Online discourse has become a fun part of enjoying and dissecting big pop culture events. But after seeing all the commentary around Ryan Coogler's Sinners - one of the biggest cultural juggernauts of the year - Brittany has one question: are we in a media literacy crisis? Difference of opinion is one thing, but it feels like some viewers are missing important clues or misreading the film entirely - and it doesn't stop with Sinners. To help work through this, Pop Culture Happy Hour's Aisha Harris and Code Switch's B.A. Parker join the show to figure out what this could mean for the way we engage with the world at large.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. Like almost every other person in the country, I flocked to see Ryan Coogler's Sinners when it hit theaters in April. And while I enjoyed the film, part of the fun was seeing all the excitement online.
So when I was finally able to scroll through all the spoiler-heavy commentary, I was shocked to see some of the wildest takes I've seen on a movie in a while. For example, there's a Chinese character in the film named Grace, played by Li Junli. And for those who haven't seen it, this is a light spoiler, but she's responsible for a pretty big moment in the film.
But what I, and also the director of the film, Ryan Coogler, felt was a rash decision made by a mother in distress, some viewers thought was a representation of a lack of POC solidarity from Asian folks in Black communities. Even stranger, some audience members thought Annie, played by actress Umi Mosaku, was one of the main characters Smoke's mother.
Now, for those who don't know, Annie is the estranged wife of Smoke, one of the two smokestack twins played by Michael B. Jordan. Just wild stuff. But this isn't the first time the audience has been out of step with the content itself. The endless rabbit holes and theories around season two of Severance made me want to swear off the fandom entirely.
It made me think about a phrase that gets thrown around a lot online. Media literacy. According to the National Association of Media Literacy Education, media literacy is the ability to encode and decode the symbols communicated in what we consume. And for me, most importantly, being able to critically analyze those symbols for a richer takeaway.
And seeing some of this commentary has me concerned that we're struggling with the necessary tools to even critically approach some of the things we're watching for entertainment. So I called up Pop Culture Happy Hours' Aisha Harris.
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