Ostentatious America

While the 2017 Oscars mishap regarding The Academy Award for Best Picture may have created unwanted awkwardness for the film La La Land, such immense publicity allows me to assume that the majority of people have at least some familiarity with the movie. The feature received outstanding reviews from audiences and critics alike (an achievement that seems to be an impossible feat nowadays), but casting aside any personal opinions, I think everyone can admit that the story presented some interesting themes. Admittedly, most of the plot revolves around dreams and our willingness to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve them, but with all the satirical essays we've read recently, I was reminded of the remark protagonist Sebastian Wilder makes about L.A., commenting on how "they worship everything and they value nothing."

Though this line was spoken about a specific city, it seems to fit almost perfectly with the tone that both "The Plastic Pink Flamingo" and "Marrying Absurd" adopt towards American society as a whole. Our culture is apparently one too superficial to understand that the wedding business shouldn't strive for "peak operational efficiency," one that "hunted flamingos to extinction" because we put more value in their artificial counterpart. America used to be a land of opportunity, and for some individuals, maybe it still is, but it seems that modernity is pushing it closer and closer to a land of consumerism and superficiality. Is it true that our society has become so obsessed with extravagance, so fixated on commercial efficiency that it lacks the ability to appreciate authenticity? With both essays reflecting on American culture in the 1950s and 60s, I can only imagine how much more exaggerated our shallowness is today when it seems as though there's a constant craving for bigger and better and a need for everything to be documented in a social media post. It can be hard to see the beauty in simplicity while being bombarded with all that's new and complex, but it's a challenge we must be willing to take on. Sometimes "flashy" can be fun, but not when it causes us to lose sight of true essence and importance.