I'll admit it. For the last two years, I have had an extremely weird and scary fascination with Childish Gambino, also known as Donald Glover. Every few years I go through a new fascination with some random famous dude. When I was in middle school it was Chris Evans (Captain America) and in high school, it was the ridiculously attractive Noah Centineo. Not only is Donald Glover immensely handsome, but he is also extremely multitalented. I came across his music first. From his most popular songs to his unreleased songs that made it onto SoundCloud, they are all beautiful and unique in their own way. Around this time, I found out that he has also been a supporting actor in multiple television series. Eventually, I came upon a show that he managed to both create and direct called "Atlanta". Here are some reasons why you might want to invest some time into the series.
It's short and sweet
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The series is only 21 episodes in total, which gives you the opportunity to binge it relatively quickly. Season 2 is better than Season 1 which makes it easier to watch.
It takes risks
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I am not going to lie, there is one episode in the series that I didn't know what was going on. It wasn't until later that I realized that the episode was meant to be a television program complete with ads and featuring one of the main characters of the show in a television interview. It was a bit hard to decipher and the advertisements may have looked to be simply silly from afar, but they also were full of underlying messages pertaining to race and humanity in general. It is often seen time after time that television shows aim to satisfy their audience by giving them exactly what they want. "Atlanta" is not like that at all. It doesn't care at all about audience satisfaction. It manages to deliver exactly what it wants, and viewers can either like it or not.
It is highly relevant to modern times
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Underneath all of the humor, the series manages to cover a lot of problems that are heavily prevalent in this day and age. The show exhibits many dark problems in the black community including but not limited to incarceration, sexuality, mental illness, and police brutality. There is a scene in one of the first few episodes of Season 1 that manages to cover all of these topics in the span of a couple of minutes. It is insane. Bringing light to all of these issues helps the audience, whether they are black or not, to realize that these are pertinent problems that should be addressed. It also gives viewers the ability to see through the eyes of the characters, as they represent different individuals that must face daily obstacles due to their race. It also manages to include the very debatable topic of social media and how newer generations are using it in the workplace.
It is surreal and it is brilliant
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"Atlanta" has a lot of weird moments that just make it incredibly funny. The show is insanely bizarre and random. For example, an invisible car is featured in the show just for the heck of it. It is also a show within a show, and each of the characters manage to tell their own stories. The development of character within all of the individuals that are in the show is incredible. Especially in Season 2, you get to experience some quite scary moments with some of the characters on the show, and you are able to see how it directly impacts them and changes them. In this way, it reminded me somewhat of a book that divides the chapters up by the perspectives of the characters. It takes its time to show you who the individuals in the story really are, and how they are impacted by one another.
It won a bunch of awards
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The show ended up winning 12 prestigious awards including an NAACP award for outstanding director as well as a Golden Globe for best television series.
I hope this convinced you, but if not, I hope that you give it a chance sometime in the future.
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