My opinion on a documentary I watched recently.

RE: What Would Jesus Buy By Tina Shyu

"What Would Jesus Buy," a film directed by Morgan Spurlock about the commercialism behind today's Christmas is, sadly, the first documentary I've seen concerning this subject. However, it's not a new topic for me and, I hope, for anyone else who watched it today. The film plays out some of the more emotionally charged issues with footage of sweatshop conditions, interviews, and large public displays, while adding in a little humor every now and then. Actually, now that I think about it, a large part was unintentionally humorous. It's kind of pathetic. Do we really need to dumb down a message until it becomes a circus so that people will pay attention? Should our classroom teachers be dancing and juggling while reciting world history? This film was not an eye opening experience, but it did lead me to think about why the "Church of Stop Shopping" wasn't successful and maybe what I would have changed about it.

The approach and basics behind the tour of the "Church of Stop Shopping" was to charge into the largest box store or mall and loudly express their opinion, which resulted in the police or security booting them out. Rinse and repeat. There's productive protesting, then there's annoying protesting, which is the difference between the crazy man standing in the middle of the street warning us about the end of the world and another man handing out pamphlets trying to start an organization with a collective goal. I suppose the "Church of Stop Shopping" fought maliciously and with their hands over their ears to replicate the manner of the corporations, who took all they could and never gave a damn.

Another issue they barely touched was the sweatshop workers. Sure, they worked in poor conditions but they also lived in poor conditions. The sweatshop employees chose to work because they had no other option and would rather be crippled and abused for little money than to have no job. "What Would Jesus Buy" failed to suggest an alternative to the problem. It didn't even mention the problem. Similarly people in America as well as other well off countries are stuck in a cyclic struggle. The film promotes buying from countries where the working conditions are better but not all people can afford the prices of things manufactured in those places. Is the Walmart shopper to blame for not being able to afford American Apparel? And for those who are rich enough to have a choice to limit their shopping, how much of that choice is actually there? There are people who work their entire lives to make sure the consumers keep consuming.

As the film attempts to sway the habits and mentalities of consumers, something must also be done about the laws over the marketers and the companies who don't want anything to change. If Jesus were born under the billboards and into a generation where people are the ads, I would guess that he would probably buy more than just a couple fish and loaves of bread.

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12 hours of shorts and features later...

I'd love to post a picture of myself but I wouldn't want to scare you all off. Just imagine a very very tired but happy little chinese girl. Mondays always suck because Monday = classes = bah. I'm about to get started on a little portfolio piece soon... look out world!

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Comments

MrFrost says:

maybe if you had posted the pictures it wouldnt have taken 2 months to someone to reply to this post! lol... Anyways... i hope your fall grades were good

Posted about 1 year ago | Delete