Oddly depressing 20-year-old mall video

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Jake

Jake



I happened across this time-lapse footage of an LA mall in 1989-1990. Looks similar to 20 years later, except today there would probably be less people (most of which would be talking or texting on cell phones), a lot of the stores would be closed, and the fountains and escalators would probably be broken.

Just illustrates that our culture (and not just the economy) is stale at best and likely in a state of decline. I say we could use a big shift like the 60s brought. Now if only I could get off the internet long enough to pitch in...
 
C

Chibibar

The consumer is on the rise, but not in physical stores anymore. Online shopping is the big change. People are making tons of money via online selling. Cutting out the middle man and inventory. People can shop in the comfort of their own home at 2am and have it ship in less than 3-5 days.
 
Frank

Frank

I dunno, the big mall nearest me, West Edmonton Mall is still always bursting at the seams with people. Doesn't hurt that being the one time world's largest mall (eff you China and your plethora of gigamalls) and tourist attraction keeps it going.
 
I

Icarus

I love watching 80's series and you really see a big change in series (and reality) now. I wish I could say it's for the best but it's not - people have less time, are always in a hurry, both parents working, etc. etc. Neighbours no longer take the effort to get to know each other, people live on secluded social islands - when I was a kid, everyone in town knew everyone else. Now, only the older generation still knows eachother while the teenagers ... well they drive to other cities & towns to meet friends. During the weekends, the town is empty because everyone is going to the city to hang out. Personally, I prefer a more personal atmosphere instead of the anonymity that seems so modern these days.
 
Jake

Jake

Perhaps my point was missed here. It just seems like 20 years isn't as much of a big deal now as it was through the 20th century. For instance, you could take the music of today and put it on the radio in 1989 and blow precisely nobody's mind, whereas I don't think that's true for previous gaps of 20 years.
 
Shakey

Shakey

Is there anything to do at malls besides shop anymore? You used to be able to hang out at the arcade, catch a movie, and eat. Arcades are pretty scarce now, and movie theaters seemed to move away from malls so they could have more room to put up 20 screens with stadium seating. I guess they still have crappy food.
 
General Fuzzy McBitty

General Fuzzy McBitty

Let's be honest; a lot of these places are over priced. If I can get something cheaper online, I will. I don't LIKE going to the mall.

The mall was always packed with idiots, and it was always a bunch of chain stores. I LIKE to shop at hole in the wall stores. I LIKE hole in the wall restaurants.
 
Shakey

Shakey

Where we lack in musical creativity we seem to have made up in technological creativity. Show someone of 20 years ago an iphone and they would crap their pants. Same with the Kindle, notebooks, internet, etc.
 
Jake

Jake

Shakey said:
Where we lack in musical creativity we seem to have made up in technological creativity. Show someone of 20 years ago an iphone and they would crap their pants. Same with the Kindle, notebooks, internet, etc.
Click to expand...
I don't see those as all that creative, just logical progression from technology that you can trace back to the 60s or before. Twenty years ago, I would have looked at an iPhone and said "Neat!" and soon would have been as adept as anyone is now. Same with the internet (which we had, in services like Prodigy) and all the other wonders.
 
Shakey

Shakey

What's creative is the use and implementation of each piece of technology.

Music and any type of art can be considered logical progression also. Everything before it is influenced by something, and if one person didn't do it someone else would have. It takes a creative mind to do that though. Just as it takes a creative mind to look at something like the original digital music players and make them into what is now the iPhone. Maybe I just see creativity differently though.

-- Wed Jul 08, 2009 10:49 am --

General Fuzzy McBitty said:
^ Agreed. 20 years ago wasn't that technologically backwards. Now, go back a little further, and people would crap themselves.
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Really? We were still using VHS 20 years ago. You're telling me you wouldn't crap yourself if I showed you a the selection of music/movies/shows available to me through a mobile phone? Bag phones were considered high end!
 
