Becoming – have you read the book? HAVE YOU READ BECOMING BY MICHELLE OBAMA? The Michelle Obama, best first lady in American history (just my humble opinion). If you haven’t, go. Now. Go read it.
Great, now that you’re all caught up we need to talk about Becoming, the documentary. It’s on Netflix and it’s great.
Michelle is BAE
Can I even say this? Can I say that Michelle is bae? I fell in love with her warm voice whilst listening to her audiobook on Audible and now that I have seen her in action, I am falling even more.
I listened to ‘Becoming’ last year, every morning on my way to work (who remembers commuting? 🙋🏻♀️) and constantly changed my outlook on life, every day. It took me shy of a couple of weeks to finish it and I still cherish the journey it took me on.
As a woman, I found it incredibly inspiring to read about all the obstacles that Michelle had to overcome. As a white woman, it gave me a much better idea of what it means to be a black woman in America and to realise just how privileged I am.
Michelle connects to all her readers and now watchers
Michelle is so human and it is something I appreciate from a public figure these days. Michelle lights up the political scene.
In the documentary, you really get to see her as a human, a woman, a POC and not just ‘the wife of Barack Obama’.
I loved seeing all the meet and greets she did during the book tour and I loved seeing the real-life meetings with other fellow humans, the connection. Gosh, I am a sucker for real connection.
Let’s hope for more
I want to see more of this kind of humanity. I want to see politicians putting themselves out there, really caring for the ‘normal people’ (side note: I haven’t watched Normal People yet, should I?).
In Becoming, Michelle tackles what it means to be put under the spotlight of the public eye and she holds nothing back. The years of carefully scripting her speeches, so that no word could be misinterpreted or manipulated. The years of being observed and scrutinised. The years of public life. Also, she reminds us that it was not all sunshine and roses for the Barack presidency.
I don’t know Michelle’s experience fully, I can only gauge it from what she writes. In the book you get the flavours, the emotions, the sounds, the music of Michelle’s life. In the documentary, you’re there with her. What a great honour it is to enter someone’s life in such depth.
The icing on the cake: you also get to hear from the people who have been inspired by Michelle, their life and their dreams.
I am left inspired, energised and more in love with Michelle than before. And oh, do I love her sassiness.
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