Quotes by Lauren Greenfield

Lauren Greenfield

All my film ideas and subjects have come from photography.

Film

Ideas

Photography

During the Reagan eighties, the idea that money was a good thing – it was good to be rich; that wealth was a reflection of your character. We see this today in perceptions of Donald Trump: the idea that money is an expression of success and even goodness. I compare that with my dad’s generation, where the American Dream was about giving your kids a better life, but not just in material terms. The American Dream was also about doing something good in the world. The home was at the center of the dream, but home also represented community, shelter, and stability for your family.

Dream

Home

Kids

Hip-hop has been so important in my work, because it speaks to the idea of money being tied to cultural capital in an honest and transparent way. When I was growing up in LA, money was equivalent to class, and it was a passport. Hip-hop emphasizes that, but Hollywood and show business bear it out. If you have money, there really is no barrier to social mobility. There are still social clubs in Newport where you can’t get in even if you have money, but that is really rare.

Growing Up

Honest

Important

I focus on a lot of women’s issues.

Focus

Issues

I’m also looking for the psychological elements that fuel commodity culture. For example, if we imbue girls with deep insecurity about their bodies through images of an impossible ideal, we create a really vulnerable and avid consumer. If somebody feels that they’re not OK without a certain product, you have a very deep and loyal market that will come back to the product again and again. Sometimes, this process is both rational and irrational.

Culture

Girl

Insecurity

I’m constantly trying to deconstruct what I see and to show its beauty and its attraction. I use bright colors and strobes to get that full reflection. I want to acknowledge and reference the attraction of wealth. But I’m also looking for the layer that reveals how wealth doesn’t fulfill its promise.

Promise

Reflection

Trying

I’ve also been documenting an unsustainable way of life. And you see in peoples’ stories that this world of consumerism does not support the moral and spiritual values – of family and community – that people feel are most important. From an environmental perspective, the quest for more and more is not going to be possible on this planet. This is a historical documentation of an unsustainable path, and my hope is that this work allows people to think about their own agency and the potential for change.

People

Spiritual

Thinking

I’ve been a documentary photographer for much longer than I have been a filmmaker.

Documentaries

Filmmaker

Photographer

I’ve long been interested in looking at the culture of consumerism and also was interested in this connection between the American dream and the house, and the house being kind of the ultimate expression of self and success.

Dream

Expression

Self

I’ve often looked at the extremes as a way to shed light on the mainstream. Even though everybody says, “Money doesn’t buy you happiness,” I don’t think that that’s the principle by which people live. If you talk to kids and ask them what they want to be when they grow up, they say, “Rich and famous,” but being rich and famous is not a job.

Growing Up

Kids

Thinking

Follow The Behaviour University in order to get the greatest quotes from the greatest people of all time so that you can tap into your own greatness.

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Assistants

Barriers

Believe

Book

Breathe

Cameras

Culture

Deep Understanding

Documentaries

Dream

Expression

Father

Film

Filmmaker

Focus

Girl

Growing Up

Hate

Home

Honest

Ideas

Important

Inequality

Insecurity

Issues

Jobs

Kids

Looks

Mean

Moments

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People

Photographer

Photography

Pressure Groups

Promise

Reflection

School

Self

Simple

Social Media

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Trying

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The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

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Quotes by Lauren Greenfield

Lauren Greenfield

All my film ideas and subjects have come from photography.

I focus on a lot of women’s issues.

I’ve been a documentary photographer for much longer than I have been a filmmaker.

I’ve long been interested in looking at the culture of consumerism and also was interested in this connection between the American dream and the house, and the house being kind of the ultimate expression of self and success.

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Topics by Lauren Greenfield

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The Future Blueprint

The Home Therapist: Anti Anxiety

The Autobiography

The Behaviour Diary

The Dating Diary

The Relationship Therapist

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