The author is a—very obviously— left winged person, and his political views impacts the way the books takes, a lot. While I do agree with the majority of his opinions in the book, I think that everyone that read it can agree that it’s leaning toward extremism, going each of his point to the extreme. His very excentric style of writing also makes the book a little hard to read, due to the presence of a lot of methaphores and neogologisms, long scentences, exagereations, and —a things that my classmate affirmed during this one course— the fact that the author doesnt give a solution to this problem. The last thing is a very interesting one due to the fact that consumerism was, is and it will contiue being a big problem in our society, but the author simply just puts his opinion on the paper without trying to solve it or correct people that do it. Jean Baudrillard just states the fact as it is and made it visible for others.

Jean Baudrillard’s book, was published in 1970, and is a fundamental work of sociology and semiotics (the study of signs), offering a critique of post-war Western societies where consumption surpassed the satisfaction of needs to become a system of signs and a central ideology. The main idea is that, in the modern world of abundance, people do not consume objects for their use value (practical function) but for their sign value—that is, for what they communicate about the consumer’s status and identity. Consumption thus becomes a “formal liturgy of the object,” a social ritual through which individuals position themselves in society.

In this context, I want to mention that the author, Jean Baudrillard, uses a large number of religious terms (such as “formal liturgy,” “myth,” “miracle,” “pact,” “salvation,” “icone”) to describe consumerism. The explanation for this is to underscore the fact that modern society has begun to conflate spiritual values with material needs. The author considers the Consumer Society to function like a religion that offers its members a system of meaning, akin to faith and rituals.

For example: A liturgy is a ritual performed by a specific religious group, in accordance with its particular traditions—this is the definition taken from the internet— the term, in Baudrillard’s book, suggests that the exposure, purchase, and display of objects is a kind of sacred ritual that offers a form of spiritual or social fulfillment. At the center of this ritual, the main engine that stimulates the need to buy, but also satisfies it, is the mall, a concept that appeared, as we know it today, at the beginning of the 20th century. (we will talk about it a bit later)

Another example: Salvation through shopping: The fundamental promise of advertising is that a certain product (or set of products) will solve existential problems, bring happiness, or save the consumer.

Consumerism is the systematic activity of manipulating signs and differences through objects and services, which function as a code. The consumer does not buy an object, but rather the sign of difference that the object offers, using it to position themselves in the social hierarchy and to define themselves. Baudrillard criticizes the idea that people consume because they have a genuine need for things. He argues that these “needs” are not natural but are created by society, especially through the system of production and advertising. The industry constantly produces new models of products—phones, clothes, cars, etc.—and makes us feel that we must have them, not because they are essential to us, but because we want to be “up-to-date,” different, or special. Furthermore, society conveys the idea that we must be happy all the time, and to achieve this, we must buy things. This creates a moral pressure: if you don’t consume, it means you’re not enjoying life or you’re not successful. The true motivation behind consumption is not necessarily personal pleasure, but the desire to belong to a certain social group or to show who you are through what you buy. Advertising plays a major role in this entire process: it doesn’t just sell us products; it transforms them into symbols of success, happiness, or social status.

“Objects do nothing but stimulate the social essence—STATUS—”1

Consumed products break down quickly and rapidly become unfashionable to force the continuous renewal of the stock of signs. This logic of the vicious circle of growth is directly responsible for the current resource and waste crisis. The text also mentions the phenomenon of object inheritance being rare today because rarities no longer exist. Everything is mass-produced; nothing is unique anymore. It offers the example of works of art, which one could once see in a single location, but now there are replicas and accessibility.

The main idea is that objects confer status because they function as a code that allows for social differentiation, but instead of bringing equality through abundance, consumption becomes a mechanism of re-segregation. The richer a society becomes, the harder its members must work to find and consume new signs that differentiate them from the masses.

The Mall, the new cultural center of society.

The Mall = the synthesis of consumer activities, which combines mass purchasing and accessible goods. It becomes a “cultural center” where you can buy both clothing and food, find entertainment, and it can be a place to meet others.

The author calls it a modern Pantheon. The mall offers an illusion of freedom, abundance, and continuous happiness—a “consumer dream” where everything you could desire is available in the form of merchandise.

“The Mall, extended to the dimension of the shopping center and the future city, is the sublimation of all real life, of all objective social life, in which not only work and money are abolished, but even the seasons.”2

I had a realization while reading this part of the book because —as a person that works in the mall— the quote states a very interesting thing, the fact that, aside that the mall aclimatize the whole place so a person feels comfortable, nor cold nor hot, it also keeps you trapped. There are no windows in a mall, maybe some somewhere you don’t really see them, but either way, they are useless anyway because they are not used to air out the place, or for the natural light. There are special vents for that and there are also those annoying led lights that bright out the whole mall. The conclusion is that you dont really notice how much time you spend in there, so you just keep on going from store to store, wasting time, because this is what the mall wants… to keep you in it.

