Mall Post

As I entered the mall from one of the several Macy's entrances it was hard not to see the vast area of perfumes and make-up products permeating every display case and beyond even that, every square inch of available space. Sales people scurried around from customer to customer trying to pander each product to seem like a perfect fit to the individual. People wanted to look better than ever before, an exemplification of a narcissistic self-perpetuating cycle created by the consumer for the consumer. It must be nice, many of us would say, to create and take a part in such a culture that has an exponentially rising ease of access and a diverse line of products. This would be entirely true insofar as much as we created only a culture, however, we have created for ourselves a religion that we choose to be a part of.

We love to consume the newest, the latest, and the trendiest. We must acknowledge that we all do, not just them or they but I in collusion with everyone else around me chose this path and continue to daily. So often we "impartially" remove ourselves from our culture by saying "I don't really do that," or, "I am not nearly as bad as everyone else." However this is arrantly hypocritical, because when the tables turn and now it is better to go with the flow, we turn on a dime. The truth is that we love to consume so much that it is one of the premier driving factors. Consider it like a shift in homeostasis, we no longer seek the basic necessities, our homeostatic drive is to consume.

Walking out of Macys, it is easy to see the open, inviting hallway lined on both sides and in the middle with shops of every sort. It is a race to stand out, some use ads and logos like Nike and others like Apple use elegantly designed storefronts and interiors that are aesthetically pleasing. Every square inch is scrutinized and allocated for efficient use.  Billboards line shop windows and along walls, even shopping bags are branded to be recognized by other consumers that happen to walk by. People crowd, moving in a deliberate way, flowing from store to store. A fluidity is established and maintained by the structural lay out of the mall to guide and move about shoppers in the easiest way possible. Consumers find comfort in this ease, the seamless integration of the purchase of "necessary" commodities and staples laced with the plethora of cookies, pretzels, smoothies, and drinks. In fact the very center of the mall is crowned with a large Starbucks, prominent from a distance for it's eager customers.

It is easy to see how such a place would garner the trust and hearts of consumers. We find such pleasure in the malls that many of us use them as a path to happiness. We have created an idolatrous relationship with malls, creating a religion based in our consumerism and it's ever growing demands. The principle of this new idolatrous relationship is greed, a malevolent noxious agent which damages our hearts and minds. We seek salvation not from God, but through the acquisition of goods and services which are provided in ubiquity at the mall, our new place of worship.

Walking through the mall we see only brand names, only things designed to cater to a people consumed with our own reflection. Stores like Macys cater to women especially as I could see as I walked in. However men and children are under the influence of our economic culture, there are stores for hats, belt buckles, jewelers, shoes, and every type of clothing imaginable.

Consumption is not inherently bad or noxious, however, the way that our society has demanded more, more, more, has created a religion. This religion is planted in idolatry and is narcissistic throughout. There is a predication on egocentricity that only the market can sustain. It is up to each person as an individual to return the religion back to God and away from us, dispel the idolatrous nature of consumerism, to delineate want from need, and to return the sacred place of worship to the church not the mall.

Sonder

In all honesty - as much as fell like a slave to advertisements - I love the mall. I love finding shoes at journeys for 75% off, I love finding "ill" bro-tanks at pac-sun and pretending I can pull them off, I love walking into the north face and imagining how nice it would be to wear a six hundred dollar coat during that trip to the summit of K2 that I'll (probably) never go on. But by far the most intriguing part of the mall is the people. I love watching parents who bring their children to Chuck-E-Cheese either because it's their child's birthday, or because they - for some reason - feel it's okay for a giant mouse in desperate need of dental work to do their parenting for them (maybe that's a bit harsh, but that mouse was the embodiment of nightmares for a young me). I love watching elderly gentlemen enter stores like Nordstrom Rack, to buy yet another Italian-leather belt, because the according to the store's advertisements it's a wise way to spend your dwindling retirement funds. And then there's horde of middle aged women seeking ways to stay young crowded the fancy tea-shop in the mall that sells tea of a obviously much higher quality than that of Tazo or Bigelow - I mean there's unlimited free samples, and it's packed full of anti-oxidants and other words randomly chosen from a medical dictionary, how could it not be the best tea possible? But perhaps no store is more intriguing for me than stores such as Hot Topic. For me, I see Hot Topic as nothing more than a way for teenagers to rebel against the man, large business, wall street, and advertisement, by giving in to advertisement. Again, maybe that's a bit cynical, but it bothers me when people walk out of the store wearing shirts with blatantly obvious sexual innuendos or unnecessary swear words, or a picture of a completely naked woman across the front of it. Like I said, I see it as a sad way for people to feel as if they are rebelling against society.

But then, I couldn't help feel the weight of each and every person that passed by me. All of them were living lives. Lives with the same curiosities, strife, anger, joy, and blandness as mine. Each of them lived a deeply intricate and complex life with their own reasons for buying what they buy, and in awe of this amazing and weighty fact, I couldn't help but sit on a bench and smile in amazement. 

