Songs of Consumerism
Summary: Consumerism overlaps other topics, as everybody knows consumerism affects society, the economy and the environment. A few classroom activities are suggested. They should be seen as making part of a kit, providing ideas to be used, improved or recycled according to the class they are aimed at.
Songs of consumerism
By Octávio Lima
For most teachers of English, syllabus changing is like undergoing some renovation in their own house or even moving to another house. It means opening windows, clearing shelves and drawers, recycling a lot of things. It means breaking with a string of good old routines until recently very helpful to their survival. It means unleashing their creative potential to tackle the new challenges. The following is meant to give them a little help in coping with these changes and in filling a few gaps.
Consumerism is one of the topics the teachers of English are supposed to cover in their 11th form classes. This topic overlaps other topics, as everybody knows consumerism affects society, the economy and the environment. A few classroom activities are suggested below. They should be seen as making part of a kit, providing ideas to be used, improved or recycled according to the class they are aimed at.
1. Show the students a few aerial views and/or pictures of (a) supermarket(s) with parking lot(s). (Pictures can be downloaded at http://www.dev-consulting.com/graphics/southpoint2-walmart.jpg, http://www.amreal.com/Properties/WAL-MART/WalMart/3%20ac%20US%2082%20By%20WalMart.jpg or at http://edweb.tusd.k12.az.us/sped/images/reallifephotos/Wal%20Mart.jpg)
Describe the picture(s).
2. Play the song Wal-Mart, by David Rovics. (It can be downloaded for free at http://www.davidrovics.com/)
a. As the students listen, they’ll spot and correct the wrong word in each stanza. (forests/close/jobs/sick)
WAL-MART
David Rovics
December, 2005
There’s a thousand acres becoming clear Cut down the forest, the big one’s here Cover the ground with a mass of tar Make sure there’s room for every car One floor half mile massive sprawl One store wonder super mall It’s spreading out far and wide Taking over the countryside Say goodbye to your trees, they’re going down Wal-Mart is coming to town Your sons and daughters will have a fit At the mountains of plastic shit Chinese prisoners will sweat and bleed And you’ll get all the stuff you need Walton’s children profits reap Buying low and selling cheap And what happens to mom and pop Turn the key and shut the shop Say goodbye to your city, it’s shutting down Wal-Mart is coming to town There goes the local department store See the diner shut its door No more neighbors you can meet More ghosts than people on the street No more hands with living pay Sam Walton took it all away Beneath fluorescent lights they’ll work you bare The lucky ones can get on welfare Forget your children’s cap and gown Wal-Mart is coming to town
No more local five and dimeIt’s all just Wal-Mart overtimeBut you can work all you want, night and dayAs long as you can stand the payJust don’t get lost or have a kidYou’ll end up like the last one didOn the street and unemployedIn a town that’s been destroyedWhere misery has become a nounWal-Mart is coming to town
Glossary:
(Sam) Walton (ll. 15,26): Founder of the giant American retailers Wal-Mart (1918-1992);
diner (l. 22): a restaurant that looks like a passenger car where food is served in transit;
cap and gown (l. 29): costume worn on formal occasions by the students of a university or college;
five and dime (l. 31): also called five-and-ten-cent stores, popular in the early to mid-20th century, where things like toys and candies were sold at only five or ten cents.
b. Play the song again. What’s the general tone of the song? – cynical? Pessimistic? Optimistic? Humorous?
3. Quote from the song to highlight the four major impacts of the big mall:
shrinking of the countryside
closure of local shops
desertification of neighbourhood
increase in unemployment
4. Choose the best option according to the context:
a. “fit” (l. 11) means
- test
- seizure
- party
b. “sweat and bleed” (line 13) means
- fight to death
- join a fitness program
- work to the point of exhaustion
c. “they’ll work you bare” (l. 27) means
- they’ll put off all your clothes
- they’ll exploit you
- they’ll expose you
d. “get on welfare” (l. l. 28) means
- get a prize
- feel well
- get money from the government
5. Look at these ending rhymes taken from the song: clear/here; tar/car; sprawl/mall; wide/countryside; down/town.
Now look at the ending rhymes in each pair of lines in the last stanza. Add words that rhyme with them. Example: dime/overtime/crime
6. Role play/debate
A mall will be built in the suburbs. There’s a public meeting to discuss the project. Choose a role. Study your card and add your notes.
Engineer: presents plan – location and area; gives figures; highlights advantages ? Businessman: lower prices, higher supply, better quality, easy access, free parking, safety ?
