In her book Family Secrets: Acts of Memory and Imagination, author Annette Kuhn sets out "to unravel the connections between memory, its traces, and the stories we tell about the past" (4). She is able to achieve this goal through a process she calls 'memory work.' This process invites individuals to examine elements of their past from a new, critical, and analytical perspective. Take, for instance, an old family photograph. Memory work requires that you...

1.) Consider the human subject(s) of the photographs.

2.) Consider the picture's context of production.

3.) Consider the context in which an image of the sort would have been made.

4.) Consider the photograph's currency in its context or contexts of reception... Who saw it then, and who sees

it now? (Kuhn 8)

These steps provide individuals with an opportunity to examine memories in a new way. Rather than simply recalling moments in our past, memory work allows us to dig deeper into the stories we think we know. It elicits a response of curiosity, which therefore allows us to uncover new parts of old stories. For this project, I will apply Kuhn's 'memory work' to a family home video.

Analysis

In this home video, we see my mom with a very young Maria. If, however, we didn't know who these people were, we would still be able to gather some basic information. From an objective point of view, this video features a dark haired baby crawling on the floor towards the camera. The light pink pair of footie pajamas seems to suggest that this baby is a girl. In the background, we can see several toys, including a green and yellow baby saucer. Behind the crawling baby stands a grown woman. She appears to be pregnant, as is revealed by the clip of her touching her shirt in order to emphasize the shape of her stomach. Her pregnancy is also evident when someone, who is presumably off-camera, can be heard saying "Mommy's just due in a couple weeks!" In the background, music can be heard playing throughout the video. It is likely that this video was recorded several years ago based on the poor camera quality and glitches of an all-blue screen at certain points.

It's difficult to look at this video from an 'outsider's' point of view because I know who the people in the video are. I know Maria is the baby. I know my mom is the young woman, at the time pregnant with my brother Mark. I know my dad is the one filming and speaking behind the camera. However, examining this home video from an objective point of view has compelled me into a type of curiosity. I can't help but wonder what a complete stranger would think about this video. Would they assume that this Asian baby had been adopted by this white woman? Or would they think that the man behind the camera must be Asian? Would they even think the baby belongs to the woman at all?

This video was filmed by my dad around the beginning of February 1997. If you look at our home videos, you'll quickly realize that baby Maria takes up about 300 hours of footage, while John, the youngest child, has about 30 minutes documenting him from birth to age 10. My mom and dad were obviously very eager young parents ready to film every little thing Maria did, and understandably so. In the context of their struggles to carry a pregnancy to term, it makes sense that they were excited about their new addition. My mom's only wish is that the videos were of better quality. Watching these videos does get a bit irritating when a blue screen pops up every few seconds, but it's a sign of the times. Back in 1997, handheld camcorders had existed for less than 15 years, so it's no surprise that the condition of the video isn't what it could be now.

Our home videos, as I'm sure is the case with many other families, were recorded as a way to preserve memories, both for the parents and the children. I can only attest to the child-side of this phenomenon, but I know that watching old videos always fill me with a very strange sense of nostalgia. It's an odd feeling to watch a younger version of yourself on T.V., especially when the recordings are from a time before you remember. Home videos are able to capture family dynamics in a way that photographs cannot. They allow us to view the past in a very sensory way; not only are we able to see the past in action, but were also able to hear it. In Maria's case, these home videos are a reminder of the relationship between a couple and the baby that made them parents.