“Jasper Mall” is a film about accepting change. Whether we like it or not. The 2020 documentary chronicles the slow and laboring death of the shopping mall. Specifically the Jasper Mall and, while the events unfold in the small town of Jasper, Alabama, it could be anywhere in present day America.
Filmmakers Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb do an excellent job of letting the situation, and the people who are at stake, speak for themselves. The Jasper Mall opened its doors in 1981. An aerial photograph shows the parking lot packed like Woodstock. There’s a million cars and a swarm of people. Four decades later, its a ghost town, having recently lost two of its anchors, Kmart and JCPenney.
“Jasper Mall” is an 85 minute time warp into my deepest memories. I was a kid in the 1980s. I grew up and came of age in the 1990s. The local mall was the centerpiece to my social existence. It was as American as Ford autos and Apple Pie. It’s a part of our countries culture and history, as strange as that may sound. Hanging out. Meeting girls. Going to movies. Eating at the food court. I think the people from my generation will get the most out of the film.
Real people but Perfectly Cast
The documentary follows Mike McClelland; the mall’s superintendent, security force, and caretaker. Mike is a caricature of the overzealous mall-cop. He loves his job and takes it too seriously. We all know people like this. He’s the backbone of the mall and a great centerpiece for the story.
Aside from Mike, there are several others the film interacts with that fit right in. There’s a gaggle of old timers who use the mall for walking and socializing. We get the sense that these folks were born at the Jasper hospital, and will die there as well. “It’s called a smart phone.” One man says while trying to make a call. He quickly follows with “It’s too daggone smart for me.”
Thomason and Whitcomb are able to express the direct correlation the Jasper Mall has on the town its moored too. It plays a pivotal role, both socially and economically. Its closure has the same domino effect of a major employer shutting its doors. The mall is a community thing – its parking lot used to host a town fair. Inside a local teen is looking for a job. A jeweler is forced to relocate after decades. A florist who is retiring. There’s even a budding romance.
It’s a sad story.
Malls have become mausoleums that showcase the two greatest decades in history. The Jasper Mall once had a Zales, Waldenbooks, KB Toys, and Radio shack. Its Nostalgia vs Progress.
The way the mall stores are shown to operate seems so old. The adult in me quickly locked focus on the glaring inefficiencies. The mall killed the Main Street shops. The internet killed the malls. While I was longing for the past I couldn’t help but see the obvious reasons they are relics today.
Fashion is cyclical. Retro technology is once again cool. Here’s to malls seeing a renaissance to their glory days. I recommend “Jasper Mall” for a compact history lesson and a trip down memory lane – albeit a sad one.
“Jasper Mall” is currently available to stream on Amazon.
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