Kitchen Stories

I apologize for being a week behind on this....

I really enjoyed the movie Kitchen Stories, especially the cultural value of looking at epistemology from another standpoint. Objectivity isn't objective in ANY language! It was interesting to watch the process of observer-observed entanglement, beginning before they ever had direct contact. Even when Folke was still feeling objective in his high chair, he was influenced to gorge himself later with chocolate, simply by watching Isak enjoy a chocolate bar in his kitchen. Eventually he felt comfortable enough in the home to borrow the salt shaker, which was another indirect interaction, but once he helped Isak find the missing salt shaker, they had directly communicated. For a short while Folke still pretended to be objective, tossing his pipe tobacco to Isak from his chair without speaking, but as we saw, Folke and Isak began to have conversations, and Folke began sitting at the kitchen table. Finally, Folke invited Isak into his trailer for a birthday celebration, and they drank together, ending with Isak asleep in the chair and Folke in Isak's bed. This was just one instance of the many role reversals between Isak and Folke. I wonder, if we examined a piece of modern research, might we find some of the same reverse influences? In the end, Isak dies, and Folke steps into Isak's role completely (although we could still imagine Isak "observing" from above!)