Themes Of Christmas Shopping

What holiday is The Nightmare Before Christmas about? Some believe its a Christmas movie as were others say its a Halloween movie. I believe its a Halloween movie due how the movie plays out.

In this paper I will discuss Social Theories such as Structural Functionalism, Conflict theory; with emphasis on Karl Marx’s early work and how it relates to the conflict theory and Symbolic interaction. I intend to define and discuss relevant sociological terms of these theories and how these theories could apply to my favorite holiday which is Christmas.

Shopping, a common activity conducted by almost everyone at least once a month, is such a normal subject in our everyday life, one barely puts any thoughts into the potential semiotic explanations behind it. According to the two essays, “The Signs of Shopping” and “The Science of Shopping,” Shopping has significant impacts on one’s self-identification. It is a two way straight, the consumers’ shopping styles can also influence the economic status of the retails businesses.

Meanwhile, Carol’s costume and performance paint her as simultaneously both more and less of an outsider than Therese. Establishing shots show throngs of holiday shoppers in dark wool coats and neutral colored suits, bustling around completing their holiday shopping. Then, the audience meets Carol. In an extravagant, caramel colored fur coat, a scarlet hat and scarf, and with fiery red lips and nails, Carol stands out from the crowd. Her slow, deliberate gaze contrasts the hustle of the shoppers. She is alone, while most other are accompanied by spouses, friends, or children, and she exudes an air of mystery and angst. Carol’s costume and mannerisms in this case align with Doty’s claim, however the classically feminine and glamorous way in which Carol presents herself complicates the connection. While Carol is in fact depicted as being an other, she aligns better with normative standards of female beauty and sexuality than all others in this scene. This notion is present throughout the film as Carol embodies the pinnacle of what women in this time aspired to exude; she’s elegant and witty, intelligent and compelling, beautiful and wealthy, and a wife and mother. However,

Although a sociologist can look at Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch that Stole Christmas in all three of the major theoretical perspectives, the main one expressed is symbolic interactionism. The Grinch that Stole Christmas is a story about a “who” who was not considered to be part of their “whoville” society due to the fact that he not only looked different from the rest of the people, but he acted in different ways than their norms. The story is merely about how the Grinch hates the “whos,” because of how they treated him; until, a little girl named Cindy Lou Who gains a curiosity for the Grinch and wants to give him another chance to be a part of their society. Throughout the story both of the main characters develop a deep connection to each other. Upon viewing the story from a symbolic interaction perspective view, I discovered how the story thematically symbolizes an important part of Christmas by giving people another chance; meanwhile, focusing on the relationship between the main two characters help them regain faith, and while the setting symbolizes their society’s purpose.

A famous writer for the New Yorker, Malcolm Gladwell has written an article, “The Science of Shopping”, which is based on Paco Underhill’s study of retail anthropology. The intention of a retail store is obvious- that is to attract customers and convince them to perchance as much as they can. There is so much knowledge that we can study, such that how the environment affects people’s thinking. These are tiny details that we don’t usually think about. The reason of how Paco Underhill success is because he notices these details. Details determine success or failure. Paco Undnerhill—a talent and passion environmental psychologist, provides us a new point of view of the science of displaying products,

Within the story, a sense of dreadful nervousness or sadness is portrayed by the way the narrator is seen within our minds as the story proceeds. As the story goes on we see the diseases that plague his body and mind. He portrays a constant state of nervousness, with an almost constant state of stress, as well as occasional meltdowns. One of those meltdowns is due to the hypothetical heartbeat that causes him to confess to the murder.

Although Shopping, written by Joyce Carol Oates, is fiction, the story portrays a relationship that represents many parents and children have in real life.  The child is growing up and wants to spread her wings.  However, the parent usually does not want to let go.  Arguments and the awkward silences are frequent. The seemingly useless attempts to connect with the son or daughter are also frequent.  Yet, what the child does not realize is that no matter how old she may get, she is still the parent s child.  The mother is not going to forget how precious her little baby is, yet that is what the mother does in this story.  Oates uses references to pregnancy to portray the relationship between mother and

Everyday thousands of retail stores throughout the United States open up their stores in the morning for the sole purpose of attracting customers and selling them merchandise. For this assignment I decided to do a store analysis of the retail giant Wal-Mart. To begin with I will evaluate the store layout and design. Next I will explain the visual merchandising techniques used that Wal-Mart uses. Finally I will discuss the problems and recommendations that I have for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has continually been a leader in the retail industry, and it all starts with the layout of the store.

