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Trick-Or-Treating At Malls
What The Hell Happened to Halloween?
I meant to write about this sooner, but I have been swamped lately (literally, with all this rain, unfortunately). Anyway, it’s not quite as timely as it could have been, but I wanted to talk about how weird Halloween has gotten - even just in my lifetime.
I remember when I was a kid, Halloween was SUCH a big deal. We actually worked on costumes and went out honest to god trick-or-treating at people’s houses. But I’ve been hearing a lot of shit lately about how kids in some areas don’t actually go door-to-door anymore. Instead they go to the goddamned mall.
What the hell is with this?
I know the probable response will go something like: “Well, Halloween just isn’t safe for kids anymore. Going door-to-door might expose them to weirdos and freaks, but if we bring them to the mall, then we know they’ll be safe.”
First of all: I would like to do an informal poll. How many people have actually personally had a Halloween experience as a trick-or-treater (or the parent of one), where they were exposed to a so-called “bad” neighbor or were in an unsafe situation? What actually happened? What made it bad?
Though I could be drastically wrong (and I’m always prepared for that), I would wager that most of us have only had fairly innocuous Halloween experiences. Maybe some eggs were thrown or some shaving cream squirted, but I bet that few if any of us ever actually found the supposed razor-blade or pins hidden in candy that people used to make such a big stink about back when I was a kid.
All I know is that this year we didn’t get a single trick-or-treater, and I have received reports from all over the city and its outskirts that this happened to most people. So where did these kids go? The goddamned mall?
You might be wondering what my problem is with kids trick-or-treating at the mall is. Well, first of all, the whole point of this kind of holiday is the sort of youthful trepidation of being a kid and going up to the doors of neighbors and demanding candy. That to me is an important ritual which will not be duplicated in a mall environment. I mean, it’s one of those few holidays where we’re not only allowed but actively encouraged to go over and actually talk to our neighbors. We ought not to throw that away so easily.
(Conservative) People often talk about how there is a concerted “attack on the family” occuring nowadays. But I’ve rarely heard any of those same people talk about the equally powerful attack on the concept of community. What do you think the purpose of endless stories on the news, television and movies about serial killers, rapists and child molesters living next door is all about? Why are we fed those stories as entertainment? It is to both play on and encourage distrust that people have for those around them. So much so that many of us nowadays (myself included - even though I hate it), don’t even know who our neighbors really are. It’s fucking lame and I’m tired of it. Giving into this pop cultural media-created notion that everyone who lives in your neighbor is a perverted criminal bent on destroying your children is playing into an extremely dangerous trend of alienating us from those who are physically closest to us. No wonder we seek out relationships across thousands of miles on the internet!
Following through with that line of thought, by bringing our kids to the mall to go trick-or-treating instead of into the community, we are teaching them that lesson as well: that they can’t trust their neighbors. And we are telling them subconsciously that we can only trust business. We can’t trust our community because it’s full of perverts who want to take advantage of us, but we can trust local (and by that I mean international mega-corporations posing as local merchants) businesses to not only treat us with respect, but to keep us safe and to even provide us with nice treats for our kids.
See how neat that works out for them?
Nevermind that marketing to children is a multi-billion dollar business, with ads and restaurant franchises opening up on the once-hallowed neutral ground of public schools. What the fuck is going on here and why aren’t we all flipping out about it? Nobody even seems to bat an eyelash at these subjects anymore. Meanwhile, the minds and hearts of our children are being very strongly imprinted with deeply unconscious brand loyalties. Think it’s an accident that malls want to create an impression of fun and wish-fulfillment in the impressionable minds of children? No goddamned way.
And going back to the whole razor-blade in the caramel apple thing I mentioned above… I realize thinking this through that those myths were the first-wave of this concerted attack on the youthful enjoyment of Halloween and it’s remaking into an atrocious marketing opportunity. When I was very young, I still remembered people handing out at Halloween things like caramel apples and popcorn - things that were actually homemade. Then all of a sudden these news stories started being blasted out of nowhere about kids being poisoned and hurt by these kinds of treats. Somewhere in my memory banks is stored an image from a television news spot of an x-rayed apple revealing a blade tucked deep inside it. Did some candy marketing team realize they were missing out on a gigantic branding opportunity and actively promote a particular news agenda through inter-locking ownership of media companies that would discourage home-made treats and encourage people to buy those big bags of candy? Maybe there’s no way to no, but I certainly suspect in my spookiest moments that this is so.
And it may be that the spookiest ghouls and goblins walking around on Halloween aren’t on our streets, but have been buried deep inside our minds and hearts by people who never understood what fun this holiday could be to begin with.
November 2nd, 2006 at 9:19 pm
Bravo. Brav-bloody-O. I didn’t see a single kid out trick-or-treating on Tuesday. Not one! I have to ask myself the same question “what the hell is going on?”. Holidays have been commercialized since before I was born and i’ve always been ok with that, but now I think they’re truly dead. If things are this bad now will holiday’s even be around twenty years down the road? Or will they just be abolished, or even outlawed?
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:12 pm
It is another example of the death of risk. When everything is nerf plated, round edged, non-toxic, and dishwasher safe, where will the explorers come from? Where will the daring individuals who teach us to fly come from?
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:12 pm
i was out with my youngest boy who`s seven and we saw a drastic lack of children and people were wondering where all the kids were. they were at the mall. we were out for about an hour and a half in a mixed single family and highrise apartment area where i would have thought there would have been hundreds of kids milling around.
an attack on the family and an attack on traditional community activities.
where will the holidays be in twenty years…………let`s see……a society of experts=regulations and by-laws and licencing. therefore i will suggest certified hallowe`en candy provider certificates, distribution licencing and inspection of candy at points throughout the event by qualified technicians.
