Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 3

Hello hello

           I must say, even though I have only visited one Los Angeles locale thus far, I feel that I have learned a lot from suddenly opening my eyes to my surroundings and from glimpsing at the blogs of others. It seems that many people have had similar experiences, and this week I thought that Madison Beall’s blog post on her visit to the Century City Mall was particularly captivating because of what she discovered about social difference in this region and because of the way in which she described it on her blog. You can read her original post [here] The post is under "Blogging Social Difference in L.A.:Week 2"

I left a comment on her page telling her what I found interesting. Here it is for you all to see:

            Hi Madison! I just wanted to say that I enjoyed reading your post about your excursion to Century City. I like that you write about your experience from a personal level, as opposed to merely noting observations that you had, for example the kinds of people you came across as well as the comparisons between Century City and Orange County. The only thing that I felt was lacking from your account was a broader exploration of Century City—maybe getting out of the mall and exploring the city streets to get a broader view of social difference in this region. I know you drove around in the beginning, but I felt that you should have done so for a longer period of time as you just barely touched the surface of the region outside the mall. Nonetheless, the region you did cover clearly showed the differences between this part of Century City and other parts of Los Angeles. Your description of how the city changes as you drive from UCLA to Century City clearly shows this as well.

            In my personal blog, I try to make an emphasis on examining art and what it says about a particular region, and I would have liked to read about the kinds of art found in Century City, however, I appreciated your approach to the topic of the existence of social difference by examining types of restaurants, small things like beepers to notify customers, and attitudes of people, the last of which is crucial to understanding a place, in my opinion, and I think you made people come alive in your post. I could visualize the movie theater attendant’s less-than-helpful demeanor and the angry food customer’s rants. On the other hand, I think that more visuals, other pictures and such, would have greatly helped your post for someone who has never been to Century City before. The picture you put up with the skyscrapers shows it as a truly metropolitan region which certainly helped. In addition, you made a really good point with your encounter with the beeper and your analysis of it: "This piece of technology is an example of how consumerism is connected with information capitalism, as discussed in the reading. In "Post-Suburban California", we read that fast-food restaurants use information technologies to define the experience of frequenting their establishments in a positive light (Kling, Spencer and Olin 18). By using this beeper, Bibigo exemplified the shift to a post-rational, consumer-oriented culture." Reading this just made me realize how true that is and I also loved how closely you were able to connect your experience to the reading.

All-in-all, I enjoyed reading your post and as I read it, I was thinking about all of the times I had been to the Century City Mall, usually to watch a movie, and never realized any of this. I never really thought to pay attention to these details, even though they seem so obvious when you mention them now. Thanks for sharing your experience and for making it so interesting and personal!

Thanks for reading and I look forward to exploring another part of L.A. soon!!