Why Donald Glover's Atlanta Feels So Weird

The world of Donald Glover's Atlanta feels... off. What's going on?

Citations:
Baraka, Amiri. “Henry Dumas: Afro-Surreal Expressionist” Black American Literature Forum, Vol. 22, No. 2, Henry Dumas Issue (Summer, 1988)

Bakare, Lanre. "From Beyoncé to Sorry to Bother You: The New Age of Afro-Surrealism." The Guardian, Dec 06, 2018,

Special thanks to D. Scot Miller for the interview.

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[Kayodoms]

I told my friend a while ago that being black sometimes feels like being in an episode of the Twilight Zone then I watched Atlanta..He definitely captured what a lot of us feel.

[JoshOD]

"What I take for granted as normal is creating an absurd reality for others..." Great quote.

[StylePoints]

This series does a great job of the "Show not tell" aspect of a good story. Nobody is narrating for the camera, this world exists without there being a lens on it. It respects its own universe too much to care about coddling the viewer with obligatory narrative.

[YoungBasedChefBeezy]

If you’ve ever lived in Atlanta, you’d know something always feels “off” or “weird”. It’s a magical place.

[kevinlakeman]

Glad they included 'Sorry To Bother You' in the afro-surrealism mix. It's a brilliant, highly entertaining film with some very heavy points being made. My guy LaKeith Stanfield is amazing in it, as always.

[deathhzrd]

Coming as a Hispanic dude. Atlanta really makes you understand what it’s like living in a racist society on a day to day basis without actually telling you.

[soulsvitality]

this could also go with the jordan peele films as well, and other creators, seems like this thing is its own genre, and its gaining more popularity, love seeing stuff like this being made

[jylnwilliams]

As a young black kid that loves this show it’s really cool to learn about afro-surrealism, also very eye opening creativity wise

[alancarmody]

Its the humanity and nuance of its critique: it’s studied yet mildly passionate; it’s humour has a purpose; it recognises the absurd in reality, the real in the surreal. Its the best show for a while now; I just would like more of it.

[raigresham]

First episode of this season was so important and a rollercoaster of emotions.

[jayceinfinitealgharhythmns]

I wish something like this was around when I was a teenager. I was really into surrealism, absurdism, Avant-garde, experimental art, music, books, movies, television, etc. And unfortunately, as a black male, I was either unaware that this form of medium existed and was made by people of color or it just didn't. But I'm glad it's here now.

[Wogalot]

as a latino man this show really hit home. personally i don’t speak spanish and for the most part i’ve made my own identity. but every hispanic i meet says i’m not mexican enough or how can you be mexican if you don’t speak the language. But whenever i’m around whites or hell any other race i can tell that they look at me weird and treat me differently to the point where everything they says seems fake almost.

[SkipIntroYT]

As a white guy who did a video about the surrealism in Atlanta way back when, this is really awesome and important context about why it felt that way

[YourBlackLocal]

I’m black and from the UK and a lot of these incidents stand out to me.

The sandwich reminds of the drug addict who’ll offer you something out of random and if you don’t accept act like you insulted them.

I remember one time my friend was just reciting a song(we have a lot of songs about violence) and my friends uncle (we were 14 at the time at his birthday party, now 25) started talking about what it’s like to stab a man in the chest and how it feels. Just because he thought it’d be a good warning to younger people.

And I don’t know if it’s just the black experience and not a working class experience. But, because therapy isn’t really a thing if you don’t have money or time, you get a lot of experiences around people who should have far more self awareness.

TL;DR I feel a lot of those experiences when watching Atlanta.

[rjsantana]

Thanks man! As a latino living in Boston now, the subtleness of everything is what makes racism so weird and deeply rooted in others actions.

[KelbiRose]

As a young black woman growing up in the south it's very real lol, I feel like something will always feel weird if it isn't your reality. But that's also the beauty of television, you get to take a look into the worlds of those around you. It somewhat takes you into the life of weird or quirky African Americans in Atlanta if that makes sense.

[skullsaintdead]

5:58 "If you're dealing with absurd fiction everyday of your life, something you know isn't real, but you have to treat it as if its real... that's the thing putting us in jail... giving us unemployment... getting us killed." Wow. Perfectly summed it up. So glad I saw some exploratory videos like this one and moved beyond 'but its about African Americans, I'm a white Aussie girl' and watched it. Powerful show.

[TheDrexxus]

At one point in my life, the company I worked for fired everyone and closed down the building I was working in very suddenly an I lost access to health insurance and thus my medications I need to live. After some research, I discovered a place nearby that provided free health care and medications to people who were unemployed, which I had just become. I decided to sign up at this place for health care until I got a new job, because I needed my meds and couldn't live without them.

Anyway, this place was setup in a real bizarre manner. They only accept new patients on one night each week and you have to show up at around 4am and form a line and at 8am the doors open and the first 10 people in that line get added as new patients. So when I went to sign up there, I got there at 4am and was already 3rd in line.

Now this place was in a pretty shady area in the city and wasn't well lit, so it was already uncomfortable to know I had to stand there for 4 hours waiting for the doors to open. Not only that, but both of the people in front of me in line were homeless drug addicts. They were having conversations with each other, with me, and sometimes themselves, talking about all kinds of things. They believed all sorts of crazy things. I don't remember the specifics of what they talked about, but I do remember all of it sounded unhinged. They were like conspiracy nuts, the sort of people who believe there are listening devices all over, in common objects. The one guy made a comment that he had special equipment and detected 4 of them in the wall of the building we were standing in front of at some point. They also talked about how they came to be homeless. I never asked, but it felt almost like a compulsion on their part, like they just had to tell their story. It was deeply unsettling being next to these two individuals alone in this dark alley for hours in this shady part of town, and it was impossible to know how much of what they said was true, how much was an intentional lie, and how much was just crazy shit they believe is true but isn't.

I ultimately got inside, signed up, and was given my medication. Once you sign up, you can just show up at any time while they're open to pickup meds for a full year so I was already employed again and had health insurance and didn't have to go back. But that experience was very otherworldly to me. It felt almost like being in a dream because I was in a place I would never have gone to, surrounded by people i'd work hard to avoid being near, and so on.

When I watch shows like Atlanta, it reminds me of that experience. It was almost like being sucked into the twilight zone where all the rules to the world suddenly changed for a short time before going back to normal.

[alexjeannite]

Watching Atlanta just encapsulated what it felt like being black sometimes, the scene where Darius gets chased by the lady on the scooter was hilarious but actually resonated with me because sometimes you just exist or do what everyone else is doing but you get singled out for being black

[mocapcow]

Even though I have dealt with a lot of things that have occurred in Atlanta, a lot of Atlanta moments makes me feel things similar to cringe, because it feels both so real, but so awkward. I always end up pausing the show and doing something else because the show just makes me feel so weird.