I would always ask my college and graduate students in Anthropology, aside from learning anthropological concepts and theories inside the classroom, to explore places, experience cultural and social happenings, and write ethnographic accounts using the participation-observation method.
I am posting in my blog with the writer's consent selected ethnography penned creatively by my students to contribute to the emerging sub-discipline of anthropology called 'Virtual Ethnography'.
Basically, virtual ethnography is also referred to as Webnography. We cannot deny the fact that with increasing use of technology and the Internet, there is now a demand for online spaces on ethnography.
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| Photo from Google |
Going to shopping malls has become one of Filipinos' favorite past times. Shopping malls offer convenience with the variety of shops and restaurants, and different forms of entertainment. One can simply go to the mall and hang out with his or her family and friends. The number of activities can be endless besides from the usual shopping, eating out and watching movies. Today, some malls has skating rinks, bowling alleys, barbershops, laundry services, computer repairs and other services.
Malls are often compared to plazas during the Spanish colonization era. Plazas back then were situated in the middle of government building and the church where people constantly commune. Malls now are in their air conditioned buildings that provides the same function of community.
One of the malls I went to is The Podium in Ortigas, Mandaluyong City. It is an upscale shopping mall which was developed and owned by SM Prime Holdings. It is near SM Megamall - today's largest mall in the Philippines, Shangri-La Plaza, and Robinson's Galleria. It is relatively smaller in scale and has fewer patrons and visitors compared to the aforementioned nearby malls. It has five floors and has mostly high-end shops and restaurants.
The first thing that I noticed when I entered The Podium was the building's facade and interiors. It is very polished and has silver or chrome finish all throughout. Outside were two coffee shops and a valet service, enough which gave the impression to the mall patrons that it was a venue for relaxation.
Once you enter the mall, I immediately noticed that people were simply going through the first floor entering from the front and exiting to the back on the ground floor. Following these people reveal that they were going to St Francis Square, another mall, housing thrift shops and tiangge stores. As I observed, some of them are employees of nearby skyscrappers. At this perspective, The Podium only acts as gateway for these people to reach a mall that has affordable goods. It seems that the management at The Podium don't mid that people are using the building to cross to another rival mall.
This scenario applies at the ground floor of the The Podium. As I continue up the floors, there were significantly fewer people and as I stroll around, there were very few or no people at the stores. Restaurants have more customers, coming into the conclusion that at The Podium, patrons preferred activity for dining in at upscale venues. Inside the restaurant, there is an atmosphere that brings to a more homey ambiance, and removes or lessens the idea of being in a public place. The dining in experience is exclusive with our family sitting on our own table and served by a waiter to take our orders.
In contrast, eating out in a food court at Megamall can be described as more chaotic. A food court is an area where the food outlets are located with tables and chairs for public use. There is a greater variation of people eating in a food court which matches the number of food choices.
In a food court, one is expected to eat quickly so that other people may sit and eat. People select from one of the restaurant, bus their food on their trays as they search for a table to sit. There are some people who are not eating and occupying the seats. When asked, one guy said that he is waiting for someone. He was looking at his cellphone all the time and thought that I was asking to use the table, and left before I even get to ask more questions. There are also other sit-in restaurants inside Megamall, but they were less prominent and concentrated in a certain section.
There were other individuals as well, such as the group of girls who were chatting away about different subjects. When asked, they said they were waiting for a movie on the third floor of Magamall to start. They decided to stay at the food court because it is free. It is possible to deduce that people have expanded the purpose of using public food court beside eating at the basement level of the building. It is less chaotic and has fewer people compared to Megamall's food court. It is almost as big and has more or less same choices with that of Megamall.
In general, Shangri-La has less people than Megamall, but I have particularly known that it is also used by people to cross to Ortigas from the MRT Shaw Boulevard station. They do not generally enter the mall for leisure but as gateway to other malls.
In our studies in architecture, we studied that the lay-out of Shangri-La mall was designed in such a way that people will be forced to tour the different shops. The floor plans have no distinctive pattern compared to SM Megamall or The Podium. However, it does give a tedious amount of walking around the shop for particular items. SM Megamall has a straightforward design that enables the shopper to easily locate the store he or she is looking for. Even with the face-lift and recent additions of new buildings and parking areas, SM Megamall has been able to maintain the simplicity of its designs.
It is also perceived that Shangri-La is more upscale mall compared to Megamall, however, The Podium was built for exclusivity for richer clients. Shangri-La is bigger than The Podium for which it has more mall patrons. Shangri-La has even added new imported brands and foreign sounding stores in its new wing.
Both The Podium and Shangri-La act as gateways for young professionals and other mall rats for public spaces, and sometimes, lower income pedestrians can afford to enter these upscale buildings in terms of its social stratification. However, both retain their images of being upscale malls because of the imported brands it houses.
Megamall is actually not far from Shangri-La's price range considering that it has IMAX cinema and annexes The Atrium, a section in Megamall which caters for middle to upper income shoppers.
One of the manifestations of the social stratification in the malls is evident in dining areas. The Podium does not have a food court compared with Shangri-La and Megamall. Food court can be used as a waiting or meeting place because patrons are not obliged to spend much or stay there for free unlike if they are within a restaurant, whether it is in a fast food or other sit-down restaurant.
Shopping malls are also defined by the number of possible activities. The Podium offers very few activities while Shangri-La and Megamall have all sorts of form of entertainment. The Podium has only two cinema theaters while Shangri-La has five while Megamall has twelve. Shangri-la has several services like dental clinics and spas while Megamall has a bowling alley.
These malls attract people with different impressions of what is inside or how they may be able to use it on their daily schedules. Shangri-La and The Podium fit into this description because they are directly accessible in people's commuting courses. It ensures that people are constantly coming in and out of their building that could translate to more profits.
We may call the shopping malls as the new modern plaza for the Filipinos, however, malls has functions and structures in the complex Philippine society. Malls continually expand in sizes to fit the needs of nearby cosmopolitan community. It is a meeting place, a gateway, an exclusive place, a public space, depending on which social stratification you belong!
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