Atlanta drops its most daring episode yet
A B.A.N. documentary tells the story of the Blackest movie ever made
TV Reviews Max Goof
Atlanta has already proven that it can pull off any concept or format change it damn well pleases, but this week takes its chameleonic strengths to a whole other level. If you’ve come to this recap without watching yet, please go watch it now, because this, like “B.A.N.” and “Teddy Perkins,” is one of the episodes to experience with as little knowledge as possible. “The Goof Who Sat By The Door” is Atlanta’s most daring and thematically-impressive episode yet, as it creates a revisionist history for the Blackest film of the Disney Renaissance.
For everyone who didn’t previously know that the Black community claims A Goofy Movie, here’s an article laying out all the details that resonate with Black millennial fans (and an academic paper). For anyone who’s about to comment, “Why bring race in? It’s a cartoon,” here’s an interview that touches on why kids of color have historically glommed on to Black- and POC-coded characters when there weren’t any actual cartoons with characters of color. Read those and internalize that Goofy being subjectively Black makes many people happy and hurts literally no one. That’s all the hand-holding I’m going to do. Goofy and Max are Black; let’s move on.
Though there have been articles about the Blackness of A Goofy Movie, it’s still a subject that mostly lives within Black online circles. Instead of just including it as a joke and a nod, or even a catalyst for a character’s episode arc, like the “Crank Dat Killer,” Glover, who directs this faux-doc, and writers Francesca Sloane and Karen Joseph Adcock use expert storytelling to make this behind-the-scenes look at how Disney produced something so Black at a time where all-white animation teams were first awkwardly trying to introduce diversity into their films.
If it wasn’t for the return of the Black American Network, I would’ve thought that I’d somehow turned on the wrong show. There have now been several episodes of Atlanta that haven’t featured a single member of the main cast, but “Goof” sticks with an extremely Black subject that calls back to the show’s first standalone episode, season two’s coming-of-age piece “FUBU.” The faux-doc is a brilliant homage to the format, with Glover building a very serious piece of work about an alternate reality where Disney had its first Black CEO. The only connection to Atlanta is the literal city as Thomas “Tom” Washington’s (Eric Berryman) hometown, and it’s not outwardly trying for laughs, with the humor coming through within the details. “Goof” is such a huge leap, but it works so well within the show as a whole and season 4’s theme of reckoning with legacy and power once an artist gets a taste of success.
Tom Washington’s story is heartbreaking in a very familiar way, and it reminded me of other docs about Black luminaries who dealt with mental-health struggles and substance abuse issues. It’s also just a classic nerd story, starting with Washington being bullied by his peers and struggling with not fitting in (that too-common moniker of “acting white”). He finds his joy in cartoons, and eventually goes to art school to become an animator. No one really understands him but his professors, who see his potential in his student projects like The Lil’ Prince (actually featuring Prince) and a series of Goofy portraits in the same vein of the “Damn, you live like this” meme (which later gets a shoutout). Eventually, he gets a job at Disney, where he probably would’ve had a career similar to Floyd Norman if a bunch of white men paid more attention to Thomas vs. Thompson.
The arc of Washington’s life plays out very realistically, except for Washington getting into the CEO seat in the first place. Once he does, his office at the Disney lot becomes the Black gathering ground of Hollywood, as he begins his journey to turn A Goofy Movie into a tale of Black acceptance and liberation told through a bond between a father and son. The explanations of Washington’s vision for the film are wild (the heart of what Black people love about the film is there, but the map as the Green Book is a bit of a stretch), and eventually he becomes obsessed, making illustrators redraw daps until their fingers bleed and sending white animators to cookouts where they’d get their asses beat. And he still had to deal with the Disney machine, who wanted to put “that white boy” Mickey in the film.