AshburnerX

AshburnerX

An iPhone 20 years ago might not be a big deal... but an iPod would. The ability to carry your ENTIRE collection of music with you in a device smaller than a Walkman would have blown some minds.
 
Jake

Jake

There is plenty of "creative" problem solving needed to overcome all the technical hurdles involved in producing an iPhone, but fundamentally it's a little computer with a touch screen/voice interface that makes calls, plays music, and takes pictures, etc. Incredibly neat, but you could see it coming a mile away. I'd classify something as truly creative if you really don't see it coming and it shakes things up.
 
Shakey

Shakey

Looking back it always appears like you could see it a mile away. Rock was a mix of uptempo blues and country wrapped up in a whole lot of sex appeal. From then on it has just been a natural progression that mirrored local flavors and economic and political differences. I will agree that we haven't had an Elvis/Beatles moment in music for some time now though.
 
Jake

Jake

In the case of technology, it's not just hindsight. Most of today's devices were commonplace in science fiction and could probably be found in old issues of Popular Science/Mechanics. Artistic/musical/cultural development is far more difficult to predict.

I assume that soon the technology for all the neat things an iPhone can do and more will be largely invisible, contained in our clothing or bodies. If someone from 2029 beamed a MegaYouTube video in 3D directly onto my retinas, I wouldn't be flabbergasted.
 
C

Chibibar

Jake said:
In the case of technology, it's not just hindsight. Most of today's devices were commonplace in science fiction and could probably be found in old issues of Popular Science/Mechanics. Artistic/musical/cultural development is far more difficult to predict.

I assume that soon the technology for all the neat things an iPhone can do and more will be largely invisible, contained in our clothing or bodies. If someone from 2029 beamed a MegaYouTube video in 3D directly onto my retinas, I wouldn't be flabbergasted.
Click to expand...
I read a book called "First Contract" (yes that is spell correctly) about how the first alien visitors were merchant.

They have this awesome computer that is fully interactive that beams the data directly to your mind (no side effect) that you can totally interact with. WAY better than a holodeck :)
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Shakey said:
Looking back it always appears like you could see it a mile away. Rock was a mix of uptempo blues and country wrapped up in a whole lot of sex appeal. From then on it has just been a natural progression that mirrored local flavors and economic and political differences. I will agree that we haven't had an Elvis/Beatles moment in music for some time now though.
Click to expand...
We had it back in 83 with Thriller and Micheal Jackson...

No really stop it, I am trying to say this with a straight face.
 
C

Chibibar

sixpackshaker said:
Shakey said:
Looking back it always appears like you could see it a mile away. Rock was a mix of uptempo blues and country wrapped up in a whole lot of sex appeal. From then on it has just been a natural progression that mirrored local flavors and economic and political differences. I will agree that we haven't had an Elvis/Beatles moment in music for some time now though.
Click to expand...
We had it back in 83 with Thriller and Micheal Jackson...

No really stop it, I am trying to say this with a straight face.
Click to expand...
We got Britney Spears.... oh wait...
We got Hanna Montana.... umm... that is not right.
We got Jonas Brothers!!... hmmm

Ok.. we got nothing new. :(
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

Jake said:
http://vimeo.com/5484133

I happened across this time-lapse footage of an LA mall in 1989-1990. Looks similar to 20 years later, except today there would probably be less people (most of which would be talking or texting on cell phones), a lot of the stores would be closed, and the fountains and escalators would probably be broken.

Just illustrates that our culture (and not just the economy) is stale at best and likely in a state of decline. I say we could use a big shift like the 60s brought. Now if only I could get off the internet long enough to pitch in...
Click to expand...

Funny..none of the malls (including the old ones) around my house are run down like you describe. I don't think this video illustrates anything that you've said that it does. If the malls in your area are run down now, I think what's illustrated is that whatever economic boom fueled the development of your mall has passed your town by. Towns (or just neighborhoods, if the city is big enough) do wither away sometimes, you know, without it being the End Of The World (tm).
 
