Black women are tired of being a stepping stool in your rise to fame. And a little appreciation from your open-minded creativity would be nice. I don’t stan black men who only care black men in their pro-blackness. A world that doesn’t take care of Black women when they’regoodsure as hell wouldn’t miss the chance to punish one for committing serial murders across the country.
Black Women and Donald Glover
Stop acting like his white mate could infect him with wackness like she might give him a cold. He’s “Redbone.” He’s “This Is America.” He’s Lando freakin’ Calrissian. Right now he exudes dopeness the way you perspire sweat. I went intoSwarmexpecting something like Satoshi Kon’s film adaptation ofPerfect Blueor Rin Usami’sIdol, Burning… work that understands the extremes fans go to and humanizes them in the process of exploring how fandom shapes their actions. Despite the promise of the first two episodes, I ended my time with the series thinking “Wow, these folks really don’tgetfandom, huh.” And that’s mostly because of the way they claim Dre’s violence, fueled by fandom, is glossed overbecauseof her Black womanhood. If you’ve ever been in a fandom space — yes, even stan Twitter — the last thing a Black woman gets away with is even thehintof violence or anger.
Because, as any good fan knows, even when Queen Bey isn’t present…. “So impressed and incredibly honored to be your first scene partner,” Fishback wrote on Instagram, captioning a clip of her scenes with Eilish. With the heavy material, Fishback ensured there were therapists on set, a call she could make as a first-time producer. Chloe Bailey, Dominique Fishback and Donald Glover show off their silly side on the black carpet. The quip came at the end of Glover’s remarks on Tuesday night as he introduced the show, which is now streaming. The buzzy, immersive special screening followed the show’s debut as SXSW’s opening night TV offering on March 17.
While I got a kick out of Dre being able to do something I couldn’t — I can’t even curse about people trying to get me fired over my work on fandom without being accused of abuse — it rang hollow because I know how Dre would be treated not just in her fandom, but in her life. They even used a real-life Glover interview on the red carpet in which he’s talking about working on “a show with Dom Fishback,” and I’ve never seen meta done so well. I do know that the show’s conceit — a young woman with a slavish devotion to a pop star modeled after Beyoncé turns to murder as an extreme member of the Beyhive-esque “Swarm” — is amazing. Success or not, it’s the most talkable show I’ve seen this year. When you start a show that takes a couple of episodes to figure out, it’s usually either a work of genius or a catastrophe. In the case of “Swarm,” the new Prime Video show created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, the distinction remains up in the air.
I feel like your relationship to them has played a big part in your narrative. Black Twitter influences the culture, yet the comments about his girlfriend were blissfully ignorant. That’s the nicest thing I could muster about some of those of posts. In 2018, being yourself and creating dope art is the look. And being black and some combination of queer, weird, awkward, fluid or artsy is the new sexy. That’s because we are more accepting of our own imperfections than ever before.
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But viewers only ever see a bombastic Black woman, considered by the white characters as a disruption who needed to be mollified. Glover’s depictions of Black women are a continued failure point for him, even though he has been lauded as an auteur of Black entertainment. Take “The Big Payback,” a stand-alone episode from Atlanta’s more speculative and cerebral third season.
What does Beyoncé think?
There is no monolith of black men, women, or of the community. This narrative that women, black women in this case, only desire the stereotypical men they see in entertainment or music is damaging to young men. Instead of realizing their shortcomings as to why they weren’t desired they blame their hobbies and interests. Some people on social media didn’t understand the point of the interview.
In real life, there was a man named Anthony who ran onto the stage during a 2018 Beyoncé and Jay-Z concert, but there is nothing to suggest the real-life Anthony was a murderer or a violent person. The plotline most firmly rooted in reality is probably the one where Dre bites Beyoncé, but Beyoncé was allegedly bit by an actress, not a fan. In the weeks since its premiere, Swarm has already become a critical darling, eliciting discourse online (both light-hearted and serious) about its guest stars, explicit sex scenes, and heightened depiction of stan culture. However, the chatter surrounding the show took a sharp turn this past week when a quote from Glover about Fishback’s character Dre went viral on Twitter. His remarks reignited a longstanding discussion about his problematic—or, in some internet users’ words—“hateful” relationship with Black women throughout his career. One of these writers actually wrote, “The fact that Glover’s longtime partner… is white has come into play in determining both his right and ability to craft and tell such authentically black stories.” It has?
Donald Glover is inarguably one of the most prominent Black creators working in Hollywood today, from his Emmy-winning television work on the recently concluded Atlanta to his Grammy-winning rap persona Childish Gambino. Soon, he’ll star in a new film set in the Spider-Man universe and a highly anticipated Mr. and Mrs. Smith remake. edarling code But right now, all eyes are on the multihyphenate for his latest series Swarm, created with Janine Nabers, about a pop stan who goes on a murdering spree. As a teenager, if I wanted to participate in fangirling with my friends, I was forced to pick from boy bands like B2K or 112, whose members were chiseled, cheesy and unsatisfying.
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Glover is an inventive and important artist (I’ve previously praised his exploration of Afrosurrealism in Atlanta), but sometimes he masks simple immaturity as a meta commentary. Consider his controversial 2022 Interview article where he interviewed himself. While it did cause a flurry of conversation, at its core it was tiring and confusing, and the ensuing social media noise spoke more to his troll-ish leanings than to his ability to give readers any real insight. Glover’s latest comments in Vulture didn’t sit well with others though. “Dude just hates black women so much lmfao,” @mersrulesworld_ wrote in response to Jung’s tweet, getting over 1,800 likes.
The last 3 or 4 episodes of the second season all featured wack ass, offensive, stereotypical black female characters. Like the bitter black woman who hates seeing a black guy w/ his white girlfriend, the absurdly loud, ignorant ghetto bird who went off on the Asian lady at the nail salon, and the dumb Uber driver who refused to listen to directions. All negative generalizations that do nothing but reinforce black women as something to be avoided. The only black woman portrayed positively on the show is Van. I don’t know, but I feel some type of way watching it, and can’t help but wonder if this is what Glover thinks about us. Glover’s dating choices shouldn’t affect your daily life.