Line #39 Sandbox/TheMallWickCheck


1	Here, a wick check will be performed for TheMall.
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3	'''Why?''': TheMall contains multiple possible definitions in one--malls as teenage hangouts, malls as social commentary, and just "malls exist". This wick check will determine if it can be split into new tropes. [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=16200153330A19999600&page=3#comment-66 Initial discussion]]
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5	'''Wicks checked''': 30/50
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7	----
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9	[[foldercontrol]]
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11	[[folder:Malls as teenage hangout (1/50)]]
12	# Literature.BoneChillers: The plot revolves around a group of teenagers hanging out in the recently-built Wonderland Mall, which turns out to be haunted after it was built over a swamp where three teenagers died long ago. '''Mall as teenage hangout.'''
13	[[/folder]]
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15	[[folder:Malls as social commentary (1/50)]]
16	# GenreTurningPoint.LiveActionFilms: Second was ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968'', which not only single-handedly invented [[ZombieApocalypse modern zombie fiction]] but also finished the job that ''Psycho'' started in revolutionizing the expectations people had for horror films, such that, when it was first screened in what was then still a popular place to screen horror movies (i.e. ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids kiddie theaters]]''), it caused moral panic. Creator/GeorgeARomero's ''Film/LivingDeadSeries'' as a whole has also been [[https://film.avclub.com/the-rust-belt-horror-of-george-romero-1798288362 credited]], along with the books of Creator/StephenKing in the literary world, with giving the horror genre a more blue-collar focus, bringing it into weathered farmhouses and '''[[TheMall soulless shopping malls]]''' in [[FlyoverCountry Pennsylvania]] rather than [[OldDarkHouse gothic mansions]] and {{haunted castle}}s in [[{{Uberwald}} Transylvania]]. In doing so, he made the genre into a vehicle for social commentary, his stories satirizing topics like race relations, consumerism, income inequality, and life in small-town and suburban America. '''Reference to malls as a symbol of soulless suburbia.
17	[[/folder]]
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19	[[folder:Malls as symbol of a bygone era (2/50)]]
20	# Recap.InsideJobS1E5TheBrettfastClub: Lampshaded. Because Still Valley is stuck in TheEighties they still have a thriving mall (actually a front for Cognito, Inc. to unload merchandise they can't sell in the present). '''Mall as symbol of TheEighties.'''
21	# ThatNostalgiaShow: ''Series/StrangerThings'' (2016-present) is one of the archetypal examples of this trope in modern media. The first season was set in 1983, with follow-up seasons set in the following years. The third season went all-out on the '80s aesthetic, with the production renovating part of a dying [[TheMall shopping mall]] in suburban UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} to look like a place that an '80s ValleyGirl might shop at, complete with period-appropriate stores and films like ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'' and ''Film/BackToTheFuture1'' playing in the mall's theater. '''Mall as symbol of TheEighties.'''
22	[[/folder]]
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24	[[folder:Mall video game level (4/50)]]
25	# VideoGame.MarioKart7 [[TheMall Coconut Mall]] (''Wii'') '''Pothole references a mall game level.'''
26	# VideoGame.SabrinaTheAnimatedSeriesZapped: The third stage is the Greendale Mall, complete with multiple floors and escalators. Raccoons like to hide in pots and Chameleons climb the walls. '''Mall game level.'''
27	# VideoGame.TheSimpsonsBartVsTheSpaceMutants: The second level takes place in the Springfield mall. '''Mall game level.'''
28	# TwistedChristmas: ''VideoGame/KarenSees'': The game seems to be set around Christmastime. For one thing, there's a "Meet Santa" area on the second floor of TheMall. For another, an exterior screenshot shows Christmas trees in the mall parking lot. '''Mall as video game level, I think?'''
29	[[/folder]]
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31	[[folder:Malls exist (14/50)]]
32	# Characters.BuffyverseScoobyGang (in caption): "We destroyed '''TheMall'''? ...I fought on the wrong side." '''Malls exist.'''
33	# Film.ChoppingMall: The setting for the entire movie. Even the few exterior shots (so we can see the lightning strikes) are all of the mall. '''A mall exists.'''
34	# Film.TrueStories: the film has a sequence set in one, culminating in an ImpossiblyTackyClothes fashion show. '''A mall exists.'''
