This post will explore two of my favourite topics: Zombies, and Shopping Malls. I will explain how the Zombie genre helps us to understand the fears and concerns of contemporary society. This is based on the increasing tendency to insulate ourselves off from the dangers of the world outside by creating highly controlled spaces such as the shopping mall. I will compare this tendency with Walter Benjamin's image of the aloof city dweller of nineteenth century Paris, the Flaneur, and describe what I term the Zombie Flaneur who walks the malls of contemporary society.
One of the most influential people in the Zombie genre has been George A. Romero. He directed some of the most well known films, including Night of the Living Dead (1968) and Dawn of the Dead (1978). It is the latter film which I will discuss because the plot of the film and the political climate at the time of release in 1978 have a striking resonance.
Dawn of the Dead 1978
As the Dawn of the Dead hit cinemas in 1978 it was at the end of a period of tremendous growth of the post-war American economy. The era between 1950 and 1980 is what Margaret Crawford (1992) terms the "golden era of the malling of America". During this period over 30,000 regional malls were built across the United States. These suburban centres of consumerism promised the dream world of consumer fantasy for all. These new spaces were free from the vagaries of city life, with free parking, air conditioning, and pedestrian friendly walkways. The mall is where suburbanites came to experience life outside home and the workplace. The mall was built for a lifestyle based on cheap oil and the automobile. However, the prosperity which had characterised the post-war years came under increasing pressure in the 1970's across the Western World. During this decade, oil became a weapon used in political conflict.
The first economic shock came with the oil crisis of October 1973, which was brought about by reduction in the supply of oil by the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). The concept of scarcity emerged again for the first time in decades. The spectre of increasing oil prices haunted the economy. This was followed by the energy crisis of 1979 following the Iranian Revolution, and in 1980 during the Iran Iraq war. It became clear that our dependence on oil, made our society especially vulnerable. This was also accompanied by an increasing environmental movement, which had been gaining momentum ever since the publication of Rachel Carlson's Silent Spring in 1962. It was clear that we would need to change our ways.
The first economic shock came with the oil crisis of October 1973, which was brought about by reduction in the supply of oil by the Organisation of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC). The concept of scarcity emerged again for the first time in decades. The spectre of increasing oil prices haunted the economy. This was followed by the energy crisis of 1979 following the Iranian Revolution, and in 1980 during the Iran Iraq war. It became clear that our dependence on oil, made our society especially vulnerable. This was also accompanied by an increasing environmental movement, which had been gaining momentum ever since the publication of Rachel Carlson's Silent Spring in 1962. It was clear that we would need to change our ways.
"We have spawned our own savagery, soon it will consume us all"
Released in the midst of this period of economic uncertainty, the Dawn of the Dead offered a shocking image of a dystopian future, where society has been destroyed by a zombie virus. It uncovers our true savagery. Movie trailers, such as the one above reflect the concerns of the time. In the film, the survivors of the zombie plague, seek refuge in a suburban mall. The space in which most of this film is set is typical of the 30,000 regional malls built across the United States over the previous 20 years. This mall could be anywhere in Suburban America. In the trailer, the scale of the mall can be seen; a large box shaped structure surrounded by acres of surface parking. As the survivors barricade themselves in the mall, they slowly regain a sense of "normality". Once the doors have been secured, and the zombies kept at bay, the survivors revert to mall activity. They try on clothes in the fashion stores, and try out the equipment in the sporting goods store. In an attempt to get away from the zombie plague outside, they revert to the dreamworld of consumer society.
Here in this hermetically sealed shopping world the survivors can escape the apocalypse outside. Needless to say, this does not last, and without ruining the film for anyone who hasn't seen it, the zombies somehow manage to get into the mall, and plenty of zombie savagery ensues. The zombie, represents the savagery of humanity and it shows the ultimate danger that we will destroy ourselves with our own actions. If we read the film in this manner, it becomes a scathing critique of consumer society. This critique still stands if we look at the increasingly important position shopping has gained in our lives. The video below shows a swarm of people queueing for the opening of a Primark Store in London in 2007. This is not a crowd of zombies, but a crowd who have been promised a bargain. How does this relate to our understanding of Urban life before the mall?
