6A — Monday, September 25, 2017
Arts
The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com

COMMUNITY CULTURE PREVIEW
Value the Voice: toward 
inclusivity on our campus

A new series based around the art of storytelling is coming 
to UMMA starting this Tuesday. The theme? ‘Transitions’

“Imagine a ‘TED talk’ that 

doesn’t sound scripted and 
isn’t lecture-style, but is more 
so just me telling you a story 
about how I didn’t have a spoon 
to stir my Kool-Aid, and I woke 
everybody 
up 
on 
Saturday 

morning in the residence halls 
trying to find a spoon to stir 
my Kool-Aid and the valuable 
lessons that I learned from 
that.”

As 
described 
by 

Comprehensive 
Studies 

Program 
(CSP) 
Academic 

Advisor 
Keith 
Jason, 
who 

spearheaded the event, “Value 
the Voice” is just that: A 
storyteller’s lounge.

“It’s 
the 
person’s 
story, 

so we’re asking them to tell 
real 
stories,” 

Jason 
said. 

“Not 
myths 

or legends or 
anything 
like 

that. But, [to] 
communicate 
their 
own 

experiences 
in 
their 
own 

authentic voice 
and share their 
experiences 
so that other 
people 
can 

learn 
from 

those.”

Making 

its debut this 
Tuesday 
at 

the 
UMMA, 

the event will 
have 
four 

installments 
(in September, 
November, 
January 
and 

March). 
The 

theme of this 
first 
one 
is 

“Transitions.” 
A new city, a new school 
year, a new challenge — the 
evening will focus on all of the 
transition-related experiences 
and sentiments that matter to 
its storytellers.

The event will include about 

seven stories, five of which 
will be told by students. The 
other two will be by Dr. Harold 
Waters, director of CSP, and 

Elizabeth James, the Program 
Associate in Afro-American 
and African Studies. Coined as 
“voices of wisdom,” they’ll be 
there to share moments of their 
lives that may speak to the 
social and political landscapes 
both 
within 

and 
beyond 

the 
University 

community.

“It’s sad, but it’s 

reality that these 
kinds 
of 
tough 

times 
are 
not 

new,” Jason said. 
“I 
don’t 
think 

our culture that’s 
40 
and 
under 

does the best job 
of reaching out 
to 
those 
folks 

who’ve 
lived 

through it in their 
time and how they 
overcame those challenges.”

Elizabeth 

James, 
a 
Daily 

Arts 
alum 
and 

incredible 
force 

of 
compassion, 

shared with the 
Daily what she 
hopes 
to 
come 

from 
being 
a 

“voice of wisdom” 
for the night.

“I 
can 

remember certain 
great 
moments 

in 
my 
classes, 

but most of all, 
I 
remember 

the things that 
happened outside 
of class,” James 
said. “[It] means 
all the world to 
me if I can help 
anybody or help 
their way be a 
little easier. I feel 
like what I went 
through is worth 
it, because it’s not 
something 
that 

I’ve left and just 

held in my heart.”

A 
third-generation 

storyteller, James grew up 
understanding the power of 
sharing. 
Her 
grandmother 

was a traditional healer down 
in New Orleans, Louisiana, 
using stories to calm the 
patients that came to see her. 
Her mother, also an alum, told 
stories through her night-time 

radio show in Detroit.

“Somewhere between the 

two, I think I fall. And I’m 
really happy, because I feel like 
I’m a bridge between all three 
of the generations. That’s very 
meaningful for me because 

I feel like I’m 
carrying 
their 

approval 
and 

carrying it on,” 
she said.

Passing 

down 
tradition, 

surveying 
the 
present, 

informing 
the 

future — “Value 
the 
Voice” 
is 

a 
safe 
space 

for 
people 

to 
examine 

themselves 
and 
experience 

belonging in a 

University setting that can 
sometimes be isolating.

“It’s so important, because 

I feel as though the sense of 
community is being shattered,” 
James said. “We need to return 
to that idea of what community 
means and feels like… Just 
knowing that you have every 
right to be here, and that your 
voice matters; that’s what I 
think my key intent is with this 
program. That’s why we called 
it ‘Value the Voice.’”

“You know, we’ve got two 

different things going on — the 
climate of the country and the 
climate of the earth — all of 
these things are coming at us, 
and it’s very easy to lose track 
of who we are and that we’re 
better together and stronger 
together… If we want to be, 
I think, our highest level of 
humankind, I really think that 
means you have to be able to 
share,” James said. “Share your 
toys, share your stories, share. 
You get more back when you 
share than you ever imagined 
you could.”

The world is a better place 

because people like Elizabeth 
James and Keith Jason do what 
they do. “Value the Voice” will 
challenge you and love you like 
only the best nights can. Go 
in with an open heart, and let 
yourself explore the inclusivity 
and healing that comes from 
simply sharing. It’ll be worth 
it.

