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I have watched Confessions of a Shopaholic for three times since it was firstly referred in the course of Introduction to British Society and Culture.In the film I noticed that a fairy-tale that a pretty but clumsy blonde-hair girl got a high enough paying job which she was absolutely not equal to and found her Mr.Right who had nothing in common with her.The most unbearable point is that their romantic relationship is entirely based on a huge lie.It is alright to accept the absurd plot in which the heroine picked up everything by her fortune.However，it is a symptom of a social disease that should not be neglect at all.In other word，it is irrational consumption.
It is obvious that the leading lady，Rebecca Bloomwood，is a shopaholic from bottom to toes.Through the superficial representation of her characters，can we work out how she constructed herself to be like this？ It is necessary to go back to the film itself in order to find the essence reason.
Rebecca was born in a middle class family.Both her mother and father had one of the typical personality trait，the frugality.And little Rebecca was forced to practice thrift，though she admired those who could buy to own such shining goods by a magic credit card.At that time，she had learned without prompting and instructing to categorize people into two parts，one referred to those，including her mother，who were always buying discounted goods，such as the pale brown leather shoes she had already had； the other referred to those who were willing to purchase fashionable clothes and dashy handbags no matter how expensive they were.In Rebecca’s eyes，a credit cards were the key to another better world，where everyone has access to what made him or her more glorious and decent.She had been in the first group for ages，accustomed to admiring others by their material enjoyment.And the concept that people who owned the most luxurious goods would be most respected rooted in her heart and made what she would be after growth.
If I could say there is only a concept in little Rebecca’s heart，I am quite sure that big Rebecca，which means the adult，has practiced it perfectly.For her，that job in a failing magazine was nothing but a guarantee to paying off her mounting credit card bills.A handsome guy would be overshadowed by a store to make her heartbeats fast.She thought that a man would never love her or treat her as well as a store.For her，nothing could be more interesting than a store，since it awakened her lust for things she had never even knew she needed.Actually，she did not need those things，what she needed was the feeling when she appreciate and touch what she had not yet owned，and the moment when her credit card was swiped.So it is easy to comprehend that the pile of clothes in her closet could not restrained her from buying a piece of new one. The most impressive role in the film is bunches of mannequins.Using surrealistic mixture of fact and fancy，filmmakers personified mannequins.They danced and sang like Siren in front of Rebecca，destabilizing her fragile resolution of resisting temptation.For an example，when a green scarf caught Rebecca’s attention，she was attracted by its beauty but refused to buy it out of her sense of reason.And the mannequin spoke to her the moment Rebecca turned her back on it.“wrap some old jeans around your neck，that will keep you warm.That’s your mother would do.” “The point about this scarf is that it would become part of a definition of your psyche.” “It will make your eyes look bigger.It would make your haircut look more expensive.It matches everything and would be an investment.” “It would make you more confident and poised during your interview.” Which girl could refrain from such a fantastic scarf？ Be clearly aware of the truth that a mannequin can not talk so that it is easy to understand what Rebecca did is not because others have seduced her but because of her autosuggestion.
Nowadays there are still a lot of shopaholics all over the world，even around us.Have you got one or two of your friends or roommates that spend nearly two hours browsing the website of Taobao？ Approaching to the “double eleven day”，have you put a heap of useless things in your shopping cart？ Do you feel exited when invited to go out shopping by your confidant？ Are you always babbling that you need one more clothes，shoes，bags or some type of things of which you have got a mountain？ Irrational consumption speaks for itself.
Apart from irrational consumption，conspicuous consumption is another ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s society.Conspicuous consumption is the spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury goods and services to publicly display economic power—either the buyer’s income or the buyer’s accumulated wealth.Sociologically，to the conspicuous consumer，such a public display of discretionary economic power is a means either of attaining or of maintaining a given social status.This phenomenon can be seen these years，especially in China.Evidently，there is a significant relation between conspicuous consumption and abnormal psychology of flaunting wealth.In the past several decades，particularly after China’s Reform and Opening-up policy came into force，the amount of wealth has gradually become the prime determinant to measure the degree of one’s success.It seems that money can make people’s social status rise.So people would like to buy luxuries at any cost to show their difference from “ordinary” people.What’s more ironical，if the luxury is at discount，they will never cast one glance on it.
