From Figgy Puddy to Fitness- The New Year's effect on Malls

Tis' the season to get fit. This at least according to the Lakes Mall in Muskegon. Every store seemed have a deal to hook up buyers with a new pair of yoga pants or a sweat licking t shirt. Images of fit individuals plastered the walls of both the mall interior and stores themselves. Thus indirectly sending the message that if in fact if one bought these clothes they could become fit or at least look good doing so. Words like active and fit seemed to jump off the posters screaming at the buyer. It seemed the only place the theme of fitness was not being observed was in the food court. Although I have a hard time picturing Auntie Anne's Pretzels putting together a campaign for healthy living.
It wasn't merely words and images that contributed to the message of fitness. The colors used painted a picture healthy living and fitness. Colors like green and pastel blues gave a relaxing feel to the customer. The clothes themselves were colored with bright neon colors making all the other clothing items seem dull or boring. All that was missing was a gym which shoppers could use to start their fitness journey.
However, Old Navy must have heard my sarcastic comments because when I entered the store it was a fitness zone. Multiple fitness gyms had booths set up at the front of the store pitching their business. One in particular had hula hoops that shoppers could try out in the store. The demonstration came complete with the store manager hula hooping smiling decked out in Old Navy Active apparel. This was by far the far the most over the top "advertisement" I saw all day. My question was how effective could that be? After thinking about it I thought well someone could go into the store seeking to buy let's say a jacket and after trying the fitness thing be convinced both that getting in shape would be a good idea and they need new fitness wear to do so.
I couldn't help but laugh as I left the mall. These people buying the fitness gear would walk out of the mall feeling good. They were in some cases going to turn everything around and get fit. This would work for some and not for others, but likely in both cases both these folks would end up at the same mall at a later date either to buy more clothes because they lost weight and could not fit into their old ones and others would be depressed and need a shopping trip to brighten their spirits.

Mall Trip

I guess I am one of those guys who, as John Pahl puts it, was taught to "disdain the mall." But, the mall isn't so bad if you don't spend too much time there. It’s because the mall has something for all everyone, and it can apparently satisfy our every want or need. I could go play video games, get a massage, get a haircut, and eat lunch all in the same place. Parents can watch their kids in a designated play area. Readers can go to Barnes & Noble. Coffee addicts can go to Starbucks, the center of the whole mall, to get their fix. (Our entire society is literally built around coffee). And, besides the skylights, there are rarely windows to the outside. It's as if to convince us that there is no reason to leave. The mall has its own plants, water, and light. It's basically the same as outside except with climate control.

After watching The Persuaders and reading John Pahl's writing on the mall, I have become more aware of the religious lifestyle the mall presents to us. Instead of stained glass windows or images of the cross, this church has images of stylish, happy people with their fashionable clothes. Looking at these pictures, we are made to believe that the clothes caused them to be happy, and that maybe somehow inanimate objects are the main source of happiness. We unknowingly put our faith into these objects. But, the happiness we get from them doesn't last as long as we would like, so we have to make return trips.

Reel Injun

Reel Injun, directed by Neil Diamond, is a movie about the portrayal of Native Americans. It shows how in different time periods Native Americans were portrayed in different ways. In the movie it shows what was portrayed incorrectly about the Native Americans for example it showed how they all wore headbands, while only one tribe of Native Americans actually did that. In a review written by James Adams he says that the film is informative on how Native Americans have been shown on screen and how these films have shaped peoples thoughts about them. This is very true again for the example of the headbands only one tribe wore them but then all the Native Americans in the movies started to wear them. I have always known that everything in the movies is not true but watching this confirmed that. This makes me think that I should not just rely on the movies to tell me about things but rather do some research to find out what is actually true. It is important also not just to go off stereotypes, but rather figure out how somebody really is. It also makes me wonder what other things are stereotyped about other groups of people. It makes me wonder if I am thinking something to be true that in reality is completely not. One thing that I thought was funny was when the Native Americans were filming for a movie they would have to speak their native languages and would make up their own lines. Then in response the American would say their lines and the whole conversation would not really make sense, but it was a way for the Native Americans to get back at the Americans.