Primark, Oxford Street, Opening day October 2007
Walter Benjamin embraces the concept of the Flaneur in his unfinished work the Arcades Project. The word comes from the French masculine noun flâneur, which can be interpreted as a "stroller" or "loafer". The use of the term is linked back to Baudelaire, who used it to describe someone who walks the city in order to experience it. Benjamin uses the concept of the flaneur in his analysis of the Parisian arcade. These spaces had been the product of the bourgeoisie of the early to mid-nineteenth century and were part of the physical reality that Baudelaire describes in his writing. The Flaneur retains a sense of autonomy and consumes the city as a spectacle. Benjamin may have considered himself a flaneur, and the Arcades Project became an unfinished collection of notes and observations on these spaces. But what has happened since then?
The arcades were superseded by the department stores throughout Europe from 1850's onwards. In turn, self service stores such as Woolworths, and EPA in Sweden again changed the way people shopped and the way they experienced consumerism. No longer did the shopper have to study the window displays of the arcade to find what they wanted, now they were encouraged to find what they didn't know they wanted in the aisles of the self-service store. The 1950's saw the emergence of the first fully enclosed shopping malls in the United States. Southdale Mall (1956) was the first of many such malls to emerge across America. Victor Gruen, the architect of this space, set out to recreate the squares of a European City, in Minnesota. His idea became the standard fit for retail across the country. Shopping Malls became spaces primarily for shopping. Shopping Malls became the centre of life outside the home for many. Where was the Flaneur in this space?
The shopping malls of this period were exurban. They moved shopping, which is one of the prime aspects of commercial life in the city to a remote location, which could mainly only be reached by car. What was different about these spaces, is that they recreated a shopping space free from all the vagaries of urban life. The shopper would no longer have to worry about the weather under the roof of the mall. It was a space where the flaneur could stroll it's wide pedestrian malls without fear of road traffic. But these spaces were different. There were no offices, no pubs, no red light districts. It was the sanitising of life outside the home. Homelessness and begging were not present in the mall. The developers had succeeded in creating a dreamworld of consumer society were the dream of shopping was the key purpose of its existence. There is no room for the stroller or the lounger in these spaces. These are spaces to consume.
The release of the Dawn of the Dead in 1978 coincides with a turning point in shopping centre development. The first of the postmodern shopping spaces began to emerge around the same time, such as The Toronto Eaton Centre (1977) and Horton Plaza (1985) in San Diego. These spaces were downtown, integrated developments, which marked a return to the city centre in the form of the mall. The soulless shopping spaces of suburbia began to lose their draw. The Shopping Mall was not space for the flaneur to observe urban life. It lacked the sense of surprise or possibility that the city, which Baudelaire, and in turn Benjamin had captured.
The walkers of the mall become zombie flaneurs. They stroll the identical malls, where the sanitised dream of consumer society creates a world of global brands and similarity across the world. There is no longer surprise, or the chance encounter in the mall. Instead the zombie flaneur flocks to spend money in shopping mall. The vagaries of urban life have been eliminated. Here the flaneur can roam with the rest of the zombie hoards. Like the characters in the mall in Dawn of the Dead, they are destined to flock to this space and observe the dream world at play. Even though the world outside may have appeared ever more strange, the interior of the mall became a bastion of familiarity and predictability. The age of the zombie flaneur had arrived. It is this age that this blog aims to explore. I hope you will join me on the rest of my travels through consumer society.
The walkers of the mall become zombie flaneurs. They stroll the identical malls, where the sanitised dream of consumer society creates a world of global brands and similarity across the world. There is no longer surprise, or the chance encounter in the mall. Instead the zombie flaneur flocks to spend money in shopping mall. The vagaries of urban life have been eliminated. Here the flaneur can roam with the rest of the zombie hoards. Like the characters in the mall in Dawn of the Dead, they are destined to flock to this space and observe the dream world at play. Even though the world outside may have appeared ever more strange, the interior of the mall became a bastion of familiarity and predictability. The age of the zombie flaneur had arrived. It is this age that this blog aims to explore. I hope you will join me on the rest of my travels through consumer society.
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