Objects and the Body as an Object of Consumption

Every object, from a car to a detergent, becomes an element in a “series,” consumed in relation to other objects and not in isolation. (The author repeatedly offers the example of the washing machine which usually comes as a set with the refrigerator, computer, and other items.) A separate topic is the body as an object of consumption. It is no longer a natural gift but an entity that the individual is obligated to manage, maintain, shape, and display (through diets, sport, fashion) in accordance with social norms imposed by the mass media. The body thus becomes a sign of lifestyle, health, and success, subjected to the same logic of differentiation and planned obsolescence as material goods. (Women, in particular, suffer from this aspect, leading to more products and more reasons to buy.) The text also discusses “personalized” goods, things made “especially” for us, touching upon the theme of identity and the fact that we are in search of our own person even though we are our own person without those objects. (I found the author’s example, that of hair dye offering “natural” blonde, very interesting—if it were natural, we would simply already have it, so it’s not natural.)

In the chapter “Fun System,” we find the existence of the wellness industry, which sells products, courses, or experiences that promise perfect health, happiness, or “personal fulfillment.” This shows, once again, that happiness has become a commodity (a service), a duty that the individual fulfills through constant purchases.

Baudrillard also discusses eroticism and states that, once sexuality was removed from its private and symbolic sphere and exposed as a universal value for beauty, youth, etc., it could be observed that, in the consumer society, eroticism was no longer a force of pure pleasure but became a function of the production system. It sells the image and the promise of that image.

Pop Art

“pop artmeans the end of perspective, of evolution, of testimony, the end of the creative gesture and, what is not little, the end of the subversion of light and the curse of art”3

Baudrillard explains that pop doesn’t bring anything special, new. Which somehow fits perfectly in a society that doesn’t search uniqness, but rather somthing popular and trendy. The author even question if pop art is art.

The Image of Society (Media and Alienation)

Mass media and advertising create a new, comfortable, and homogeneous reality. The individual is subject to a different process of alienation, which is produced by captivity within this social code of signs. The consumer is isolated, convinced of the freedom of choice while, in fact, only conforming to the system’s demands.

The mass media, especially advertising, are no longer just channels of information, but function as a system of collective training.

The number of informations a person consumes daily is also a lot bigger, a thing that makes us more immune to the crimes and inccidents that we see on news all the time. Our brain also doesn’t have the time to process all the new things that is finding out about, which only impact us in a negative way in the long run.

Disposable Objects and Planned Obsolescence. Products break down quickly and rapidly become unfashionable to force the continuous renewal of the stock of signs. This logic of the vicious circle of growth is directly responsible for the current resource and waste crisis.

In a contemporary context, I wanted to talk a bit about how the situation Baudrillard discussed in the ‘70s is presented today.

We have Social Platforms (Instagram, TikTok) which are vast systems for the production and consumption of signs. What is “consumed” is the stylized image of life (exotic vacations, branded clothes, events), a set of digital symbols that don’t necessarily relate to reality.

We also have Influencers: They don’t necessarily sell products, but an identity, a lifestyle, and an aspiration, confirming Baudrillard’s idea that the act of buying is an act of social differentiation based on a code. The author himself mentions this type of influential person, but he was referring to celebrities and provided the example of people who would go to galas and wear a dress only once, later discarding it.

The book waa written in 1970, but this is a very current topic, on a much, much larger scale, given that Eastern European countries have also emerged from communism since then and gained access to mass products, thus creating more consumers. Malls and chain stores are opening, clothes are mass-produced, and fashion changes even faster due to the internet. Therefore, in conclusion, everything discussed in the book still applies, probably on a level 100 times vaster and greater.

In this post, I want to rant about Stephenie Meyer and her very bad decisions in the writing of the Twilight story. I love Twilight. I love the book series, I love the movies, I love the edits people make of it, I love the characters, and overall, I love the vibes these movies give. But... there are some questionable things and choices made in the creation of this masterpiece, so I wanted to point some of these out. The obvious religious aspect of the books, even if they were intentional or not, still impacted the book and the characters a lot, making them do or say such weird things. But I won’t talk about the religious connotations of some scenes, only about their stupidity, if there is the case.

1. I hate, hate, HATE that she made Jacob fall in love with a newborn. This might be one of the most popular opinions in the Twilight fandom (even if the people saying this are Team Jacob or not). I don’t care about the imprint, nor about the fact that she grows faster than normal humans, or that she is mentally older than him... it’s horrifying. When I first heard about this, I was so visibly disgusted; I cannot express my first ever thoughts about this plotline.

