Column: “Atlanta” dips into Black Surrealism in season premiere

Be aware: This text contains mentions of suicide and home violence.

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The wait is lastly over for followers of Donald Glover’s “Atlanta”, which returned final month after a four-year hiatus. The FX sequence was delayed as a consequence of scheduling conflicts and the continued COVID-19 pandemic that halted productions throughout Hollywood. 

Although the season has merely begun, “Atlanta” has welcomed us again into its weird surrealist world — and I’m all for it. 

“Atlanta,” which premiered in 2016, follows the lives of buddies Earn (Donald Glover), Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry), Darius (LaKeith Stanfield) and Van (Zazie Beetz). A significant plot level of the present — based mostly in Atlanta —  are Paper Boi’s aspirations and work in establishing his rap profession. 

Glover acts in, created, produces and writes the present alongside his brother, Stephen. 

Season three, which premiered with two episodes on March 24, takes viewers to Europe throughout Paper Boi’s profitable worldwide tour. No matter expectations viewers could have had in regards to the story plot upon watching are rapidly disrupted by occasions which might be equal components horrific, uncomfortable and hilarious. 

The primary episode is a dreamscape retelling of the tragic story of Devonte Hart, a 12-year-old Black boy who was photographed hugging a police officer that later went viral in 2014. 

Because the picture circulated on Twitter, studies revealed that it could have been staged by Jennifer Hart, the white girl who adopted him. In 2018, Hart drove her spouse, Devonte Hart and his 5 different Black adopted siblings off a cliff. 

Following their deaths, quite a few studies surfaced that Jennifer and Sarah Hart bodily and emotionally abused their adopted youngsters. 

The episode exhibits the fictional model of Devonte Hart transition into a brand new dwelling after a combat along with his organic mom. He rapidly grows suspicious of his adoptive moms who undercook their meals, do not use washcloths and make their youngsters work the backyard for the produce they promote. 

The murder-suicide occurs after the Hart character kills a social employee who visited the house. 

The physique of Devonte Hart was by no means discovered, however he’s presumed useless. Within the creativeness of “Atlanta” writers and present’s script, he manages to flee the automotive earlier than it crashes and returns to his mom. The episode blends horror and actuality, which serves as a figurative and literal nightmare that wakes Earn from his sleep. 

After Earn wakes up, there is no such thing as a return to regular within the second episode. As he and Paper Boi put together for a present, they discover themselves within the midst of the celebrations for Sinterklaas — the Santa Claus of the Netherlands. 

Sinterklaas is similar jolly, gift-giving bearded man we’re conversant in, however within the Dutch custom, he’s accompanied by a helper named Black Pete. Adults and kids that costume up as Black Pete don a layer of blackface, an afro wig, giant pink lips and golden hoop earrings. 

With our personal historical past of minstrelsy and blackface in America, it’s unsettling to see the follow so normalized, regardless of the context. This occurs to Earn and Paper Boi, who encounter folks in blackface on the road, of their resort room and within the live performance venue, which is stuffed to the brim with white faces painted black. 

In an particularly hilarious and poignant second, the live performance promoter, enraged after Earn tells him that Paper Boi refuses to carry out, chases him out into the venue foyer and fights a white man in blackface that he errors for Earn. 

The 2 episodes, whereas horrifying and unusual, aren’t fantastical. They’re steeped in very actual — albeit exaggerated — conditions that spotlight the absurdity and awfulness of racism. “Atlanta” mixes ridiculous, scary and uncomfortable moments to create a surrealist depiction of racism at its most mundane and excessive ranges. 

Surrealism is a style that performs with the unnatural and incongruous, and has been integrated in movie, artwork and even literature. “Atlanta” has been positioned in a cohort of surreal motion pictures and TV exhibits, together with Jordan Peele’s “Get Out” and “Sorry To Hassle You” — each of which starred forged member LaKeith Stanfield. 

The present balances the horror of the previous and weird of the latter and embeds it in a seemingly on a regular basis expertise of its Black characters. 

These media texts have additionally been referred to as the resurgence of Afro-Surrealism, which author and activist Amiri Baraka describes as the mixture of surrealism and “the Black aesthetic in its precise up to date and lived life.” 

Afro-Surrealism or Black Surrealism finds its roots within the Black Arts Motion of the Seventies, and brings collectively the terrifying, mystical and comedic to permit artists to critique the illogical, monstrous and hilarious parts that animate racism. 

Devonte Hart’s story was scary — and is even scarier as a result of it really occurred. Incidents of blackface are much less frequent now, however think about a metropolis the place the follow is so normalized that you just see it in all places you flip. 

And what’s most unsettling in regards to the episodes is how a lot fact there may be to them.

The third episode — launched final week — was not as putting as the primary two, which felt akin to a fever dream, nevertheless it nonetheless carried the essence of Black Surrealism that I believe Glover and his group wished to realize. 

I’m to see how the rest of the season goes and I’m down for the experience — unusual and all. 

@_zarialyssa

opinion@dailytarheel.com