Collecting objects, becoming human subjects: The fetishism of collection in modern myths and narratives

Abstract

Despite sharing some structural analogy with the processes of technical reproduction and commodities consumption, implying the passive cult of the serial objects and their fetishized value, the practice of collecting fosters the active role of the collector in restoring the historical and cultural meaning of material things. The simple syntactic logic of collection is enriched by accumulating new elements but mainly through their constant reassembling in original dispositions. The practice of collecting in modern mythology and narratives attests to human fascination and a fatal attraction to specific sets of objects. This is the case of some Disney and Disney-Pixar animated movies such as The Little Mermaid (1989), and Wall-E (2008), where collecting is a fundamental factor in the process of humanization of the main characters, who undergo a physical and existential transformation through the subjective consumption and resemantization of material remains. A blinding light emanates from the familiar relics collected by Jonathan in the movie Everything is Illuminated (2005). The memory of the past and the beginning of a new story transcend the limits of the collection and require the subject to break free from the objects’ enchantment.