White Material: Ivory tiles, white womanhood, and white supremacy in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Sharp Objects
Jean-Marc Vallée’s HBO miniseries, Sharp Objects (2018), follows Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) as she returns to her childhood home in Wind Gap, Missouri, to investigate the murders of two young girls. This article explores a specific type of object related to the systems of violence that reveal thems...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Edinburgh University Press
2023-02-01
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| Series: | Film-Philosophy |
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| Online Access: | https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/film.2023.0219 |
| _version_ | 1797955726972289024 |
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| author | Emily Sanders |
| author_facet | Emily Sanders |
| author_sort | Emily Sanders |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Jean-Marc Vallée’s HBO miniseries, Sharp Objects (2018), follows Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) as she returns to her childhood home in Wind Gap, Missouri, to investigate the murders of two young girls. This article explores a specific type of object related to the systems of violence that reveal themselves over the course of the miniseries: ivory tiles. Here, the ivory tiles affixed to the floor of Camille’s mother’s, Adora Crellin’s (Patricia Clarkson), master bedroom both reveal and influence sinister behaviours of the household’s women. In employing concepts inspired from Thing Theory and Object-Oriented Ontology, as well as critical theory, this article examines how the ivory tiles possess multilayered excesses that constitute an object’s thingness. The foremost excess that informs the ivory tiles’ thingness, I contend, is its relationship to white supremacy. It is not only the tiles’ material history that informs its relationship to white supremacy, but how, through outlining the forms of agency things possess under Thing Theory, the tiles are able to reveal the forms of violence that are structured within the domestic sphere of the Crellin home. A product of violence, the ivory tiles as things speak back to the design of white supremacy. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:37:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-c8cf74d63c06401db3473f02030eabe1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1466-4615 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T23:37:35Z |
| publishDate | 2023-02-01 |
| publisher | Edinburgh University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Film-Philosophy |
| spelling | doaj.art-c8cf74d63c06401db3473f02030eabe12023-01-11T16:00:05ZengEdinburgh University PressFilm-Philosophy1466-46152023-02-012719811410.3366/film.2023.0219White Material: Ivory tiles, white womanhood, and white supremacy in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Sharp ObjectsEmily Sanders0Queen’s UniversityJean-Marc Vallée’s HBO miniseries, Sharp Objects (2018), follows Camille Preaker (Amy Adams) as she returns to her childhood home in Wind Gap, Missouri, to investigate the murders of two young girls. This article explores a specific type of object related to the systems of violence that reveal themselves over the course of the miniseries: ivory tiles. Here, the ivory tiles affixed to the floor of Camille’s mother’s, Adora Crellin’s (Patricia Clarkson), master bedroom both reveal and influence sinister behaviours of the household’s women. In employing concepts inspired from Thing Theory and Object-Oriented Ontology, as well as critical theory, this article examines how the ivory tiles possess multilayered excesses that constitute an object’s thingness. The foremost excess that informs the ivory tiles’ thingness, I contend, is its relationship to white supremacy. It is not only the tiles’ material history that informs its relationship to white supremacy, but how, through outlining the forms of agency things possess under Thing Theory, the tiles are able to reveal the forms of violence that are structured within the domestic sphere of the Crellin home. A product of violence, the ivory tiles as things speak back to the design of white supremacy.https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/film.2023.0219thing theorySharp Objectswhite supremacy |
| spellingShingle | Emily Sanders White Material: Ivory tiles, white womanhood, and white supremacy in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Sharp Objects Film-Philosophy thing theory Sharp Objects white supremacy |
| title | White Material: Ivory tiles, white womanhood, and white supremacy in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Sharp Objects |
| title_full | White Material: Ivory tiles, white womanhood, and white supremacy in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Sharp Objects |
| title_fullStr | White Material: Ivory tiles, white womanhood, and white supremacy in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Sharp Objects |
| title_full_unstemmed | White Material: Ivory tiles, white womanhood, and white supremacy in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Sharp Objects |
| title_short | White Material: Ivory tiles, white womanhood, and white supremacy in Jean-Marc Vallée’s Sharp Objects |
| title_sort | white material ivory tiles white womanhood and white supremacy in jean marc vallee s sharp objects |
| topic | thing theory Sharp Objects white supremacy |
| url | https://www.euppublishing.com/doi/10.3366/film.2023.0219 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT emilysanders whitematerialivorytileswhitewomanhoodandwhitesupremacyinjeanmarcvalleessharpobjects |