Consumed: Inside The Belly of the Beast
What’s the hidden motive behind all your purchases? According to Geoffrey Miller, professor of psychology, humans seem to have gone collectively psychotic. We’re chasing status in public, with people who don’t really care, while we’re neglecting our own lovers, friends, neighbors, and kids. The urge to have the latest, the biggest, and the best is actually destroying us emotionally. In this documentary, you’ll be pushed to take a long, hard look at yourself.
Brands seem to have become a significant measure for our lives and our worth. One explanation for this could be that shopping for brands might be the way we satisfy the natural need for mystery, excitement, and magic. Our lives have never been richer, yet our need for more has not diminished.
Take for instance what happens in romantic relationships. Some people are blinded to the point that they neglect to develop desirable character traits and choose to hide behind brands instead. So a man might try to attract a mate by showing off his car, and it might just work, but it makes for a very superficial bond.
Our brains are programmed for survival, the desire for prestige, and growth. Society reflects and facilitates this. But this attitude is pushing us to the limit and even the environment is suffering the consequences of our excessive consumerism. In fact, Dr. Warren Hern of the Institute of Behavioral Science thinks that the human species has become a cancer on the planet, displaying all of the four major characteristics of a malignant process. Just as an untreated cancerous tumor eventually kills the organism to which it’s attached, we’re running the risk of depleting our environment because of our dissatisfaction with the material possessions we already have.
Will we ever change? Is runaway consumerism an inevitable stage of evolution or just a temporary historical glitch? Watch now to find out.
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