The Power of Storytelling
“If you want to be in relationships with people and connect with them, understand them, and eventually work together with them… you have to know their stories,” says former president Barack Obama, when asked why he and wife Michelle signed a multi-year deal with Netflix in 2018 to produce a string of TV series, films and documentaries.
That deal has clearly paid off, with their first documentary, “American Factory,” receiving an Oscar nomination Monday. The film follows blue-collar workers whose belief in the American dream is rekindled when a Chinese billionaire reopens a factory in post-industrial Ohio. Scoring a place on President Obama’s list of favorite movies of 2019 AND a 97% Fresh rating on the online review aggregator, Rotten Tomatoes, the film “takes a thoughtful—and troubling—look at the dynamic between workers and employers in the 21st-century globalized economy.”
On the same day that Michelle Obama was tweeting “Congratulations” to directors Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar, our current president was retweeting fake images of Speaker Pelosi wearing a hijab with the caption, "The corrupted Dems trying their best to come to the Ayatollah's rescue."
Go behind-the-scenes with “American Factory: A Conversation with the Obamas.”
While the contrasts between the former and current presidents are too numerous to name, here was one that especially spoke to me: one president speaking to the power of storytelling to unite us; the other misusing his power to distribute blatantly false and divisive stories.
It is left to American voters to decide what our nation’s story will be.
Click here to watch the “American Factory” trailer. And visit Netflix.com to go behind-the-scenes with “American Factory: A Conversation with the Obamas.”