Week 1: The Danger of a Single Story

What resonated the most in the talk was about nkali. Dominant western culture is the nkali that determines most of our contemporary single stories. Although being an Asian, I am also not free from the single stories from Hollywood nkali. I should also admit that the Korean culture I grew in has several single stories toward its minorities.

Chimamanda's remark about her experience in Guadalajara reminded me of the Mexico in American Movies meme. This meme points out that Mexico is always depicted with a sepia color filter to allude the single story - outdated, polluted and poor - that Hollywood has toward Mexico. I am more than certain that a lot of cultures around the world can relate to this experience, as Hollywood has a history of depicting non-western cultures with this type of cinematic color grading.

The Mexico in American Movies example shows that even indirect visual effects such as cinematic color grading can have the power of forcing a single story towards the audience. At the same time, some camera apps have filters inspired by cities such as Paris, London and Tokyo. What would be the single story hidden beneath such camera filter apps?