My musical awakening occurred when I was three. I was watching The Sound of Music, and that afternoon, right there in the middle of my grandmother's bedroom, musicals were sewn onto me like Peter Pan's shadow. I couldn't get enough of them--especially those by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Growing up, The King and I was my favorite musical. But then I reached that age where I began noticing things: Gone with the Wind felt off to me, especially as a black person whose family was enslaved in Georgia. The Natives in Peter Pan started to rub me the wrong way. And it became harder to enjoy The King and I, as it started to feel a bit backwards, especially after I learned that practically the entire cast was in yellow face. 

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How do such problematic elements work their way into such sweeping films, going unnoticed by so many people--even the "woke" ones? I am a believer in story's ability to influence societal thought, and its overall effectiveness over explicit messages as a form of persuasion. My concentration, Society and Storytelling, prompted me to explore how such media can be used to deliver ideological material in an entertaining, romantic narrative. This requires questioning the merits of very thing I love most: Rodger's and Hammerstein's musicals.