Why her single story spoke to me!

The TED talks episode that inspired me to continue my writing career and read stories from other cultures is “The Dangerof a Single Story” by Chinmamanda Ngozi Adichie.

In her TED talks, she is an African author that is very intelligent and in love with literature. She expresses how much she loves books and stories, but also tells the danger of a single story and how it affects everyone.

The phrase “Single Story” refers too a general story of a person, group of people, or even a culture, and that story giving the reader a single view on that them. This is something that can destroy any group or culture based on the message of the story.

How it works is, if a story portrays a group of people as mean from town A, and other towns from near by heard the story about this one mean group from town A. Since there isn’t any other story about that town A, other towns then label town A as a mean place.

The truth might have been, the whole story of town A being mean could have simply been the opinion of one person who misunderstood what was being projected to them. In result, that person generating a negative response about town A. Leading other to think town A is filled with mean people.

Giving the other towns a negative and one-sided view, which isn’t fare.

This happens all over the world, and Chimamanda explains that we need to stop this and create multiple stories to help us see different sides of the same coin.

The way this helped me was, when I was in the navy I wanted to write as I did when I was younger, but I heard you write what you know. I felt doomed because I thought I was only able to write about my life, which I thought was boring.

After listening to this Ted talks I started reading stories from other nations and periods, and I was inspired to write again. Even better, I made the choice to make this my career and I have no regrets about it at all.

Why does the Avengers matter!

Many people who are not fans of the comic movie/ comic TV movement don’t understand what the big deal is. I spoke to a couple of friends of mine and they said “I really don’t get why these movies pull in so many fan. I mean its just comic books”.

I first asked, “Well did you watch any of the movies?” They answered no, I replied well there is your problem right there.

So I took it upon myself to have them watch Iron Man 1,2 &3 as well as Thor 1 & 2 with my friends. Than for the final movie we watched Avengers movie and all 3 of them looked at me and I seen it too. They understood why these movies were as popular as they were.

To explain what I’m talking about we first have to look at the origin of the comic book stories. These stories are about super heroes and defeating bad guys, but there is a deeper meaning because these stories plays on the emotions of regular people like me and you. We tend to look at our own problems and hide them from the world. What comics do is show us that were not the only ones with these issues, and sometimes shows us the solution to these problems.

Now we understand the story behind the story, lets look at the fantasy brought to life aspect of it all. When we read a book we are placing ourselves in a world that’s created from our imagination, but when you can go to movies and see 5 heroes you read about as real people it becomes so much more then just a movie. It is almost like watching someone you know do these things. You forget they are actors because it was something you read about and now something you see happening.

The power of story amazes us because it touches its something we can relate too. Someone took the time to develop this character with flaws as well as good qualities. It’s us in story form. Maybe not us physically but us emotionally.

Connecting with the Comics

I find the stories from comic books most interesting because of how it appeals to regular people.  Usually about a hero and their struggles fighting crime within a crime infested city at the same time battling an internal struggle.  Weather it is hiding a secret identity from the people he/she loves, or upholding the laws of a beautiful city.  Either way the life of a comic book hero is something most of us can admire when we read it.

I was surprised when my 5-year-old son showed an interest in one of my old Uncanny X-Men comics.  He didn’t know the names of the characters or knew what the comic was about, but he loved seeing the drawings. Bit by bit I would explain the characters and eventually take him to a comic book store to get his own comic books. 

I found it weird that he would always compare himself to the character Hank Maccoy or Beast.  Beast is a fury blue scientist with super human strength and agility but under his gifts, he struggles with being a mutant and wanting acceptance by regular humans.  His blue fur is a something Beast cannot hide, making him stand out even more then other mutants within the X-Men comic series.  I could not understand the connection with my 5-year old son and a fictional furry blue scientist.

            It finally came to me when I took him to see the movie X-Men: Days of Future Past.  When the movie introduced the character Beast, my son focused completely on him and did not look away.  Hearing how nerves Beast was about confronting people, and how he would have to talk himself into being brave reminded me of my son when he had his first day of kinder garden.  My son had to practice being brave when meeting his new teacher for the first time.  He also was nervous when meeting new kids, not knowing if to play with them or not to be there friend.

            My son even at 5-years old identified a piece of himself within the story of a comic book.  He related to the character on a personal level and found that they both share insecurities beyond what is on the surface.

            So if my 5-year old son can relate to a comic book character I know we all can.