The System Of Objects

“Blake: That watch costs more than you car. I made $970,000 last year. How much'd you make? You see pal, that's who I am, and you're nothing.”

In this scene we see the character of Blake from the movie Glengarry explaining to another real-estate agent that his Rolex is more valuable then the other agents car. Then goes on to explain how much money he’s made in the past year. “ You see pal, that’s who I am, and you’re nothing. “ The watch, the money, and all the material things he owns is what makes him. Because the other real estate agent owns nothing of value, he therefore is nothing as a person as well.
“If we consume the product as a product, we consume its meaning through advertising. “ Jean Baudrillard

In Baudrillards The system of Objects we see that although we in fact as consumers acknowledge the severity of our capitalist society we continue to want what others do not have. Baudrillard explains that people continue to follow this system of consumption because it has become a construction of self-fulfillment.


Ironically, what many of us aren’t aware that we as consumers of all products and followers of these companies are the ones inhibiting them with the power to do these things. The makers of these products have well constructed the evolution of the product and their companies. Which ever way brings the most money, is what works best. Clearly, Investors and makers of these products make their consumers feel the “Need” to attain them because of popular demand. The consumer base (today’s society) has fallen addicts to many products they feel they “NEED” in order to function. All abstract things such as phones, coffee, I pods, have incredible power over many peoples daily lives. Because we as consumers chose to follow this cycle, we are in fact own disablers and party at fault.