The value of stories

I love stories, and I especially love movies. 

We all experience different pathways to getting where we are. On one of my own pathways, one that few students and fewer colleagues know about, I was a film major. How a film can make you feel, how it can make you think, how it can potentially change people (for better or worse)... This is what made me love the topic. 

Today, my class watched Janelle Monae's Many Moons. One part short film, one part music video (very much in the vein of her mentor, Prince), Many Moons is an tells of an android auction in the imagined city of Metropolis. One of the first things that my class pointed out is how the music draws you in, almost drowning out the lyrics until something suddenly shifts. The beat, as one student said, "is off." In that moment, the viewer sees Monae's alter-ego, Cindi Mayweather, fight against her programming in an attempt to find freedom. 

Afterward, I asked my student whether this video was important. They said all said yes. And then I asked the most difficult question that is on the minds of all toddlers, but which we often forget to ask: "Why?"

There is so much potential in stories. We can use them to inform and conceal. We can use them to change minds and behavior, for better or worse. Representation shows who belongs in the world, who is acceptable and who is not. What is normative and what is not. Whose stories matter... And whose stories don't.

Media literacy isn't just about knowing how to tell the difference between what is AI and what is real, between misinformation and information. It's about knowing how media can, and does, affect us. That's why I share this video. That's why it is important to hear stories and know history and open up to broader (often minoritized) viewpoints. Many Moons tells a story set in a futuristic setting, but it also tells a story of historical oppression and exploitation, and people should watch short films like this.