Week 9: Stories Told By Artifacts (Althea)

If I had the choice and resources to based my research on an artifact or text, I would like to do it on a cultural text - a movie called Salmer fra Kjøkkenet, or Kitchen Stories. I was introduced to this movie by a professor teaching research methods during my undergraduate studies, and it left a strong impression. I wished we had the time to analyze this movie closely.

It is a 2003 Norwegian film, in which it depicts Swedish efficiency researchers studying how Norwegian bachelors utilize their kitchen (by sitting on an umpire's chair and observing from above). *SPOILER ALERT* One of the protagonists, the researcher, eventually gets off the chair and forms a human connection with his subject.

There are four points of interests that I have identified.

1. During the movie, the viewer will notice that the Swedes and the Norwegians seem to have an antagonistic relationship throughout the movie from the way interactions between Swedes and Norwegians are portrayed. It could give an insight towards how a Norwegian (the director) understood the post-war relations between the two countries.
2. The viewer may also gain interest in the idea of efficiency research, which was an actual area of interest during the post-war period, and further research the topic and compare it to what they have seen in the movie.
3. A researcher may choose to think about whether observation as a data collection method is impossible or undesirable particularly when the subject is a human. If not, what other kinds of methods would be more ethical or effective? 
4. The viewer may also question the validity of the research results that the efficiency researchers obtain when all they do is map out and record what they can see from one room in the entire house. I mean, is the kitchen necessarily the only place in the house where food preparation or consumption take place?