Affluenza 1997
Distributed by Bullfrog Films, PO Box 149, Oley, PA 19547; 800-543-FROG (3764)
Produced by John de Graf, Vivia Boe, and KCTS/Seattle
Director n/a
VHS, color, 56 min.
Jr. High - Adult
Popular Culture
Date Entered: 11/09/2018
Reviewed by Gerald Notaro, University Librarian, Nelson Poynter Memorial Library, University of South Florida, St. PetersburgBoth a societal malady and video title, Affluenza describes symptoms, causes, and possible cures for its viewers. It begins in a mockumentary style of a patient visiting a doctor's office to find out what is causing a "bloated, yet empty" feeling. The cause, of course, greed and materialism. The producers make interesting comparisons between the gilded and fabulous 50's and the excessive 90's: the Clinton/Eisenhower years. Both decades are marked by peace and prosperity. Affluenza symptoms abound in both eras: increasing consumerism, increasing waste, increasing pollution. The video points to some contemporary illustrations, like the demand for expensive and gas guzzling sport utility vehicles which are seldom used for their original intent. Excursions to huge shopping centers are a natural destination for shoppers looking to fill a void in their lives. There is interesting social commentary included from psychologists, authors, teachers, therapists, physicians, university presidents, and historians. Market researchers reveal secret strategies for targeting children and teenagers, and describe the invasion of advertising into former safe havens such as PBS, school busses, and school cafeterias. Even the Christian conservative "Focus on the Family" gets into the act extolling free market capitalism while at the same time decrying the woes of excess consumerism. What sounds the alarm in the 90's declining volunteerism, the widest historical gap between the haves and the have nots, and a growing perceived sense of deprivation. Affluenza, the video not the affliction, ends with a series of anti consumer activists describing ways to cut spending and voluntarily submit to a simpler life. What it ultimately describes is an historic pendulum which has been swinging in American society for 225 years between individual success and communal movements, educational stratification and back-to-basics, new math and old math, spend and save. Though interesting, at $250 Affluenza is not an essential purchase.
See a review of the sequel, Escape from Affluenza