Woodland Mall

The entire time I was reading the article by John Paul, I could picture in my mind taking a walk through Woodland Mall, and I could very quickly connect many of his descriptions to the things that I would stroll by frequently but never fully notice. Actually going to the mall after reading the article helped confirm what I had been picturing, and the parallels between what Paul was writing and what I was seeing were slightly unnerving. For instance, I noticed that the vast majority of the floor within the mall is a gleaming white tile, which never seems to wear or dirty. Also, the ceiling is white and arched, with gentle white lighting floating down, along with the large amounts of skylight that let in natural light. The highlight of the mall for me was the very center of the building. Four large pillars reached toward the ceiling, and in the center of them sat the cornucopia of a caffeine addicted nation: Starbucks. Standing in line almost felt like standing in a plastic forest, due to the large amount of fake trees spread throughout every corner of the building. All of this pleasantry does it's part to make the loud advertisements surrounding you slightly less intrusive. The amount of effort that the mall puts into making the building feel inviting and soothing is quite astounding. Despite the words 'SALE' and 'THE SEASON'S HOTTEST TREND' coming from just about every other store front, the mall does indeed feel like a place in which you would not mind spending time in. Which to me, at least, is alarming.

Reel Injun: Native American Stereotypes

A couple nights ago I watched the movie Reel Injun. In this movie, filmmaker Neil Diamond takes a look at the Hollywood Indian and explores how these Native Americans have been portrayed and stereotyped throughout the history of cinema. The movie explains how these inaccurate portrayals have influenced our misunderstanding of Native Americans by showing interviews with non-Native American and Native American film directors, actors, and activists. The movie also displays many clips from different films, both old and new, involving Native Americans. From silent films to present day films, we see that the depiction of the average Native American has shifted immensely and affected how our culture views these Natives Americans. In the 30’s and 40’s, Hollywood films portrayed Native Americans as peaceful, emphasizing the unity of family. However, the stereotype of Indians dramatically changed in the 50’s when Native Americans became viewed as ruthless savages. In addition, according to these films, all Native Americans were supreme horsemen who wore headdresses. Finally, in the 70’s, Indians were viewed as “cool” and thought of as hippies, and today Native Americans are portrayed in the media as poor and drunken. As statistics show, many Native Americans are in fact poor or suffer from alcoholism. But is it ethical for a filmmaker to portray them that way? Do filmmakers need to show a positive view or just the truth? My film group discussed these questions, and how the media highly influences our culture and shapes the way we view others. We often accept the reality with which we are presented without even questioning it. For example, a clip from Reel Injun shows a Native American camp for boys. During the camp, the boys get face painted, scream Indian war cries, and violently pound on the tables. Overall, from the noble savage to the drunken Indian, the movie Reel Injun shows us that the cinema highly affects how we stereotype groups of people. It is indeed a ““entertaining and informative documentary” as critic James Adams explains in his review. This movie made me realize how poorly Americans have portrayed Native Americans in films, and how we easily buy into everything we see on the media. Reel Injun has prompted me to think differently about Native Americans, and to not so easily give into the so-called “truths” the media constructs as reality.

