Conspicuous Consumption: the Status of Cultivating Decay
Wrapping Up Summer Camp: Decay Revisited.
As I sat today, my husband meticulously touching up my undercut, my mind wandered to world-building. In a twist that will surprise exactly none of you, I started thinking about the way we cultivate decay as a display of conspicuous consumption, and how to use this in world-building.
Conspicuous consumption is the act of doing something wasteful in a grandiose manner. Think champagne fountains, or those rumors about certain celebrities who use their linen and dishes only once before discarding them. Or the decorative vegetable gardens of Versailles, where fresh food is grown to look pretty, then just...thrown out.
Expensive haircuts that need constant maintenance are another example. So is ordering weekly fresh-cut flowers for nothing more than decoration. The hair grows, and we spend a ton of money getting it reshaped. The flowers sit there, slowly dying, before contributing to the methane content of the atmosphere as they decay.
Even in the stories we love, we see this theme. The Great Gatsby is layered with the decay of early 20th-century poverty and wealth. Gatsby's dirty "new" money and the wastefulness of his parties contrast sharply with the poverty of Daisy's husband's mistress.
In The Hunger Games, we see conspicuous consumption in the Capitol, where at banquets, people induce regurgitation to "sample" more delicacies. They waste food while the other districts starve.
This idea of cultivated decay as a means to display status speaks not only to the wealth of a particular character or society but also to their morals and values. Wasting food in the face of starving people presents a very cruel and bourgeois attitude, while an expensive and high-maintenance hairstyle is both less obvious and less harsh in its message.
If you choose to introduce conspicuous consumption into your narrative, be certain of the message you want to convey. Think carefully about how the consumer views their participation in the casual waste of these situations. Are they ignorantly complacent or actively promoting these traditions?
In the end, the way we portray conspicuous consumption can reveal much about our characters and the worlds they inhabit. Whether it's the opulence of Gatsby's parties, the excesses of the Capitol, or even the extravagant lifestyles of the characters in Succession, these displays of wastefulness can serve as powerful symbols of societal values and personal morals.
So, next time you're world-building, consider how cultivated decay might play a role in your story. It might just add that extra layer of depth and intrigue you need.