DONALD GLOVER WAS born and raised in Central Illinois. He earned his BA in English at Eastern Illinois University. It was during these years as an undergrad that he developed an interest in music, literature, and history--as a result of mere happenstance. Researching to complete a writing assignment, he discovered that his professor for the course had written extensively about Langston Hughes and the Harlem Renaissance. The experience gave him both direction and motivation. Later, Glover's affinity for these subjects influenced him to choose a career in teaching. In his capacity as an English instructor, he has spent nearly three decades promoting cultural awareness through the arts, literature, and history.
Donald Glover writes poetry and speeches about music, family, and other subjects. But The Kid and the Keepers: Dream Visions is his first published novel.
Today he resides in Central Illinois where he paints, teaches, collects music, and continues to write.
"There I go, there I go, there I go"... (Remember And Exude Honesty)
Often times, when you see someone give a read a five star rating, you expect top notch writing and technical proficiency. Sorry, but this is not one of those kinds of reads. Donald Glover’s (Childish Gambino) Because the Internet screenplay is in all honesty, not all that story wise. It’s not rich with detail or filled with incredible characters, and the sentence structure isn’t even GOOD. So why did I give this a 5/5 star review? What’s the point of even reading this screenplay? Funnily enough, that question is the exact reason you SHOULD read it. This screenplay is much more than some short story you read while listening to an album, even if that album is also extremely good. This screenplay is written in the eyes of, and by, a very depressed man. With that comes the thoughts and questions of one such as that, leaving the reader with questions of their own. These questions are the reason I give this screenplay five stars, they are utterly unavoidable and perplexing at that. Since I do not want to spoil much, i’ll leave you with two simple words: roscoe’s wetsuit
When this first came out, I didn't know what to make of it. Opaque and doesn't provide any "answers."
Now, I love this for its ability to provide a different level of understanding than your typical liner notes. Also, you can see the voice and atmosphere that will develop into Atlanta - surreal moments, hilarious dry humor, a hint of the fantastical, and crushing, philosophical moments that are impactful in just how understated they are.
One of the most remarkable experiences I have had. An experience I have come back to nearly every year since I first embarked on it. Every year I learn something different and interpret things in different ways, keeping the whole thing ever fresh.
I first encountered this screenplay and album in 2017. At the time, I was going through an intense amount of emotional turmoil. Family, relationships, friendships breaking apart. Being alone in a city where I was constantly messing up.
Needless to say, this prompted a lot of loneliness, existential crises, and struggle for a why.
When I came across the screenplay, I knew about songs on the album, but had no idea of how encompassing the world was. I stepped in from there into the world “The Boy” lived in.
I want to avoid spoilers, but on a high level, I found a rich multimedia world, heavily worked on and crafted for a cohesive experience. From interviews, to scattered youtube videos, to hidden messages, to the screenplay, and even a hidden track, the experience just encompasses a huge breadth of media.
The way it’s structured makes you want to learn more, find the next thing, attach the pieces, and figure out what the heck is DG trying to tell us.
In the end, like other commentators said, it raises more questions than answers, it’s cyclical in a sense. I went it to for answers, for insight on how I should live my life. Insight on why I’m alive. The insight I received definitely helped me, but was quite different from what I expected. I received comfort, I felt seen, I noticed cycles in my life and where they stemmed from. It helped me hone in to the critical parts of my life and my way of thinking that I needed to address. On rereads, I focused more on the portions that resonated with me and dwelled on those questions instead.
Overall, it’s been quite meaningful in my life. Highly recommend to those that are a fan of hip hop, internet culture, existential crises, and aren’t afraid of yet more questions. It definitely takes time and space to let this work sink in as well.
"The Boy doesn't particularly like or dislike spiders. They're everywhere in the house. It's a big house and it's right next to a reserve. But something about this spider sitting there...it really bothers him. It makes him mad. He can hear the spider. Just sitting there. Getting louder I'm going to describe it as emotional tinnitus: when everything is silent and quiet, you can see the empty web you're in. It is annoying. Which is the slowest form of torture"
Because The Internet: The Screenplay is yet another one of the multi-talented and prolific Donald Glover's brainchildren. Tying into some of Glover's other works sort of like supplemental pieces (i.e. the Because The Internet album by Childish Gambino and Glover's short film "Clapping For The Wrong Reasons"), all of the art pieces work together to paint a single cohesive narrative. The narrative in question is semi-biographical (it's hard to tell what's truth and what's dramatized like the Internet), but fully representative of Glover's mental state at the time. Following The Boy (played by Donald Glover himself), he goes with the motions of life with his toxic friends that are blatantly using him (played by Glover's real life friends). The Boy, being the affluent son of the distant Rick Ross, struggles to find meaning and interest in his struggleless life. And his "job" is bitterly trolling people on the Internet for clicks. As one would think, The Boy's cynical and nihilist attitude towards life is only amplified by how his day to day life is just a monotonous cycle. Because The Internet: The Screenplay offers some incredibly valid reflections on how the Internet affects daily life, and how we interact with one another via incredibly nuanced subtext. This, accompanied with how the screenplay tells you to listen to certain songs from the album at specified times to enhance the storytelling makes this quite the memorable experience.