In times of crisis - broadening our views through art

In times of crisis, I turn to art. Often I’ll learn more about people, history and culture from a fictional story than a non-fiction one. Stories with characters who changed my world view, opened my eyes to the way someone else experiences the world, can sit with me for years afterwards. They go on even after I’ve forgotten the narrative but still hold onto the feeling they evoked.

Not just one world view

After the horrific terrorist attacks in Christchurch by a white supremacist, we’re hearing that we need to listen to more Muslim voices, in our media, in social media and in real life. Right now, we need to prioritise Muslim people’s opinions of this awful tragedy and their experiences. Alongside this, let’s also consider the fictional stories that we read, watch, and talk about.

How can we change our reading and viewing habits, and by doing so enrich our world view? How can we recognise writers and artists who are often disadvantaged in a white person’s world?

Here are three stories that portray people of colour and have changed my world view significantly. They’ve given me a different experience I’d never seen or heard about in mainstream media and writing, or allowed me to see a place and people differently. I’d love to know what you think of them.

1.     The Kiterunner – Khaled Hossieni – book (2003). Also a film.

Writer Khaled Hossieni was born in Afghanistan, like his main character Amir. This is a story of intergenerational trauma, as Amir fails to help his friend Hassan in a brutal attack. Amir and his father escape from Soviet-ruled Kabul to eventually settle in America, and later in life Amir has the chance to atone for what he did as a child. I lost count how many times I cried reading this book, and learnt a lot about the history of oppression in Afghanistan.

2.     The Breadwinner – Animated film (2017)

This beautiful animated film tells the story of Parvana, a young girl living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. Tragedy strikes her family and without a male relative, Parvana dresses as a boy to obtain food and money to help her family survive. The film shows the devastating impact of war on children, who innocently construct their own stories to make sense of what’s happening around them.

3.     BlacKkKlansman – Film (2018)

It just won an academy award and is a biography of Ron Stallworth, an African American detective who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s. He’s the voice on the phone reiterating the leader of the KKK’s racist thoughts on black people (and doing it so calmly it’s unnerving). He’s also the voice in his white colleague’s ear, telling him what to say, as his colleague attends the KKK meetings in person. Together the two of them bring down a chapter of the KKK in Colorado.  

I watched this about a month ago, and it’s still fresh in my mind as one of the best films I’ve seen in the past year. The real-life footage at the end of the film is particularly sobering. It’s of a white supremacist rally in Virginia, reminding us that this shit still goes on, as it has done this last week, too. And not just in America, but in our own country.

What books and films have resonated with you? Are you going to set any goals to read and watch more stories by and about people of colour? My own reading and film-watching habits could be better in this regard. It doesn’t feel like much, but I’m going to read more viewpoints this year (and every year!) and hope you will too.