Chapter 4: Material Worship

Material Worship

The extreme pursuit of money

Or

Just being realistic?

Lyrics of Madonna’s Material Girl (1)

Some boys kiss me, some boys hug me I think they’re OK If they can’t give me proper credit I just walk away They can beg and they can plead But they can’t see the light, that’s right ‘cause the boy with the cold hard cash Is always Mister Right, ‘cause we are Living in a material world And I am a material girl You know that we are living in a material world And I am a material girl

Lyrics of Madonna’s Material Girl (2)

Some boys romance, some boys slow dance That’s all right with me If they don’t raise my interest then I Have to let them be Some boys try and some boys lie but I don’t let them play Only boys who save their pennies Make my rainy day, ‘cause they are Living in a material world And I am a material girl You know that we are living in a material world And I am a material girl

Lyrics of Madonna’s Material Girl (3)

Living in a material world And I am a material girl You know that we are living in a material world And I am a material girl Boys may come and boys may go And that’s all right you see Experience has made me rich And now they’re after me, ‘cause everybody’s Living in a material world And I am a material girl You know that we are living in a material world And I am a material girl

Highlights in Her Song

The boy with the cold hard cash is always Mr. Right

Only boys who save their pennies make my rainy day

Experience has made me rich, and now they’re after me (So there are material boys too!)

Paris Hilton born on February 17th, 1981 the great-granddaughter of Conrad Hilton

founder of the Hilton hotels and

source of the family fortune

-- estimated at $300 million.

The Devil Wears Prada

Andy had wanted a serious writing job at New Yorker, but ended up becoming junior assistant to a powerful fashion magazine editor.

There the material world seemed to take over her intellectual side day by day, “I have no choice…”

She broke up with her boy friend for a glamorous man.

Finally she woke up, quitted her job, apologized to her old boy friend….

Video Clips

Friends (material girls who don’t work)

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (material girls who work)

Discussion Questions (1)

What are the causes for money worship among people in general, male or female?

Why have material girls become a cultural phenomenon?

Are college girls material girls? Are college boys material boys?

Do you have anything nice to say to defend material girls?

Discussion Questions (2)

Who are the opposites of material girls? Give examples.

Search online and find out what Madonna has been doing recently. Is she the material girl she was in the 1980s?

The dilemma

“One can’t have one’s cake and eat it too.” Things spiritual/intellectual and things

material always seem to be on the two extremes

Therefore, it is a hard choice…

东方早报 , 2004 年 10 月 8 日 南方某地不少女大学生一般都会有两个以上的

男朋友 , 一拖二甚至拖三成了一些女学生追求的目标 .

一位女同学有三个男朋友 : 一个青梅竹马 , 是 “精神调剂” , 远在上海某高校读书 ; 一个专门处理生活琐事 , 花钱请吃饭 , 是本校研究生 ; 一个可以在节假日开车去买名牌时装或外出旅游 ,是一家电脑公司经理 . “ 现在我日子可美了 !”

Love Can Be old for Money

In Japan, a kind of circumstance which is called” 援助交际 enjo kosai” (compensated dating) appears to be common among girls in junior and high schools. Men provide girls with money food jewelry and something else while girls provide their bodies.

reason

not merely for poverty but for the enjoyment of buying some luxury stuff. They can do it just for a LV bag or Chanel perfume.

One man gives you RMB10,000,000 while the other gives you love, which one will you choose?NO. Choice Portion Sum

1 Choose money, because love is no longer reliable these days

43.95% 1359

2 I want a marriage with both love and money.

41.88% 1295

3 Love is everything. 14.17% 438

Love Can Be Bought

by Money

In choosing a spouse 择偶

钻石王老五征婚网

千万富翁的征婚广告 （ 2005.11.22 新民晚报）

“ 如果你是一个如荷花般清丽脱俗，温柔贤淑的女孩 , 拥有白皙的肌肤和苗条的体态 , 身高 165cm 以上 , 接受过正规大专以上良好教育、知书达理、秀外慧中，至今冰肌玉骨、身心纯洁，拥有传统的家庭观念，愿意做全职太太的26 岁左右的女孩（教师、医生最佳，在校学生亦可）。请提供个人简历，性格介绍，近期彩色 2 寸登记照一张，近期全身生活照二张（拒收艺术照 )”

该男性原为大学教师，后经商，自称年收入千万。现居深圳，离婚有一九岁儿子，四十多岁， 177cm

《新民晚报》整版广告花费 21 万元。此人还在重庆和成都、新浪网登广告。并买下五千份报纸去上海各高校发放。

鲁迅在《伤逝》中感慨：“人必生活着，爱才有所附丽”。

The economic foundation decides superstructure.经济基础决定上层建筑。

How much money do you need to get a comfortable life?NO. Choice Portion Sum

1 Above 1000,000(RMB)

55.51% 3592

2 500,000 19.94% 1290

3 300,000 9.44% 611

4 100,000 10.51% 680

5 others 4.61% 298

A survey from Sina.com

Who buys luxury brands in China?

As a matter of fact, most of them are office workers, ordinary people like you and me.

How do they afford these luxury goods? It is probably that they put aside several months’ pay to purchas

e these things. Which means they have to cut down other cost. They choose cheap and unhealthy food instead of the expensive one, or staying at home instead of going a trip in vacations.

