Definition :

The consumer society : a society in which people often buy new goods, especially goods that they do not need, and in which a high value is placed on owning many things (Cambridge Dictionary online)

Read this page :  [1]

Art and consumerism :

100 Cans (Andy Warhol 1962)

Artwork Description & Analysis : It is said that the gallery owner and interior designer Muriel Latow gave Warhol the idea of painting soup cans, when she suggested to him that he should paint objects that people see every day. Painted in 1962, 100 Cans is an early example of Warhol’s repeated image of a mass produced consumer good. Warhol went on to produce several tributes to Campbell’s soup cans, sometimes as a single portrait.

Oil on canvas - The Albright Knox Gallery, Buffalo, New York

Florida shopper (Duane Hanson, 1973)

Supermarket Lady (Duane hanson 1969)

1) Confessions of a shopaholic : Watch this trailer and explain it with the help of the worksheet.

Useful vocabulary :

 cute= good looking
 to purchase= to buy
 Finish= language spoken in Finland

Us English is used in this trailer :
 a résumé= a CV
 a store= a shop
 a closet= a cupboard

2) The story of stuff : Watch this video :

Answer the questions in your worksheet.

si vous ne parvenez pas à visionner cette vidéo directement, suivez ce lien vers le site.

 Read this to understand the origins and the consequences of the American art of over-consumption.

 Watch this short film :

The good consumer

 An interview of Kalle Lasn from Adbusters on CNN about "Buy Nothing Day"

 The song "Little Boxes"

3) West Side Story : America

Watch this extract from the movie :

 WEST SIDE STORY
 America Lyrics

 ANITA

Puerto Rico My heart’s devotion Let it sink back in the ocean Always the hurricanes blowing Always the population growing And the money owing And the sunlight streaming And the natives steaming I like the island Manhattan Smoke on your pipe And put that in !

 GIRLS

I like to be in America Okay by me in America Everything free in America

 BERNARDO

For a small fee in America

 ANITA

Buying on credit is so nice

 BERNARDO

One look at us and they charge twice

 ROSALIA

I have my own washing machine

 INDIO

What will you have not to keep clean ?

 ANITA

Skyscrapers bloom in America

 ROSALIA

Cadillacs zoom in America

 TERESITA

Industry boom in America

 BOYS

Twelve in a room in America

 ANITA

Lots of new housing with more space

 BERNARDO

Lots of doors slamming in our face

 ANITA

I’ll get a terrace apartment

 BERNARDO

Better get rid of your accent

 ANITA

Life can be bright in America

 BOYS

If you can fight in America

 GIRLS

Life is all right in America

 BOYS

If you’re a white in America

 GIRLS

Here you are free and you have pride

 BOYS

Long as you stay on your own side

 GIRLS

Free to be anything you choose

 BOYS

Free to wait tables and shine shoes

 BERNARDO

Everywhere grime in America Organized crime in America Terrible time in America

 ANITA

You forget I’m in America

 BERNARDO

I think I’ll go back to San Juan

 ANITA

I know a boat you can get on, Bye Bye !

 BERNARDO

Ah-hah Everyone there will give big cheer !

 ANITA

Everyone there will have moved here

Now you can watch this video : "I live like a Hobbit"
 say what we learn about Emma’s lifestyle
 say what we learn about her house
 explain why she chose this lifestyle