One thing that will stay with me after this class is the importance of learning about other people and remembering that there is more to people’s stories than what we see on the surface. There were many different stories and experiences that we learned about in class, and I think this shows that everyone is unique. There were some similarities between stories, but ultimately, everyone views things differently based on their own experiences.
I also found that this was seen in everyone’s documentaries. Although we all had the same guidelines and assignment, everyone had different stories to tell, and everyone had different things that were important to them. It is so easy to judge a book by its cover, but that’s not always the best way to get to know people because you aren’t learning about their experiences. I also think that I am going to take away that documentary work is very challenging, but important. It can be really hard to make sure that you are telling someone’s story correctly, but ultimately, people’s stories need to be told.
One image that really connects to these ideas is “Migrant Mother” by Dorothea Lange. We discussed this image a lot, and I think it is a great example of not judging a book by its cover. You may look at her and think one thing about her. But as we learned, she has a much deeper story of being Native American and a divorcee. All of these things would be unknown if you just looked at her picture, and didn’t learn about her story.
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