35	# Music.AvrilLavigne: The video for "Complicated" features Avril and her band wreaking havoc in one. '''A mall exists.'''
36	# Series.KickinIt: Nearly all scenes take place there or at the school. Note that in RealLife a karate dojo doesn't rely on impulse traffic and thus has little need for a prime retail location, so the presence of one is a sign the [[DyingTown mall is going downhill]]. '''Setting happens to be a mall.'''
37	# Recap.SupernaturalS08E19TaxiDriver: UnmanlySecret: Bobby's love of pedicures.
38	-->'''Sam:''' What about your free pedicure at '''TheMall''' of America? You made Dean swear to never tell another living soul how it changed your life. '''Just a reference to a (real-world) mall.'''
39	# WesternAnimation.{{Daria}}: The episode "Malled" has the cast visiting the Mall of the Millennium. '''As written, just an episode set in a mall.'''
40	# Recap.FraggleRockS3E15TheBattleOfLeakingRoof: MirrorMonster: Boober, in an attempt to explain to Mokey that he'll be jinxed without his hat, recalls a postcard sent by Uncle Matt. While Matt was in [[TheMall a mall]], someone accidentally knocked off his hat, which landed in front of a mirror. When he started to pick it up, he thought his reflection was "an extremely ugly creature" trying to grab it. '''Just a reference to a mall.'''
41	# Film.JingleAllTheWay: In one scene, Howard seeks the toy at Mall of America. '''Mall just happens to be a setting in a scene as written.'''
42	# Literature.TheOneAndOnlyIvan: The main setting of the book is the Exit 8 Big Top Mall And Video Arcade. '''Just happens to be set in a mall.'''
43	# Roleplay.AirlockedRoundFive: The setting for the round is a shopping mall, with enclosed kiosks repurposed as "bedrooms." [[spoiler:For the first half, anyway...]] '''Just happens to be set in a mall.'''
44	# Franchise.ThePhantomOfTheOpera: ''Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge'', a 1989 slasher film that relocates the story to, well, TheMall. '''Mall just happens to be a setting.'''
45	# Podcast.BrimstoneValleyMall: The primary setting of the series, as well as its namesake, is the Brimstone Valley Mall, where all the demons work. '''Mall just happens to be the setting.'''
46	# VideoGame.{{Zombi}}: The events of the game wholly take place inside a mall and a small part of its outside terrain. The numerous zombies beyond the mall's borders make it impossible to leave by any means but the helicopter, finding fuel for which is the main objective. The secondary objectives until then are to clear the mall of zombies, get the light working again, and finding food and beds to keep the protagonists healthy. '''Mall just happens to be the setting.'''
47	[[/folder]]
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49	[[folder:Other use (2/50)]]
50	# VideoGame.DeadRising: The main setting, as part of the game's {{homage}} to ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978''. '''Mall used as homage to a movie setting.'''
51	# Recap.AmericanGodsS2E6DonarTheGreat: TwoDecadesBehind: When a '''[[TheMall mall]]''' was built over the site of where the Nordic dwarves set up shop, it gave them a brief resurgence before online shopping turned TheMall into a ghost town. '''''Close'' to the "bygone era" depiction, given that the mall died, but not enough IMO to count.'''
52	[[/folder]]
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54	[[folder:Zero-context and unclear (4/50)]]
55	# StarVsTheForcesOfEvil.TropesAToM: Quest Buy is a transdimensional example. '''No context.'''
56	# Webcomic.{{Dolmistaska}}: The entire setting! It helps that it spans three cities. It's so large and sprawling that it mirrors actual cities in multiple ways, with parts of it being modern, lively and crawling with people, while other parts are decaying and abandoned, with nature overtaking it and wild animals (and [[ClownSpecies clowns]]) roaming freely. '''Unclear. Can't tell if this is just "setting is a mall" or if the additional context makes it a decent example.'''
57	# WesternAnimation.{{Recess}}: The Townsedge Mall, which the gang visit in "Yes, Mikey, Santa Does Shave" and appears again in "Gus's Fortune" '''Commented-out ZCE.'''
58	# WebVideo.{{Gayle}}: The setting of "Mall Couples.". '''ZCE.'''
59	[[/folder]]
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61	[[folder:Unclassifiable (2/50)]]
62	# Laconic.TheMall '''Laconic.'''
63	# QuoteSource.VideoGames '''Index.'''

Context Sandbox / TheMallWickCheck