文藝：Valentine’s Day under consumer capitalism

Valentine's Day under consumer capitalism

Valentine's Day-; an apparent celebration of love in its pure romantic form-; is sometime subjected to mockery as one of the Hallmark Holidays? It is just another event which exists solely for pointless consumption. The above criticism often relies on an implicit assumption that commercial firms are omnipotent apparatuses that create and manipulate desires in the consumption market. The above opinion leaves us only two opposing stances to deal with the Valentine's Day-; to consume or not-; or for some， to celebrate or ignore.

The seemingly rebellion to an overwhelming consumerism-; i.e. to reject consumption in Valentine's Day; or simply ignore the whole event-; however-; provides us with no proper guidance in resisting consumer capitalism. It often results in a ritualistic consolation-; in which one feels better about themselves because they remain clear about what they are doing-; while other are brainwashed to consume under the propaganda machines of consumer capitalism. This consolation never conceals the fact that one is subjected to making consumption choice everyday and everywhere. Choices from minor details of life， e.g. where and how to eat; to occasional events-; e.g. where and how to celebrate with your loved one， are choices of how to consume， instead of whether to consume or not.

This belief also suffers from an over-simplified view on the logic of consumer capitalism. The fact that Valentine Day-; instead of other holidays that can explicitly promote shopping-; flourishes cross-culturally speaks something about the significance of the discourses on romantic love in the late-modern world. On occasions like the Valentine's Day-; the capitalists can only try to promote consumption by linking their products or service with particular romantic imagination. While the significance of romance has to be promoted in order to increase their chances of gaining a profit-; the consequences of the development may not follow the expected trajectory in their promotion strategy. For example， when one is promoting romance by eating in an expensive， fancy restaurant-; people who are filled with all these romantic imaginations promoted by media and advertising campaign may instead choose to spend their night with their loved one in a silent place. This is because the discourses on romance follows an internal development-; in which consumerism can only make use of-; or alter slightly sometimes-; but never manipulate totally. However danger it may turn out to be， a creative resistance to consumer capitalism in Valentine's Day have the potential that pushes beyond pure cynicism.