This faux-documentary about a man who never existed also builds a lot of empathy for the subject by bringing in Washington’s family to round out his character. They’re able to speak to the sides of the man who the white Disney employees didn’t know, and the differences in the ways they respond to his jokes and the cultural details bring half the episode’s comedy. It’s also lovely how the relationship between he and his son mirrors Goofy and Max, solidifying the thought that the movie is a love letter from father to son. This also makes his slow unraveling from corporate and community pressure even sadder, especially once we get to his filmed breakdown and the recounting of his broken Goofy laugh.
In the end, Washington was pushed out of his role, and The Goofy Movie of Atlanta lore matches the real-life version, Bigfoot scene and all. To be fair, ending the animated kids film with the Get Out alternate ending would have been a bad call, but I really wonder how much his version would have been different, or what other projects he would have worked on if his car didn’t end up at the bottom of a Burbank lake. “Goof” and last week’s installment, “The Snipe Hunt,” are the types of episodes that leave you sitting quietly in thought instead of choking on laughter, and Atlanta will go down as one of the best shows of the early twenty-first century because it can deftly deliver on both comedy and drama. I’m excited to rewatch and sit with this episode for a long time, enjoying the Blackest documentary about the Blackest movie of all time.
Stray observations
- I did a quick dive into the history of Goofy for this (as well as watching A Goofy Movie, cause I hadn’t seen more than the “I.2.I” scene in at least nine years), and for anyone who still wants to say Goofy wasn’t designed after Black stereotypes: For his first appearance in 1932’s “Mickey’s Revue,” dude was an audience member named Dippy Dawg who annoyed everyone by laughing loudly and crunching on peanuts.
- Also, Powerline was supposed to be voiced by Bobby Brown! He was reportedly replaced by Campbell near the end of production, but the character was already designed to look like the “bad boy of R&B.”
- Sloane and Adcock’s integration of fictional details into the events of the time is so seamless at points that most of my notes were just reminders to look up what was real and what was imagined. (“Analysis of the Goof”? Real. Michael Eisner taking a break during his 21-year stint as CEO? Not real, from what I could find.)
- Either “I.2.I.” or “Can We Talk” is gonna be stuck in your head for the next week. You’re welcome. (Also, how cool would it have been if they actually got Tevin Campbell.)
- Kids will make fun of you for anything (and Tom’s mom was wise).
- Mickey does show up during the “On The Open Road” scene.
- This screener came out late, so I wasn’t able to sit with the episode for a day or get into as much research as usual. I’m excited to hear from anyone who’s more familiar with the history of Disney animation and its history in the comments!
63 Comments
This was genius. I don’t know what else to say.
It was. What will really trip you out is I can’t find anything about the the real Thomas Washington online. It’s like they erased him. You can find dinosaur bones online.
absolute perfection
That quick reference to the Easy Cheese-obsessed Bobby Zimmeruski (Pauly Shore) was hilarious. This episode was a stroke of pure genius. I laughed. I cried. I danced to the credits.
I like your icon. Frog blast the vent core!
I had just been listening to Thom Adcox Hernandez explain on a podcast how he’d lost that role because they asked him to sound “more like Pauly Shore” and he had no idea what that meant.
In light of this episode’s almost unparalleled take on the Disney corporate cultural machine, The Disney Version: The Life, Times, Art and Commerce of Walt Disney is an equally unique book I came across many years ago for anyone looking to get the real lowdown (some would say in every sense, also low down) on Walt, the man, and The House The Mouse Built. Written in 1968 by long-time Time magazine film critic, Richard Schickel, the overall reassessment of Disney’s pervasive role and impact on American society has been questioned to some extent as a blistering diatribe that is nonetheless a generally illuminating and worthwhile insight into the studio’s seemingly innocuous “children’s fare”.
If only for recounting, among many other points, the company’s lesser known direct ties to the U.S. government, such as the State Department’s involvement in South America that actually included commission of the 1942 film Saludos Amigos. That particular/peculiar connection was then further explored in How to Read Donald Duck, Ariel Dorfman’s seminal 1971 critique of Disney comics from a Marxist point of view as capitalist propaganda for American corporate and cultural imperialism.
