The Mall and Everything Else

According to critic Michael Sorkin, “[The] physical city has historically mapped social relations with a profound clarity, imprinting in its shapes and places vast information about status and order.” In the late 20th century, changes began occurring in the nature of the urban center; suburbs replaced city centers as vital places of both social and economic exchange, and bedroom communities replaced mixed-use, mixed-class neighborhoods. If Sorkin is correct, these new developments in civic planning have much information to give us about what we, as a society, value, desire and fear.
Using the basic structure and location of the Woodland Mall, on the outskirts of the City of Grand Rapids, I will investigate how contemporary shopping malls exemplify the politics of space. I will then continue the dissection of mall space as it relates to systems of control (politics) through layout, design, individual stores, securities, and amenities provided to the patrons. Finally, I will argue that the mall is a prime example of Baudrillard’s Simulacra, or if you will, the place where hyper-reality becomes reality.
Woodland Mall, though considered a mall of the City of Grand Rapids, is not found in Grand Rapids. Instead the mall is located on the corner of 28th street and the East Beltline, approximately a twenty-minute drive or an hour-long bus-ride from downtown Grand Rapids. Though the mall is decentralized from Grand Rapids proper, it is perfectly located between East Grand Rapids and Cascade, two of the more affluent suburbs of Grand Rapids. The immediate surrounding area is comprised of a well-developed commercial district. Many national and world retailers, hotels, and restaurants call this area home. 28th Street is made of mile after mile of glass facades, corporate signage and asphalt parking lots. Woodland acts as an epicenter to this commercial vortex. What you will not see from the empty sidewalks on the corner of 28th and East Beltline is homes. There is little doubt from outside of the mall that those in attendance most likely drove themselves or were driven to the location. Though the mall is easily accessible to those with the means to travel, it is nearly impossible to reach without a vehicle.
The building itself is a bit perplexing from the outside. It is surrounded by a Byzantine-network of winding roads that snake though the parking lots of the surrounding businesses. The driver’s sense of direction is immediately replaced by a sense of signage. Gone are North, East, West, and South. Replacing them is huge signage hanging from high on the windowless walls of the mall-complex, reading JC Penny’s, Macy’s or Celebration Cinema. The entire structure seems octopus-like, with no obvious front or back and tentacles jutting out in multiple directions. After circling the structure several times, I decided upon parking near an entrance leading directly into the belly of the mall as opposed to one of its bookend super-stores. The entrance that I chose was framed by two robust cement pillars used to support a giant welcome sign. Immediately behind the pillars I entered into a long series of low, white, repeating arches. In my peripheral vision all that could be seen is the high brick walls jutting upward from either side. As I passed through the glass electric doors and into the belly of the whale, I could not help but think of the entrance as one to a temple. Much like a temple the entrance seemed to say, you are leaving the known world and entering into a greater reality. Presumably a new reality requires a new state-of-mind and thus a new state of mind apparently requires forty yards of nearly- enclosed architectural preparation.
Once inside of the mall I was again struck by the size of the environment. The arches from the entrance were now enlarged and repeated in stark white nearly thirty feet over the heads of the shoppers. Tasteful under-lighting accented their stretch from one side of the main hallway to the other, an expanse of nearly fifty feet. The hallways were reminiscent of wide roadways and the Kiosks and lounge furniture placed directly in the middle acted as boulevards. The floor was comprised of eighteen inch polished tiles ranging from soft creams to browns with an occasional tertiary purple to compliment. All of the halls led to a very large circular information desk/Starbucks coffee station. The central hub of the mall was designated by four enormous wooden pillars, which had the appearance of being visually upside down. This was a impressive and disorienting piece of design. Here the ceiling another twenty feet to several pyramid shaped skylights. Fake plastic trees and shrubs were dotted in-between the pillars. Standing there in the center of the mall with its tentacles spreading out before me in every direction I could not help but feel that I had somehow entered into a place of immense power.
Outside of the enormity of the building’s structure (which leaves one feeling as if they just walked into a small town on a futuristic luxury space station), what stuck me was the sterility of the environment. No detail was overlooked. The tile floor gleamed. The windows of the storefronts had no fingerprints. There was no dust to be found anywhere. There was no garbage in most of the faux marble trashcans, no crumbs on the end tables between the faux leather lounge furniture. The place was pristine. A sign adorned the entrance of the children’s play area reading “Periodically closed for cleaning”. The giant hard plastic breakfast food that the children climb was apparently disinfected at least a couple of times per day. To get to the bathrooms I had to walk down a very long narrow hallway and into a bright and clean restroom. The stalls were built of medical stainless steel. Ironically, I found paper toilet-seat covers in a box labeled Assurance just behind the commode. If the sterility of the space wasn’t enough assurance for me, I was happy to find the occasional security guard milling around and keeping the public at peace. His uniform as well as his friendly, calm demeanor told the people of the mall, it is safe. Stop clutching your purse. Take your wallet out of your pocket. Go ahead, I’ve got things under control.
