Kat Hall: Illustration & Design

There are so many documentaries available online!

I watched the documentary “I.O.U.S.A.”. When random citizens were being interviewed off the street, I couldn’t help but feel troubled after people, casually, kept telling the crew how they didn’t save money but would keep spending anyways. There was one woman interviewed that told the crew that she had probably 3 or 4 credit cards maxed out behind her husband’s back (and her husband was adamantly opposed to credit cards) . Ugh. There were other segments where they talked about how the U.S. is, as we all know, importing more than we’re exporting (the deficit) and because of that, China will pretty much own us one day. Here was how they explained that:

Anyway, there’s a ton more to “I.O.U.S.A.” (and if I discuss anymore of it, I might go on a tangent). I really liked it. Even the presentations of statistics and facts themselves were very interesting (very kinetic and graphical) and, overall, I really didn’t think it was so biased either.

I also watched another documentary today title “What Would Jesus Buy?“. Oh. My. God. “Reverend Billy” and his followers from his church, “The Church of Life After Shopping” (they’re really just performance art activists) go around from place to place (usually around places in New York City) and hold demonstrations. During the demonstrations, they’re non-violent and they sing anti-consumerist songs the way a congregation would. Most of the time, the demonstrations end with Reverend Billy getting detained or thrown out by security. It’s so great. In the movie (which seemed to take place mostly around Christmas), Reverend Billy and his followers take a cross country tour to preach the church’s beliefs. Things like buying locally, buying sustainably, being more considerate and aware of what you’re consuming, etc are what they believe in. They visit the Mall of America and get kicked out. Their trip ends with the Holy Land, Disney Land, where they also get kicked out.

Here is Reverend Billy getting kicked out of a Starbucks I’m pretty sure. Like Walmart, the church holds a lot of demonstrations against it.

I loved LOVED this movie. I loved the church and how they get their message out with a sense of humor.

And I am SO going to get this book now:

Holy Moly. Apparently the title was taken from a real Starbucks memo.

Also, I watched this short semi-animated film online called “The Story of Stuff“. This film, as the title says, explained how things are produced. The host then went on to talk about how things are usually produced in linear fashions that don’t work with our finite resources. It had the same information as “I.O.U.S.A.” and “The Corporation” but in a more understandable manner (it was dumbed-down—I think this was meant for kids in school).

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Really nice effect.

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Once again, as I’ve mentioned in my other posts, I’ll be visiting the Mecca soon and won’t be able to post for an entire week while I’m away. However, I did get to go to the library yesterday and I’ve checked out some books to read while I’m away (that will surely help me with my topic). And eventually, I’ll have to narrow down my topic somewhat because consumerism itself is just too broad I think. I’ve written down several facets/aspect relating to consumerism (debt, marketing, sustainability, etc.) that I could shift my focus to. However, in the meantime, I’m going to keep learning about different aspects as I keep researching.

And let me just end my post with saying that I’m super excited about going to Disney World. I’m excited, not only because it’s Disney World but because visiting Disney World will make for some great fodder for my (proposed) Senior Project topic. Yay!

Filed under: Senior Project