ARYA GUPTA
Daily Arts Writer

ROADSIDE PRODUCTIONS

‘Stronger’ explores the story of Jeff Bauman
‘Stronger’ appropriately 
complicates Boston Strong

David Gordan Green’s recent film starring Jake Gyllenhaal 
tells the story of a Boston marathon runner who lost his legs

“Stronger” is the real-life 

story of Jeff Bauman, a native 
Bostonian who lost his legs 
in the 2013 Boston Marathon 
bombing and became a symbol 
of hope for the city in the 
trying time following. In this 
captivating and intensely sad 
film, director David Gordon 
Green (“Our Brand Is Crisis”) 
seamlessly explores Bauman’s 
deep internal struggle and 
his 
relationships 
with 
his 

family 
and 
his 
girlfriend, 

while also emphasizing the 
collective grief felt by the 
city of Boston. With deeply 
moving 
performances 
by 

Jake Gyllenhaal (“Okja”) and 
Tatiana 
Maslany 
(“Orphan 

Black”), 
“Stronger” 
moves 

slowly and powerfully. The 
film portrays love, adversity 
and the human condition in 
a wholly genuine and heart-
wrenching 
story 
centered 

around two people’s devotion 
to each other.

Bauman’s 
story 
is 

masterfully 
expressed 
by 

Gyllenhaal, an actor who has 
proven time and again his 
incredible range and depth 
of 
emotion. 
While 
critical 

discourse questions the ability 
and 
morality 
of 
an 
able-

bodied actor playing a disabled 
character, 
Gyllenhaal’s 

eloquent performance rewards 
the casting of a deeply interior 
actor rather than focusing 
on the ability of the actor’s 

body. As Bauman, Gyllenhaal 
communicates 
the 
physical 

trials of even the most mundane 
things 
after 
his 
double 

amputation, 
such 
as 
going 

to the bathroom and getting 
out of bed. His physicality 
as an actor is unbelievable; 
Gyllenhaal moves his body in a 
way that works to eliminate the 
distinction between his actual 
body and the one he portrays on 
screen. While this discrepancy 
is understandably problematic, 
it is emotional and convincing 
nonetheless. Gyllenhaal also 
portrays Bauman’s emotional 

turmoil, 
his 
surface-level 

reliance on humor in response 
to his condition in contention 
with a deeper interrogation of 
himself as a man.

The film not only centers 

around 
Bauman’s 
personal 

struggle following the Boston 
Marathon bombing, but also 
on 
his 
relationship 
with 

his 
girlfriend 
Erin 
Hurley 

(Maslany). 
Their 
on-again 

off-again 
relationship 
is 

complicated 
when 
Bauman 

shows up to support Hurley 
in 
the 
marathon, 
which 

inevitably ends traumatically 

for both of them. However, the 
trauma only further solidifies 
their 
personal 
connection 

as the two navigate love, 
understanding and selfishness. 
This relationship is the driving 
force 
of 
the 
film, 
deeply 

honest in its portrayal of 
human connection. Maslany 
is 
spectacular, 
expressing 

devotion 
and 
confusion 
in 

subtle and intertwined ways, 
exemplified in her consistent 
clashing 
with 
Bauman’s 

mother (Miranda Richardson, 
“Testament of Youth”). With 
her 
dynamic 
performance 

Maslany solidifies her place as 
a high caliber actor in tandem 
with Gyllenhaal.

The film’s ultimate strength 

lies in its avoidance of clichés in 
telling the Marathon bombing 
narrative. In other words, the 
film doesn’t over-dramatize 
the event and its aftermath. 
The bombing itself happens 
almost 
quietly, 
without 

jarring 
camera 
movements 

or suspenseful music; Green 
forgoes drama and instead 
relies 
on 
the 
audience’s 

common understanding of the 
gravity of the event. Moreover, 
the film does not shy away 
from 
painful 
but 
genuine 

moments 
in 
the 
narrative. 

One of the most memorable 
scenes in the film is the one 
in which the nurses change 
Bauman’s 
wound 
dressing, 

and he feels for the first time 
the excruciating pain of his 
amputated legs. This scene is 
long and straightforward and 
raw, and acutely honest. Due in 

SYDNEY COHEN

Daily Arts Writer

FILM REVIEW

“Stronger”

Roadside 
Attractions

Rave Theater

ARTS WAS A LITTLE GRUMPY 

TODAY. WE HAD A ROUGH 

WEEKEND. 

E-mail arts@michigandaily.com for 

information on applying.

“Value 

the Voice” 
Storytellers 

Lounge

Tuesday, 

September 26th 

@ 7 P.M.

UMMA

Free

A new city, a new 

school year, a 

new challenge 
— 

the evening will 
focus on all of the 
transition-related 
experiences and 
sentiments that 

matter to its 
storytellers

large part to the writing based 
on Jeff Bauman’s own memoir, 
“Stronger” 
is 
distinguished 

by its ability to convey drama 
without dramatic tropes.

Finally, 
“Stronger” 
also 

challenges 
the 
survivor 

narrative, 
complicating 
the 

term “hero” and humanizing 
the process of dealing with 
trauma. 
One 
of 
the 
main 

threads of the film is the 
Bauman 
family’s 
effort 
to 

substantialize 
the 
city 
of 

Boston’s idolization of Bauman 
as a hero, transforming him 
into a symbol for Boston Strong. 
However, the film challenges 
this process and focuses on 
Bauman’s 
relationship 
with 

the word “hero,” his PTSD and 
his love for the city. Ultimately, 
“Stronger” 
explores 
the 

tensions 
involved 
in 
the 

commodification 
of 
trauma 

and the exploitative nature of 

turning Bauman into a symbol 
of hope, while simultaneously 
emphasizing 
the 
incredible 

importance of community in 
Boston and the collective bond 
shared by its people. Though 
layered in its portrayal of 
Boston Strong, the film is a 
testament to the collective 
strength of the city and the 
inspirational 
importance 
of 

Jeff Bauman.