Iovino 1 Dylan Iovino Professor Popova EN 101 5 April 2022 Material World Everybody has heard that the things you own do not make you happy, but would owning nothing make you happy either? While many people know that they could downsize their lives, it is becoming increasingly more popular to actually do so through the movement of minimalism. More and more people are electing to do away with most of their possessions and live in the moment, but many are also finding that such a lifestyle is not so ideal as some claim it to be. Minimalism leads to a healthier, more focused lifestyle, but people should practice moderate minimalism. Minimalism began as an art movement. In the 1950’s and 60’s, artists such as Frank Stella, Carl Andre, and Robert Morris began to create art with abstract subjects and blank backgrounds, a stark contrast to any art seen before. Following the trend of the 1960’s era, these artists sought to reimagine the way that people thought of art. Minimalism was controversial. Many had incredibly differing opinions on the movement, but “[d]etested by some, embraced by others, minimalism's influence was immediate, pervasive and lasting” (Botha). Minimalists opposed the previous notions of what art could be, and they instead elected to paint, draw, and sculpt art in what they saw as its purest form. Their paintings show pure colored lines, lone, abstract figures, and semi-formless statues in a way never seen before. Minimalism was incredibly popular at the time, and still is today, but the movement would transform into something entirely beyond art long after the decade in which it began. Iovino 2 Minimalism remained an art form until one fateful day in 2010, when a woman from Japan named Marie Kondo published a book entitled The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. In her book, Kondo claims that anybody can permanently solve all their clutter issues by sorting through their possessions with one simple mindset, and, “Although she does not call herself a minimalist, she has been swept into the larger cultural trends … and has become a lifestyle celebrity in North America and across the globe” (Sandlin). As with many aspects of American life, the home “American consumerism is often characterized by overt materialism, opulence, and an insatiable desire to acquire” (Wilson), but Kondo claims that all readers must do is look at each individual thing they own and ask themselves if the object “sparks joy” in them. Kondo’s content is accompanied by warm photos of a sparklingly clean home. Shelves with evenly spaced items and bright, clutter-free rooms litter the pages of her work alongside claims that all readers see could be theirs too. Kondo invokes the practice of Japanese minimalism, a way of living defined by only keeping the utmost essentials while disposing of everything else. From Kondo’s work, hundreds of other “minimalists” leapt to their pens and began preaching the good word of this so-called minimalist lifestyle. In the modern sense of the idea, minimalism is both an art form and a lifestyle. As per the name, followers of the movement seek to own the smallest number of things necessary for their survival in the modern world. Typically, this manifests in rooms with very little furniture, few personal belongings, and frequent assessments of what possessions really matter to a person. Such practices create a home that is pleasant to look at and live in. Minimalists live artistically. As Kondo and many similar writers claim, minimalism provides a multitude of benefits, with many seeing “minimalism as a deliberate paradigm shift in consumer behavior based on the principle of a sustainable lifestyle” (Kang). Living in a cleanly environment is large sign of a Iovino 3 healthy lifestyle. A lack of clutter shows purpose in life and in a person’s decisions, a trait that not only affects a person’s belongings and surroundings, but also their behaviors in social and professional environments. Alongside spiritual and emotional benefits, owning less can certainly make some parts of life easier. They claim that minimalism is an opposition to “the bedrock of a contemporary consumer culture preoccupied with materialism and materialistic values” (Atanovska). Owning less allows people to occupy less unneeded space and makes such space considerably easier to maintain and clean. Owning less can also make things easier to find around a house, and less consumption generally decreases pollution of the environment. Above all else, however, owning less things implies buying less things. Those who exercise more control over what items they bring into their life will undoubtedly save money compared to those who do not, and they can then use this money for meaningful causes, such as travel, charity, savings, and even memorable experiences, rather than objects. A large part of the minimalism experience, in fact, is the prioritization of experience over material gain. Many minimalists feel that “ “. In