Project Space
Exercise 2
1)
What
does Norton mean when she claims that the suburban shopping mall appears to be
a public place but in fact is not?
-
What Norton is trying to say with that statement
is that even though a mall is considered a public location it is still very
much controlled and given limits that make it a private organization.
2)
What
is Norton’s interpretation of Ralph Lauren’s Polo line?
-
Norton describes the Ralph Lauren line as the “evocation
of age, ancestry and Anglophilia,” I think what she means by this is that the polo
line was created to support the idea of rich, upper class westerners; the
cowboys and the older money people.
3)
How is
shopping a subversive activity for women, according to Norton?
-
According to Norton, shopping is an activity
women have used for many years as means to escape being in the confinement of
their homes and to enjoy the company of other women. It gives them the opportunity
to gossip, give or ask advice, and receive support as women.
4)
How do
mail-order catalogs create communities of shoppers, in Norton’s view?
-
The mail-order catalogs provide an expansion
within the shopping community because people are able to shop from the comfort
of their own homes and that creates more shoppers because a lot of people would
prefer to stay in the house rather than go outside and interact or make
conversation with others.
5)
What
are the political messages sent by the Home Shopping Network, as Norton sees
them, and how are they communicated?
-
The television shows use the audiences to
interact with them by voting, and by counting dollars and purchases as votes.
