Consumerism in Crazy Boy

Consumerism in Crazy Boy is personified through the women of Thriller, their bodies, their music and their appeal. The opening shot of the movie is of each of the band member’s legs and/or face stepping out of a cab, dressed in glamorous Westernized clothes and high heels. This one scene is telling of what continues through the rest of the movie, close ups of their bodies and faces. In each of their performances, the camera zooms in on hip shaking, legs moving, lips singing, creating an obvious sex appeal for these women that we haven’t seen yet in the films we’ve watched. The extent of this new style of movie can be looked at through the lense of new consumer patterns in South Korea in the 1980’s.

Laura Nelson lays out the consumerist environment during this period, “Consumer opportunities blossomed in the 1980’s. Many South Koreans welcomed the chance to fill their lives with new furniture and appliances, gadgets and automobiles, works of art, expensive hobbies, jewelry, music, and nights out on the town.” (115) The frivolity in Crazy Boy, which takes place in the 80’s, is not hard to miss, the women of Thriller are constantly going out, drinking, smoking, talking about men (rich men in particular). This also applies to the idea that economic development diminished people’s morals to “the worship of mammon” (119), the availability and sexuality of all of the women is exaggerated, as is the men’s reactions to this.

Nelson carries on to say that through these new consumer opportunities, “the conspicuousness of differences between rich and poor,” become much more exaggerated. I found that in the film, consumerism cuts across class boundaries rather than emphasizes them. Yes, the women are always referring to themselves as a “third class band” and are looking to be discovered by rich men, but they themselves are still part of the consumer lifestyle. There are contrasting scenes that display this unity through consumption – first the women are shown in their glamorous clothes and shoes, then they are shown washing their hair and faces squatting over buckets on the ground outside, then they are shown eating out at a restaurant. These contrasting images of their wealth levels makes it seem like they are able to be a part of the new consumer opportunities that Nelson speaks of, no matter what their status is.