Scenes from a Mall: Cultural Consumption and Style in Everyday Life

1. Scenes from a Mall:Cultural Consumption and Style inEveryday Life

2. What do shopping centers reveal about society’s focus on cultural consumption?

3. Must-Haves for a Successful Mall • Retail • Dining • Entertainment • Services • Flashy Designs • Bright Lights • Abundant Variety • Relative Cleanliness and Safety

4. Rapid growth of upscale mega-malls has cause two recent shifts in the organization of social life in the contemporary world – • centrality of cultural consumption in everyday life • the rise of aesthetics and the triumph of style

5. The Triumph ofStyle in Everyday Life

6. Why We Care • Aesthetics – how we communicate through five senses (see, hear, touch, smell, taste) • Sensations produced through aesthetics are immediate and emotional • There are no universal standards of aesthetic beauty, only that style matters

7. What We Have Individual expression and consumption of popular style as a result of technology – • Mass production of fashionable clothing • Digital word processing for graphic designs • Personalized cell phone ringtones

8. What We Have

9. Where We Go Everyday environments seem to be design-intensive BK McD’s Starbucks

10. What We Eat

11. Landscapes ofCultural Consumption

12. Cities have shifted their portrayal from industrial to commercial • Urban entertainment districts developed to bring new life to Downtown city streets • Cities have new marketing techniques to showcase the entertainment of that city • Downtown streets offer shopping, restaurants, and family entertainment

13. What do you think of?

14. New York New York HotelLas Vegas Hotel and Casino

15. New York New York HotelLas Vegas Hotel and Casino • Pool • Spa • Casino • Roller coaster *optional marriage service* • Much more! • Companies use this to attract people. They take a piece of our history or culture and line it with expensive bars, clubs, and restaurants.

16. Culture = Money • People take culture and natural roots to create tour attractions. For example “Morimoto”, named after one of the stars of Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, is one of the largest Japanese sushi restaurants in Philadelphia. • It is covered with high tech lights and futuristic designs, along with a traditional bamboo sushi mat made of 70 tons of wood on the ceiling. Although, being a Japanese restaurant, they serve pizza, deli sandwiches, and exotic sea foods. • This broad menu and excessive décor is to create a night life environment used to attract younger consumers. The goal of this new look is for the consumer to feel in a totally different place, far from where they live. They aren't just serving gourmet food and fine wine any more they're basically selling the experience.

17. And they like it! Younger consumers drawn to this type of futuristic cinematic media actually enjoy getting away from their simple small worlds. As our generations become “younger” the night life will continue to grow. Bars, clubs, and restaurants will evolve and of course money will be made. They also know that they wont be going back for a while. Restaurants like these are very expensive and hard to get into.

18. The Staging ofCultural Commerce

19. The Most Important Thing is the “Lighting”… • Nightlife Establishments (BARS and NIGHT CLUBS: The “staging” of “hotspots”) Saturday Night Fever • Famous Entertainment Environments (DISNEY and HOLLYWOOD STUDIOS Artificial/Simulated Landscapes) • Themed Restaurant Chains (PLANET HOLLYWOOD and RAINFOREST CAFÉ) • Aesthetic Lighting Effects

20. COMMERCE: SHOW ME THE MONEY… STAGING/LIGHTING SELLS… • References: • http://www.alibaba.com/product- gs/345389176/Bar_lighting_night_club_laser_lighting/showimage.html?newId=324361348&pn=2&pt=10&t=12&cids=200771014,200820058,200847028,200823064,200832001,200759149,200015728,200211055,200921468,200895312,200721237,200140022 • http://lasereffect.en.alibaba.com/productgrouplist-210235912/laser_light.html#products  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPDtkPcnjSE&feature=related  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPDtkPcnjSE&feature=related

21. The Hidden Costs of Cultural Consumption

22. Our culture puts so much importance on looks that we seem to put more value on and hire people because of the way they look instead of their work ethic.

23. Abercrombie • The “models” work on the sales floor • The people who do not have the right look work in the back room folding clothes and are not allowed to talk to costumers • According to the Abercrombie hand book “There’s no in between. You’re either hot – or you’re not.”

24. Night Life Work • Women who work at bars are often required to dress a certain way and to pretend to flirt with everyone • “NRL,” Not Right Look, is written on some applications during interviews • This is completely legal as long as they are not discriminating against one particular race or gender

25. Night Life Work • Female bartenders become very sexualized • They are told how to dress, how to act and what to say • Secret shoppers grade them on everything from how well they looked, how good the drinks were, how fast the service was and how well they flirted • This is all done while the secret shopper is being rude and obscene

26. When StyleConquers Substance

27. Presenting something in an attractive way makes it more right. Dress well. Speak well. Use props, pictures, and PowerPoint. Use panache, verve, flair, and elegance. Wow the crowds with your style and they may not notice that your content is not so hot. Use elaborate language that sounds good and fills up the space you have, covering the fact that you may actually have very little to say. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQRwJX_gGLY&feature=youtu.be

28. 300 Review:Style Conquers Substance Critics like to use the phrase “style over substance” a lot.  It's generally utilized to pan a film (typically action) that looks good visually, but lacks emotional depth or a coherent story.

29. Do looks really sell? • A 2004 study found that taller people make more than shorter people. Every inch of height amounts to an additional $789 increase in annual wages. • In 2005, researchers at the Federal Bank of St. Louis found that the above-average looking person typically earns 5 percent more than their less attractive coworkers. • Good looking authors with nice photos on the back cover are said to have more promising careers in book publishing than less attractive authors.

30. Should Universities start offering credit-bearing courses on grooming, hair care, hygiene, and fitness to prepare us for a society who rewards the beautiful? • Our emphasis on looks has become similar to a public sport. There is a web site called Hotornot.com where viewers evaluate the attractiveness of total strangers and compare their scores with others.

31. How is the need to be attractive effecting our society? • It is estimated that between 7 and 10 million suffer from eating disorders compared to 1 million men. • According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, Americans spent over 12.4 BILLION dollars on cosmetic surgeries and procedures. • Of these procedures approximately 225,000 were performed on adolescents between the ages of 13-19. • Makes you wonder if the benefits of remaking the self ever truly exceed the costs…………..

32. Test Questions • What is “aesthetics”? Answer: communication and expression through the five senses • What does the rise of “urban entertainment centers” reveal? Answer: how cities attempt to position themselves favorably within the global tourism economy • Approximately how many women in the US suffer from eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia? Answer: between 7 and 10 million