Southdale 1956
Icarus Films has released a new feature documentary called “Malls R Us” that was so good I watched it twice. One reason why was because I grew up next to the first enclosed mall in the world, Southdale, Edina, Minnesota, and found the footage to be a time machine for some of my earliest shopping memories. Until 2002, my mother lived across the street from the landmark center, never knowing that it was the world’s first mall. Another reason why I watched it again was because it shows the history, the architects, and more, of the real Matrix that has been responsible, along with television, for creating the artificial world that hopefully will die after the current Recession/Depression.
I really enjoyed learning about the current development/architects who have created the local Disneylands we call malls. What a surprise to discover that one of the biggest designers is friends with Ray Bradbury, the sci fi writer!
When I moved to WV in 1978, people would often ask me why I would move to a place like WV. I told them that I hated malls, and loved real places like downtowns. That was my feeling growing up in Minneapolis, and latter living for a while in Phoenix. I hate malls, Disneyland, Las Vegas, and all such articifial constructions of “developers.” My own father was a developer of a horrible little town called Newport, Minnesota. My grandmother bought one of his houses, lived in it for a while, and luckily escaped. But she ended up in the suburbs of Phoenix, owning an apartment house that looked exactly like a motel, complete with pool. I believe my aunt still owns the horrible place.
The best part of this film is at the end when the resistance to the new malls being built in India is shown. Tens of thousands of small shop owners are being displaced by the new malls, but unlike Americans, are rioting, protesting, stopping the destruction of their lives for the economic enrichment of a few plutocrats. One beautiful preserve is shown in the way of one such mall. Hopefully, the current economic collapse will prevent it from being built.
Everyone knows that the Matrix trilogy is about our current world, not some far off universe where computers literally imprison mankind. Mankind already has been imprisoned. One of the tools for fifty years has been the malls that replace the small town downtowns that we all hunger for. I hope that everyone in the US and world gets to see this amazing film, and learn about the Matrix Malls that have unfortunately been such an economic juggernaut over our beautiful landscapes.
One last personal note – Charleston, WV luckily has a nice, small downtown mall that I often visit because it houses the only local Greek restaurant. Rouse of Baltimore designed it, and it has indeed kept Charleston’s downtown alive.
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This film seems fascinating. Icarus films may have the best stable of though provoking offbeat documentaries around. This will definitely be something we’ll look into in the future.
this film brings an interesting world perspective on a western built runaway monster — the Mall.
The film also shows that, as intelligent, as well spoken, as well dressed, as ambitious, and as highly successful as these creators of these new Super Malls are, they also might be insane!