"Narrative" Search Reflection

Hi, All,

The link below will be the article/video clip that I found and which I will discuss in this week's post.

Author: Michael Rothman
Article Title: "'Selma' Star David Oyelowo Slams Oscars for Rewarding Only 'Subservient' Black Roles"

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/selma-star-david-oyelowo-slams-oscars-rewarding-subservient/story?id=28667536

I found the article linked above via the ABC news app. Before stumbling upon this article, I did some research on my own and attempted to find a good article that centers on the use or discussion of the word narrative, and although I was not able to find such an article, I did discover a few things. Let's just say that I had a few "aha" moments.

When I looked at CNN, I noticed that on their page, one of CNN's main headlines read something along the lines of today's stories or stories today. To be rather brief here, I found it odd that this small detail is something that I had not noticed earlier. It seems obvious now, but I guess I just never paid that much attention to it before. For whatever reason, I associated stories with fiction, yet until I looked on CNN's home page, I did not realize that even the news reports (every single one) we see daily tell stories. This was my "aha" moment.

The ABC/Good Morning America article above discusses the upcoming Oscars/Academy Awards. In the discussion, the word narrative is used one time by the "Selma" actor David Oyelowo. His comment on narrative highlights our class discussions. Oyelowo is disappointed that the movie was not nominated for an Oscar/Academy Award. If the movie had been nominated, another very important moment would have taken place for the African American culture. Oyelowo uses the word narrative to basically say that the African American cultural voice and recognition is dismissed by the Academy yet again. That's not to say that African American actors have not have Academy Awards; rather Oyelowo claims that African American significant movies that highlight both culture and history are dismissed.

I saw the movie "Selma," and the movie is phenomenal in every aspect, and as such, I think Oyelowo makes a solid argument via the use of the word narrative, and ABC's Michael Rothman does an excellent job writing this article and blending the importance of narrative. As I stated earlier, I associated his use of the word narrative to mean a particular kind of voice. In such regard, this article hits some of the main points we discussed directly the other night in class. I will say that from here forward I will certainly pay more attention to how to words narrative or stories are used to make arguments of any and all kinds. I truly appreciate Rotham's article and Oyelowo's use of the word narrative to draw attention to something very important, something very big.