Impossible Happiness

Freud and Curtis present a rather bleak outlook on human happiness. The way I interpret their works, it seems as though neither one of them believes that human beings can be truly happy. We can have basic desires satiated, but those desires have been manufactured by marketers like Bernays, people who exploit the human mind for profit. This is insulting on many levels. We hear, in Curtis' film, about how Bernays considered everybody "stupid": the masses, his workers, sometimes even his family. This only solidifies the notion that being a part of a consumerist society means we've been duped. Duped into believing that we're actually happy with spending all of our money on things we don't need to impress people we don't really like.
Of course, when analyzed this way, it seems very silly. Yet we still participate in this kind of "wants-over-needs" society. Why? Was Bernays right? I don't think so. He was a marketing genius who managed to tap into the subconscious levels of the human mind: the desire to look the best, the most 'hip', the most cultured. He then linked happiness to these desires. It was brilliant! But bleak, for us. After watchin Curtis' film, it really probed me to think about how happy I really am with the materials I buy. Of course, it feels nice to go out and participate in some retail therapy once in a while, but upon further reflection, am I really happy afterwards? I am lesser off financially, that's for sure. One comes to the conclusion that it really is impossible to be happy nowadays, in a consumerist sense, since almost as soon as we buy something that we enjoy, it becomes obsolete, and we are pressured into buying the bigger, better, newer version. And yet, though this is acknowledged by many, it doesn't change much. That's how brainwashed we have become by marketing. The message I gathered from Happiness Machines is that we are fooling ourselves. Big houses and big cars mean nothing, if you think about it. It's a hard feeling to explain, but it really makes you evaluate how you live.
I disagree with Curtis. Of course, he is right in insinuating that we can't be happy just from buying things. Buying provides a "quick fix" for the blues, but not actual happiness. In order to be happy, appreciate the small things. Go for a walk when the sun's out and there's a nice breeze: that's happiness. Hold your lover's hand, watch a childhood movie, read a book with hot chocolate on a rainy day. That's happiness. Buying things isn't necessary.
The documentary presents the dark side of marketing, the side that dupes the masses and the collective consciousness of us all. Curtis focuses on how these feelings of happiness have been manufactured, and it makes it seem as though he doesn't believe in true human happiness. But it does exist. You just have to look for it in the right places.