Snap, crackle … POP!

I shouldn’t be admitting this to anyone, let alone in print, but the other night I went and paid actual money to see ‘Confessions of a Shopaholic.’ Yes, I saw ‘Sex and the City’ over the summer, but this is a different situation. ‘Sex and the City’ is the diva equivalent of Beyonc’eacute;, while ‘Shopaholic’ was more on par with Toni Braxton.

Regardless, both movies shared a very similar theme: consumerism. Although both were filmed prior to the economic downturn, they were released at a time when the last thing movie goers are going to do is buy the pair of Louboutins Carrie frolicked in at Sushi Samba.

Is it fair of Hollywood to torture us like this? I’m not going to lie, as I watched Rebecca Bloomwood’s love interest waltz into a Miami boutique and purchase a brand new Prada tux in one scene of ‘Shopaholic,’ I hurt a little bit inside. It’s not that I need a Prada tux, or really want one for that matter, but I know I should be putting my paltry earnings from my glamorous job at the Warren Towers mailroom away in a savings account. Instead, I’ll cruise the likes of RevolveClothing.com and Yoox.com in hopes of finding a nice shirt on sale to spend my moolah on.

Am I allowed to blame such movies for my irresponsible spending? Is it wrong that deep down I envy the closet Big built for Carrie? That thing was twice the size of my room in the Student Village. The problem is, since I childhood I’ve been inundated with such ridiculous portrayals of spending. I’m pretty sure after I saw ‘Blank Check’ I cried a little bit as I went to bed because I didn’t have a pool with a water slide that ran all the way down from my third floor. The Talk Boy in ‘Home Alone’? I needed one the day after or else I was bound to be kidnapped, or so I told my parents.

While the media may have turned me into a monster-consumer, it breaks my heart to watch such films now, knowing that the overpriced jeans at Barney’s will pretty soon be able to stand for themselves, having hung on the racks for so long, and that there are more DVDs than usual gathering dust at Best Buy.

However, there is the flipside: perhaps movies like ‘Shopaholic’ will inspire people to go out and actually buy things. If what the economy needs is spending, then spend, people! I miss the days when people were racking up their credit and living lavish lifestyles. It was way more fun. I couldn’t turn on the news or read a paper last summer without hearing about ways to travel for cheap or better yet, how to create a ‘stay-cation’ ‘-‘- a vacation close to home. I don’t want to hear about these things anymore, they’re depressing. Use that Mastercard and book a trip to Atlantis, please. At least go Netflix ‘Sex and the City’ and hopefully it will inspire you to spend a few Gs at Saks. Barack would be grateful.