The Consumer Culture Within Me

Last Year, I went on the spring trip to Disney World with the Troy High Orchestra. Although I have visited before, I could not wait to experience the joy that every kid has when they are on their way to one of the most famous attractions in the world. As I walked into Magic Kingdom, the swarm of people walking around in 90-degree weather was infinite. Everywhere I went I saw people walking around in brightest of attitudes even though they were surrounded by complete strangers. I continued observing and I realized that at least 95% of people had Disney merchandise on. Hats, shirts, backpacks, cups and many more appeared as I walked towards the castle. Later that evening, even I was absorbed into buying a hand-held rubber castle that costed eleven dollars. I knew, I that it was overpriced and I should not have bought it, but I did not know when I would have an opportunity to buy an actual product in Disney World again. As of now, this souvenir sits on the desk in my room and whenever I look at it, I cannot help but think of all the memories I had in Disney World last year. I remembered these events while I was writing my in-class essay on an excerpt from "The Plastic Pink Flamingo". In the essay, it could be clearly seen that Jennifer Price was sarcastic throughout her essay. For example, as "Americans had hunted flamingos to extinction in Florida", she thinks of it as "no matter". Moreover, she seems to be exposing the through consumer culture of Americans with an example of the Flamingo. Although she does have a thorough argument about how Americans are wasting money on useless items, I see an alternative perception. For many years now trends come and go, and when you miss them, you feel like you are not part of a unity of people. When the flamingo trend diminished into a part of American history, people forgot about this period until there is a moment of joy in the recollection of an item from it. People who bought this flamingo merchandise can relive the days of the enjoyment in the past. Coming back to the Disney merchandise, when many of the people who I saw that day in Magic Kingdom grow old, they will still have these items that they treasured a long time ago and pass it on from generation to generation. That is why we still remember the flamingo trend in the 1950's. My point is that instead of critiquing the buying of useless stuff, we should cherish these items because there might not be a time when they come back into the scope of society. As for my Disney castle, I will keep it for as long as I can to remember these days of excitement.