So Atlanta has very effectively personalized the black community’s embrace of A Goofy Movie over the years through the all but inevitably tragic experience of a black man’s fictional elevation to CEO by humorously confused mistake with another (white) man’s similar name. By no small coincidence, fifty years ago Robert Downey Sr.’s classic 1969 satire, Putney Swope, also had the title character, the only black man on the executive board of an advertising firm, inadvertently take charge of it after the sudden death of the chairman of the board. The film’s outrageous counter-cultural skewering of the advertising world, portrayal of race in Hollywood films, and corporate corruption most certainly informed, if not inspired the savvy spoofs of commercials squarely aimed at black consumers in the Black American Network’s first appearance with “Montague”. But even in the era of burgeoning Black Power, the Black Panthers, and Black is Beautiful, Putney’s revolutionary approach ultimately could not succeed in the face of America’s inherently entrenched capitalist system any more than Thomas Washington could prevail against all the overwhelming socioeconomic headwinds of our era. The more things change….
Love this review and all the comments generated. A.V. Club is my favorite commentary by far on T.V.
Having been familiar with Art Babbitt’s “good-natured colored boy” quote, I was wondering if it was going to make an appearance, and Glover did not disappoint. I saw it with a (Caucasian) friend the weekend it came out (both of us being animation geeks)…at the mid-way point, I legit turned to him and said “I might be crazy, but this feels like some Black shit.”
This episode didn’t just blow my mind, it deepthroated it.
Tevin “break it down” Campbell . . . . Also, somebody jog my memory, which Sesame Street character was singing that song from Lil Prince? Kermit or Ernie?
It was Ernie.
Kermit
The episode’s title is an allusion to “The Spook Who Sat By the Door”, a key text in the Black Power movement and later made into a blaxploitation film. It’s a novel about a black man who uses the skills he learns as one of the first token CIA agents to start secretly building a revolutionary movement against the government.
Indeed. The episode itself though owes much more to the Robert Downey Sr. movie Putney Swope about a black ad agency employee who becomes the boss after a similar mistake. It’s great.
Was it a blaxploitation film though? I saw it roughly…20 years (phew!) ago. I didn’t remember getting a blaxploitation vibe from it. Not like Dolemite, Truck Turner, or Superfly. It felt like legit social commentary. I read the book a year or two before I saw it though, so I might be biased.
I really enjoy all these stand alone episodes more than the regulars adventures, because they are full of new perspective, clever and educational. Would be happy watching this type of presentation with various subjects week after week. On an unrelated side note—I have no problem remembering greedy Dis CEO Bob Chapek’s name because with a little rearranging he becomes Bob Paycheck.
while watching I was really convinced the movie was also fake and thought “geez they really went deep for this; they animated entire scenes from a made up movie for this”. Very impressive piece anyway. Laughed out loud at the shoes and gloves at the end.
just watched it. great ep. now watching A Goofy Movie. gave up after 20mins.if not mentioned already, people should see the ‘David Lynch’s A Goofy Movie’ trailer on Youtube. soo good.
Goofy please
What I was hoping to see someone comment or write an article on is the network affiliation (FX is a part of the ABC/Disney conglomerate) which makes this move an even bolder one. It’s kinda like biting the hand that feeds you but it’s Disney, so it’s more than deserved. Donald (also see: Shonda Rhimes) gives zero effs about the company and I’m here for it!
I knew none of this. I hate that our culture was so segregated for so long (I watched that night in 1968 when Diahann Carroll made history – yet we were nowhere near as Progressive as we thought we were at the time) and I’d like to think that this past decade or two have really made a difference at least in visibility and representation.My thanks to Donald Glover and Co., and to you, Quinci, as well as the knowledgeable posters here for the bit of education.
Good observation. The reason it feels like there is little progress is mainly because there is too much to be gained from keep people divided, especially political clout and corporate influence, and African Americans are the easiest to single out from the majority due to the country’s history.Racism will never go away, sadly, as long as the majority racial population are kept afraid of the world.
