Flaneur in Atlanta: Lenox Square Mall

 

Atlanta, Georgia is certainly not Los Angeles. Although still in the midst of recovering from a very mild case of culture shock, I have indeed been able to adjust to this new location a great deal.  Finally getting out of the bubble that is Emory University, I think I found some of (what I like to think of as) the “real” metropolitan Atlanta inside of Buckhead’s own Lenox Square Mall.   As ridiculously Californian as it may sound, I felt at home after going on a good old fashioned shopping trip. And that’s the thing—it doesn't matter who you are or what you look like or how you dress—everyone likes to buy things they don't really need. And in big groups, at that.  Materialism can actually at times be very unifying.

Lenox Square Mall is a relatively high-end shopping center.  I stepped into stores that smelled like flowers...but really expensive flowers.  There were television screens equipped with Dance Dance Revolution (or whatever it is that the kids are playing today) that one could go play for free and waste the day away.  A Windows store and an Apple Store. Lenox Mall is a place that a large number of people have no problem spending time in, even if solely window shopping, as I was. What I noticed first while being an observer in a large, fluid crowd was how an individual’s attire most often corresponded with their movement in interesting ways. In my acting class I am taking this semester, our professor taught us about Laban Movement Analysis, a concept I believe relates to all aspects of life and makes spending a half-hour sitting down and looking at people walking by much more intriguing.  It is a method of describing human movement using categories such as direct, indirect, strong, light, etc. 

For example: 

A woman wearing business casual attire with many shopping bags in hand would walk with intention—with purpose. Some of the movements of the women I observed with this kind of demeanor would be described in LMA as “punch,” meaning direct, strong, and quick. These women constantly looked like they needed to be somewhere—and right away. On the other side of the spectrum there were individuals, most likely around friends or family members, who moved in a more indirect, light, and sustained manner, also known as “floating.” These folks wore comfortable attire, were carefree, and perfectly content right where they were at that very moment.   These distinctions in body language can be read to a certain extent and tell us more about the person or about what they want.  Why are they at the mall? Why did they go alone or with friends? In a huge crowd, such as at the mall in a big city, one can observe for hours and hours and still be intrigued by the people, even if one does not even speak a word to them.

(note: the location in the video is almost identical to where I stood)

Also of interest in my personal experience were the many forms of self-expression. 

Fashionistas, hipsters, athletes, metal heads, and every other kind of person who can be categorized by their fashion sense were not underrepresented. For some, it’s all about the accessories, and for others, the hair. You would see subscribers of certain fashion trends travelling in packs. I saw a group of girls who obviously put a lot of time into their appearance—makeup, designer purses, high-heeled shoes and all—and another right next to them eating ice cream in tank tops, shorts, and flip flops.  Sometimes, I think I can recognize people from California by the way they walk and the way they dress that seem painfully familiar to me.  The low-cut t-shirts, high rise shorts, and “vintage” lacy tops were not my favorite trends back home, but they were from back home nonetheless.  Most seemed comfortable in their own skin or at least comfortable in their own clothes, which I suppose is the next best thing.

More of what I saw:

• Tiger t-shirts
• Tennis gear
• Frenemies
• Families
• A lady with tattoos and piercings all over her body.
•  A little girl in a pink and purple tutu dancing down the escalator.
•  Employees selling smoothies.
• A guy in an arm cast with signatures all over it.
• Three guys all in a row with Nirvana t-shirts and shoulder-length hair.

Los Angeles, California. 
Atlanta, Georgia. 

   Everyone likes to go to the mall.