Consumerism: the Wal-Mart documentary

"Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price"

Fascinating 2005 documentary by Robert Greenwald, about the Wal-Mart chain and their dominance of the American retail landscape. People differ on which side of the fence they sit on this one--some love the Wal-Mart, some just loathe it--I'm simply putting the film here for your own consideration and study, and leaving the conclusions up to you. There are valid points on both sides of the debate, of course.

Personally, I'm on no vehement crusade, particularly, to have all Wal-Marts everywhere shut down (like some people are--and more power to ya), but obviously, as a lover of all-things-vintage in this world; from the local American malls and stores I grew up with, down to retro architecture around town in general, I don't dig the idea of the same generic behemoth chain store sitting on every stinkin' corner you look--especially, especially when they have to demolish all my beloved old shopping malls, local corner stores, and drive-in theaters to do it! Uh-uh. That's where I do draw the line personally.

So in that sense and in those circumstances, yes, count me as against a retail "blob" rolling across the world and putting everyone else out of business, gobbling up all the land and old buildings in its fat, blobby path! Yeah, I'm against that.

But anyway, wherever you stand on the issue, this is a very interesting and fun documentary, nonetheless, and does have a bearing here at MOA, as we struggle to answer the question many of us ask ourselves more and more these days: "Where are all the shopping malls going??!"

Well, the truth is, many have been (and are being) demolished to make way for more Wal-Marts, man.

Official film website: here
Wal-Mart homepage
Resource articles: 1, 2
Buy the DVD and read reviews at Amazon

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