Curtains for Everyone

Do you have a curtain in your car? Maybe not a complete curtain, but many of us have sun shades that are either built into the window mechanism or can be attached to the window. A car sun shade is an unnecessary product but people still have it for comfort, and this idea stemmed from the beliefs of the 1920s and the Modernism Era.

The photograph above is an advertisement for curtains that block the sun from entering your car. Advertisements such as these started appearing mainly during the Modernism Era (the 1920s), and this photograph is a perfect example of the shift in consumerism that occurred during this time. For example, before the 1920s the idea of having curtains on your car windows would have been something available only to the rich; however, during the 1920s, there was a shift of consumerism from the rich towards the common person. The advertisement shown above was meant for everyone, not just the wealthy.

Inevitably, this shift led to excess consumerism; people were buying items that they did not really need, and nowhere is this more relevant than the Eggs from The Great Gatsby: in the West Egg, Nick has "a swimming pool and more than forty acres of lawn and garden", yet he mentions that it is an "eye-sore" compared to the other houses there. Additionally, he also mentions that the East Egg has fashionable "white palaces".

In many ways, just like the car shades, excess consumerism has persisted in the United States to this day. This includes food, vanity items, cars, clothing, etc. Although this is mostly negative, it has also resulted in many advancements in science and technology. Engineering, for example, has advanced greatly due to the increased demand of customized vehicles. Still, many of us today buy items that are totally unnecessary, and we should be helping out people who cannot afford these items instead of buying them.