“Why are we so obsessed money can’t buy us happiness” In the end, Marcuse said the result of rampart consumerism would be increased mental illness and environmental degradation. But the fun was purchased at a high price namely the need to work ever longer and harder to provide the means to buy these goods. Speeding in one’s car, using Ipods, tablets, and laptops which provide a handy comfort entertainment, and watching movies in 3D cinemas were all fun. It can be related to the lyrics in the song which goes like this “Why is everybody so serious acting so damn mysterious… that you can't even have a good time.”
Thus it is reflected on the lyrics of the song “Seems like everybody's got a price I wonder how they sleep at night when the sale comes first and the truth comes second.”Ĭapitalism provides us with false needs and does it require us to exert more labor in order to gain more income and in effect to it, there is only a little amount of energy discharged on intellectual, physical and sexual activity which is made possible through the bond of the sacrament of marriage. Hence, our needs and interest are shaped by technological rationality, which creates a false consciousness by enforcing a certain lifestyle upon us without opening up a space for our own choices.
Marcuse emphasizes that in the modern era, in consumption we are not aware of our genuine needs and interest, and we usually have the inclination to accept needs imposed upon us by commercials. Marcuse is a political critic and philosopher whose primary concern is to develop a critical theory of society that aims at liberating the individual from any form of social control and domination.Ĭapitalism and consumerism play a very dominating role in the society, that it requires humanity’s total submission under its system.