“ 月光族” The knockoff market booms for those who can’t afford the real th

ing

When the gap widens…

《东方早报》 9/28/2007 ，吴琦幸：全球奢侈品的消费市场正从英、法、美、日等发达国家向中国转移，因为中国已经有一个相当规模的富有阶层：约 38 万千万富翁， 1.2万亿万富翁， 1000 万高级经理

普通民众参观顶级物品展后说，看看这些品牌到底有多奢侈，给自己的生活增加新的奋斗目标。

只怕他们不是去享受获取财富的过程，只是对结果有兴趣。亲情和友情都会成为获取财富的一个方式。一旦社会条件无法满足这种快速致富的欲望时，就可能铤而走险。

In Business广州"

假酒"

案中毒者激

增

劣质奶粉吃出“

大头娃

娃”

In B

usin

ess

In political circles 陈良宇因严重违纪被立案检查

In Campus

Ma Jiajue and the Korean-American Virginia Tech killer Seung Hui Cho claimed that they kill the rich to avenge the wrongs done on the poor by the rich

But why? (1)

Desire (envy or vanity) The gap between the have’s and have not’s is so big t

hat security can only be found in material possessions Growing wealth whets people’s appetite for more. Media influence Successful marketing campaigns by profit-driven orga

nizations – you’re out if you don’t have it! Public opinion (the criteria for success)

But why ? (2) The younger generations are brought up in

material timesLook at the survey of 300 children ages 10 to 13 in the Boston area:

Children are becoming shoppers at an earlier age. Children 6 to 12 are estimated to visit stores two to three times per week.

More children go shopping every week than read, go to church, participate in youth groups, play outdoors or spend time in household conversation.

Children's top aspiration now is to be rich. Forty-four percent of kids in the fourth through eighth grades now report that they daydream "a lot" about being rich.

The Other Girls

Material girls may have plenty of things, but they may not enjoy the life.

To discover the real joys of living, to find satisfaction (“the inner peace”), one has to look up.

Study, travel, reading, helping others, spending time with friends, and (you may disagree!) settling down to family life.

Material Girl Transformed

Madonna is now married with a son and a daughter. She wrote five collections of children’s stories: Lotsa De Casha (2005) Adventures of Abdi (2004), Yakov and the Seven Thieves (2004), Mr. Peabody’s Apples (2003), The English Roses (2003). Remember, her previous literary work was entitled Sex! (1985)

She practiced yoga and meditation. Her public appearances become demure.

Madonna has become religious. She practices Kabbalah. Kabbalah is Hebrew for “that which is received” and refers to a secret oral tradition which extends from teacher to pupil. The Kabbalahist seeks two things: an union with God while maintaining a social, family, and communal life within the framework of traditional Judaism.

She helps with charity work

yesterday

Stay with family

A qualified wife ,a good mother

I realized that a lot of things I had valued I realized that a lot of things I had valued were not important.You can get sidetrackwere not important.You can get sidetracked along the way with these things dangled along the way with these things dangled in front of you:ed in front of you:more money ,more fammore money ,more fame,more this,more that. Your priorities get e,more this,more that. Your priorities get very mixed up.very mixed up. You start to value the wro You start to value the wrong thing.The only thing that really gonna ng thing.The only thing that really gonna make you happy is the state of your soul,tmake you happy is the state of your soul,the way that you treat people,the love thahe way that you treat people,the love that you have in your heart.t you have in your heart.

Other Examples:

Wang XuanQuit her job in Japan to help fulltime Chinese victims of Japan’s Germ WarfareInsisting on the truth of history

Dr. Jane GoodallPrimatologist, environmentalistLived in the field for 33 years to observe chimpanzees“Roots and Shoots” (her foundation)

Feng Ai （冯艾）， former student and now teacher at Fudan University, was a volunteer teacher in rural China and Africa

Non-material Girls In Reality

Jenny, Marx’s wife, left her wealthy family and lived a poor life with his husband.

Non-material Girls In Reality

Mother Teresa :

To be poor

To serve the poorest of the poor

Three garments

One pair of sandals but no shoes

Apart from bulbs, the only electrical appliance she has is a telephone.

Non-material Girls In Reality

Wealth May Not Equal Happiness

Cities with the highest personal income :

Shanghai(2847RMB)

Beijing(2484RMB)

Guangzhou(2556RMB)

Cities with the highest index of happiness:

Hangzhou(2300RMB)

Chengdu(1515RMB)

Shanghai (2847RMB)

Food for Thought

Do we have to go material before we can settle down to things spiritual?

Or, must we enrich our pocket before enriching our mind?

Do we have to be there before leaving there?

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

But when is enough enough?

Granted, we have to satisfy lower needs

But when do we make the transition towards satisfying higher needs?

Let’s not wait to long, otherwise…

It’s too late for her!

“黛玉”出家与现代人的精神救赎－四川新闻网

80 年代版电视剧《红楼梦》中林黛玉的扮演者陈晓旭，拥有亿万家财的广告公司老板，于 2007 年初剃度出家 ,旋即去世

陈晓旭曾经很专注于赚钱，“直到有一天，我突然发现，父母亲不知何时开始衰老、虚弱了，好像随时都有离开我的可能。而我给了他们什么呢？这一切他们又能带走什么呢？”

当下社会的现状是：不知道如何救赎自己的精神－－满足于物质财富的单维欲望追逐，得到后才发现自己空无一物。

Things money can buy and can’t Things money can buy and can’t buybuy

HouseHouse MedicineMedicine FoodFood BedBed JewelryJewelry EntertainmentEntertainment BookBook

Home Home HealthHealth AppetiteAppetite SleepSleep BeautyBeauty PleasurePleasure WisdomWisdom

ComplimentCompliment PartnerPartner Extravagance Extravagance Power Power ObedienceObedience BodyBody Fame Fame

Respect Respect Friend Friend CultureCulture AuthorityAuthority LoyaltyLoyalty SoulSoul KnowledgeKnowledge