Shopping for Pleasure and The Art of Necessity

Danielle Marie Herrera
Prof. Maira
ASA 4 A04
30 May 2017

John Fiske's article "Shopping for Pleasure" discusses the institution of shopping malls and how they affect gender roles and agency. According to Fiske, shopping malls provide women with a public space that is specifically designed for them, which challenges the norm that women should be confined to private spaces, namely, the home. Although Fiske claims that mall slogans such as "A woman's place is in the mall" offer clever critiques to misogynistic slogans such as "A woman's place is in the kitchen," I disagree that such slogans are actually empowering. In fact, I would argue that they are just as restrictive and patriarchal since they are created by rich men dictating where women should confine themselves to.

John Jordan's "The Art of Necessity: The Subversive Imagination of Anti-Road Protest and Reclaim the Streets" discusses the effects of flash-mob protesting as opposed to traditional protesting methods. Such alternative methods add a fun, satirical element while still being able to address important issues and get the attention of random individuals in a public space. Unlike typical protests with signs and angry chanting, these types of protests exhibit communal practices and create a more welcoming environment. These protests are interesting in that they stand apart from traditional protest formats, but I worry that their tone takes away from the seriousness of the issues being discussed. If the tone is spun the wrong way, I feel like the surrounding audience may miss the main message or disregard it completely, instead focusing on the performance aspect.