This was great. Maybe not the most laughs in an Atlanta episode, but the cheese mention and the shots of the shoes and gloves at the end had me cackling. Just unbelievably detailed satire.
The shoes and glove at the end killed me dead
I wasn’t sure if I was watching Atlanta or a particularly great episode of ‘Documentary Now!’.
Yeah, I was dying laughing on a few spots, the shifts in tone are jarring, because I was in tears laughing at that broken Goofy laugh as unsettling as it was.
I actually almost cried because I laughed so hard at the shoes
I did cry from laughter. The front of my shirt was soaked in tears, but I was really high so that might have contributed.
Just finished watching this brilliant episode. I’ll never understand why “Atlanta” isn’t THE number one show on television. No other show delivers this kind of quality while also taking such big risks and respecting their audience. The humor in the details was just mind blowing; yes, I got a big kick out of the glove and shoes at the end but I had a bigger laugh when they came back to the riots and the title, “Los Angeles 1992″ was written in the Disney font. I almost fell off my couch. I think this episode was actually better then “Teddy Perkins.”
I liked “Atlanta” when it was a normal show about a bunch of friends. Now its too arty and too f*cking weird, Glover got full of himself.
So your angle is basically Laura Ingraham’s “shut and dribble”…
well its his show, he can do whatever he wants obviously, but it went downhill fast.
It’s ok to admit you don’t get it.
And its ok to admit youre an asshole.
Aww, inbreeder, did I hit a nerve?
no, everyone can see youre an asshole, noone cares. It seems to give you a pathetic thrill, though.
Yep, inbreeder did have his nerve hit.I’m sure your stepsister can console you.
Again, no, your assumptions and jokes just fall flat and make you look stupid.
Still barking up that tree, incel?
you still being a fuckin idiot? Yup, seems so.
I love popping back every once in awhile, see that red notification, and confirming that you are, indeed, a humiliated incel.Carry on. 🙂
im not. in the slightest
you missed it. youre the asshole. not me.
Ahh it’s the end of June, time to visit my favorite incel.Doing ok, buddy?
you are the dumbest fucking asshole ive seen on here, and thats saying a lot.
i should ask you that. your obsession with me is bizarre.
Still draggin deez nuts, cum-guzzler?
yup, youre still a fuckin retard.
seriously, how old are you, like fuckin 12? go out and live a little, shitstain. Stop annoying adults who are better than you.
Still a salty little pedophile, ain’t ya Scottie?Sad.
What a silly person you are
Atlanta was always “art and…weird.” “B.A.N.” was in Season 1. “Woods” was Season 2. It’s always been surreal.
“when it was a normal show about a bunch of friend”Footage not found.
Season 1, most of it
You literally just substantiated Tom’s son’s line about “performative assimilation,” with your comment.
Another phenomenal episode that evokes both laughter and wincing. Can’t wait to rewatch tonight. It also alerted me to the fact that Sinbad is recovering from a stroke, according to Wikipedia. Don’t know how I missed that news.
TERRIBLE! Atlanta is just so freaking pretentious
They nailed every element of contemporary documentaries. The overhead drone footage, the glimpse of the clapperboard before the mother’s interview begins, the lingering shots of interviewees saying nothing, etc. And the vintage photos and footage were some of the most convincing I’ve seen. It FELT 90s.Honestly, this whole team of creators is just doing next-level things. I was too old and too white to have appreciated A Goofy Movie in any dimension at the time, but even with the fictive elements, it all felt emotionally true. Just like Snipe Hunt, with its semi-horror film pacing, this episode is going to sit with me for a while.
When Sinbad appeared as one of the grip of black celebrities who hung out with the fictional character at the time, I was surprised by his appearance. I had no idea he’d had a stroke in real life. But, the brother is still here and that’s what matters. I hope he’s recovering well.
Dare I hope for a Jingle All the Way sequel?
Perfection
Al turned into Goofy last season when he ate the Space Cake in Amsterdam…