The first episode of the new season of Atlanta is brilliant, and I’d go as far as saying it breaks new ground in a way I haven’t seen before. The only things comparable that come to mind: the “Religion” episode of Master of None, where Aziz eats pork and has to deal with his parents/their beliefs and where he’s at in his life. Or every episode of Ramy is another great example. Another thing that really stood out to me in recent years as being truly groundbreaking in terms of telling a relatable story I’d never seen before was the Kumail Nanjiani movie, The Big Sick. I know these pieces of media seem wildly different, and they are, but I will explain exactly what I mean by “relatable” and “groundbreaking” for people that think I’m just latching on to anything with people of color in it, because that’s automatically what I want to see or whatever. What I’m trying to say here is that, 10 years ago, stuff like this would not be made. These are stories that are only being told now, which is hilarious and crazy.
I don’t want to give a full summary of the episode because I believe people should watch things and let it hit them first that way, but very quickly: a black kid named Loquarious is adopted by two lesbian white women who seem normal on the surface, but we learn they’re actually straight out of a horror movie. In fact, the whole episode gave me “Jordan Peele movie” vibes; the premise is something that could have easily had a running time like Get Out (1h 44m) if they wanted to milk it and extract more out of the idea for a slower burn.
First thing I wanted to talk about: there’s a scene where the couple gives Loquarious the nickname, “Larry,” because they consider his real name too difficult to pronounce. This is straight out of my life, and something very common to people of color: white people will often give people nicknames when they don’t want to make the effort to learn how to pronounce it (ironically: these people with the difficult names usually have to make infinitely more effort in life overall, but that’s for another time lol). It’s not just nicknames, there have also been times where I’ve been called merely the first letter of my name by white people who refuse to make the attempt at learning a fairly easy, two-syllable, six letter name. Or even more racistly (not a word, don’t care), I’ve had white guys call me nicknames that really make no sense to no one else other than them: stuff like “D-Money,” which is incredibly dumb and insulting IMHO. These types of people will just make up names for you without logic or even asking if you’re okay with it, because it’s not really about you, it’s about them and how they feel. I don’t really like talking about this type of shit because it makes me seem angrier than I am and hard to get along with and political or whatever, but fuck it, there it is lol.
The name stuff is one thing, and I’m sure lots of people can relate. But the big thing for me this episode was the adoption stuff. It almost felt like an urban legend type of horror story that has been told and passed down throughout the years, and that’s because it kind of is: when I was growing up, as a kid I’d complain from time to time about various stuff. The usual type of stuff a kid who doesn’t know about the world yet would complain about. I remember my mother would tell me things like, “When you go outside, no one cares about you. It’s actually the opposite: you’re in danger. The only people you got in this world are me and your father. People will look at the color of your skin and want to harm you because of that. Do you want to call the police on us and join some white family? You’re gonna be treated even worse than you think you’re being treated here. You’ll never be accepted out there completely, but you’re safe here,” that type of thing. It sounds harsh, but it’s tough to really explain to children of colour what they’re dealing with in the world, so parents that say these types of things will sometimes exaggerate to get the point across. And then as a result, a lot of kids grow up confused as hell about what it all really means until they mature and figure shit out as adults. And the funny thing about all of this is: when I grew up, I heard from several others that their parents told them the same sort of things from time to time. For the first few years of my life, to be honest with you: I thought white people were from a horror movie, the same type that Atlanta envisioned in this first episode. (Also, as a side note: I’ve only seen this type of scenario in one other thing recently, Chris Rock’s Tambourine special has a bit about raising his kids). It took me awhile to realize that some whites can be trustworthy, and some ain’t.
This is what I mean by “groundbreaking” and “relatable.” In its season opener, the show went to a place I thought only existed in my head, and the imaginations of other kids of colour. It articulated a very real fear that I had that I’d never seen before, and thought I was the only one to ever experience (other than the people I talked to about it). Growing up, I often thought to myself, “Who is this white family my mom keeps mentioning? They’re nice but also evil? What would that even look like?” And the image of it would kinda haunt me from time to time. Now, thanks to the artists behind Atlanta: I know exactly what it would look like. Episode 1, Season 3!
To me, this is the very definition of art that does something new: it taps into a place you thought only you and a select few knew about. And the really cool thing about this is that it would simply be impossible for a white person to ever have an understanding or knowledge about this phenomenon. There’s just no way a white person would have been able to come up with something like this because they have no idea what it’s like to be raised not-white, in a not-white household, and the things that get said. I’m not saying this type of media can’t be enjoyed by them, but I am saying they would never be able to come up with this type of idea. And similarly, I’m sure they might have experiences a person of colour might not ever be able to come up with because I have no idea what it’s like to be raised white and have the confidence that I can walk into any room and feel safe, etc. A guy like PTA, for example, would be able to tell you what it was like growing up in California in the 70s and make movies about it, and I probably wouldn’t be able to because that wasn’t my experience.
I’m not writing this to be divisive or anything like that, but rather to illustrate a really cool fact about where we are now in terms of the potential for certain stories to get made (ISA, let’s hope lol). We’re now living in a period of history where something like this episode of Atlanta (and Ramy in general) can actually get made, and I find that really cool. In the past, the only relatable piece of content I had ever seen that covered being a Muslim and growing up in white society was the film East Is East (1999), and that was one of the only things I was able to refer to for years. For the longest time, the film East is East was literally the only thing passed around as “relatable,” (and yeah, I know I’ve already talked about this before, who cares). We’re only now starting to tell these strange, crazy, and yes, I’ll say it again, relatable stories, that should have been told years ago. I’m looking forward to seeing where this decade takes this idea, and how much further we can go. I wanna see everything: movies about what it was like to grow up as a mormon. Movies about being short lol. Movies about being the only person of colour in your classes. I wanna see the weeds and fields, the shit that isn’t being told. Less slavery movies, and more where-we-are-now type movies. People should continue seeking to do the stuff that hasn’t been told.
BTW, I’m remembering right now that I wrote this script a couple years ago. It’s about growing up as a brown Muslim kid around white people and trying to find your way in life, lol. Read it if you’re bored and you want to see a movie I would make if I had the resources to do so. I would probably change a couple things now in retrospect, but there it is if you want. I was aiming for a raw, autobiographical thing.