By the end of this session, students will:
Write a paragraph synthesizing the following information:
Main idea:
Malls are designed to be uncomfortable environments
Source 1:
The following paragraph is from page 205 of George Lewis' article, "The Mall as Refuge" published in 2020.
"Physically, malls are geared for high turnover. Chairs and benches in rest areas and food courts are unpadded in the seat - designed to be uncomfortable if sat in too long. The architecture of the mall itself, behind the colorful neon store logos and displays, is anonymous, uniform, predictable, and plain. The corridors are wide and filled with hurrying customers. Security guards discourage loiterers and help to move foot traffic along."
Source 2:
The following information is from page 270 of James J. Farrell's essay, "Shopping for American Culture": published in 2013
"The mall makes sense in the flow of our whole lives, as we compare and contrast it to what we experience every day. The mall, for example, tells us immediately that it's not home and it's not work. It's an architecture of pleasure, not of comfort or efficiency. Shopping is what academic would call an 'intertextual experienc.e,' an activity that only makes sense if we know how to read many different cultural 'texts': ads, stores, mannequins, clothes, logos, race, class, gender, and sexuality."
Synthesis that indicates agreement/support:
Synthesis that indicates disagreement/conflict: