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Marianne Hirsch's Reframing The Human Family Romance

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Summary of “Reframing the Human Family Romance” In her essay, “Reframing the Human Family Romance,” Marianne Hirsch argues that family photographs are influenced by the American ideas of what a family should look like and that the gaze between the viewer and the individuals in the photograph is often one of unequal power. Hirsch points out that Western society has created conventions for family photographs that dictate the roles each member plays in the family as well as how a family is constructed (133). Hirsch claims that these photographs make such an effort to include, that they also exclude anyone who does not fit the mold of the standard American family (133). In addition, Hirsch argues that family photographs have a unique ability to alter differences by mirroring them to reflect the ideal …show more content…

Hirsch is critical of this “American family romance” where “everybody is the same” and everyone is supposedly included (133). Hirsch explains the term “familial gaze” (133), stating that when viewed with no context, a family photograph can reinforce the myth that a family is “stable and united, static and monolithic” (135). Hirsch then makes the connection between the nuclear American family and the global family, with the example of the Museum of Modern Art Exhibition, The Family of Man, created in 1995 (134). This art exhibit, composed of 503 family photographs from around the world, was created with the purpose to show the universality of everyday life (134). Hirsch points out that although the exhibit was created with the intention of uniting a world recently divided by war and strife, it was curated in a way that

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