The Gift
In the days after Christmas, I’ve never had very good stories. Peers ask the inevitable “whadya-get,” but my list of new possessions never brings much amazement. My parents are very practical people and give practical gifts. Its not that they are cheap gifts- one year I got new tires. The gifts just aren’t traditional in that they are unextravagant.
In the world of gift-giving, somehow traditional gifts are the extravagant. And by extravagant, I mean useless or gratuitous rather than just expensive. Traditional gifts include a fancy item of clothing, flowers, a piece of jewelry or a new electric gizmo. The less likely the individual is willing or able to purchase the item makes the item more appropriate. If the individual can easily live without the item, it is somehow the best gift to give.
For instance, say for a birthday, everyone chips in a pays someone’s rent. It is very practical, expensive and yet inappropriate. An I-Pod is more likely to be chosen. I remember an old episode of “Valerie” (before it became “Valerie’s Family” and then “The Hogan Family”) when Jason Batemen brings home his girlfriend. She brings Valerie a bottle of Windex as a gift. “Everyone has windows” was the dim-witted girl’s reasoning. It was very logical, very practical and yet the wrong thing to do socially. Flowers, which have little use, would have been the right thing to bring.
Christmas is, of course, the time of impractical gifts. Lexus and bazillion other car companies try to convince viewers that getting a luxury car with a big ribbon is the thing to do. Jewelry stores convince you that true love is only possible through trinket exchange. Would the Sharper Image even exist without Christmas?
How did society get to the point where the expensive and useless become the socially approved gifts? This isn’t new; society has always had exercises of ceremonial inefficiency. Crops, children and money have always been given to the gods illogically as an exercise of devotion.
Post-modernists who role their eyes at consumer culture have it all wrong. Society isn’t consuming at Christmas; they are wasting at Christmas. Those new products bring little, if any, self-indulgent joy. Gift-giving is and has always been about sacrifice. Pointless sacrifice (just like Jesus’ martyrdom). .
In the world of gift-giving, somehow traditional gifts are the extravagant. And by extravagant, I mean useless or gratuitous rather than just expensive. Traditional gifts include a fancy item of clothing, flowers, a piece of jewelry or a new electric gizmo. The less likely the individual is willing or able to purchase the item makes the item more appropriate. If the individual can easily live without the item, it is somehow the best gift to give.
For instance, say for a birthday, everyone chips in a pays someone’s rent. It is very practical, expensive and yet inappropriate. An I-Pod is more likely to be chosen. I remember an old episode of “Valerie” (before it became “Valerie’s Family” and then “The Hogan Family”) when Jason Batemen brings home his girlfriend. She brings Valerie a bottle of Windex as a gift. “Everyone has windows” was the dim-witted girl’s reasoning. It was very logical, very practical and yet the wrong thing to do socially. Flowers, which have little use, would have been the right thing to bring.
Christmas is, of course, the time of impractical gifts. Lexus and bazillion other car companies try to convince viewers that getting a luxury car with a big ribbon is the thing to do. Jewelry stores convince you that true love is only possible through trinket exchange. Would the Sharper Image even exist without Christmas?
How did society get to the point where the expensive and useless become the socially approved gifts? This isn’t new; society has always had exercises of ceremonial inefficiency. Crops, children and money have always been given to the gods illogically as an exercise of devotion.
Post-modernists who role their eyes at consumer culture have it all wrong. Society isn’t consuming at Christmas; they are wasting at Christmas. Those new products bring little, if any, self-indulgent joy. Gift-giving is and has always been about sacrifice. Pointless sacrifice (just like Jesus’ martyrdom). .
posted by American Dilettante at
2:23 PM
2 Comments:
The best gift is something that the recipient wants, but cannot / will not buy for themselves. It might be that the item is too expensive, but unless the gift is from a parent to a child that present might make the recipient feel awkward. Perhaps the item is too frivilous to buy for oneself: getting it as a gift makes it OK. Or maybe the giftee doesn't even know that that item exists - but is thrilled to find out about it at the moment they receive it. Maybe it's just a t-shirt with a witty saying - it may not have cost much, but in this case, the though actually does count.
Windex does not qualify under any of these categories. DTMFA.
By
mizerock, at 4:49 PM
Gifts are always in the eye of the beholder. If I got a set of tires from my parents in lieu of a real gift I would be mightily disappointed. Practical gifts that the recipient could likely afford themselves come off as patronizing or because the giver didn't want to put much thought into it.
Getting underwear and floss in one's stocking, just to make it look full, makes one sensitive to gifts that were chosen because they are convenient for the giver rather than to make the recipient happy. Can't stand that crap. Still happens to this day.
I aim to please when I give gifts.
Day after Christmas I bought the stuff I didn't get that I had been holding out on for the last 4 months. Another peeve: people who can't differentiate between high and low priority items on an Amazon wish list.
By
Anonymous, at 4:39 PM
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