Consumer Culture

There are many different social and economic factors that contribute to the Spain family’s bloody end, but perhaps the most important destructive theme is consumer culture, which French develops into a villainous threat to the happiness of even the most close-knit family. For the Spains, consumerism and the pursuit of material goods is intricately woven into their conception of success. From a young age, they and their peers have been taught that they lived in a blessed time when those who work hard can succeed and have the flashy trappings to prove it.

Not only do their friends have expensive holidays and perfectly done spray-tans, these expensive purchases are used as the watermark for social acceptance. Without their conspicuous consumption, the Spains would be excluded from social engagements. Jennifer Spain decides to preemptively cut herself off from the outside world not simply due to...