   Not only is the pedophilic connotation of this whole relationship disgusting, but I also hate the idea of Jacob—the boy who was so against the idea of imprinting, and made it very clear that he doesn’t want to let this one thing dictate his and his partner’s life—got trapped not only with a child, the daughter of his first love, but also the daughter of his natural enemy.

   Or, for short, Stephenie hated her own character and gave him the worst ending ever.

2. I hate the whole “the wolves are dangerous, and they cannot control themselves” trope. The people in the pack are all teens and young adults that were forced to transform and live their lives taking care of people and getting rid of vampires.

   Their wolf transformation is triggered by the appearance of the Cullens in Forks, a thing that made young native people get turned into giant monsters. They are expected to know how to control themselves, but vampires are somehow not?

   We are given the example of Sam Uley, the leader of the pack, that by being triggered to transform into a wolf, snaps and hurts his imprint, Emily. After that incident, his lover remains with a big scar around her face that shows the consequences of dating a monster.

   On the other hand, we are also given the examples of: Bella being chased by a group of vampires for four movies, being almost devoured by Jasper on her birthday, being explicitly told that vampires kill people (“I’ve killed people before,” says Edward in the first 53 minutes of the movie), being pushed into a wall and getting hurt—also on her birthday—, being left alone by the Cullens, when they knew that vampires were after her... and I can probably go on giving examples, but the idea is that the Cullens are also easily triggered and dangerous at the end of the day.

3. I hate that Bella had to get married. She didn’t want that, or at least at that moment. She was convinced by Edward and his family. Not only that, but she didn’t care about the wedding plans, nor about the rings, or the dress... she was basically forced into all this by the vampires, that really wanted to organize her wedding day.

4. I hate that Edward doesn’t really seem to like Bella for who she is. There is this idea in which, the vampire seems to be more attracted by Bella because he can’t read her thoughts, which might have made her more appealing, making her seem different from the other girls he encountered before, even though... she is exactly like the other girls the majority of the time, and this is perfectly fine. It’s just the idealized version of Bella that makes her seem more interesting than she is, for Edward.

   When Edward met Bella, he was shocked to discover that she somehow was able to mentally shield herself from his special gift. This made Edward incredibly curious about Bella. Her thoughts were the only ones he couldn’t access on his own, and it’s entirely possible that his obsession with Bella initially started as him wanting something he couldn’t have.1

5. I hate their height. This one is not so serious, but please tell me why is Jacob described as being 6’7” (2 meters tall); how does this make any sense? I cannot picture any scenes in which him and Bella are together, and they need to break their necks to look at each other. Also, if I were Edward, I would have been genuinely scared by the wolf pack if this was the case

   

   He is supposed to tower over Edward… this scene would make no sense at all.

6. I hate that we are supposed to just forget New Moon. Bella went through a really hard time for four months during this movie/book, and the only people that really helped her get better were her friends and family. Spending time in the rez with Jacob and the other boys from the pack, reuniting with her school friends and going out with them, her father that really tried his best during all of this, being permissive with her and waking up in the middle of the night to comfort her. But not once, the Cullens. Not Edward, that left her alone in the woods after a harsh breakup, nor Alice (“I already consider you my sister,” says her in the second movie, right before leaving her alone and suffering). And after all this... they are getting back together like nothing happened because love wins all.

7. I hate that Jacob and Bella have better chemistry. Stephenie built all those scenes, and the whole connection, Bella’s realization that Jacob wasn’t just a little brother to her, that she loves him (‘‘The worst part is that I saw the whole thing—our whole life. And I want it bad, Jake. I want it all. I want to stay right here and never move. I want to love you and make you happy2) just for him to end up with her daughter while she marries the “love of her live”.

I remember the day I bought my first book written by Ann Liang. There is a big bookstore franchise in my city where everything is over-expensive, and overall, not worth to buy from (I still do for the vibes). I was going there to buy some books that would make me cringe — that’s one thing about me, I buy books I know I won’t like so that they will make me cringe, because I like cringy things— and that’s when I bought Six more months of June by Daisy Garrison and I hope this doesn’t find you by Ann Liang. The covers looked, more or less, similar, with the protagonists and their love interests in focus, and because I assume they would be cringe, I bought them.

I didn’t enjoy Six more months of June, not my cup of tea at all. Not the cringiest, nor the best book I ever read.

On the other hand, I remember reading I hope this doesn’t find you in one sitting, during the night, while crying because I felt that the main character was so relatable and the moments captured the sadness in such a good way, I couldn’t not sympathize.

That’s when Ann Liang became my favorite contemporary romance author.

