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Week 4 Story Lab

Personally, I am a huge fan of Ted Talks and find myself falling into the endless loop of midnight binges when I probably should be asleep. So for this assignment, I was very excited to have the opportunity to watch these Ted Talks related directly to storytelling. This first one I watched by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie I had actually seen previously on one of these midnight session it begins with her giving a detailed anecdote about her bringing and the way that reading and storytelling began to impact her life at an incredibly young age. This impact was not always positive, however. I see myself a lot in this Ted Talk. As a young black kid, I remember opening up books and reading about little girls and boys who looked nothing like me. At the time I didn't realize how impactful this would be for me. I though it was normal. In the public eye, it is the white child that is recognized as important, tal;ended, smart. Those children who look like me are meant to fade into the background. You didn't see them often on television or in storybooks. The danger of a single story rand true all throughout my childhood and Chimamanda's as well. Equal representation is a vital part of human value. It took me a long time to realize that the reason I thought only white people were doctor's when I was a young child was because that was all I had seen. I had never met a black doctor, never seen one on television, never read about one in a book. What you see is what you believe nd that is Adichie explains so well in her speech.

The second Ted Talk is incredibly interesting. Jennifer Barnes is not only a psychology professor but a young adult novelist...quite a duo, right? She studies characters and how people relate to the ins and outs of lives that are clearly fictional and make believe. It is extremely intriguing. At one point in the speech, Barnes says that viewing one's favorite character in media can increase cognitive ability and awareness. I found it interesting how her empirical data relates to Chimamanda's real world experiences. Growing up, if Chimamanda were to have seen more characters that looked like her and her family, how would that have changed her life and her perception of the world today? These are questions that cannot be answered without significant in the world: a concept I believe both speakers were aiming for. How will the way one see's others in media affect the way they see themselves in the mirror?

(Mother Nature Network)


Links:
The danger of a single story
Imaginary friends and real-world consequences: parasocial relationships




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Comments

  1. UnknownFebruary 8, 2019 at 11:36 AM

    Hi Lauryn,

    I am so glad that I came across your story lab post. You pointed out some Ted Talks that I would have otherwise not been aware of. They were definitely super interesting. I especially found the talk by Barnes to be interesting and you hit on some very great ideas in your post. I think studying how people relate to characters is often overlooked but very important.

    -Andy

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