‘Requiem for a dream’ – A critique of consumerist society wrapped in a tale of addiction. PART 3: Sociopolitical standpoint.

This is the 3rd and final part of the blog post - " ‘Requiem for a dream’ - A critique of consumerist society wrapped in a tale of addiction". I suggest that you read the previous two parts before this. Thanks and Enjoy!

This is a film about excessive consumption - a criticism of hyper consumerist American Society. Addiction is nothing but a by-product of loneliness and loveless life. Hyper consumerism is the darkest side of capitalism that tries to replace and weakens human communities by injecting the idea of individual happiness derived from consumption. As a result, the society adopts a life style that thrives on consumption and puts a high value on superficial materialistic achievement (monetary, status related, beauty related). In this kind of society, individuals often experience emotional loneliness and a pestering sense of failure which they try to replace either by over-consuming or by trying to feel ‘special’ and ‘successful’.

For the following reasons I believe that this film is critique/comment on hyper-consumption:

• Tyrone and Harry want to ‘make it big’. Money is their only objective. However they are too consumed and caught up in chasing the fleeting happiness that drugs give them. Despite having companionship, they feel isolated. Tyrone misses his mother’s love. From Harry’s introductory scene we can deduce he never shared a good relationship with his mother. There are only 3 (one of them being a dream) scenes where we see Harry and Sara together, showing how less they are a part of each other’s life. He derives more pleasure from the money and drugs. Asking Marion (albeit indirectly) to have a sexual relationship with Arnold for money (against her wishes), is a sign that shows Harry’s priorities.

• In Sara’s lonely life a sense of purpose comes from the idea of being in Television. Sara believes her peers are treating her better because of it and being on Television will give her a sense of achievement.

• Harry and Sara’s introductory scene was a fight between them over a TV. Symbolical of how materialistic things getting more priority over human bonds. During the end of 2nd act, the TV and fridge (commodities) are haunting her.

• In Sara’s hallucination, she sees herself and the host in her own house making fun of the objects in the house. Laughing at the objects in the house or the condition of the house is significant in a consumerist culture as the person’s value is judged by the materialistic achievements and the level of consumption. The scene is a visual representation of her psychological ‘falling apart’ - her house is literally falling apart. In her hallucination the voyeurism disturbs her. She feels her life has become a joke/ a farce and people are mocking her.

• That scene has two other significant shots: 3 show girls scantily clad & Sara Goldfarb kissing the host ( a sexualized image) - women and sex, two most salable commodity especially in an American consumerist society.

• The two male characters’ addiction has been explored on a more surface level and their drug related problem is more business oriented, the two female characters’ addiction is a result of more deep-seated spiritual and psychological issues. Marion does not have a good relation with her parents & dealing with mental health issues.. Safe to deduce that she is emotionally unfulfilled and unloved. Sara Goldfarb’s loneliness had been established elaborately.

• Again Sara’s shots of electrocution are juxtaposed with Marion’s shots in the orgy. Both of theirs shame and regression in life is of a deeper spiritual nature. People around Marion in the orgy look similar to the audience in the TV show. The people around Marion are there for voyeuristic pleasure and are not sexually participating in the act, thus standing on a higher ground and looking down at Marion and the other girl performing, just like the Television audience. Both of the audience cheer and chant in an ominous way. Both have become a victim of this voyeuristic society. Their life has been turned into a commodity to be consumed. Drug consumption has pushed Marion into the path of prostitution where she now is being treated as a consumable commodity. Reality shows, being voyeuristic in nature - turn people into a salable commodity – their pains and insecurities are often exploited and the viewers take part in consuming those emotion. While consuming they themselves want to become a commodity and willingly offer their life stories to be consumed by others (all for temporary popularity or may be to get a chance to be heard even for a brief moment). This is what happens with Sara and that is what has led to her downfall. Here the shots of agony juxtaposed with a sexual act (which is meant to be pleasurable but in this case is not), enhances and clarifies the pain and violence Marion is going through. It is almost like the Sara’s shot becomes a visual representation of the psychological anguish of Marion in that situation. As the pace increases, the graphical match cut creates an illusion that they all are getting penetrated violently and painfully to illustrate the metaphor of ‘being fucked in the ass’ – symbolical degradation. By shoving money in Marion’s mouth she has finally been converted into a commodity. Because of the use of match cut (and overlapping sound), the act of shoving something in the mouth becomes the final show of degradation for the Sara’s character as well. Putting the mask in Harry face (though in no way a degraded act) becomes one in our mind by association.

• The film ended and started with the reality TV show. The show is a metaphor for the superficiality and the illusion that the character (and most importantly people) has surrounded themselves with. ‘People are delusional’. The television is also like a service, up for consumption. The film is about excessive consumption- be it in form of Drugs, food, beauty product, television content etc. Behind the desire to consume, this addiction, is the lack of human connection. Sara wanted to be on the stage to speak about her life – in reality she felt unheard. She wanted to ‘speak’ and ‘be heard’

Commodification of human beings is a notable sign of Consumerist society. Excessive and obsessive consumption (to the point of addiction) is a result of emotional isolation that a consumerist society creates.

Aronofsky wanted to make a film about love and delusion but this film is not limited to only those two themes; rather it raises a lot of socio-political questions. Never ever it verbally preaches any anti drug sentiment but every frame & every cut visually manipulates the audience to form negative association with drugs. This is one of the best example of ‘Show, don’t tell’. Even though Matthew Libatique did a fantastic job with visual composition, the backbone of this particular film is definitely editing and sound design. The problem with using different editing techniques like split screen, time ramp, jump cut, and graphic match is that too much of it can look gimmicky and take us away from the story. This film uses a lot of these techniques and uses them almost always – creating a style and for this particular film all of this work. Rather try imagining this film without these cuts; a lot of the emotions will remain unexpressed and a lot of ideas unexplored. Unquestionably the film has some strongest performances but a lot has also been expressed visually and aurally. This film neither had expository dialogues, explaining character motivation nor did it branch towards ‘pretentious’ ambiguous verbal discourse. The loudest dialogue was visual dialogue in this film and it seems here the editor, Jay Robinowitz (certainly with the help of the director) has written these ‘dialogue’.