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I think Idiocracy and this week’s readings made it pretty clear that America and what it is to be American is defined by the ways we consume. The “American lifestyle” has been a draw for many people to come here and I feel like the way that people consume in America signifies their level of “American-ness” as well as their place in the hierarchy of race and class. “Neoliberal Citizenship” definitely touches on this, but I am curious about the exact ways we are expected to consume in order to be American.
I may be reading too much into it, but Idiocracy seemed to suggest that the modes of consumption that became the standard for America after a couple hundred years of devolution in the film encouraged the subordination of women (it seemed like every woman was only a sexual object.) The film closely/explicitly links the “idiot” Americans to inner city ethnic groups (everyone speaks in ebonics) as well as white trash. The film definitely offers a critique of the upper class but it is still suggested that if the upper class were to procreate the way the lower class did, America would be in a much better place. I see this association of the idiots with the lower class and certain groups in America as really problematic. Everything went to hell in the film when only the “lower class” reproduced, but I felt like the film points the finger at the lower class as if it were in their nature to behave the way they do, not the product of any sort of hierarchy or system in America that benefits from the lower classes lack of access to certain things that the middle or upper class has the means to consume. Although the film does criticize corporations and the media in the stupefying of America, it also points at the idea that these people are poor and in a crappy situation because they are lazy and stupid, which has been the justification for why certain people are in power and others are not (ie: for colonialism.) The future in the film is depicted like the third world and the humor relies on the idea of looking at these people as backwards people who don’t know what is good for them. They need someone who knows what is best to take over and fix all their problems. Granted, as it is depicted in the film, this is true, however the images and the tropes that the film relies on ignores many of the realities of issues of colonialism in th third world and issues of class and race hierarchy in the US. I don’t know if anyone else had a similar reading…