Museum Perspectives

Last night, I watched the move The Relic (1997).  In short, the movie consists of a tiger-beetle-lizard-human combination that wreaks havoc inside a Chicago museum.

Throughout the movie, besides being scared of a brain eating monster, I was worried for the general safety of the people, objects, and museum.  Things that we have learned in class flashed before my eyes.  I hope they have a good disaster recovery plan.  This can’t be good for the museum’s credibility.  How will they ever secure sponsors after this?  How will the public feel safe in this museum again?  

In the movie, the museum had just opened an interesting exhibit on superstitions from around the world. It was actually really interesting.  As patrons walked through, they were faced with many of the common superstitions of today: open umbrellas, pictures of black cats, and walking under ladders.  The path then led to other rooms and introduced superstitions from other cultures.  I thought it was an effective way of placing the foreign superstitions in perspective. 

However, I could not help but notice that there were not enough text panels on the walls.  In fact, I don’t remember seeing any text.  Also, as visitors continued down the path, a stone-like cover slid away to expose an open grave in the middle of the floor.  The grave cover was some sort of automatic moving display that could move back and forth over the fake grave.  I immediately thought, “Where’s the railing? That doesn’t look very safe, but maybe it’s protected by glass.”  However, during the creature’s rampage, two visitors fell straight in the open grave and probably destroyed everything inside.  Then the stone cover slid back and trapped them inside.  At least they were safe from the monster, I guess.   

This is a silly example, but the point is that before I started the public history program, I would never have considered any of these ideas.  Before this program I was simply an innocent museum visitor.  My understanding of museums is still developing, but what I have learned so far has permanently altered my museum perspective.  During the entire movie I was thinking about the policies, the people, and the collections.  I was looking for what was done well and what could have been better in the exhibit.  I’m sure as I progress through the public history program, my eyes will only become more aware and critical of museums.