Online Response 5

Many pieces of art seek to help outsiders understand minority experiences. Will and Harper and Between the World and Me are excellent examples. However, these two projects share more in common. The projects both seek to help audiences understand a personal experience by having them express their story to someone close to them.

Will and Harper takes an audience on a road trip with comedians Will Farrell and Harper Steele.  Steele had not expressed to any close friends her struggle before transitioning genders later in life.  Then, Farrell and Steele go on a road trip through the United States, a first for Steele since transitioning genders.  Farrell asks questions to Steele about her experience before coming out as transgender, her transition process, and her experience as a transgender woman.  Steele asks Farrell about his perceptions of her before transitioning, initial reactions to her coming out as transgender, and feelings about her now as a transgender woman. Farrell stands in for the audience as an outsider, and their engagement teaches the audience through Steele’s personal connection and vulnerability with Farrell.

Between the World and Me operates in a similar capacity.  In the book, Ta-Nehisi Coates writes to his son.  He tells him lessons he has learned as a black man in the United States, giving advice and insight into a world he will soon step into himself.  For those who are not Black Americans, this book offers a unique window into the Black American life.  The audience, like Coates’ son, is naive and not knowledgeable about this unique experience.  Thus, sitting in on these extensive life lessons–written for a child–helps the audience's understanding grow from infantile to empathetic.  

Will and Harper and Between the World and Me share many similarities.  Coates’ and Steele’s willingness to bring an audience along as they teach someone they love about their life and their experiences as someone in a minority group.  This story telling technique gives access to worlds otherwise out of reach to a broad audience.  It is a powerful opportunity for audiences to grow in their understanding and empathy for those they may not understand.