时间:2024-09-20 08:48:17 来源:网络整理编辑:熱點
At several points in Becoming, the new Netflix documentary covering former First Lady Michelle Obama
At several points in Becoming, the new Netflix documentary covering former First Lady Michelle Obama's 34-city book tour, Obama waits in the wings to be introduced to an audience of thousands. The people announcing her are household names — Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey, Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien — and the camera follows Obama from behind as she rolls her shoulders and steps out into the light. Each time the crowd roars to see her as she takes a seat on one of many identical stages, and the camera pans over rapt audiences stunned to be in her presence. Michelle Obama needs no introduction. She deserves the applause regardless.
Similarly, Obama doesn't need Becoming, but it's nice to watch it anyway. It's a slick, emotional hour and a half that allows for a calibrated peek behind the scenes of Michelle Obama's life on the road and offers much to those who want to bask in the familiarity that comes with checking in on a beloved American Icon. There are no reveals beyond what she already covered in her bestselling memoir Becoming, so the documentary hedges instead on the visual comfort of seeing Obama in her element. She is, as her eight years in the White House taught her she must be, unwaveringly calm, warm, poised, funny, and approachable.
In its best moments, Netflix's Becominguses the undeniable glamor of Obama's public persona to drive home points about gender roles, blackness, and history. The documentary emphasizes Obama's experience as a brilliant, Ivy League–educated lawyer who chose to mitigate her aspirations in favor of her husband's career after becoming a mother. It also highlights the moment at which she realized partnering with her husband on the 2008 campaign trail meant exposing herself and her family to a legion of Americans happy to fabricate racist and incorrect narratives about her family (the "terrorist fist bump" scandal makes an appearance, as if to remind viewers how hard bad faith media outlets had to scramble to find offense in her behavior).
"It's a testament to her hard work as First Lady and as a private citizen that the sparkling glimpse it offers feels like more than enough."
Becomingalso shines when it highlights some of the people who have been around Obama for years. Alan, her assigned Secret Service Agent, recounts stories of traveling and protecting her for over 12 years, and has an extremely charming collection of pictures on his desk where the Obamas are front and center while Alan is an ever-present fixture in the background. Her stylist as well gives insight into how she incorporated Obama's personality into "First Lady fashion," leading to eight years of colorful and iconic style moments that still inform the way American women dress.
SEE ALSO:'Crip Camp' on Netflix beautifully traces a revolution back to its teen yearsWhen Michelle Obama speaks of wanting to tell her own story, from her humble beginnings to the elevated position she inhabits as a living historical figure, it's hard to deny that she deserves the opportunity. Becoming is just polished and winking enough to acknowledge that the whole story can never actually be told. The version of Michelle Obama shown in the documentary is the apotheosized version those who already admire her have come to expect. To watch it is to understand that the girl from the south side of Chicago is now a woman with a team, a walking production whose control over her story is held in her necessarily manicured hands.
None of this is to say that Becomingcomes off disingenuous. It comes off the only way it possibly can: perfectly "intimate" while maintaining the distance its subject requires to save some of herself for herself. Michelle Obama is smart enough to produce a documentary (Becomingis produced by the Obamas' Academy Award–winning company Higher Ground) that reminds us of who she is according to her and her alone. It's a testament to her hard work as First Lady and as a private citizen that the sparkling glimpse it offers feels like more than enough.
Becoming is streaming on Netflix now.
TopicsMichelle ObamaNetflix
Olympic security asks female Iranian fan to drop protest sign2024-09-20 07:46
阿曼已做好在沙迦戰國足準備 主帥稱不勝就辭職?假消息2024-09-20 07:36
國米輕取升班馬終結不勝尷尬 衛冕路上緊追同城死敵2024-09-20 07:35
伊卡爾迪道歉信曝光 :我是好人 隻是犯了個愚蠢的錯2024-09-20 07:30
Olympics official on Rio's green diving pool: 'Chemistry is not an exact science'2024-09-20 07:06
曝河北隊若退賽申花將遞補進爭冠組 升降級規定或生變2024-09-20 06:51
粵媒:足協或開通教練培訓綠色通道 鄭智等球員可直接考試2024-09-20 06:43
本國主場未獲批準 伊拉克12強賽主場繼續設在多哈2024-09-20 06:40
Tyler, the Creator helped Frank Ocean celebrate 'Blonde' release in a delicious way2024-09-20 06:28
國米前瞻 :藍黑軍避三輪不勝 哲科衝擊射手榜頭名2024-09-20 06:02
Watch MTV's Video Music Awards 2016 livestream2024-09-20 08:18
費萊尼未參加泰山有球訓練 大概率缺席次回合戰武漢2024-09-20 08:14
巴薩官方 :法蒂右膝疼痛 何時複出取決於恢複情況2024-09-20 08:06
本國主場未獲批準 伊拉克12強賽主場繼續設在多哈2024-09-20 07:43
Satisfy your Olympics withdrawals with Nike's latest app2024-09-20 07:23
河北隊國腳尹鴻博:希望球隊可以盡快渡過難關 !2024-09-20 06:56
轉危為安!曝索帥獲弗爵力挺 英媒:再給他三場救贖2024-09-20 06:51
比賽日:比利亞雷亞爾32024-09-20 06:35
This German startup wants to be your bank (without being a bank)2024-09-20 06:18
萊科:奧斯卡賀慣出場仍存疑 不會因為首回合取勝放鬆2024-09-20 06:06