Woodland Mall

I'm personally not a big fan of malls because I find online shopping more convenient and usually cheaper. When I do go, I find myself not paying attention to anything else other than my phone or ipod while I follow my companions around. But this time, I left them in my pocket and “explored” Woodland mall. The mall did seem like a church, especially those newly renovated mega churches with bright lightings, glossy tiles and very welcoming people. I didn't know what to do, so I just walked into the apple store and immediately a guy with a blue t-shirt approached me. He asked how I was doing and if I was looking for something particular. I told the guy I was just looking around and he lead me to the latest iPad mini and began talking about the specifics and the reasons why it was awesome. I realized that this guy seemed like those new comer's ushers at church who don't tell new comers to “believe God” right away the same way the guy didn't say “buy the iPad” the moment we met. Instead, the two asks about their guests and gradually talked them into why the iPad or faith was awesome. Both had the same way of approaching with their “products”. Another similarity is that although the mall seems secularized, according to Loy in Jon Pahl's reading, both the modern world and church have the “identical future-oriented hope...[just as the] sixteenth-century Protestants trusted in grace to get them to heaven; modern capitalists trust in the market to get them prosperity” (68). 
Something that I have not noticed before was the amount of advertisements posted all around the mall. From the Persuaders, the question asking about the amount of advertisements and what it would seem like if somethingelse replaced them struck me. So I paid particular attention to the ads as I eye shopped the many stores. Very quickly, I was surprised by how much room ads took up at each store and I couldn't imagine what the area would look like without ads. And really, these ads may be helpful in that “they show you what's out there” as one of our classmates stated, but it can also be harmful in seducing the consumers to buy their products which are on “sale”. Most people react to sale advertisements by thinking, “I need to buy something because it's cheaper” when really you don't need them and the advertisers are still making good profit. Pahl also writes that, “Their(the malls') primary damage is to the human heart and mind. But of course these negative features of malls are all maksed by their promises of prosperity” (67). I ended up leaving Woodland mall without buying anything as usual, but I did have a whole different experience. 

King C... Christ or Consumerism?

“I feel happy when I go to the mall because I get to buy the things that I need.” This is what someone said when I asked, “what do you feel when you go to the mall?” Change the words “mall” for “church” and “buy” with “heal” or “reflect” and you will see that indeed the mall and the consumerist system is trying to use our human need for God and twist it into a constant fulfillment of desire (The Persuaders). Obviously people cannot feel that they are being controlled by those media makers; in other words, they cannot realized they are inside “the Matrix”.

When I was at the mall I asked some people if they thought that there was anything religious about the mall, these were their answers:

-      - No, not that I can think off.

-     -  No

-      - No

-     -  No, you? (I answered yes, consumerism is a religion; he said, “interesting” )

-     -  No

-    -   No (after a while she changed her mind) yes, there is community

Do you see a common factor on these answers? Not a lot of people reflect on what they do, we do not ask “why?” We accept the reality of the world with which we are presented” (The Truman Show) because it is the most comfortable way to live, it is also the way society has been teaching us to live since the beings of society. That is precisely why we love the mall so much, because the guilt you are supposed to feel while you are not being able to cope with reality (although you should) is gone, cup-caked by the feeling that you need this and that because you need it you are making a smart choice by buying it. We think, “I am not being controlled, I make my own choices” but those “sale” signs are not really smart choices as we think, but more “you are naïve enough to fall for this.”

How does all of this related with the church? In every way, but churches are smart choices. At least in my hermeneutic situation, Christianity is our way to step out of “Seahaven” (The Truman Show). As Jon Pahl pointed out, malls use every characteristic about a church to give a “spiritual” atmosphere, a you-are-not-doing-anything-wrong-by-consuming-everyhting-you-like place to persuade buyers to join this religion. The church helps us be aware of King Consumerism to discover that real happiness can only be felt in Christ.

Obviously part of the problem is the society we live in; it has been slowly structured in a way that expects us to consume (for economic reasons, for social standards and for human “necessities”). But we have to remember we are society. 

Rivertown Crossings-Mall Post

I stopped home this weekend after finishing work. My hometown, Hudsonville, is located approximately fifteen minutes from Rivertown Crossings Mall. Although my voyage to Rivertown wasn’t the first, I still noticed some things I haven’t seen before inside the walls of the shopping center.

Walking towards one of the mall’s many entrances, you will notice a interesting two story exterior. The shape of the façade seemed to mimic a stucco-faced village located in a much warmer climate then Michigan’s. The buildings rooflines provide a visual appeal to your eye. When you walk into the mall, you’ll notice lots of tile, stone and glass used for the building’s materials. I noticed that the mall was designed to look like a tropical getaway. Somewhere you would go to get away from stress.

Chatter, and large crowds seem to portray an opposing effect. Business and relaxation both compete for attention from shoppers. Somehow I felt disoriented despite knowing the location of the majority of the stores inside. During my trip I visited Dick’s Sporting Goods to look for a new leather belt for squatting. I found a belt that I liked, but the price I did not like.

