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| Woodburn Company Stores -- Woodburn Oregon class war |
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This shot consists of three-minute footage of
I-5 and exit 271 onto Woodburn's Hwy 214. For
most Woodburn area residents, this is an
appropriate angle from which to view Woodburn
Company Stores because for them the mall
represents mostly one thing: an annoying
increase in traffic. It's well known in the
area that the mall was built in Woodburn
because of the low real estate prices. The
mall has made traffic on 214 a nightmare. In
response, the City of Woodburn has blocked
off certain roads, effectively closing some
smaller businesses.
The unemployed man sitting in the left side
of the shot is a good symbol of the poverty
that most mall employees live under. The
average roadside panhandler makes about
$30-$60 a day, which is about the amount of
money most mall employees make because the
jobs are only minimum wage. Most employees at
the mall live in utter poverty, hardly
getting by on two jobs and government
assistance -- meanwhile, shoppers at the mall
may pay up to $350 for a pair of name brand
sunglasses. Mall management are often as cold
and degrading to their retail employees as
commuters are to roadside panhandlers.
The cloudy sky threatening rain is a symbol
for how out-of-touch Craig Realty, a
California-based company, is with Oregon's
weather. Many wonder why they chose to build
an outdoor mall in an area that is so often
rainy and cold.
Lastly, Woodburn Company Stores itself is but
a shiny blip in this shot, far in the
background -- which is appropriate because
this is how most area residents feel about
the mall. Most Woodburn area residents obey
the sign in the center of the shot and "DO
NOT ENTER" Woodburn Company Stores. They know
something that the tourists from Portland,
Vancounver, and all over the world do not
know know: that the mall is a tourist trap
with no real discounts anywhere.
This video is a tribute to Andy Warhol's
living portraits of the 1960s. During that
phase of his career, he made still video
portraits, three minutes in length, of
friends, celebrities, and even buildings.
Tags : grassroots outreach local government public service announcements regional |
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Affichage : 682
Durée : 181 s |
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