omg u wna go 2 tha mall?? lolz!!!1

Nov. 16/2007 – I was fascinated by this week’s video, “Mall Time” (1998). It uses a compelling blend of reality, fiction, and Drew Barrymore to construct an effective critique of mall culture. I was especially intrigued by the insider perspectives on the architecture and internal design of malls as houses of good repute for increasingly rich people to validate their affluence. The filmmaker drove his or her point home about the mall as a new, commercially mediated centre of community with aerial shots showing the massive parking lots surrounding a few American malls and interior shots of malls emulating town squares, complete with fountains, benches, and

The comparison of malls to the hyper-real worlds of Disneyland and television was something that struck me even further; the designer’s statement about how they are designed so that consumers enter a sterile and secure environment, leaving the chaos of reality (as well as their car) behind illustrates the filmmaker’s point about how malls contribute to a fear of the real world, thereby discouraging interpersonal communication (de-personalizing society) and normalizing mediated decadent consumption, ultimately expediting the decline of Western civilization.

The way in which our society so intently focuses on immediate gratification, as Juliet Schor argues later in this course, is eroding whatever semblance of financial responsibility remains in the public consciousness. The immediate accessibility of everything, a condition that began with malls and is immeasurably enhanced by digital networking technologies, allows us to have everything we want, whenever we want. This teaches us the lesson that convenience is all that matters in life, and the same rule applies when we consider how the flow of information has changed over the past 20 years. Kids growing up today are learning that because information is ubiquitous and immediately accessible, it’s not required that we learn anything. Knowing how and where to retrieve information is tantamount to actually possessing that knowledge.

Wow, I sound like a crotchety old man, don’t I? Next I’ll be saying that music nowadays isn’t what it used to be. Well, it isn’t… But that’s something for another day.