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:25 pm
One other thing I meant to bring up with regards to this:
What’s with people scheduling trick-or-treating to happen on a day other than Halloween itself, because it’s more “convenient” to do on a weekend?
I don’t think people understand what the goddamned point of holidays is anymore. They aren’t supposed to be “convenient.” They are supposed to be cyclical sacred times where we allow for disruption of the mundane schedule.
You can’t freaking schedule these things where they are more convenient for you. You have to celebrate them where they fall. That’s the whole point.
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:30 pm
Sidenote: Speaking of an attack on the family, does anybody have info on a woman, I think a congresswoman (maybe Cynthia McKinney - not sure) who supposedly had some statistic she delivered before Congress about the catastrophic rise in single-parent familes among African-Americans in only like a ten year time span?
November 2nd, 2006 at 10:50 pm
I am so there with you on this one. I had a Jack o’lantern here in the window and my main door OPEN! Not one trick or treater here on Capitol Hill. I was really sad about that. I bought candy and everything (And there are some really cool kids in the hood!) I thought that at least one group would come to the door. Anyhow. I think the sense of community (aka the “village”) have gone by the way of the dodo. As a society, anonymity rules. We far more insular and suspicious of everybody and everything. Sterilized, secularized, and marketed beyond belief. Cyclical time? Goddess forbid. That’s far too provincial.
November 3rd, 2006 at 1:12 am
I had one “kid” come by. I put it in quotes because I’m pretty sure he was around 16. He didn’t have much of a costume, either - just an ape mask over his head. Otherwise dressed normally. And he only asked me because I happened to be sitting outside at that point; I’m fairly certain he wouldn’t have knocked on the door.
Trick or treaters aren’t the only thing that’s disappearing, though. When was the last time any of y’all went to a Halloween party? Or even heard of anyone having one?
November 3rd, 2006 at 6:51 am
This phenomenon is not limited to urban spaces; we’ve also experienced the same here out in rural America, where things are still perceived as low crime enough for us not to have to lock our doors. Lights on- front gates open- not a sign of a trick or treater. I also have to point out, fewer kids in suburban and rural America seem to be walking. My sister lives in one of those suburban housing developments that seem to permeate the American landscape, and 90% of the children arrive in cars, rather than on foot. What ashame to lose such an essential part of childhood.
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:55 am
The kids in our neighborhood were sparse this year. I assumed it was because recently a huge housing development went in across town and it would have been easier to go door to door in their neighborhood instead of mine. We also don’t have a porch light, and I remember as a child we were not allowed to go to the houses without a light. Be that as it may, we still had a couple brave souls venture to our door, and out of their mouths came, Trick or treat, smell my feet”, it amused me and my husband so much, those kids got extra chocolate bars for their bags.
November 3rd, 2006 at 10:15 am
Hey, maybe the kids these days are so overly lavished with chocolate bars in full and bite size, vending machines, pre-packaged crap, meals at McD’s twice a week, etc, etc that there is no more thrill at the thought of getting some candy to eat.
It’s just another day. And walk around the neighborhood? Let’s take the car. Or go to the mall. Maybe that plays a part in the decline of Halloween.
On a not so bleak note though, my kids had a blast. There weren’t tons of kids on the streets but there were some, and the whole adventure of dressing up, being “scary” and trick or treating was a lot of fun for them. Ahh, to be young.
November 3rd, 2006 at 2:24 pm
Cross-referencing to a relevant and interesting article:
http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2006/11/perceived_risk_1.html
November 3rd, 2006 at 6:39 pm
three trick or treaters this year. three. in an ostensibly safe neighborhood right around the corner from a school for chrissakes! the kids who did show up, though, were treated to massive double-handfuls of candy and will definitely be coming back next year.
i had a fucking rockin’ hallowe’en party, though. we decorated the hell out of our house with all manner of ghosts and ghoulies, borrowed a friend’s fog machine and made eyeball-shaped rice crispie treats. it was totally rad. that’s another side of this that i think is interesting: hallowe’en is now the third biggest party night of the year (behind new years’ and the super bowl). it’s a multi-billion dollar industry. people like me & my wife spend hundreds of dollars on crazy hallowe’en stuff every year (decorations, candy, costumes etc.). it may not be a nigh for trick or treaters anymore, but i think it may be taking on a new form as those of us who knew & loved it as kids are grown up.
November 3rd, 2006 at 7:08 pm
Well …. better late to share than never … having a hard time keeping up with you!
I’m happy to report we had a near record of tykes this year, probably matching the first Halloweeen we had at our house 8 years ago, and following a steady decline. About 7 groups, a few with 4+, and lots of really little kids! My wife was in a bliss-induced tizzy, and we quickly ran out of razorblades!! j/k haha - but seriously, it was great. Also going to a late-costume party this weekend, and had a rockin’ one ourselves 2- now 3 - yrs ago. Hope to again!
Historically kids have only been a factor for Halloween for about a 100 years. The big boom post WWII, and the house-to-house trickrtreat trust factor, is a neat ltrend of the last 50 years. As you so note, it’s that wonderful legacy, probably the biggest lost for today, while PERHAPS returning to the adult realm of “slutty” costumes ….
Keep in mind also, that most -if not all- the real, substanciated reports of poison and razor blades, were found to be committed by family members! (according to the History channel)
… speaking of “slutty” costumes, I think that’s this years catch phrase. I’m hearing it everywhere …!
November 4th, 2006 at 4:50 am
Holy shit yeah - I heard that everywhere too!
November 4th, 2006 at 6:51 pm
haha sluttly costumes aren’t new, guys….
…but they sure are great!*
*Michael does not advocate the objectification of women. His remark is mearly a stamp of approval on widening the consumer range of halloween costumes to women ages 15-29