Chapters 7 and 8

In discussing advertising and postmodernism, Sturken and Cartwright spend a lot of time talking about consumer culture and its effect on modern society. It is interesting to look at the way that consumer culture developed over the course of time, on the initial basis that shopping was not merely a chore but something one could do for pleasure, as a way to engage the senses (particularly, the visual). On p. 270 and 271, the authors discuss the importance that visual pleasure played in the development of this trend: shopping arcades and the first department stores were designed in visually appealing ways that were novel for that era. It is interesting to make this connection to the shopping cultures in today's world, and how this idea was integrated into different societies. In the United States, the modern version of the 19th century arcade is the shopping mall. Indeed, when entering the mall, one is often surrounded by appealing visuals (as well as sounds and smells), with everything possible being done to entice the shopper to stay a while-- all necessary amenities, such as food courts, restrooms, and sometimes even message parlors, are available within its confines. What is interesting is that although malls are often fully-indoor facilities, it is increasingly common to find malls (particularly upscale ones) that emulate an outdoor environment: floors made to look like cobblestone streets, outer shop walls that look like outdoor storefronts, etc. I find this curious because the early arcades were aimed at providing the opposite: a shopping experiences shielded from all that is outside, in a place where the sounds, smells, and sensations of street life do not affect the shopper. Clearly, in today's outdoor-like malls, one could say that the best of both worlds is achieved: we are given the illusion of being outdoors, but it is the "fake" outdoors, without any bothersome realities such as inclement weather, dirt, or unsavory smells. The book addresses this kind of meta-reality in Chapter 8, when discussing World Park in Beijing, where replicas of various famous landmarks around the world are displayed. It is to note that, like Chinese tourists visiting the "Eiffel Tower" at the World Park without ever actually seeing the real tower, some city- or suburb-dwelling Americans have never actually had the experience of shopping on the Main Street of a small American city; instead, their point of reference for this is the simulated experience provided by malls that Emulate a small-town shopping street.