I was not surprised by the reactions viewers had to this short film. You are always going to have people who disagree, miss the point, or get angry. I think that most of the reactions really spoke to how many people really do not know the facts about consumption - like the father from the NY Times article who called the film "an attack on capitalism." This is a real problem and people are going to oppose the facts because the facts demand a change in our behavior - our consuming behavior.
I think the Steve Cohen brought up a few good questions. I do think that the film could have brought up some suggestions regarding what young people could do. I also think that the film was pretty harsh and did leave out that component of "cultural embeddedness" that is important to address.
I don't remember which article brought it up but I think it would be interesting to examine the possible repercussions of drooping consumption all together - what would this do? who would this hurt? I don't doubt that it would be better in the long run, but what would be the initial effects? Also, she talked in the film a lot about sustainability and I would like to hear more about what that means for the individual consumer.
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I don't really follow your last point here Liz. What would it mean for a person or society to give up consumption? That sounds like a physical impossibility.
ReplyDeletePerhaps you meant to say something else? I can imagine reducing the amount of stuff that gets consumed, say, or changing processes on the production side so that the things we consume are "better for the environment." Maybe there are other options for change, too, that flow from Leonard's film -- something for us to talk about over the next couple of sessions.
We'll certainly be talking about "sustainability" a lot over the next few weeks. Be sure that, in doing so, we come back to address that final question you ask in your post.
Best,
simon