 I pulled out my smartphone to cross check prices online on amazon. It took less then a minute to find the exact same belt priced lower online. I decided to hold off on my purchase because I wasn’t willing to pay the price for a new belt when Calvin’s worn out belt still did the job for me. I decided to buy my own personal belt once my waist shrinks a few inches from cutting season in around a month. In "The Persuaders" they talk about advertising in a way that persuades the consumer to persuade themselves into thinking they need a certain product. This technique failed on my, but I could defiantly tell how this technique would work on consumers less willing to do research and wait to buy something

I got the feeling that people pay higher prices at Dick’s for the stereotype of being a jock. If you wear Nike to Dick’s and you walk out with a bag, everyone assumes you’re an athletic superstar. Dick’s sells more then just a product, they are selling a feeling to fulfill a longing in a customer’s life. Sort of like Jesus fulfills a longing in every open heart. Jesus paid the price for us, it’s our job to accept him and not the stereotypes that go along with sports stores or any other type of stores.

Mall Visit - Rivertown Crossings Mall

On Saturday I went to Rivertown Crossings mall in Grandville, Michigan. The first thing I noticed when I walked inside was how bright the mall was and how shiny everything seemed. The tile flooring was so shiny it almost looked as if they were made out of glass. Also the very first ads that you see are these big pictures on the walls down the first hallway that funnels you into the chaotic center of the mall. The pictures showed a family laughing in a park, and a group of friends all laughing as they are sitting in the mall's food court. This is just one example of how the mall tries to play and persuade you to enter their mall by trying to evoke an emotional response from you. There were a couple other features such as the arched ceiling and plentiful vegetation that according to Pahl's article, prove that the mall is becoming a worship place to those who enter it simply to consume. The lack of windows and distorting halls and bright lights and advertisements screaming and competing for your attention also distract you and make you lose a sense of time, which Pahl also mentioned in his article. While going through various shops I ran into a couple advertisements that I couldn't believe that one- people actually buy this stuff and two- that the "EMPIRE" thinks we are so stupid. One example was a t-shirt I found in EXPRESS. On the front in big "sophisticated" cursive silver letters, it said "True Icon". There a couple problems with this shirt. If someone needs to find their identity by having a shirt tell them their worth there is a problem. Also if someone is listening to these messages that the empire is telling them that they are an icon, very quickly their world can become self centered. Later on in another store I found a perfume line titled "Me". Once again this was annoying because the Empire is trying to persuade its consumers that their identity can be found in their cheap products. Also the title is not creative at all, seriously how long and how much money did a marketing team waste on trying to think of a unique name and somehow end up with "Me"? These are just two examples of messages from the Empire that I found while I was at the mall. When trying to think of how the mall made me feel I did not write a poem but I just remember feeling really unimpressed, and a little angry. It really bothers me that I can walk into a mall and go into any of 50 clothing stores just because I want to when the workers who made all of the mall possible have probably been wearing the same shirt and clothing for months on end because they can not afford getting new ones. I just wish there was more of a balance, why do we have to have all this luxury and others none? It's not because we work harder, or know how to run businesses better it is simply because we were born here and the other billions of people in the world were not, and that is something that no one got to choose. I think that leaves all of us with a great responsibility to make a change, whether by doing a little research and supporting brands and companies that do provide fair wages to their workers or by being intentional with limiting our purchases to necessities, or finding a unique way to use our gifts to make change in whatever field we go into whether that's the arts, business, marketing, or teaching.

The Religious Mall

Saturday afternoon around 3:30 PM, I have decided to go to the mall and take a look around for my blog. When I arrived at the mall, my face was slapped with an ad that gave me a concerned thought as I continued to stare at it. It said, “Always Inspires Never Expires,” from this I realized that if I use any biblical reference to this it would work.  Jesus always inspires never expires. Then I left and wander around the mall.
In the recent documentary of the Persuaders, there are signs and companies that will try to grab our attention. If one place will lower their price, then another would do the same. These ads are there to inform us of their new goods and prices for us to buy. They are there to get more recruits to support their company so that they would survive in the world of business.
After browsing their goods at the mall, I started to notices some ads that are odd in a way, but provided some sort of law in the mall. These ads portray a pig, a vegetable, a tool, and a goat. Each with their own signs by saying, “Be a Tool, Be essential, Be strong, and Be constructive and in the end almost all of these ads say, “You are what you give be a ________,” These signs seems to be innocent at first, but after giving it some thought, it almost as if these signs are rules and laws to manipulate the people’s minds to improve consumerism by obtaining money and selling them for their needs as a tool, a pig, a goat, or whatever the mall tells us. Now I understand a bit better why malls are starting to become more like churches like what Jon Pahl was explaining about in his works along with other professors and thinkers that contributed to his works. If these are the laws and rules of the mall, then the information center of the mall is the book of the mall. Despite, there are so many ads that attracts us to buy certain thing, I see another way method that also attract us to a certain product; our background.
If I were to add one thing to Jon Pahl's paper about shopping, it would be the background that we were raised in that makes us buy certain products. For me, I like coffee, because I grew up with a background of drinking coffee. It just clicked with me and made me want to buy a nice cold cup of coffee. As I looked around with a nice cup of coffee I noticed coffee bags of the coffee shop around me and it seems like idols to me for some reason. It feels like it tells me, “Buy me and you can make your own Idol and drink from it.” So I threw what is left of my coffee and left the mall.