There is a sickness that is sweeping across the planet like the plague. Its symptoms range from vanity and cupidity, to broken homes and poverty. Other possible symptoms include weight loss, weight gain, chronic constipation, and workaholism. If you find yourself frequenting superstores, purchasing the latest gadgets, stuffing yourself at food courts, and maxing out your credit cards, you just might be a victim of this cultural epidemic. The condition has been dubbed *affluenza* and it's also the title of this timeless and timely small-screen documentary.
You may not even realize how sick you are with this disease and may even be in denial. The purse-proud and money-grubbing lost causes aside, AFFLUENZA may just serve as a wake-up call to those not yet so far gone to be beyond hope.
Here is a terrific special interests program that examines the after-effects of living in a culture centered around overconsumption. I would think the best audience for this program would be the millions of somnambulists who shuffle semiconsciously about shopping centers in search of cashiers; those who might have never heard of deferred gratification, frugality, downshifting, recycling, reusing, and author Duane Elgin's exceptional book, "Voluntary Simplicity."
Really, how many toys does one kid need, especially when he already has a roomful of things he hardly ever uses? A person can only wear so much at one time, but that doesn't stop the fashion-conscious woman from spending half her paycheck on overpriced apparel (in all likelihood, made in overseas sweatshops) -- personal wardrobes that could undoubtedly clothe an entire nudist colony. I read somewhere that even monks are becoming materialistic. It seems no one is immune to Mammon's influence.
As the documentary points out, it is not all the fault of the consumer. Enter the commercialists, motivational researchers, and the credit industry, who target the vulnerable -- namely, the youth market, impulsive spendthrifts, and insecure status seekers, who (somewhat willingly) buy into the propaganda. It is mentioned here how many suburbanites have so much stuff, their garages are often used to store it all. It all pretty much amounts to a meaningless existence beneath all the glitter, leaving many a consumer with a feeling of profound emptiness.
Those who toss in their two cents on the matter include an economist, a radio broadcaster, medical doctor, car salesman, psychologist, and even a pastor (whose place of worship, incidentally, appears to me to be rather luxurious, compared to, say, the average chapel).
At a runtime of just under an hour, AFFLUENZA may not have cinema-like production values, but it does have, one might argue, a sense of spiritual ones, which are the most important to have.
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