The film has a happy ending that Rebecca paid off all of her debt and regained the affection and love of Mr.Right.But remember what the film showed is just a fairy-tale.Life is not a film，and we will never be as lucky as Rebecca.
It is obvious that the leading lady，Rebecca Bloomwood，is a shopaholic from bottom to toes.Through the superficial representation of her characters，can we work out how she constructed herself to be like this？ It is necessary to go back to the film itself in order to find the essence reason.
Rebecca was born in a middle class family.Both her mother and father had one of the typical personality trait，the frugality.And little Rebecca was forced to practice thrift，though she admired those who could buy to own such shining goods by a magic credit card.At that time，she had learned without prompting and instructing to categorize people into two parts，one referred to those，including her mother，who were always buying discounted goods，such as the pale brown leather shoes she had already had； the other referred to those who were willing to purchase fashionable clothes and dashy handbags no matter how expensive they were.In Rebecca’s eyes，a credit cards were the key to another better world，where everyone has access to what made him or her more glorious and decent.She had been in the first group for ages，accustomed to admiring others by their material enjoyment.And the concept that people who owned the most luxurious goods would be most respected rooted in her heart and made what she would be after growth.
If I could say there is only a concept in little Rebecca’s heart，I am quite sure that big Rebecca，which means the adult，has practiced it perfectly.For her，that job in a failing magazine was nothing but a guarantee to paying off her mounting credit card bills.A handsome guy would be overshadowed by a store to make her heartbeats fast.She thought that a man would never love her or treat her as well as a store.For her，nothing could be more interesting than a store，since it awakened her lust for things she had never even knew she needed.Actually，she did not need those things，what she needed was the feeling when she appreciate and touch what she had not yet owned，and the moment when her credit card was swiped.So it is easy to comprehend that the pile of clothes in her closet could not restrained her from buying a piece of new one. The most impressive role in the film is bunches of mannequins.Using surrealistic mixture of fact and fancy，filmmakers personified mannequins.They danced and sang like Siren in front of Rebecca，destabilizing her fragile resolution of resisting temptation.For an example，when a green scarf caught Rebecca’s attention，she was attracted by its beauty but refused to buy it out of her sense of reason.And the mannequin spoke to her the moment Rebecca turned her back on it.“wrap some old jeans around your neck，that will keep you warm.That’s your mother would do.” “The point about this scarf is that it would become part of a definition of your psyche.” “It will make your eyes look bigger.It would make your haircut look more expensive.It matches everything and would be an investment.” “It would make you more confident and poised during your interview.” Which girl could refrain from such a fantastic scarf？ Be clearly aware of the truth that a mannequin can not talk so that it is easy to understand what Rebecca did is not because others have seduced her but because of her autosuggestion.
Nowadays there are still a lot of shopaholics all over the world，even around us.Have you got one or two of your friends or roommates that spend nearly two hours browsing the website of Taobao？ Approaching to the “double eleven day”，have you put a heap of useless things in your shopping cart？ Do you feel exited when invited to go out shopping by your confidant？ Are you always babbling that you need one more clothes，shoes，bags or some type of things of which you have got a mountain？ Irrational consumption speaks for itself.
Apart from irrational consumption，conspicuous consumption is another ubiquitous phenomenon in today’s society.Conspicuous consumption is the spending of money on and the acquiring of luxury goods and services to publicly display economic power—either the buyer’s income or the buyer’s accumulated wealth.Sociologically，to the conspicuous consumer，such a public display of discretionary economic power is a means either of attaining or of maintaining a given social status.This phenomenon can be seen these years，especially in China.Evidently，there is a significant relation between conspicuous consumption and abnormal psychology of flaunting wealth.In the past several decades，particularly after China’s Reform and Opening-up policy came into force，the amount of wealth has gradually become the prime determinant to measure the degree of one’s success.It seems that money can make people’s social status rise.So people would like to buy luxuries at any cost to show their difference from “ordinary” people.What’s more ironical，if the luxury is at discount，they will never cast one glance on it.
The film has a happy ending that Rebecca paid off all of her debt and regained the affection and love of Mr.Right.But remember what the film showed is just a fairy-tale.Life is not a film，and we will never be as lucky as Rebecca.