By: Gabriel Graves
When I first heard of the Golden Globe award-winning show Atlanta, I thought to myself… “Huh?” Then within the first episode there was a pretty powerful little scene I watched. “This dude, he can’t spin worth a shit… Then he goes and plays Flo Rida, back to back! So I calmly pull him aside, and I was just like ‘really nigga!?'” “You actually said that?” says Earnest (Donald Glover) after his white friend said that word in front of his face. This interaction in the middle of episode one: The Big Bang, is exactly what Atlanta is about and why it is an important show to address racial stereotypes. Later on in the show, we see Earnest’s friend repeat the story to his two black friends Darius & Paper Boi (of course he ignored to say this word in front of them) showing that he feels comfortable stating that word in front of Earn because he does not view him as ‘black enough’. This is something MANY white people take advantage of and do not know how to properly address, because mainstream rap culture makes it seem cool and normal to say openly.
Atlanta is one of the few new shows I have scene in awhile; that address serious issues in a way that you can laugh about them within the context of the story… The reason why is embracing the ‘blackness’; while, also, attacking the flaws in the way their race perceives things. In the episode “The Club”, we follow the squad in their endeavors to ‘live it up’ at the famous night club in ATL. Paper Boi must go to the event to help his street credentials and look like a proper rapper.. Whereas, Earn has to have a scheduled meeting with a fellow record label producer since he owes him money for the song that they featured in. This episode does an amazing job tackling what it means to be a successful African-American who is an athlete or musician.
Throughout the entirety of the episode; we see that Paper Boi feels like he is being ignored since there is a more popular celebrity in the club that night having his own VIP section. He tries to emulate this character’s actions to get with a beautiful woman (who is only interested in him for his money), Paper Boi slowly realizes that his two best friends aren’t even in the VIP lounge with him; this is very troubling because he notices that he is paying for ‘free drinks’ to a bunch of random people who didn’t help him get to where he is and don’t even know his true name. This is a huge dive in criticizing how black culture only cares about the materialistic things.
Later on in the episode, we see how Earn finds the music business world to be corrupt where the guy he is suppose to make a transaction with, does not follow through and keeps trying to slip away from Earn in the club. Then after multiple failed attempts, he heads to the bar and drinks his sorrows away. Only, to confess to the bartender that he hates the club… he does not see the point and everyone is superficial, looking for a handout.
Atlanta explores many different sources of racism, whether it is head on or in a subtle way; it talks about an issue and addresses it within the episodes. It talks about issues even outside the racial catalogue, such as in one of my personal favorite episodes “B.A.N.”. In this episode, Paper Boi gets blasted by transgender activist for tweeting out he would never have sex with Caitlyn Jenner. He then has to go on air and debate with the transgender activist and explain what he meant. The argument moves from the hotly discussed panel topic, to a whole new disagreement when a “Trans-Racial” (yes, that is indeed a thing in the show) Antoine Smalls states he is a 35 year old white man from Colorado who loves IPA’s & Game of Thrones.
This is a genius of both keeping awareness towards and issue, while also, making the subject a bit more fun and easy to laugh at how we overreact to current issues. Personally, I think the greatest thing this episode does is it has commercials throughout the interview EXACTLY like real television and the structure makes you forget you are watching a real show. Some of the advertisements include Arizona Ice Tea, Mickey’s Malt Liquor, and Swisher Sweets which are cultural brands in the black community and they played this into the fact that the ‘channel’ in the show was similar to a black CNN. The most intense and provoking ad is that of a fictional cereal…
The beauty of why Atlanta is the most thought provoking and the most culturally significant show that is currently running on television comes from the fact that Donald Glover’s writing/directing is portraying exactly what it’s like to be poor to lower middle class in Atlanta, GA. He utilizes surrealism and his quirky humor, while writing a well-crafted (strange) plot and delivers knowledge to white audiences such as myself, to keep us understanding other cultures ideas and customs. While, helping shape the African-American audiences views on their societies and trying to tell them what to improve on.. while also praising the awesome and beautiful quirks that they have!
What Atlanta does in critiquing black culture it doubles that in praising the culture. In some ways, it very much is a love letter from Donald to his hometown state Georgia. Not to mention the raw honesty in the show of “being black” is a beautiful and awesome thing. Atlanta, seems to truly appreciate and what to replicate the appreciation of African-American culture to the small screen.. It feels like it is a show for them (the black community) and it wants to be the most perfect show it can be for the race. Speaking as a white male, I cannot fully relate to everything I see or hear on the show. Just like the Fresh Prince or The Cosby show before it, Atlanta tackles very important discussions about race and does it with such ease & humor.
However, I am willing to learn and appreciate black culture just as much as Atlanta wants to show it’s appreciation for the culture as well; having lived in Georgia for a large part of my life I understand more than most people in my demographic probably would get. This show is all about learning from the issues of their community, while also praising the beauty of the community it pokes fun of. Either way, this was my show of 2017 for many reasons and I think it is a game changer in the realm of television. As Childish Gambino would say, “Must stay woke!”.
Criticizing Culture 