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Things that Bright Up the Place

Miller, Daniel

This article argues that instead of examining kitsch from the perspective of taste, the same material needs to be understood from the experience of those who possess it and live through it. The emphasis in the case study presented here is not on humor and irony but on sentimentality, which is often the most denigrated aspect of kitsch. Through a detailed examination of the ornaments of one living room and a careful study of how and why they were collected and the part they play in the life of their owner, we can start to see how kitsch can actually work as a powerful aesthetic form that carefully discriminates between accepted and rejected social relations and ultimately is seen to possess transcendent qualities, or even, in this case, the light of the divine.

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Things that Bright Up the Place

Miller, Daniel

This article argues that instead of examining kitsch from the perspective of taste, the same material needs to be understood from the experience of those who possess it and live through it. The emphasis in the case study presented here is not on humor and irony but on sentimentality, which is often the most denigrated aspect of kitsch. Through a detailed examination of the ornaments of one living room and a careful study of how and why they were collected and the part they play in the life of their owner, we can start to see how kitsch can actually work as a powerful aesthetic form that carefully discriminates between accepted and rejected social relations and ultimately is seen to possess transcendent qualities, or even, in this case, the light of the divine.

Things that Bright Up the Place

Miller, Daniel

This article argues that instead of examining kitsch from the perspective of taste, the same material needs to be understood from the experience of those who possess it and live through it. The emphasis in the case study presented here is not on humor and irony but on sentimentality, which is often the most denigrated aspect of kitsch. Through a detailed examination of the ornaments of one living room and a careful study of how and why they were collected and the part they play in the life of their owner, we can start to see how kitsch can actually work as a powerful aesthetic form that carefully discriminates between accepted and rejected social relations and ultimately is seen to possess transcendent qualities, or even, in this case, the light of the divine.

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Title:

Things that Bright Up the Place

Contributors:

Miller, Daniel (author)

Published in:

Home Cultures ; 3 ; 235-249

Publication date:

2006-11-01

Size:

15 pages

ISSN:

1740-6315 , 1751-7427

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.2752/174063106779090712

Type of media:

Article (Journal)

Type of material:

Electronic Resource

Language:

English

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