Satire in Movies - Part IV - "The Joneses"

This will be my second-to-last blog post about satire in movies, so make sure you enjoy it!
 

The Joneses (2009) is a fairly recent satirical movie. It is about a family, the Jones family, which moves into a wealthy neighborhood and immediately claims the position of neighborhood trendsetters. All members of the family are extremely good looking, the husband has an extremely well-paid job and the teenage kids have all the newest gadgets and clothes, quickly making them extremely popular amongst their peers. However, something is not quite alright with the family. In fact, the family isn't a family at all, just four actors who have been paid by a company to sell their lifestyle (the things they wear, the things they like) to rich families in the same neighborhood.

In many ways, this movie is a dark satire of our consumer society. Of course, the movie is an exaggeration of how far this consumer society has come, but it still makes some valid points about our consumer habits. It shows just how much people are ruled by materialistic thinking and beauty. The Jones family has only got a surface, no real depth or feelings or anything that people who are looking for anything else than shallow materialism would want. However, despite this, people are queuing up to know the family and to become like them. The fact that the family's family name is Jones also adds to the satirical effect of the movie. As it is now, people are already trying to keep up with the Joneses; fashions, gossip and information. What I think is most interesting about the movie, though, is that the Jones family eventually ends up victims of the consumer life-style and materialism that they are trying to sell. Is this the movie makers’ way of saying that people who focus too much on consumerism and materialism eventually self-destruct? Or that we, as human beings, are destroying our world through our mass consumption? No matter the case, the movie is extremely interesting and if you want to watch a modern example of satire, I highly recommend it.