Here, a wick check will be performed for The Mall.
Why?: The Mall 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. Initial discussion
Wicks checked: 30/50
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Malls as teenage hangout (1/50)
- Literature.Bone Chillers: 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.
Malls as social commentary (1/50)
- GenreTurningPoint.Live Action Films: Second was Night of the Living Dead (1968), which not only single-handedly invented 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. kiddie theaters), it caused moral panic. George A. Romero's Living Dead Series as a whole has also been credited, along with the books of Stephen King in the literary world, with giving the horror genre a more blue-collar focus, bringing it into weathered farmhouses and soulless shopping malls in Pennsylvania rather than gothic mansions and haunted castles in 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.
Malls as symbol of a bygone era (2/50)
- Recap.Inside Job S 1 E 5 The Brettfast Club: Lampshaded. Because Still Valley is stuck in The '80s 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 The '80s.
- That Nostalgia Show: Stranger Things (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 shopping mall in suburban Atlanta to look like a place that an '80s Valley Girl might shop at, complete with period-appropriate stores and films like Day of the Dead (1985) and Back to the Future playing in the mall's theater. Mall as symbol of The '80s.
Mall video game level (4/50)
- VideoGame.Mario Kart 7 Coconut Mall (Wii) Pothole references a mall game level.
- VideoGame.Sabrina The Animated Series Zapped: 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.
- VideoGame.The Simpsons Bart Vs The Space Mutants: The second level takes place in the Springfield mall. Mall game level.
- Twisted Christmas: Karen Sees: The game seems to be set around Christmastime. For one thing, there's a "Meet Santa" area on the second floor of The Mall. For another, an exterior screenshot shows Christmas trees in the mall parking lot. Mall as video game level, I think?
Malls exist (14/50)
- Characters.Buffyverse Scooby Gang (in caption): "We destroyed The Mall? ...I fought on the wrong side." Malls exist.
- Film.Chopping Mall: 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.
- Film.True Stories: the film has a sequence set in one, culminating in an Impossibly Tacky Clothes fashion show. A mall exists.
- Music.Avril Lavigne: The video for "Complicated" features Avril and her band wreaking havoc in one. A mall exists.
- Series.Kickin It: Nearly all scenes take place there or at the school. Note that in Real Life 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 mall is going downhill. Setting happens to be a mall.
- Recap.Supernatural S 08 E 19 Taxi Driver: Unmanly Secret: Bobby's love of pedicures.Sam: What about your free pedicure at The Mall 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.
- WesternAnimation.Daria: The episode "Malled" has the cast visiting the Mall of the Millennium. As written, just an episode set in a mall.
- Recap.Fraggle Rock S 3 E 15 The Battle Of Leaking Roof: Mirror Monster: 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 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.
- Film.Jingle All The Way: In one scene, Howard seeks the toy at Mall of America. Mall just happens to be a setting in a scene as written.
- Literature.The One And Only Ivan: The main setting of the book is the Exit 8 Big Top Mall And Video Arcade. Just happens to be set in a mall.
- Roleplay.Airlocked Round Five: The setting for the round is a shopping mall, with enclosed kiosks repurposed as "bedrooms." For the first half, anyway... Just happens to be set in a mall.
- Franchise.The Phantom Of The Opera: Phantom of the Mall: Eric's Revenge, a 1989 slasher film that relocates the story to, well, The Mall. Mall just happens to be a setting.
- Podcast.Brimstone Valley Mall: 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.
- 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.
Other use (2/50)
- VideoGame.Dead Rising: The main setting, as part of the game's homage to Dawn of the Dead (1978). Mall used as homage to a movie setting.
- Recap.American Gods S 2 E 6 Donar The Great: Two Decades Behind: When a mall was built over the site of where the Nordic dwarves set up shop, it gave them a brief resurgence before online shopping turned The Mall into a ghost town. Close to the "bygone era" depiction, given that the mall died, but not enough IMO to count.
Zero-context and unclear (4/50)
- StarVsTheForcesOfEvil.Tropes A To M: Quest Buy is a transdimensional example. No context.
- 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 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.
- 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.
- WebVideo.Gayle: The setting of "Mall Couples.". ZCE.
Unclassifiable (2/50)
- Laconic.The Mall Laconic.
- QuoteSource.Video Games Index.
