MAGIC CITY: WHY ATLANTA IS THE MOST MAGICAL SHOW ON TELEVISION
“Um, I grew up in a house where magic wasn’t allowed, so everybody in here is magical to me. Like, every time I saw a movie or Disney movies or heard your voices or saw you, I was like, ‘Oh, magic is from people. We’re the ones who, kind of, in a weird way, tell a story or a lie to children so they do stuff that we never thought was possible,’…My dad used to tell me every day, ‘You can do anything you want.’ And I remember thinking as a kid in first grade, ‘You’re lying to me.’ But now I do stuff, and he’s like,’‘I didn’t think that was possible.’ I really want to say thank you to my son, and the mother of my son, for making me believe in people again and things being possible… So, thank you.”
The elegance of these words, sincere and frank. Atlanta was my favorite show on TV last year. In a world where plot lines can be predictable and people use the word “content” to describe art, it’s really illuminating to make magic.
There’s multiple moments in the season that are unprecedented and had me saying, “I didn’t know you could do that.”
1) The Invisible Car — The planting and payoff for that episode was sheer genius. Blurring the lines of hyper-realism and magical-realism is a feat that most filmmakers have a hard time with. I love the taste of the show and how it is able to bring light to the absurdity of the human condition. Hiro Murai is a fantastic tactician; in scenes where you may think the lighting is too sparse for conventional standards it is intentional to add depth to the character’s emotional struggle. The neo-realistic lighting creates a motif through the series and lays groundwork for surprise VFX shots to steal you away from reality.
2) The line, “But I’m Nigerian.” — shout out to Fam and Swank for holding it down for the Naija brothers. There are no black shows that really make a delineation between our cultures in such a subtle manner. The diversity in Atlanta is way more than skin deep and race is not the driving force of this narrative, life is. It’s like the pursuit of happiness for the homies. Where Earn is focused on feeding his daughter and becoming a better man, in a city that just happens to be extremely melanin rich. Atlanta has a cast that is mainly made up of relative unknowns, but if you know of Donald’s work and have seen Keith Stanfield in action before, then you would know it would turn out great. The whole cast is full of brilliant actors and the show plays out in every crevice of Atlanta’s beautiful landscape. Highlighting the young and ratchet to the “bad and boujee”.
3) The BAN episode — For a normal show to veer off into an episode filled with fake low budget commercials is a hard sell. I feel like new neuron pathways were building in my mind to comprehend such a thing. It was like a dope ass show ‘n’ tell episode where they just played around with a grab bag of ideas. This show is a child of the internet in so many ways. The thought process between the deep dives into catacombs of the web to find a special brand of funny you never knew existed. Every episode of Atlanta tried something new and left you with something to talk about during the week, especially this one. The Dodge commercial makes me laugh every time now when I see a Charger or Challenger in the street with a dude nodding his head. And the cartoon cereal commercial had me in tears. I was watching the “Call Amahd White” Commercial about eating crystals and I called the number to get the answering machine. Hilarious! The fact that @RealHipHopFacts was created 2 years prior to the show airing. There is something special about the care put into each and every piece of the show.
4) The Van episode — I developed a full blown crush on Van through the season and fell in love with her character during the Value episode directed by Donald. Another break from the norm; an episode focused on the strong female lead that felt so feminine and complex and made you care. I saw an episode of Girls, “Lost in Central Park” where they spun off and focused on Marney and it was solid but I don’t think that can hold a match to this episode. This episode did a deep dive into the insecurities of this beautiful, fragile and strong woman with every emotion belting out like a high school trumpet section warming up on a musical scale of feelings.
5) Social Commentary without derailing life. — I think that Atlanta shows power in the mundane. There was a scene in the jail in episode two where mental health was addressed with such poignancy it shook my soul. I seriously felt so sad for that moment that I had to stand up and walk away. There was another moment in the finale when the police show up and that situation was handled with care, but also delivered humor in the cracks of it to show the humanity of that moment. I can’t think of any other show ever that has handled these events in such a way that contemplates the tragedy and still delivers a realistic depiction of how humans react to this when they have their own lives spiraling around in their head.
If you have not watched this show, I’m sorry if I spoiled anything but you’ll get over it when you watch it. As a creator, this show made me proud of Atlanta and it brought magic into my life by accurately it depicting one of America’s greatest cities and not apologizing for imagination. I didn’t know it was possible but now I do. Thank you!
