similar boots. This indeed showing an apparent internal conflict within Rebecca especially when she realized that she did not need the boots and then finally regretting. Therefore, this shows that there was a big internal conflict within Rebecca about how to control her desire. The theme song “When she goes to a garage sale” by Jordyn Taylor talks about branded things that women get when they need them. Indeed this song is similar with the film of Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) as it talks about the uncontrollable shopping culture as that of Rebecca. This makes the character of Rebecca in film of Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) to be very strong since she loves branded things so much as she believes that they gratify her desires. In fact, Rebecca represents the common women in a society who are ready to use whatever amount of money it takes to acquire whatever they believe will satisfy their desires. For example, Rebecca came to realize that she a lot of debt and most things that she bought with it are not necessary for her. In fact, after knowing her debt she indeed got further confused and regrets a lot because she realized about the huge debt that she had to pay back. To make it worse, she had just lost her job as a journalist while the huge debt is also here with her to pay, so the big problem that she has now is how to get this kind of money to pay the debt.
Gratification to desires is indeed costly as proven by Rebecca in the movie of Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009). Consumption is indeed associated with shopping as well as being the start of consumptive activities thus making Rebecca to be described as ashopaholic person in the film. Even Rebecca reached a point when she realized she was a consumptive person especially when it came to her awareness about the kind of debt that she had. However, she still accepted that she loved shopping too much and due to that she had to go shopping as well as kept on stocking most of the newest items on a daily basis. Rebecca realized that it is shopping that satisfies most her desires and this is Rebecca is shown in the movie of Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009) as she comes home with several paper bags having several branded items. Rebecca also feels bored unless she goes for shopping, in fact, as seen in the film, shopping is Rebecca’s daily desire. In this regard, Rebecca has become too consumptive because she is not able to control her shopping culture or habit. For example, the consumptive nature of Rebecca is further shown when she loves purchasing shoes in stores thus making her to have several shoes in her room as shown in the film. In this regard, Rebecca loves purchasing things and items of no value to her but she just does it because of her love to shopping thus making her to have a lot of debts. The women’s motivation to shopping as expressed in Rebecca is not always complete with their daily desires but it rather shows their identity with the surrounding as well. This is the reason why even Rebecca could purchase branded items even if they were too much expensive.
Really, shopping has become one of the unsatisfied needs of human beings in the world (Burns, & Elizabeth, 2009). The motivation for any individual to shop is not only considered a complete to his/her needs but it is also considered as those individual’s identity as shown in the case of Rebecca in the film Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009). Therefore, consumption and gratification to desire also take place in this process. Gratification to desires is always a pattern of action and thought especially when people purchase because they want to derive satisfaction out of it but not because they need it. Gratification to desires can also take place when people feel that shopping is their desire. In this case, Rebecca reached the root of gratification to desire when she realized that she did not need it to due continue economic damage that she used to get out of it as she used to do a lot of unnecessary purchases. Gratification to desire is also observed to not to be a negative activity rather as a good thing that is also socially necessary (Brunsvick, & Danzin, 2005). The sociologist Jean Baudrillard of between 1960s and 1970s believed that people live in a society which is based on items as a symbol and sign as opposed to exchange of the value of material goods. This means that people no longer control the object but they are the ones being controlled by such objects.
Conclusion
The film of Confessions of a Shopaholic talks about Rebecca, a women who is addicted to shopping; however, the habit or shopping culture turned highly bitter to Rebecca as she realized she was accumulating a lot of wealth. Realizing that she had a lot of debts brought bout internal conflict due to too much debt that she realized she was having. The film of Confessions of a Shopaholic uses sociological and intrinsic aspects methods with the aim of exploring extrinsic aspects of the movie. The film outlines gratification desires that Rebecca had as well as how she was chased by debts she acquired due to the habit of shopping which she staunched loved so much. The Confessions of a Shopaholic is said to be about gratification to desires because of Rebecca’s love shopping, a character which she developed at an old age. In summary, the Confessions of a Shopaholic film reflect the gratification to desire that took place in Rebecca.
References
Aart S, S. (2000).Globalization: A Critic Introduction. London: MacmillanPress.
Baudrillard, J. (1998). The Consumer Society; Myths & Structures. London:Sage Publications.
Brezina, C. (2005). The Industrial Revolution in America. New York: TheRosen Publishing Group.
Brunsvick, Y& Danzin, A. (2005). Lahirnya Sebuah Peradaban. Yogyakarta:Kanisius.
Burns, T & Elizabeth.M. (2009). Sociology of Literature and Drama. Boston:Wadsworth Cengage Learning.
David, R. (1979). Business Today. America: Random House.Effendy, Heru. 2002.
Mari Membuat Film. Yogyakarta: Panduan.
Harsono, S. (1999). Metodologi Penelitian Sastra. Semarang: YayasanDeaparamartha.
Miles, S. (1998). Consumerism As a Way of Life. London: Sage Publications.
Nurgiyantoro, B. (1995).Teori Pengkajian Fiksi. Yogyakarta: Gajah MadaUniversity Press.
Piliang, Y. (2003). Hipersemiotika: Tafsir Cultural Studies Atas Matinya Makna. Yogyakarta: Jalasutera.
Pratista, H. (2008). Memahami Film. Yogyakarta: Homerian Pustaka.
Quart, A. (2008). Belanja Sampai Mati. Yogyakarta: Resist Book.
Saénz, M. (2002). Latin American Perspective on Globalization. Boston:Rowman and Little Field publishers.
Scott, J. (2005). Inferring Meaning : Significant Plot Details. Germany:Prestwick House.
Sim, S. (2008). Memahami Teori Kritis. Yogyakarta: Resist Book.
