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https://theconversation.com/whose-story-is-being-told-and-why-four-questions-museum-visitors-should-ask-themselves-these-school-holidays-259538>
"The winter school holidays will mean families across Aotearoa New Zealand will
be looking for indoor activities to entertain children. With millions of
visitors each year, museums focused on the country’s history will inevitably
play host to local and international visitors.
Museums tend to enjoy a high level of trust among the public. They’re widely
seen as neutral, factual sources of historical knowledge.
But like all forms of storytelling, museums present the past in particular
ways. They narrate events from a certain group’s or individual’s perspective
and explain why events unfolded in the way they did.
In this respect, museums are not so different from historical films. Consider
the different ways two recent movies –
1917 and the remake of
All Quiet on
the Western Front – narrate the first world war.
In
1917, the storyteller takes the British side, encouraging viewers to
invest in the bravery and endurance of British soldiers. But
All Quiet on the
Western Front is narrated from a German perspective, inviting viewers to
grieve for German soldiers as victims of a political system that glorified war.
Museum exhibitions tell stories in a similar way. Visitors should be asking not
just
what story is told, but
why.
Spoiler alert: it often has to do with national identity. Museums tell
particular stories of the past because these stories support a particular image
of New Zealand as a nation."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