Clearly the people of Woodland mall wanted me to feel safe and comfortable inside of their fortress. Though I might catch a cold in the hospital waiting room, I wouldn’t catch one here. Stay as long as you like, Woodland Mall whispered, we’ve exiled the bad people. Nothing bad can happen to you here. The colors and décor were relaxing to my eye. The soft elevator music echoed from above. There was really no reason to leave. Everything I could ever need was right there at the mall. Have a seat crooned Woodland Mall, this is bliss.
Interestingly, if the shoppers should for some reason snap out of their mall induced bliss and want to know how long have actually stayed, they would have to check their own watch. The designers of the mall conveniently forgot to place a single clock in public view. Who needs time when you’re shopping?
The mall operates much the same as the television. Its’ designers know how to bring your defenses down. The temperature-controlled environment, like the blue flickering of a television set lulls you into a trance as it insulates you from the outside world. A person may charge into a mall, but soon after entering he/she is strolling in a relaxed fashion, occasionally stopping in front of a headless white manikin wondering if that overpriced article of clothing or electronic device might just have his/her name on it.
In the universe of retail the power is in not in controlling the moral ideology of the patron, but rather the emotional frame-of-mind. In fact all of the public art displayed within the mall is purposefully devoid of narrative. It is minimal form only. Corporate art that strives to say nothing at all as is the case with the giant Split Ring found near the information center and the cement abstracted food found near the food-court. At times public art and salable products seem to get mixed up. There are several cars displayed on short wide pedestals throughout the mall. Each one of them has their own little sign asking the shoppers not to touch them. They are apparently there only to be admired for their aesthetic qualities. Nowhere in a mall can you find an appeal to your social conscious. There is no right or wrong outside of whether or not you can pull off that that pants/blazer combo, or if this tie or that belt better brings together your look. What is right in a mall is buying. Every device, every insulating architectural angle, every smiling face or plastic flower is carefully crafted and placed to better your bliss. That is the real power of the mall design, to insulate you from the world outside of its walls and to calm you against your own better judgment. The question the mall asks is not should I buy today, but what should I buy today. The answer is anything.
At the mall you’re needs are for the most part provided, however, your image is yours’ to glean (for a price). It is a perfect micro chasm of a desire-based society. Each little storefront window is like a channel on your television. Some with their black marble facing, offer you the look of wealth. Others with their soft wood tones bring you a relaxed rugged image. Still others make use of faux I-beams to let you know that they represent the newest cutting edge image based products.
Interestingly, my stepson who is now age 11, explained to me earlier this month that he now wishes for his new school clothes to be purchased at the store Hot Topic. I found Hot Topic in Woodland. Its heavy metal, black clad, mascara-wearing clerk blended in so perfectly to the clothing on the racks that he startled me when he made a move toward me. Hot topic deals in what I would consider the anti-culture (those that don’t fit into the mainstream if you will). Apparently the anti-culture has their very own store in every mall in America. To my stepson however, I think that this notion of anti or subculture is alien. This is simply the image of the people he sees around him in class. It is an accepted and even preferred image. In that sense he is right. If this image truly signified an unaccepted, radical subculture, it could never gain admittance into the hallowed halls of America’s corporate malls. Also it is interesting and to note that to him there is value in the place that his clothes are bought. Though I have argued that can find lower priced clothes of the same cut and color hanging from the racks of larger competing retailers, these imposters simply will not do. According to his understanding of image, it is important that he be seen walking into Hot Topic to make his authentic purchase (preferably without me in tow). It is almost as if he feels that the world, or at least his friends are constantly watching him on his own reality television channel. They silently judge as he painstakingly combs over his image choices, passing one window/screen to the next, giving pause only to think of what his shoes are saying to his audience. To be fair, my stepson is not the only one doing this. On some level, I and every other person walking the indoor boulevards are doing the same. We have been indoctrinated by the desire-fueled machine taught to hone our image. The mall is simply the station by which we are given the opportunity to do so. Long ago we forgot the authentic self (if ever it existed). We traded it in for the super image of how we think we ought to have been. But, what we tend to forget in the mall now as we check our posture in the reflection of those spotless windows and wonder if that new mobile phone is telling the world around us how trendy and successful we really are, is everything else.