fact, minimalism owes its popularity to a desire to live a more meaningful life, and many practice this through living outside of their own homes more. Travel is one of the most common uses of extra funds from downsizing for a reason; people feel more fulfilled in life when they spend more time out in the world and with those they care about. For so many people, minimalism a way to live the life they truly want to live, rather than what a consumerist society has given them. For all that minimalism inspires in people, however, there exist a few problems with the ideology. Firstly, getting rid of clutter can be intoxicating. Once the organizing and decluttering begins, many people enjoy the look of their newly cleaned spaces so much that they continue to rid themselves of many of their unwanted possessions. But what if some of those things were not Iovino 4 unwanted? So many former minimalists describe similar experiences of minimalism when getting rid of something seemed a fantastic idea at first, but they later regretted their decision to let a few things go. Throwing away cherished possessions solely for the sake of cleanliness is not cause for joy. In addition to the loss of valued belongings, minimalists may be prone to living to an extreme minimum. Many minimalists strive to keep their spaces intensely clean, and as a result, minimalists often go without things that make modern life comfortable. Famed creator of Apple Steve Jobs famously revealed that his living room consisted of nothing more than a rug, a lamp, and a stereo, but why is this? The purpose of minimalism for most people is to create a more comfortable living space and to live a more meaningful life, but is there meaning or comfort in a barren house? As with anything taken to the extreme, minimalism has a great potential to do more harm than good, and there is a reason that there is a large community of “former minimalists.” These people recognize the faults of extreme minimalism by way of their own past experiences, and they reject the idea of a pure or correct form of minimalism. Instead of taking the ideology of minimalism to the extreme or rejecting it entirely, most former minimalists elect to adopt a moderate form of minimalism simply referred to as moderate minimalism. As a rule, to live as a moderate minimalist, there are only a few guidelines to follow. Firstly, the moderate minimalist is very critical of what material things they bring into their life. They do not purchase without reason, and this prevents them from cluttering their world with useless possessions. Secondly, they prioritize their time over their belongings. These people believe that their experiences and the people around them are far more important than anything they could buy and put in their home. Iovino 5 Moderate minimalists seem to have the best idea of what brings them happiness in life. They stay away from the extreme hoarding of a select few and the average clutter of a modern household, as well as avoid and empty home devoid of life and meaning. Moderate minimalists’ mindset, in truth, aligns most closely with the ideas of Marie Kondo. They seek to keep everything that means something to them while recognizing the things that they do not need or want. They keep a balanced lifestyle that, ultimately, keeps them more satisfied with their living space. They prioritize living in the moment, rather than in a place, but they give value to their surroundings as well. In the end, minimalism is a movement that does a large amount of good for a huge population when it is followed with moderation. Moderate minimalists have proven that their system works, and though the minimalist lifestyle may not be for everyone, it is worth an attempt to better one’s circumstances. People are learning to live through action rather than possession, and such a mindset can lead to a more lively, clean, and healthy world. With proper understanding, minimalism can declutter homes and minds alike. Iovino 6 Works Cited A. Sandlin, Jennifer, and Jason James Wallin. “Decluttering the Pandemic: Marie Kondo, Minimalism, and the ‘Joy’ of Waste.” Cultural Studies ↔ Critical Methodologies, vol. 22, no. 1, 2021, pp. 96–102., https://doi.org/10.1177/15327086211049703. Atanasova, Aleksandrina, and Giana M. Eckhardt. “The Broadening Boundaries of Materialism.” Marketing Theory, vol. 21, no. 4, 2021, pp. 481–500., https://doi.org/10.1177/14705931211019077. BOTHA, MARC. “Objecthood: On the Materialism of Minimalism.” Theory of Minimalism, BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC, 2019. Kang, Jiyun, et al. “Minimalism as a Sustainable Lifestyle: Its Behavioral Representations and Contributions to Emotional Well-Being.” Sustainable Production and Consumption, vol. 27, 2021, pp. 802–813., https://doi.org/10.1016/j.spc.2021.02.001. Wilson, Anne V, and Silvia Bellezza. “Consumer Minimalism.” Journal of Consumer Research, vol. 48, no. 5, 2021, pp. 796–816., https://doi.org/10.1093/jcr/ucab038.
