After watching the short film that Mr. Bolos made, I saw some stark differences between certain towns and train stations. As mentioned in class, there were tons of indicators of social class throughout the film - from density of trees to sports facilities. The film opened my eyes to the community that I live in and how different it is from other communities. However, the indicator that struck me the most was the amount of brand-name stores and chains. The pattern in the film was that in the towns that we speculated were less wealthy were the towns which had the most fast food chains and brand name stores.
For instance, in Maywood, the ninth stop on Mr. Bolos' daily commute, the thing that popped out in the downtown area was a huge sign with the McDonald's golden arches on it. Maywood proved to be less wealthy in general when compared to Winnetka. In fact, Winnetka has roughly 1350 households that make between $250,000 and $500,000. Maywood, on the other hand, has roughly 100 households that made that much.
In the total North Shore, there is one McDonald's which, due to ordinances, appears like any other restaurant and also was not allowed to advertise using their iconic gold arches. In the small town of Maywood, it is the focal point of the downtown area. I think this is the case because in areas with lower incomes, people tend to gravitate towards cheaper food, like McDonald's as opposed to an independent, more expensive restaurant.
Do you guys find this indicator alarming? Why do you think the North Shore has ordinances to practically eliminate fast food restaurants?
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