Songwriter, rapper, and actor Janelle Monáe is known for her involvement in the African American activism community through her acting roles in movies such as Hidden Figures, Moonlight, and Harriet, but one of her most recent albums, called Dirty Computer, takes another step toward equal representation in pop culture. Dirty Computer was also made into an emotional picture where directors Chuck Lightning and Andrew Donoho use her music to address women’s crucial role in society and celebrate the unique attributes of each person. In the film, the “dirty computers” refer to humans who live in a science fiction, futuristic universe and have their unique styles, names, and other cultural specificities stripped from their minds. They are brainwashed and join the mission to rid the world of other “dirty computers”. Not only is Monáe’s music used to portray messages of sexuality, race, and inequalities experienced by women and African Americans, but she is also the main character where viewers witness her cleaning journey through flashbacks of memories that showed why she was considered “dirty”.
One of the largest components of the film is the theme of finding one’s cultural identity. Throughout her past, she wore makeup, beads, rings, feathers, and piercings that resemble tribal traditions. Monáe and her peers all present these unusual features on their daily looks, but each person is styled in a different way contributing to the idea of identifying themselves and their origins. In class, we read Persepolis and witnessed Marji’s transition from her Iranian home and into Western Europe. While in Europe, she falls to the social pressures of adapting to the surrounding culture but ultimately realizes her Iranian pride and identity. In comparison to Dirty Computer, these characters are very similar but are experiencing different situations. Monáe shares her personal story and passions for normalizing African American and feminist cultures in a society where she may be viewed as unconventional and bizarre.
In a short forty-minute film, concepts of racism, white supremacy, police brutality, feminism, and unequal opportunity for marginalized individuals are on the forefront in hopes of showing what can happen if inequality continues in our present-day society. Without diversity, we become monotonous and lose the ability to advance our society. By incorporating rap and film, more people will spark interest and encourage the continuation of self and cultural identity among all races, sexualities, and genders.