Student Number: 2020-09411-MN-0 Date: November 10, 2021

Name: Salazar, Mary Rose C. Section: BAPE 2-2

ACTIVITY 4
The movie Confessions of a Shopaholic centers around Rebecca's life, in which
her enjoyment is dependent on materialistic purchases. In addition, the movie has a lot
of amazing quotes that have a lot more depth to them than they appear to have. One of
the statements Rebecca left me was, “A shopaholic would have a coat in every color
and lots of accessories.”. Being someone who is not fond of shopping, I can not seem to
understand the happiness behind purchasing a number of the same clothing in just
different colors. Also, I genuinely disagree with this viewpoint of hers and instead agree
with Luke Brandon’s that I feel like it is a waste of money purchasing the same clothing
as it will be just forgotten in the closet after. In my opinion, the price of a piece of
clothes, a gadget, or any other materialistic item may be used to determine its value as
money is a crucial aspect in determining something's worth because it represents your
hard work, thus, not all inexpensive and unbranded goods have a bad quality.
Sometimes, inexpensive things have better quality.

According to Hartney (2021), clothing, shoes, purses, vehicles, and gadgets are
a few examples of materialistic goods. Most of these materialistic goods are where
Rebecca’s money goes through the use of credit cards. A credit card is a payment card
that is provided by a bank or financial services business that allows cardholders to
borrow funds to pay for products and services from merchants who accept credit cards.
Credit cards require cardholders to repay the borrowed funds, plus any applicable
interest and any other agreed-upon charges, either in full or over time by the billing date
(Bloomenthal, 2021). Credit cards are a double edge sword in my opinion. It can either
be of help to people in need of money, but dangerous to people who cannot control
themselves in purchasing. It happens that Rebecca is the latter part, purchasing
products using credit cards and makes everything appear affordable until the bill comes
through. These scenes are a subtle reminder to consumers who are fond of using credit
cards that they may feel great with the look at all the new purchases but that feeling
quickly fades.

In the movie, Rebecca’s closet is full of clothes and accessories that she can’t
even remember where and when she bought them. Shopaholics tend to think when they
are buying those things that they really need it but as time passes by, it will feel
unwanted and forgotten. This situation explains that worthiness of something is
measured by how many people will recognize and admire that piece of clothing.
Furthermore, the fact that she paid for everything with a credit card is a major no for me.
In my opinion, a person should acquire goods that are within her means rather than
accumulating debt by buying everything she wants. If I were in her shoes, I would rather
wait for my money than use a credit card that would lead to debt. After all, her
purchases may have cost her a lot of money, but they aren't worth anything to her,
especially when she isn't even aware that she owns half of them.

“They said I was a valued customer, now they send me hate mail”. This
statement is analogous to how she has handled her possessions. She treated it as if it
were the most important item she owned when she acquired it, but then she forgot
about it. To sum it up, this film simply demonstrates that the worth of a person or an
object is determined not only by its price and use but by a lot of factors. Furthermore,
people should learn to be pleased with what they have rather than attempting to fulfill
their desires, which may lead to regrets caused by wrong decisions. Therefore, one
should live life to the fullest while knowing the limitation as it is not rewindable or
erasable.
 References

Bloomenthal, A. (2021, May 17). Credit Card. investopedia.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/creditcard.asp

Hartney, E. (2021, August 3). Materialism and Shopping Addictions.

verywellmind. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-materialism-22209