My Trip to Queen St. East and Bertmount Ave.

Recently, I saw a photo of an interesting house downtown. And so I decided that I would go and take a look at it. I was hoping that my visit would help me answer the questions that were raised in the last tutorial. Why, for some reason, we often feel compelled to see the ‘original’.

Coincidentally, I had a friend who was paying me a short visit and since I knew he was a fan of new things, I asked him to visit the house with me. He hadn’t seen any photos of this house (in fact, I only told him that it was a house and nothing more), so I thought he could offer a totally unbiased opinion. After giving him probably what was deemed as an insufficient explanation as to why he had to drive all the way over to the East end of the city so I could see this house, struggling to locate in on his GPS, and taking twice the amount of time to get there (since his GPS indicated the trip would only take about 12 minutes without traffic) we arrived at Queen St. East and Bertmount safely.

The feeling of anticipation nestled in my stomach as I walked down Bertmount Ave, with my friend close behind. I told him, that he’d know what it was, when he saw it. You couldn’t miss it!

And so the house appeared before our eyes, with its army of dolls staring us down. My first thoughts of the ‘doll garden’ were that it was indeed a great collection, and the neighboring houses looked so plain next to it. But I had expected something that resembled more of an overwhelming mass of dolls… such that the house would be unrecognizable behind the crowd. And among the dolls, there were repeats, which seemed to take away from the garden’s uniqueness. This is not to say that I was disappointed. On the contrary, I enjoyed examining the garden closely and picking out dolls that I recognized. It was like being a little kid at somebody’s garage sale, and finding out that they also had some of the same toys.

On the other hand, my friend found it much less amusing. Their opinion of it was that it simply reminded them of Halloween and it seemed to provoke no more emotion than a yawn. Then again, I should keep in mind that this friend of mine is a minimalist in terms of emotional displays. In contrast, I am a more dramatic and emotional person. So his apathy was only to be expected, as I walked back and forth excitedly in front of the house, looking up and down their garden, expressing “ooooos” and “awws” as my eyes pored over the doll collection.

Did my viewing of the ‘doll garden’ in real life give me the feeling of “awe” as one would expect when they visit the Louvre to view the original Mona Lisa? Although I was very much intrigued by the display, my feeling of “awe” was smaller than I had anticipated. Indeed, the visual reality of the numerous dolls was there but there was no greater revelation than that.

However, I think the diminished or lack of an overwhelming feeling of “awe” is not necessarily due to the house, or in a more general sense, the Original’s uniqueness and “aura”. I think we have to consider ourselves as a factor, as ‘readers’ of the ‘text’. This relates back to what was discussed in class about Taste. If a doll enthusiast had seen both the photos of the ‘doll garden’ and in real life, I’m sure they would describe seeing the real doll garden as an eye-opening experience. Now, even though I’m not a doll lover, I still exuded more enthusiasm when I saw the garden. This was probably because I had built up a feeling of anticipation and had successfully persuading my friend to come with me. For my friend’s case, I take it that guys don’t like dolls so that would’ve accounted for the lack of interest.

So all in all, I think that the “aura” and feeling of “awe” that one yearns for when we search for 'originals’ will only be captured if there is an underlying basis for it. There needs to be a pre-existing relationship that the viewer and the ‘original’ have, such as an anticipation or a certain taste for it. I know that we may want to believe that it’s the Original’s innate “aura” and uniqueness that ignites the feeling of “awe” in us, but I think it’s like reading a different language. Something could be written very beautifully, but if we don’t understand the language, there will be no emotional experience.

(... I just realized that I haven't answered the question that I had asked myself at the beginning of this post... WHY we feel compelled to see Originals... >_<)