TV Review: Donald Glover’s Atlanta Is Casual Greatness
In a world where Donald Trump can call the black community “the blacks”, Mexicans “rapists” that live with “the blacks” in “war zones”, and paint every person of color as a “welfare baby” in need of more policing, Donald Glover’s Atlanta rises as a radiant response to Trump’s question “What do you have to lose?”. The answer is love. It is not a lie that there are poor black and latino communities, but what people like Trump fail to see is how poverty is an environmental condition; not a spiritual one. Atlanta has no intention or agenda beyond showing you the lives of its characters for what they are: life. Thus, Atlanta becomes a refreshing, television event for people of color whom yearn for more portrayals of something they have always been: human.
One of the most frustrating things as a person of color is to see your community diminished to a stereotype and catalyst for another person’s life. It is a painful reality to know that when you turn on the television you will not find characters that relate to your being or situation beyond caricatures that tussle between being a run-on joke or criminal. Although Atlanta shows violence, incarceration, foul language, and drug usage, the difference is that it shows joy. When troubled urban, communities are portrayed on television, there seems to be a mark that is completely bypassed: people always find reasons to laugh, love, and dream. Why? Because no matter what the inhumanity of a situation; the human spirit can be strong enough to be light. This can be seen in the scenes of Earn (Donald Glover) in jail during episode 2.
Episode 2, which is not available for FREE on youtube, is predominantly based in a jail holding lounge. The episode soars, like Episode 1, in its comedic subtly. It is a goldmine in laughs because of the casual causality of jokes that are sprinkled between some serious anecdotes on social injustice and classification. There are moments when you will cringe, i.e. when a detainee was beaten brutally by an officer. I am a person that cannot watch violence, and the reality of certain scenes like in the jail or the confrontation in the parking lot, struck me like a dumbbell. Still, the show’s premiere two episodes thrived on showing the cruelty or mediocrity of life can fall into a routine that still manages to be open to greatness.
Whether it be Earn’s genuine and beautiful love for his daughter or the dynamically hilarious friendship between Darius (Lakeith Stansfield) and Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), there is brightness to Atlanta. In revealing, the struggles of poor, black communities it, again, succeeds because it shows human beings are struggling; not distant aliens. The difference in language and perception is important because it effects how virtuously harsh scenarios can be healed.
Atlanta Is On Tuesdays At 10 on FX. Click Here For More Information.
