Our lives have become nothing more than a big Tussen Kunst & Kitsch show where we compare and compete to have the richest life possible.
The TV-show Tussen Kunst & Kitsch made me realise that our world is focussed on exchange-value and we measure our success and failure with money. In Tussen Kunst & Kitsch, a programme of the Dutch TV-channel Nederland 1, people can give their antique items to experts who value it. Sometimes people say that they won’t sell it, even when it’s worth a lot, because they are too attached to it. But when they get to hear that it’s worth next to nothing, they always seem to distance themselves from the item.
The show usually only shows the most valuable items and one or two ‘cheap’ items. It is like a freak show, yet the object is not a freak, but money. People watch it to see the look on the faces when owners hear their itme is worth a lot of money or no money. I have to admit that it is fun to compare all the money-greedy faces. However, this show reveals a very sad problem of modern society.
Because of our capitalist culture Baudrillard (1994) claims we transformed from use-value, “the real uses to which an item will be put” (Felluga, 2003), to exchange-value, what an item can be exchanged for. This basically means that we measure our belongings, our lives and our careers by how much money it’s worth. Baudrillard thinks we have lost all sense of use-value. You can read more on Baudrillard's theory here.
Money rules our lives: we are obligated to make money to function in today’s society. But it goes even further, we are even obligated to buy a lot of expensive items. We want things and we are driven by our want for things. Things can be anything ranging from exploring the world (which involves buying trips) to getting the newest gadget. And then we measure our lives by how many things we can buy or have bought. How ‘rich’ we are.
Our lives have become nothing more than a big Tussen Kunst & Kitsch show where we compare and compete to have the richest life possible. What does this mean for society? Surely it can’t be a good thing that we’ve lost all use-value or is there still hope?
There’s always hope! You can be conscious of your own choices and in control of your own life. Don’t let yourself be manipulated into wanting everything. Of course you can have your wants, hopes and dreams, but don’t let that be a measure of your happiness. Happiness and creativity don’t cost a thing.
Literature
Baudrillard, Jean (1994). Simulacra and Simulation. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Felluga, Dino (2003). ‘Modules on Baudrillard: On Simulation.’ Introductory Guide to Critical Theory. Purdue U.