The Mall as Refuge
rtennant22 December 8th, 2007
George Lewis’ article “The Mall as Refuge” presents a very different view of the mall compared to James J. Farrell’s “Shopping for American Culture”. In Lewis’ article he focuses on two groups of people that constantly visit the mall, the elders and the teenagers. Although they are two completely different groups of people they share the same interest in going to the mall. Both the elders and the teens enjoy going to the mall to meet and talk to friends rather than to shop. Its nice to see that malls have created programs for elders in which they can come to the mall early and walk laps around the mall. Elders find the mall a good place to go where they can relax and socialize. It has become a part of many elder’s daily routines. On the otherhand, teens come to the mall as a place to escape from their homes and problems. Both groups are not preferred by mall managers because most of the time no purchases are being done, but managers have not had the need to kick either of the groups out.
