A streetcar named consumption, an object named desire

Maria Luiza Zenobio De Assumpção Villar Laufhütte,Alberto Cipiniuk

doi:10.18568/cmc.v15i44.1513

Abstract

The focus of the present article is the Design Field inserted into the Cinema Field and its intervention in the production of props for Hollywood movies, which are desired by consumers after. The Nike Air Mag sneakers, for example, worn by the character Marty McFly in the movie Back to the future part II, created a sort of countdown by viewers for its launch. In 2011, Nike launched it on the market in a limited number of only one thousand and five hundred units in a virtual auction whose initial bid was five thousand and five hundred dollars. All pairs were sold quickly. Our goal is to understand the consumption of such props based on the theory of symbolic exchanges developed by Pierre Bourdieu.

Highlights

According to the theoretical aspect which we use to our research and to such article, the Design Field begins its constitution dating from the second half of the 18th century, from the Industrial Revolution, which offered the conditions of possibility for the development of a new field of professional activity for a set of technological innovations, as well as to the new social needs which emerged during this historical period, as described by Adrian Forty (2007) in the book Objects of Desire
For example, the important contribution of design for the construction and legitimation of abstract social value as was the case of extreme cleanliness (FORTY, 2007). This notion was built or produced at the same time as such industrial objects related to personal hygiene of people and maybe this is the most important content of the book Objects of Desire, in which it would be possible to think about the Design Field
Having the notions of Bourdieu prolonged, we humbly understand that design is expressed in objects designed by designers, but what produces such process is instilled through the habitus of the social context in which such designers are inserted and so do production designers and the props of Hollywood movies

Summary

Introduction

According to the theoretical aspect which we use to our research and to such article, the Design Field begins its constitution dating from the second half of the 18th century, from the Industrial Revolution, which offered the conditions of possibility for the development of a new field of professional activity for a set of technological innovations, as well as to the new social needs which emerged during this historical period, as described by Adrian Forty (2007) in the book Objects of Desire. For example, the important contribution of design for the construction and legitimation of abstract social value as was the case of extreme cleanliness (FORTY, 2007) This notion was built or produced at the same time as such industrial objects related to personal hygiene of people and maybe this is the most important content of the book Objects of Desire, in which it would be possible to think about the Design Field. It is to that extent that we will approach the relations between consumers and some props of the Hollywood movies

The consumption of props

Applications of the social theories of Pierre Bourdieu

Conclusion