Ritualistic Consumerism: How Consumption Replaces Religion in 'White Noise' Annelise Lipowitz College

Consumer culture has been discussed by many authors and philosophers as long as the human race has been consuming. Consumerism is often referred to as a negative force in society, specifically in the United States, due to America’s image of surplus and leisure even in times of societal and economic suffering as discussed in Clay Sirkey’s “Gin, Television, and Social Surplus.” In Don DeLillo’s White Noise, consumerism is described beyond just a social negative; where, in this society, consumer culture has become so ritualistic that it becomes a spiritual connection. This gives the characters a negative and unhealthy alternative to religion when faced with fear of death, making consumption a catharsis and a spiritual escape (an effect that Karen Weekes would describe as the negative aspect of “white noise” in her article “Consuming and Dying: Meaning and the Marketplace in Don DeLillo's White Noise”). Kalle Lasn explains in “The Cult You’re In” that this is a common occurrence in modern society, where consumerism is nothing more (or less) than a cult. Don DeLillo uses White Noise as an excellent depiction of how modern American consumers, when faced with spiritual or existential crises, can tend to lean away from religion and...