GasBandit

GasBandit

Staff member
I can't believe how we dressed back then! Look at the hair!

Ok, in all seriousness.. my local mall is just fine.
 
Shakey

Shakey

Jake said:
In the case of technology, it's not just hindsight. Most of today's devices were commonplace in science fiction and could probably be found in old issues of Popular Science/Mechanics. Artistic/musical/cultural development is far more difficult to predict.

I assume that soon the technology for all the neat things an iPhone can do and more will be largely invisible, contained in our clothing or bodies. If someone from 2029 beamed a MegaYouTube video in 3D directly onto my retinas, I wouldn't be flabbergasted.
Click to expand...
Personally I do find creativity in finding the means to implement those things. It kinda comes back to the whole debate about whether something can have artistic value if it has a purpose other than just being art. I think it would take just as much creative/abstract thinking to come up with a way to control an artificial limb with your mind as it would be to create the next great song (just an example). They both require a deep understanding of what came before, and an abstract idea of where you want to go now.

I think it also has more to do with the fact that marketing plays a much bigger role in everything now. Why take chances when you can cater directly to the biggest audience. It's not that it's not there, it's just not popular.

Back to malls though. Didn't we just have a movie about a mall cop? They must not be doing too bad.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

I'll be in Houston next weekend. I'll shoot some video of the Houston Galleria. On any given day, it's as crowded, if not more so, than the video in the OP.
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Tinwhistler said:
I'll be in Houston next weekend. I'll shoot some video of the Houston Galleria. On any given day, it's as crowded, if not more so, than the video in the OP.
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Now go shoot that video at Gunspoint Mall, err Greenspoint. or Sharpstown, or Gulfbank. All were pretty classy for the time in the 80's. Then 88 hit the area and those places became dens of gang activity. A GF of mine had a child die in her arms after a driveby shooting at Greenspoint. They are mostly office space now.
 
Tinwhistler

Tinwhistler

I used to live in greenspoint around 1991. It was pretty shitty all 'round, not just the mall. Which was kind of my point. It shows less that our 'culture is stale and in a state of decline' and instead better illustrates the economic decline of a specific geographic area.
 
C

chakz

Jake said:
Perhaps my point was missed here. It just seems like 20 years isn't as much of a big deal now as it was through the 20th century. For instance, you could take the music of today and put it on the radio in 1989 and blow precisely nobody's mind, whereas I don't think that's true for previous gaps of 20 years.
Click to expand...
That is a good point. Its like time is slowing down again. Well, culturally anyway.
 
Jake

Jake

Tinwhistler said:
I used to live in greenspoint around 1991. It was pretty shitty all 'round, not just the mall. Which was kind of my point. It shows less that our 'culture is stale and in a state of decline' and instead better illustrates the economic decline of a specific geographic area.
Click to expand...
*sigh* I should have never mentioned the economic "probablys". That was mainly a joke and it seems to have skewed my point considerably. My point was that, aside from a bit more day-glo and acid-wash clothing, that scene is largely interchangeable with a modern mall 20 years later. It's just a narrow illustration of how our culture has been coasting for longer lately than it has in the past. More specific examples above.
 
sixpackshaker

sixpackshaker

Popular music has just recycled itself a couple of times since '79->'84 Nothing much new has happened since then. Just a cycle of over the top rock, punk, boy bands, dance, and rap.
 
DarkAudit

DarkAudit

What was once *the* mall in town 20 years ago was already fading away even then. The opening of a larger mall on the other side of town was a devastating blow. The opening of Wal-Mart at one end of the old mall was a mortal one. The departure of Wal-Mart for it's own building a mile up the road just finished the job.

Opening an expansion was a huge mistake. Many stores didn't last a year, and most vacancies were never refilled. Anchors left for the new mall, and were filled by outlet stores or call center firms. Today there isn't a single mall-type store left. Everything is either a community activity or local retailer.
 
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