Page 103 - Consuming Media

01Consuming Media 10/4/07 11:17 am Page 90

90 Consuming Media

higher echelons of cultural display. Old advertisements and classic Disney figures,
including the above-mentioned Lasse Åberg renditions of Mickey Mouse, are
presented as framed works, worthy of display on the wall of a living room or office.

ADDRESSING THE CONSUMER
There is a commonly held conception that the photographs people take and
exchange, and the images they hang on their walls, are highly personal and intimate
expressions of personal identity. A closer examination reveals that these practices
nevertheless take place within a framework that is highly constrained by the range of
media goods available on the market. A vast majority of consumers use compact
automatic cameras, and the film one can buy over the counter in camera shops
follows this format. Colour print film is preferred. Only 10 per cent of consumers
take colour slides; certain types are no longer developed in Sweden but must be sent
to a lab in Switzerland. Black and white film is a negligible part of today’s amateur
market. The two-hour developing service, which many customers take advantage of,
is available only for the most common film and prints, in a standard size of
10 × 15 cm. The so-called ‘specialized’ services include a reduced price for double or
even triple copies of prints – intended for families with young children who want to
give pictures to both sets of grandparents. Yet even this is standardized. Cropping
to improve a picture’s composition, or compensating for faulty exposures, are not
services offered by the local shop. The choices available are within a limited range of
formats; standard or panoramic images which some cameras are capable of, or having
film developed in the ‘classic’ mode, in the ‘exclusive’ format which includes a print
with an overview of the entire roll as small images, or on a disk. Other innovations
are introduced at regular intervals; for example, having a white frame around the
prints, which gives the contemporary consumer’s pictures a retro-look, reminiscent
of an older snapshot aesthetic. 12
Turning to the card and poster shop, we find similar constraints. The vast majority
of greetings cards have pre-printed messages, and a broader range of stationary is not
available at Gallerix. Greetings in the cards follow the standard holidays and celebra-
tions observed by the Swedish majority culture. Christmas, Easter and school gradu-
ation cards are displayed according to the season, and congratulations for weddings,
christenings, retirement and birthdays are available all year round, but pre-printed
cards commemorating other religious holidays are absent from the display racks.
There is little here that would appeal to the customer looking for a souvenir from a
visit to Solna – the few available postcards are outdated views of the city, and anyone
wanting a souvenir or greeting from a football match at the nearby stadium would be
advised to go instead to the local team’s shop elsewhere in the centre. The themes and
styles in the prints follow the same pattern found in Gallerix stores across Sweden:
standardized offerings reflecting current trends in other media, popular culture and
interior design.
The framing service presents an exception. In this special section of the shop, a
customer receives personalized service and is offered a wide range of passepartout