Hello girls,
Today I have a great documentary recommendation for all the shopping lovers out there (and not only). A few days ago I watched this fantastic documentary on Viasat History called Seduction in the City: The Birth of Shopping and I immediately fell in love with it! Hmmm history and shopping? The perfect combination as far as I'm concerned! Basically, it tells the story of how department stores were born and how they changed society forever, while sowing the seeds of female emancipation. Needless to say, this quickly became one of my favourite documentaries of all time.
Since I'm not that good at describing films, or documentaries for that matter, I will leave you with a great description I found on an Australian website (
www.femail.com.au), because they describe it a million times better than I would :)
Seduction in the City: The Birth of Shopping is the fascinating two part series that tells the story of the department store - how it became the greatest invention to emerge from the industrial revolution and ultimately changed the role of women in society forever.
This elegant documentary series reveals the foresight of internationally renowned store entrepreneurs such as France's Aristide Boucicaut, Britain's Harry Selfridge, New York's Rowland Macy and Australia's own Sidney Myer, who invented such revolutionary concepts that now form the basis of everyday shopping conveniences. These include easy credit, returns policies, window displays, changing rooms and ladies' toilets. The foresight of these men and the department stores they created offered women the first chance to have a career outside of the home.
Seduction in the City brings to life the ambitious and magical world of the 19th century department store with rich reconstructions of key characters, rare archival footage of Myer's opening in Victoria, sophisticated animation and illuminating interviews together with quirky advertisements, extraordinary diary excerpts and letters and posters of the age. It tells the untold social history of the phenomenon of shopping that took hold of the world and transformed the lives of women, national economies and saw the birth of consumer culture. The inspiration for the documentary came from the research and work of Melbourne-based academic, Sylvia Sagona, whose playful take on history is refreshingly humorous.
Episode One- "A Genius Idea"
The first episode of Seduction in the City introduces viewers to the world's first department store created by the visionary 19th century French entrepreneur, Aristide Boucicaut.
Boucicaut's store, Le Bon Marché, situated on the left bank of Paris and engineered by the famous Gustave Eiffel, is a huge success and his magnificent "cathedral of commerce" is very quickly copied all over the world. Stores like Selfridges in London, Myers in Melbourne and Macys in New York develop the idea further, craftily inventing more enticing ideas to lure in customers and sell industrial goods in huge numbers. Consumer culture is thus born. This episode also establishes four archetypal, female characters, Mrs Debt, Mrs Homemaker, Lady Kleptomania and Miss Assist. These dramatic characters illustrate the changing presence of women's place in society. This episode focuses on Miss Assist's ascent from provincial shop girl to department manager eventually running her own store, in contrast with Lady Kleptomania's immersion in the darker side of shopping - stealing for pleasure.
Episode Two- "A Modern Game"
The second episode reveals the canny secrets of the retail game in the early part of the 20th century, examining the tactics of the world's greatest retailers.
Philadelphia merchant, John Wanamaker, exploits religion by being the first vendor to create sales on Christian festivals: Christmas and Easter. Wanamaker even invents Mother's Day to encourage shoppers to spend more.
Meanwhile, penniless Russian immigrant to Australia, Sidney Myer, suppresses his Jewish faith by trading on the Sabbath to fit in with the Anglo majority. This controversial decision works in his favour as his business grows from pushcart to major city institution in less than a decade. Myer also helps shatter class barriers by the introduction of a department store staple - the bargain basement.
Over in England, the showman, Harry Gordon Selfridge in London dazzles his store 'guests' with new inventions including escalators, electric windows and telephones. Also in this episode the role of Mrs Debt is explored as she falls into every trap set by the department store. Her radical solution to paying her increasing bills is prostitution. In contrast, Mrs Homemaker outwits the stores triumphantly exploiting store freebies.
I highly recommend it. You will no doubt love it! It is really interesting to see how it all started almost 150 years ago. You will be surprised to find that even back then things weren't too different than they are today.