Environmental group activist: people had no voice; unfair expropriations; traffic congestion at weekends; more consumerism and more waste ?Land owner 1: supports the project – got good money ?
Reporters (local radio/s and newspaper/s: each one asks one question; takes notes; prepares a 80-word report ?
Land owner 2: against the project – unfair expropriation, not enough money ?
Shopkeepers’ representative: against the project; little information, not enough debate; bankruptcy of local shops; unemployment ?
7. Further activities
a. Show cartoon (http://cagle.msnbc.com/news/2004Huffaker/images/WAL-MART-1.gif)
What message does it convey? (small business goes bankrupt) How does the artist convey it?
b. Letter writing to the editor/the local council expressing concern about the coming mall.
c. Design a poster against/for the project.
d. Create a slogan for/against the project.
e. Animation cartoon (Big Box Mart can be seen/downloaded at http://politicalhumor.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=politicalhumor&zu=http%3A%2F%2Fjibjab.com%2FMovies%2FMoviePlayer.aspx%3Fcontentid%3D122%26adp%3D1 or at http://www.quebecblogue.com/videos/jibjab-big-box-mart.swf)
Premiered on October 13, 2005 on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, it follows a typical American consumer, who shops and buys stuff with credit cards at a fictional store called Big-Box Mart to fulfill his "needs". Later the man's factory job is outsourced to another country, because it's cheaper to sell goods to retailers by using cheap foreign labor. He ends up as an employee at the store he used to shop.
Comments on this animation and the news article in the Chicago Tribune can be downloaded at
http://walmartwatch.com/blog/archives/big_box_mart/ and at http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0510190172oct19,0,1259854.column
Internet sources (latest access: February 2006 )
http://www.davidrovics.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Walton
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
http://www.rhymezone.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JibJab
Further internet sources:
http://www.globalissues.org/TradeRelated/Consumption.asp
http://www.stopsprawlmart.org/
More songs of consumerism:
Beyong the Mall, David Rovics
http://www.soundclick.com/pro/view/01/default.cfm?bandid=111310&content=lyrics&songid=1939178
Too much information, Duran Duran http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/duranduran/toomuchinformation.html
BEYOND THE MALL
David Rovics
There are places there are hillsThey're not just called hills, they're really hillsThere are places there are forestsNot like "Twelve Pines," but really forestsThere are places where the birds singAnd you can hear the eagle callI know they're out thereSomewhere beyond the mallThere are places there are riversNot surrounded by concrete, but living riversWith fish in them and frogs and little tadpolesWith ducks and deer drinking by the sinkholesThere are places far awayThe trees turn colors in the fallI know they're out thereSomewhere beyond the mallThere are places you can see the skyNot neon signs and billboards, but just the skyThere are places with dirt on the groundWithout the miles of asphalt, not a car aroundWhere on and in the soilGood little critters crawlI know they're out thereSomewhere beyond the mallThere are places like that, and things don't have to be like thisI mean not cosmetic changes, things really don't have to be like thisThere are places where people know their neighborhoodWhere people live there and they think that life is goodThere are places like thatSomewhere on this spinning ballI know they're out thereSomewhere beyond the mallThere are places that I know I've gotta findOtherwise I will undoubtedly lose my mindOtherwise I'll end up just like youOn ridlin or prozac or whatever things you doI'm going where the water is blueAnd the trees are so tallI know they're out thereSomewhere beyond the mall
THE BICYLE SONG
David Rovics
ááEverybody's wondering what they're gonna doEverything's a mess and folks are feeling blueIf your troubles get you down so much you can't abideGet on that bicycle and ride(chorus)Yeah, get on that bicycle and ride'Neath the sunny skies or along the oceansideJust ride, ride, ride, ride, rideThey're doing it in Eugene, Havana and ShanghaiEven folks in Boston-town are giving it a tryThrowing out their gastanks, the clean air by their sideGet on that bicycle and ride(chorus)It's good for your heart and it's good for your brainWhen those fluorescent lights are driving you insaneYour toes'll tingle in your shoes, when to the pedal they're appliedJust get on that bicycle and ride(chorus)If you're having troubles with your lovers, the tandem's made for thatYou'll work together wonderfully or else you'll just go splatGonna shut down Main Street, make the bike paths far and wideAnd get on that bicycle and ride(chorus)
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Last edited by Octávio Lima on Jan 22, 2008 1:32 pm US/Central.