Did people change what they watched/read/listen to around Black Lives Matter? Will it help?
To do my job I often have to think about and dive into the sea of collective human consciousness and intent that is the Google query stream.
I often think about it in the context of media - it's both professionally required and personally interesting. A few weeks ago I noticed a few things, that I tried to confirm last week through Google Trends.
When the latest incidents of violence against the African-American community sparked both emotions and a movement across the United States and beyond, one of the things that struck me was how many conversations I was having with friends and colleagues around understanding system racial injustice better and how often movie and book recommendations came up as a way for people to understand issues better as well as build empathy.
There were also a flurry of articles recommending books, movies and shows on the topic. So I was curious. Did people change their media consumption habits at all?
They did.
Here are a few examples in the US. You see a distinct change right after the week of George Floyd's murder at the end of May, peaking the next week and in some cases persisting at a slightly elevated level of interest even afterwards.
Multiple people told me about 13th, a 2016 documentary directed by Ava DuVernay about the unjust practices in the US prison system. You can see how the interest spiked even beyond the initial release of the documentary four years ago.
You see spikes even for more popular and older stuff like Fruitvale Station and Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing.
Just Mercy which was released in January, and then made available to stream for free in June, saw the most interest, almost as much as when it was first released - which is extremely unusual for a recent wide-release.
You see similar spikes in shows, even more mainstream fare
...and of course in books around the subject too.
The graph that surprised me the most (but maybe shouldn't have) is the one for Childish Gambino's This is America
You see similar spikes for people trying to learn about Dr King, Malcom X and Rodney King.
So why do graphs with spikes matter? And why do they make me more hopeful?
They are evidence of interest - interest in educating oneself or trying to feel more connected to a cause. They are indicators of people open to changing their minds, and with it possibly trying to change things around them.
And some of this interest, hopefully translated and will translate into action, which will translate into change.
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