Observing Woodland Mall

Yesterday I took a trip to Woodland Mall. However, instead of getting sucked into the shopping and sales like I usually do, this time I simply observed. Doing this helped me notice a lot of things that I normally do not see on my visits to the mall. As soon as I entered the mall, I was filled with warmth, and a bright red sign with the word SALE in big bold letters greeted me--it was impossible to miss. These sale signs were all placed in prime spots such as entrances and at the tops of the elevators. There was also some sort of sale sign in every window of every store we passed by that sought to grab our attention. Bright lights, white tile floors, and white walls gave the mall a very open and clean look. In addition, in the middle of the aisles there were several resting areas with couches and chairs. Trees and plants surrounded these areas, making it a refreshing atmosphere. I had never noticed the foliage, but the article by John Pahl opened my eyes to see the large amounts of plants that seek to refresh the mall’s consumers and make their trip more enjoyable. Furthermore, I noticed a Starbucks conveniently placed where four isles come together—in order to get anywhere, you had to walk by the coffee shop that was surrounded by pillars and trees. Manikins were dressed to perfection, which tempted onlookers like myself to stop in the store and try on the clothes. Some stores we walked into, such as Macy’s, smelled of colognes and perfumes and had popular music playing, such as Rihanna. Claire’s, a fashion and accessory store, was decorated with a purple carpet, and bright purple and pink lights shown on the entrance to draw in young girls. We also found that when we entered a store or hesitated by a kiosk, there was always a salesperson quick to tell us what the sales were and ask if we needed any help. Overall, observing rather than shopping at the mall opened my eyes to many of the advertising techniques that I have been blind to before.

Three Random Songs

I listen to music every day, all day and I love hip-hop and rap. I have had several run-ins with my mother about my taste in music. Is what I put in to my ears on a daily basis affecting how I live my life? Am I straying away from the path to the kingdom as I listen to music that is of the empire and certainly not of the Lord? I decided to randomly shuffle the music on my iPod and do a little test. The three songs that randomly came up were. “Love on Top” by Beyoncé, “Drop the World” By Lil Wayne, and “Viva La Vida” by Coldplay. At any point during my workout, car rides, or leisure listening these songs could some on and I would sing along. I used to tell my mom that I listened to hardcore rap just for the beat and that I was able to filter out all the crap about sex, drugs, and violence. It has recently dawned on me that this is not possible. I googled the lyrics to these three random songs and to my astonishment the f-word was repeated 26 times in one of them. In these songs there were references to unhealthy idols (men), violence, sexual promiscuity, and a great supply of offensive derogatory terms. One of these songs however, was fine. No swear words, decent message, and nothing offensive about it. Yet 2 out of 3…not so good? The two bad songs gave in to empire life and gave the listeners no hope for life in the kingdom. Based on these artifacts I honestly could not tell you how Christians should act in the world because there was absolutely no mention or resemblance of Christian behavior in any of them. These artifacts also don’t encourage us to desire, hope for, or believe in anything but evil or worldly behaviors.

Is it acceptable to listen to such music, as long as I filter out and am able to recognize the bad in these songs?

How to I know if I am properly filtering what I hear and not letting it affect my actions?

A Different Outlook on the Mall

Yesterday, a few classmates and I entered Woodland Mall with a new set of eyes. Prior to this visit, we had read about John Pahl's journey to the Mall of America and watched The Persuaders which showed the many ways stores advetise to get our attention. With what we learned from these two sources, we were sent out to look for the many ways the mall and its stores vie for our attention. It did not take long to spot out these interesting tactics as we entered the mall through the store Kohl's. Immediately, we were bombarded with a huge "For Sale" sign at the entrance of Kohl's and many beautiful, bright lights sprinkled all around the store. Also, they tried to make the store more appealing by playing the music of the ever-popular singer Rihanna which could potentially lure even more people in the store. Strangely enough, these tactics were even working on the eyes and ears of our group, as members of the group were taken aback by the "For Sale" sign and the clothes around it. Fortunately, we were able to fight through Kohl's tempations and continue our trek through the mall.

