wonder

“Home” looks to visually convey and broaden ethnographic investigation, in a discipline once dominated by the thought of “culture as text” and an area where textural output is still the basis of the majority of ethnographies. Is this a fruitful task and does “Jenny Peaches” provide an alternative option to convey the visual as a mode of knowing and understanding culture in social research?
I would hope to infer that film-making can help to cause intrigue in the field of anthropology, looking at specific theories and seeing if this individual film has challenged my view and enhanced thinking. “Greenblatts resonance and wonder” the disused house objects evolve the culture and the nuances of the mother dismissing then re-assessing items such as the “dolls” not just through the language she uses but also the inertia of her movement and expressions. If we take the scene as a work of art in itself we gain the dynamic nature “Greenblatts” discusses.
The cleaning of the objects is no longer a chore they become “artefacts” like in a museum. The viewer can see the preservation of these objects; the preservation becomes part of the story the meaning. The cleaning itself has resonance it adds to the story of the “Dolls” the original cultural meaning is “cleaned away” if we then describe them as “resonant pieces” the viewer no longer questions the shape or texture of the dolls but the story of “mother” and “daughter”.
In fact the artefact “Doll” means little it is about the atmosphere created for the protagonist and her mother; this mirrors space and surrounding used by contemporary curators. Something they use to enhance viewers experience.
Resonance and the idea of the house becoming museum like fits well, this may be due to the closeness of the film-maker, their relationship transcends any individual object in the house they are just signals to memories and stories “Jenny Peaches” is engaged with, which then transfixes the viewer.
This engagement makes me consider