''Escape from Affluenza'' is a 1998

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

56-minute

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

produced as a

sequel A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...

to the 1997 documentary ''

Affluenza Affluenza is a pseudoscientific psychological malaise supposedly affecting wealthy people. It is a portmanteau of '' affluence'' and ''influenza'', and is used most commonly by critics of consumerism. It is not a medically recognized disease. ...

''. While the original concentrates on

affluenza Affluenza is a pseudoscientific psychological malaise supposedly affecting wealthy people. It is a portmanteau of '' affluence'' and ''influenza'', and is used most commonly by critics of consumerism. It is not a medically recognized disease. ...

—

consumerism Consumerism is a social and economic order that encourages the acquisition of goods and services in ever-increasing amounts. With the Industrial Revolution, but particularly in the 20th century, mass production led to overproduction—the su ...

and

materialism Materialism is a form of philosophical monism which holds matter to be the fundamental substance in nature, and all things, including mental states and consciousness, are results of material interactions. According to philosophical materialis ...

in modern society—the sequel focuses on how to avoid this. It looks at stories of how to reduce

debt Debt is an obligation that requires one party, the debtor, to pay money or other agreed-upon value to another party, the creditor. Debt is a deferred payment, or series of payments, which differentiates it from an immediate purchase. The ...

stress Stress may refer to: Science and medicine * Stress (biology), an organism's response to a stressor such as an environmental condition * Stress (linguistics), relative emphasis or prominence given to a syllable in a word, or to a word in a phrase ...

, time-pressure, and possession-overload. The cast includes

Wanda Urbanska Wanda Urbanska is an author and television host, and a media, public relations and political strategist. She formerly directed the Jan Karski US Centennial Campaign and currently is President of the Jan Karski Educational Foundation. On May 29, ...

as the host and Cecile Andrews, author of "Circle of Simplicity".

References

1998 films American documentary films Documentary films about consumerism Economic problems PBS original programming Simple living 1990s American films {{documentary-tv-film-stub