Mike Rauser’s article, “War on Christmas” product of spoiled attitudes, provides an introduction to help explain the contents learned in this class. His article has viewpoints that can be demonstrated by the four nodes of religion inquiry, and Ninian Smart’s six dimension of religion. His article acts as a springboard to show our understanding of the course materials.

Tension still wracked the murderer's body, and his nerves remained on edge, however, both had started to dissipate some on his entry to the mall. Headed directly to Hannah, his senses were tuned for danger, but he apart from a couple of curious gazes, no-one paid Todd undue attention, and everything had become louder, clearer, every word and snippet of conversation, every flash of movement was notied and stored away, the exits scanned and the most direct route out of Tatiana's found. It was almost like he was on a hunt, hypersenstivie to even the smallest movement or sound, and rather than his pulse quicken when he tossed the newspaper down on the table in front of her, it slowed down. Time slowed down, and the words that slipped from his

Stay away from me.” Yells Aaron as he ran into the arms of Jasmine, squeezing her tight and not letting her go. Sophie is speechless. Does Aaron know the truth of Katrina’s death,? Sophie wondered. Jasmine looked away and looked around the house that had once been a bright happy family home, all the experiences are now faded memories. “Why don’t we go get some fresh air,” Sophie asked Aaron. They both walk outside and sit down the lushes green grass. Sophie still holding Jasmine’s diary holded it tight in her hands staring deeply into thick brown cover, but she wasn’t just captivated by the book she was overtaken by the red blood finger prints that laid on the bottom left hand corner of the diary. Aaron looks at Sophie, then at the house and then back at Sophie. He grabbed the diary from Sophie and opened it. He flicked through a few pages till he reached the exact page that Sophie had read earlier, grabed a pen out of his pocket, took a deep breath and started to write something “I know you killed my

Christmas is the annual festival celebrating the birth of Jesus on the 25th December, at least that is what it began as initially. Since it has expanded into an international phenomenon for consumption, taking priority over our everyday practices of life (Michel De Certeau, 1980). Our time we spend divided between work and leisure in accordance to the codes and conventions of society shifts, Christmas derails these expectations. Yet surprisingly Christmas gains little attention in terms of social research, despite the fact that it can be explored diversely. The inquiry ‘What is Christmas?’ links to multiple aspects of social research. The aspects of Christmas can be subdivided into the following; religion, commercialism, gift-giving, social relationships, sensualism and mythology. This essay will analyse these fundamentals of Christmas through both psychological and sociological perspectives, as the theories among these two social sciences are best suited to the elements which make up Christmas itself.

“ Spirit, hear me. I am not he man I was. I will not be the man I have been for so many years. Why show me all of this if I am past all hope? Assure me that I yet may change these shadows you have shown me. Let the boy live! I will honor Christmas in my heart and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The spirits of all three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach.” (Scrooge, p.140). A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is an important story as it has a meaningful theme of change, as the quotes states above. But that isn’t the only theme that this beautiful story shows us. Many different spirits encounter him to help him realize why Christmas is important (I’m pretty sure that is the meaning of the spirits). When the first spirit of the past encounters him, he realizes what he has done, and regrets some of the things he did. The second spirit helped Ebenezer Scrooge recognize how what he has been doing has had an impact in other peoples life. When the frightening third spirit came and showed him his future and others futures, he discovers about himself and how people didn’t care that he died. When we read A Christmas Carol, we learn that it can have many different themes that can be a very important component to the story and even our lives.

Holidays have always been known to affect our consumer culture for many years, but how it all began eludes many people and very few studies have been completed on it. Even though some say that the subject is too broad to precisely identify how holidays, especially Christmas, directly affect our market, I have found that people’s values, expectations and rituals related to holidays can cause an excessive amount of spending among our society. Most people are unaware that over the centuries holidays have become such a profitable time of year for industries that they now starting to promote gift ideas on an average of a month and a half ahead of actual holiday dates to meet consumer demands.