I wanted to bring the subject of her books and talk about how her creations feel like a breath of fresh air in the booktok era of smut, aggressive and forced love, where every romance male character is unlikeable.

So I decided to appreciate these books even more by writing about the reasons I believe these are the perfect romance books you can read.

Ann has a number of, soon to be, 7 books, and I read half of them: I hope this doesn’t find you, I never thought I’d end up here, I am not Jessica Chen and This time it’s real.

1. All of her characters have personalities

This is one aspect I believe to be very important when writing or reading a book, the way the characters are built, the way the public can relate or not with them. Obviously, there are numerous ways you can write a character, and I am not an expert nor a critic, but only a simple reader that enjoy associating herself with a one.

Jenna Chen, Sadie Wen, Eliza Lin, Leah Zhang are some of Ann’s characters that even if they seem quite similar, due to them all being Chinese and dealing with their cultural identity in a way or another—this being also one of the main themes of some of her books— also have their specific and unique characteristics. For example, in I never thought I’d end up here, Leah is trying to connect with her Chinese roots and redeem herself after publicly embarrassing herself by not knowing the language of her family, while also dealing with her self-image and social life. Her character, even if it’s masked for those around her, is deeply insecure and isolated from the world. Leah is a victim of bullying and her character highlights the impact of it on a person’s life.

On the other hand, we have I hope this doesn’t find you, Sadie Wen, a pathological people pleaser, overachiever, perfectionist with anger issues, who navigates her school life after some emails she wrote when she was angry —about her academic rival, Julius Gong, and also some of her other classmates— get spread around the school. In this case, she is considered to be the bully, while for her, this was the only way of copying with her emotions.

Ann Liang’s characters aren’t perfect, and they don’t even try to be. The goal seemed to be for them to be relatable, so that a diverse group of people could identify themselves with them. In my opinion, they were written really well. They were imperfect, and this is what made them real. The awkwardness, the moments you disagreed with their actions, their realistic problems they had to deal with … everything was put together and created such good characters with real growth you can see throughout the book.

2. No-heat romance

Smut is not bad, and sometimes it does fit, but nowadays, it is very hard to find a sweet AND well written romance book. While the market is filled with books full of spice, Ann Liang’s creations do not have smut scenes, but she knows how to build the tension of a love confession and of a first kiss, while keeping it light. Sometimes this is more than a whole sex scene could give, and pushing the limits too early could seem unrealistic and could also become boring really fast.

3. Slow burn

I read too many love stories where everything goes on way too fast. For example, in the first book of the Twisted Series: Twisted Love, the reader knows from the beginning, from Alex and Ava’s first interaction, that they will end up together. Their sexual tension is built up way too fast, way before even making them have a real connection I would actually root for. In Ann Liang’s books, the relation between her characters, or the growth of their connection, is progressively built.

In I hope this doesn’t find you, Sadie and Julius are academic rivals. There is no “they were actually in love this entire time” type of scene, but their relationship develops in a way in which both of them can relate with one another, understand each other, and more than that, find love for their rival’s imperfections.

4. Great love interests

I read lots of books in which the male protagonists are lacking empathy, are aggressive, overly sexual, and follow a type of man which, to me personally, doesn’t seem appealing at all. Overall, they are not likeable, and I wouldn’t want the protagonists to end up with them.

In this case, Ann Liang’s does a great job creating love interests like: Julius Gong, Cyrus Sui, Arron Cai, Caz Song etc.

Just like in the main character’s case, they are all very different and unique while still keeping them respectful, sweet, vulnerable, and overall people you would root for, even if they had their own imperfections. Julius Gong is a very good example of a good character development. Throughout the I hope this doesn’t find you, he was this insecure boy who sought his own family’s approval, trying to impress the people around him, this leading him to be a bit immature and say and do stupid things sometimes. Him, and Sadie also, learn to deal with their validation problems and to be their real selves.

5. Finding the one, isn’t the only point

Yes, these are romance books, but this is not the only aspect of the books and having the characters deal with real life problems makes the book way more realistic and interesting. Like I mentioned, Leah Zhang deals with her past of bullying and learns how to accept herself and others, while also trying to get closer to her cultural identity. This time it’s real sets the action in Beijing, following Eliza’s story in which she lies to everyone about having a perfect boyfriend, when in reality she never had one. The girl also deals with insecurity, following her dream career as a writer. Jenna Chen —one of my favorites characters of all time— is also a very insecure girl that wishes she could be her cousin, Jessica. In the story of I am not Jessica Chen, Jenna changes into Jessica’s body, learning that her cousins, which she considered perfect in every aspect, isn’t as perfect as she seemed and that she also has her own problems she deals with.