In White Noise, Don DeLillo describes supermarkets as “where we wait together, regardless of our age, our carts stocked with brightly colored goods.” Purgatorial, holy, clean. So ingrained in our lives, in fact, that you don’t even need to visit the store yourself in order to take part in the ritualistic process, as filmmakers and writers have been setting scenes (and even entire stories—The Mist, hello?) within supermarkets ever since some glorious bastard in Tennessee realized he could make a killing by multiplying the everyday shopping experience by a thousand.
To really go into depth about the extent of our interaction and connection to the modern grocery store, the good people at Slate put together a highlight reel of the entire life process—from birth to death—that has taken place on film within your local Safeway, Walmart, Try-N-Save, what have you. Of course, it would be impossible to tackle every great instance (No Hot Fuzz? No 28 Days Later?), but it’s a pretty solid overview of some of the most classic (and visceral) shopping moments in cinematic history. Don’t forget your coupons.
