Oy, things have changed since I last went to the movies at the mall (probably about 10 years ago). Living a new area, I used to walk to the indy theater in a small touristy town, and now I drive to the local “Dead Mall”, though it certainly has helped me to be more economical with my entertainment dollar. “The Dark Knight” was the fare I sucked in my pride to go see. Worth the price of admission, both for the eye candy of the movie, and for the culture shock of the mall. What a meat market for the early teen set! Nothing but 8th graders scoping each other out. The girls wear nothing but the tightest fits, and the boys do nothing but ogle ostentatiously.
And the prologue on the screen was just as bad. I was in my seat 10 minutes early, and the commercials had already started. When did that begin? Insidious and slick, I kept thinking that THIS one must be a preview (no, there were FIVE of them still to come), but the product kept showing up at the end. I can’t help but think that this might be a glaring example of how we’ve abdicated our responsibility for our children. In my day (not SO long ago), adults still controlled the mall. This mall was more like Studio 54. Conspicuous consumption undeterred by any mediating influence (read: parents) that might point out that they’re all a little young to critically parse through these messages of sex and commercialism.
It might be a little naive of me to think that parents should be there with their kids, but I’ll have to figure out something else for my kids, because this setting scares me to death. My grand idea would be to teach my children to be involved in the world, but not PART of it. A little vague? Maybe. I’ll have to tell you more about my choice of schools for my children….
August 11, 2008 at 4:16 am |
Hahaha, you had the same thoughts about the mall that I have every time I go there! It scares me. (Well, eighth grade is not my favorite grade, but above and beyond that.) As for the commercials, they started a couple years ago I think, and I was just as shocked and appalled then as I am now (read: a lot!) at this addition to movie-going.
August 12, 2008 at 12:00 am |
What do you think the average teenager’s perception is of the amount of product placements there are everywhere? I’m thinking also of the recent story on The Marketplace (NPR) about gum jingles being used as fodder for pop songs. Here’s the link to the story.
marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/08/05/ad_music/ – 2008-08-05
August 13, 2008 at 2:14 am |
I thought there was considerably LESS parent supervision in my day, (which was the 1980s). Our moms dropped us off after buying us Schwarzenegger tickets and we were unsupervised for like five or six hours of loafing. We also arranged our own afternoon activities and played sports and all that without referees or uniforms or playdates or any of that sort. We wanted material crap, pretended to throw ninja stars at each other and we still grew up to be peaceniks and radical lefties, etc. Hopefully none of us see much of our eighth grade selves in our adult form.
Our parents had the same complaints though, since we, at least wanted to be driven in cars to the mall or whatever and they didn’t have the joyous invention of the mall yet. The baby boomers had even less supervision than we did and they spoke so reverently of this innocent childhood. But I guess they grew up to be the hippies, so maybe supervision isn’t such a bad thing.
I bet the mall scene in your town isn’t too different from where it was at 25 years ago. If you need further proof, check the playlists on those ipods.