Home » The Worldview Behind Confessions of a Shopaholic

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The movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic, was a particularly interesting movie for me.  I write about getting out of debt and the character in this movie, Rebecca Bloomwood, was a perfect specimen of the type of person I want to help.  She maxed out all her credit cards and somehow still found ways to keep spending money under the belief that the next new item in the store would "define her".  She was always looking for that new clothing item that would "define her", when the hundreds of other items she bought for the same purpose failed to do so, at least for very long.

This is a problem most everyone is facing in our society today to one extent or another.  Rebecca is an extreme case, but is an excellent illustration of the problem in exaggerated form.  This isn't a problem that emerges simply because we make it too easy to spend with credit cards, though it facilitates it.  This is a problem of a faulty worldview about money and debt.  This worldview is called Consumerism.  When we adopt this worldview, we begin over consuming.  Our appetites for stuff grow so much; we literally consume ourselves to death.  Is there any thought that maybe this connection explains the problem of obesity in this country?  Are they connected?

 

Americans have become so wealthy, that we have become preoccupied with image.  We distance ourselves from our blue collar background and identify with the highest class of people possible.  It is important that we see ourselves as upwardly mobile and as influential in our communities.  This way of conducting our lives has come with a great cost.  We have made peace with the fact that we strive to live according to the living standard of our peers, maybe a little better.  We work for this goal using any means available. 

 

Parents both go to work to have an income that qualifies for the largest house in the best neighborhoods, requiring a significant mortgage.  They enslave themselves to an unforgiving oppressive mortgage payment, so they can put their children in the best schools and keep up an upwardly mobile image.  All the while, they hire out the raising of their children to a daycare center.  Then, even though the mortgage payment is high, they must have two cars so both parents can drive to work, oppressing them even more with two heavy car payments secured by an asset that drops in value by 50% in the first two years.  Then if one of those parents loses their job, the family goes into a financial crisis, unprepared because they weren't trained in proper personal financial management principles that would have them prepared for a job loss.  In all these things, the family suffers.  The relationships are put under great strain.

 

This is the worldview that is portrayed in the movie, Confessions of a Shopaholic.  We don't see it unless we look for it.  The worldview is seriously flawed because if you follow it to its logical conclusion it leads to failure.  Instead, we need to replace it with a time proven and unfailing worldview that leads us to success.  This is a worldview that realizes that money is a reflection of our values, and debt leads to enslavement.  It is where we understand that living within our means is necessary because otherwise we end up in debt.  We don't see life as a series of acquisitions, orgasms, and fame.  It is a belief system where we recognize that we should put temporary satisfaction lower on the priority list than things that provide permanent fulfillment.  We recognize that having a loving faith in God and loving each other is a far better investment than anything we can buy.

 

For further discussion about this go to my website, Confessions of a Shopaholic part 1 and 2.