Confessions of a Shopaholic

Submitted by : Teresa Claire Agtay BSCE 1102

Name : Rebecca Bloomwood Nickname : Bex Age : Twenty - five Occupation : Financial journalist Dress : AMEX Bag : Gucci Hobby : Shopping Crush : Luke Brandon Language : English, Finnish, Prada Motto : Shopping is life How will you describe the material self of Bex? Growing up with parents that are rather frugal, Rebecca finds happiness and fulfillment in shopping. Rebecca's material self is quite powerful and dominant at the beginning of the movie and pretty much the entire time, to the point where other aspects of her life are being affected. Being a shopaholic, it appears that she identifies mostly with her material self, which drives her to spend above her means and contributes to her mounting issues.With that being said, she spends not because of necessity, but because of her urge and want to have a certain thing, although at most times, they were impractical. She has shown a consumer culture where she no longer consumes goods and services primarily because of its functional satisfaction, and her consumerism leads her to not only create an extension of herself through material possessions, but rather build herself using those material things. Fortunately, life never gets tired of educating her until she learns what truly matters.

What is the climax of the story? Being a shopaholic, Bex finds herself in the middle of her debt, lies, career, love and friendship, which all got complicated because of her addiction to shopping and spending. It was made clear at the beginning of the film that Bex had debt as a result of her excessive spending. However, it got more complicated as she started getting attention for her articles about finance and spending wisely. Determined to avoid her problem and her debt collector (Mr. Smeath), her lies to her boss, Luke, piled up and it all bursts when Mr. Smeath decided to bring her issues to the attention of many people by interrupting her then TV appearance. Her overspending and debt got exposed on the national television which resulted in Luke– who also happens to be her love interest– distrusting her, and her losing her position. At the same time, Bex got into a misunderstanding with her friend Suze, simply because she had to choose between the dress for her interview and her friend’s wedding. Based on the ending, what kind of sense of self is promoted by the film? At the end of the movie, where Bex decided to let go of her material possessions and baggage, True and Real self is clearly being promoted by the film. True self in Winnicot’s words is “having a sense of integrity to create experiences of a sense of reality and a sense of life worth living.” At the end, Bex learned her lesson and decided to focus her life not on shopping, but spending her time with the people she loves, doing the work she enjoys and further building her skills. Her True self was seen at the end when she became honest with what she is, all the while being in her Real Self by not spending more than what she could really afford. It’s as if the movie intended to show Bex's journey in battling and destroying her false facade and stopping her from believing that she is living an ideal life where she could just spend money and justify everything she does.

What are your insights? Upon watching the movie, the thought that was going around my mind was “I don’t want to be like her.” Coming from an average family, with five other siblings to share everything with, I grew up knowing how important it is to spend what you have wisely and value money. Our parents never teach us to make money as the center of our lives, however, I have seen through them that at the end of the day, money has value, and I must work hard for it and not waste it.Bex was fortunate to be able to escape her predicament, but the truth is that not everyone will be able to do so, nor will everyone have a friend or a group of shopaholics who can assist them in solving their issue. Although I am happy that Bex eventually realized the truth, I find it very disappointing that everything just went smoothly for her despite her negligence and deception. I had anticipated the film would focus more on reality and allow the lead character explore her flaws and come up with a solution for herself. Never in a million years would I want to be like Bex, who only acts when the issue is directly in front of her face and affecting those around her. How are you going to apply your insights in understanding and developing your material self? I understand that material possessions are not everything and my life should not revolve around it. However, it does not mean that I must suppress myself in expressing myself through material things, that’s why I plan to continue being myself and develop my material self, but moderately. The movie was an example of how bad other aspects of life can be affected if I will not be able to balance my material self and other aspects of self. As a college student, I think in the future, when I am already earning, I would remind myself from time to time to not spend more than I could afford, and also never fall into the trap of credit cards. I would like to heed the advice that I got from online– that is to avoid spending using our cards, rather, just limit yourself with the money that you have at the moment.