As we continued to walk through the mall, we noticed trees, a kid's play area, and many comfortable couches. It was crazy to see how much the mall was trying to make us feel at ease and at home. However, we had no time to sit as we discovered more and more techniques that stores and restaraunts were using to grab our attention. Starbucks had laid down its foundation in the middle of the store where it was impossible not to see or smell its many varieties of coffee. Foot Locker had a poster of NBA stars Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, and Blake Griffin to bring sports enthusiasists into their shoe store. Finally, Hollister had a dark, mysterious storefront that had music blaring from inside. With this technique, all the curious teenagers in the mall were sure to walk in to discover what this store was all about. After looking around for a while, we were reasonably overwhelmed. We were so used to this advertising around us, that we had never bothered to realize the effects it had had on us. I am very grateful that we were able to do this exercise, because it taught us that we can be so accustomed to things in this world that we never bother to take a look at what is around us.

Trip to Woodland Mall

We had planned on staying at the mall long enough to observe and analyze the material we’ve discussed in class, 30 minutes tops right? Well… the mall played its evil little tricks on me once again and I was lured to what turned out to be a four hour shopping spree. The malls unique architecture makes it hard for shoppers to locate and exit without walking past another strip of stores. When we first arrived we tried to locate our friends from class and that took several minutes. There are so many entrances; we could seem to meet at the same one. We noticed that on the doors of each entrance was some sort of sale pulling you in. I took most of my time in Macy's to observe and see similarities and truths as presented in “The Persuaders”. There were bright colors, big posters, and racks you simply can’t pass up saying “clearance.”

Following is a list of other observations made while at the mall.

1. The bathrooms are conveniently located near the food court so in order to get through to the bathroom you must endure the bombardment of yummy smells and the appeal of all the foods just waiting to be chosen.

2. After coming in from the snowy blizzard outside the mall was warm, clean, cheerful music played, it smelled good, and was well lite. Why would I want to go back out to my cold car?

3. There were signs located above the escalator so as your riding you have something to read. Outside the stores were signs reading, “OMG”, “WOW”, “get lucky”, and “everything must go”.

4. There was an area in the mall with comfy couches, trees, and carpeting to allow shoppers to rest and feel comfortable in the mall setting. This spot was conveniently located next to the Starbucks and kids play area, directly in the center of the mall.

5. Workers at the kiosks in the middle just wait for you to walk by then lure you in with a sample, and hopefully send you away with a purchase.

Trip to Woodland Mall

On my trip to Woodland mall I started looking for things that I hadn’t noticed before after reading the article by John Pahl. I noticed the calm background music that is playing in the background through out the mall. I always knew that there were plants in the mall, but I did not notice the large amount that there was. One thing that I had never realized before that might be obvious is that the kiosks are placed in the middle was that you are given no other option but to walk along the sides or through certain sections in the middle. This causes a person to be forced to go either to the stores or the kiosks, which will more likely draw them in and it helps when the employees to be able to draw people into their stores. When a group of us walked past the kiosks the employees working there began to ask us questions to draw us in. In the movie The Persuaders it talks about how advertisement is everywhere and that is definitely true in the mall. In every single store that I walked past there was tons of advertisements about sales and saying to draw someone into the store. The signs were sometimes huge to draw attention and then once inside the store the there were smaller, but still caught the eye. The signs were typically big, bold, and bright. The employees are even walking advertisements, when talking with an employee at footlocker she said that 4 out of the 5 items of clothing she was wearing were footlocker and she even admitted she was a walking advertisement. It was interesting to look around and focus on noticing the advertisements because there everywhere and I hadn’t noticed how many there were before. One of the advertisements that was hanging up in footlocker was celebrities who wear those types of shoes, this would draw people in because they want to have the shoes that the star athletes in hopes that they play like them or act like them. It was also interesting to think about why certain things were in the mall. When looking into stores there were lights that were put directly over a sale or a new item to draw a person to look at them. Another thing that I thought was interesting is that they set up play-places for children to keep people at the mall for longer periods of time, so that after the children got to play for a little bit then the parents get to go back to shopping. I noticed that sometimes they conveniently place an adult store next to a children store so that they can tell the child when will go into their store once they are done with there own. Overall reading the chapter by John Pahl and watching The Persuaders helped me pick out things that normally I would not notice.