1C Lesson Plan for “The Mall as Refuge” (304) and “Mallaise” (323)

 

 

One. The Mall is Anti-Gemeinschaften or Anti-Community

 

1. uncomfortable furnishings to encourage quick turnover
2. the architecture is anonymous, impersonal, soulless
3. the hurrying crowd prohibits intimacy
4. the security guards create an atmosphere of authoritarian control
5. the mall is suffused with Muzak, a form of generic music, which kills the human spirit
6. the mall focuses on retail purchases, not personal intimacy
7. the mall affects a perception of community to lure in shoppers; in other words, the mall is a hustle, a fraud, a trap.
8. The purpose of real community is in conflict with the purpose of the mall.  The mall is a business. Tenants have bills to pay. They have to make their bottom-line. All this talk about “community” is BS.
9. Old people are looked upon as dead weight taking up space

 

Two. Unintended Consequence of the Mall: It Has Become Misfit Land

 

The mall attracts two different demographics: Retired geriatrics, who come out of a need rooted in loneliness and a safe place to exercise, and teenagers, who come out of a need for a minimum-wage job and social networking.

 

For teens and old people, the mall is a last resort because they hate home life, school life, etc.

 

In a way, then, the mall if Misfit Land. And that’s not what the merchants want.

 

Part Four. Mall Rats and Mall Bunnies

 

1. They hate home life.
2. They hate school.
3. They suffer from idleness. As a result, they smoke, play video games, show off their hair styles and clothes, and in general live an aimless life. Their only purpose, if they have one at all, is approval from their peers. See page 316.
4. They suffer from depression, delinquency, and other pathologies associated with no family support and no life purpose.

 

 

Part Five. Depressing Conclusion

 

The old people and teens who live at the mall know it’s phony community but they don’t care because they’ll take phony community over no community at all. See page 319

 

 

Part Six. Writing Assignment Option: Comparing the mall to Frankenstein and his Monster:

 

Write an essay based on McMahon’s commentary:

 

The mall’s main purpose is to make money, but the selections in Chapter 7 show that in a way the mall has become, like Frankenstein’s Monster, an uncontrollable beast with consequences that cannot be controlled by his creator.

 

Drawing from George Lewis’ essay and at least 2 others from Chapter 7, show how the mall has become The Beast of Unintended Consequences, fulfilling several social roles that its creators did not foresee. 

 

The title of your essay would be, inevitably, The Beast of Unintended Consequences.

 

A sample thesis might look like this:

 

While the mall’s main purpose is to make a profit, it has become, like Frankenstein’s Monster, an uncontrollable beast that has, unwittingly, generated a host of unwanted social pathologies including ____________________________, __________________________, _______________________, and ___________________________________.

 

 

 

 

Part Seven. The Signs of Mallaise (especially as it pertains to “mall sickness” or “mallaise”)

 

1. Depression
2. Lethargy
3. Fatigue
4. Lack of focus
5. Disorientation, called “Dismallcumbobulation”—getting lost 324, paragraph 10
6. Feelings of helplessness
7. Anxiety
8. Paranoia, the constant fear that people are on your trail or there is an individual or group of people conspiring to destroy your life
9. Claustrophobia or “Plastiphobia” on page 324, paragraph 12. Specifically, the fear of being imprisoned in a cocoon of blandness.
10. Can’t get out of bed
11. A lack of motivation and a reluctance to face responsibilities
12. The gnawing sense that you’re wasting your life away on nonsense
13. Irritable, constantly feel annoyed, 324, paragraph 11
14. Agoraphobia, fear of crowds and outdoors in general
15. Physical symptoms include upset stomach, nausea, headaches, the need to puke, cold sweats, an overwhelming compulsion to take a shower (323)
16. Zombie Effect, 324, paragraphs 14 and 15; you’re trapped in a time warp of mindless oblivion that entails the loss of your humanity
17. The Seduction Effect, 325: The mall attacks you in two contradictory ways simultaneously: It stimulates you on one hand and lulls you into a deep coma on the other. Kowinski compares this effect to television. See 235, paragraph 18.
18. Feeling enslaved to the mall: Wanting to get the hell out, but feeling too paralyzed to save yourself. See 326, paragraph 21.
19. Mall Withdrawal: Anxieties after leaving the mall are even worse than the anxieties produced from being inside the mall. See 326, paragraph 23.
20. Irrational Discontent: the feeling that the mall is always falling short of its promise of abundance and excellence. See 326, paragraph 25.
21. The Loss of Irony: You begin to take everything so seriously that you fail to realize that though there is a lot of important truth in what Kowinski is saying he is making a comical satire by comparing mall addiction to drug addiction. You miss out on the “tongue-in-cheek” effect.

 

 

Eight: Essay Options

 

Exploring William Kowinski’s “mallaise” idea further, refer to the essays by Kowinski), David Guterson and George Lewis so that you can develop a thesis about the mall’s destructive effects on individuals and societies. Your essay will be stronger if you interview one or more people who have suffered symptoms of “mallaise” as described by these writers.

 

A sample thesis might look like this:

 

While the mall is often esteemed as the Shopper’s Holy Mecca of Capitalistic Ingenuity, there is a dark underbelly to the mall. As many selections from Chapter 7, the mall has pernicious, often insidious, effects on its patrons evidenced by ______________________________, ____________________________, _________________________________, _______________________________, and ___________________________________.