{"id":1700,"date":"2019-04-03T23:02:01","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T23:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/160-the-words\/?page_id=1700"},"modified":"2024-08-06T19:11:06","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T19:11:06","slug":"calling-all-fandroids-janelle-monae-pop-talk-approaches","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/the-words-april-2019\/calling-all-fandroids-janelle-monae-pop-talk-approaches\/","title":{"rendered":"Calling All Fandroids: Janelle Mon\u00e1e Pop Talk Approaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Harrington \u201919<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Pop<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019ve never been to one of the English Department\u2019s Pop Talks, allow me to set the scene: it’s a Wednesday evening, the sun is setting. The Old Main fourth floor lounge, the most picturesque nook on campus, is warm as the shadows settle in. Friends gather at tables, laughing around mouths full of popcorn and Italian soda. Your favorite professor grabs a last bite of popcorn before calling the room to attention. The topic is something you haven\u2019t encountered in a class, but that you\u2019ve probably heard a lot about. Comic books or a recent movie open up and become valuable sites of academic inquiry as the professor shares their insights. Laughing resumes, this time around a conversation that ends only once people have to pack up for night classes. In short, Pop Talks are super fun, and if you haven\u2019t been to any, you\u2019re missing out. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still not convinced? Well this month, Professor Daylanne English will lead a discussion on the iconic Janelle Mon\u00e1e. If that\u2019s not immediately exciting to you, here\u2019s why it should be: In April 2018, after a successful year of acting in the Oscar-winning <\/span>Moonlight<\/span><\/i> (2016) and the Oscar-nominated <\/span>Hidden Figures <\/span><\/i>(2016)<\/span>, musical weirdo Mon\u00e1e released her fourth album. For each album, Mon\u00e1e stars in accompanying visuals, including a short film titled <\/span>Many Moons<\/span><\/i> for a track of the same name on her first album <\/span>Metropolis: The Chase Suite <\/span><\/i>(2008)<\/span>. Her fourth album, <\/span>Dirty Computer, <\/span><\/i>sees Mon\u00e1e owning her acting skills in the eponymous 48 minute \u201cemotion picture.\u201d Previously, her discography was comprised of sci-fi\/dystopian concept albums starring her alter-ego Cindi Mayweather. <\/span>Dirty Computer<\/span><\/i> follows suit as a dystopian story, but marked Mon\u00e1e\u2019s first move away from the android persona she\u2019d embodied since her first album in 2008 and toward a more personal representation. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Janelle<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Longtime fans of Mon\u00e1e buzzed about the gay romance at the center of <\/span>Dirty Computer<\/span><\/i>\u2019s narrative. Though speculation about her sexuality has been around as long as she\u2019s been in the public eye (due in large part to her androgynous wardrobe), Mon\u00e1e has always deflected questions about her love life with stock answers like \u201cI only date androids.\u201d In a Rolling Stone<\/em> article<\/a> that came out the day before the album was released<\/span>, Mon\u00e1e publicly came out as pansexual, saying that as \u201ca queer black woman in America\u201d and \u201csomeone who has been in relationships with both men and women,\u201d she considers herself \u201cto be a free-ass motherfucker.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janelle Mon\u00e1e tackles the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality in electrifyingly creative ways. Her work is rife with artistic reference and bold proclamations. In terms of an entry to academic discussion, her presence and career so far present a wealth of options. Professor English, though hoping people will come with their own interests and questions about Mon\u00e1e, gave me a preview of her points of intrigue. She wants to dissect Mon\u00e1e’s work in relation to queer theory, specifically \u201cthe ways that Mon\u00e1e challenges and represents queer alternatives\u201d to Lee Edelman\u2019s concept of \u2018reproductive futurism.\u2019 Professor English also wants to look at Mon\u00e1e’s \u201cpolitically enabling deployment of the queer and the weird,\u201d and \u201cinclusive representation of Black womanhood and black women’s queerness.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Janelle<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Pop Talk promises to be not only fun and engaging, but interdisciplinary and illuminating. And who could turn that down free snacks? <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Save the date for April 17 at 5 p.m. and come up to the Old Main fourth floor lounge. All are welcome, androids or otherwise. <\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Harrington \u201919 If you\u2019ve never been to one of the English Department\u2019s Pop Talks, allow me to set the scene: it’s a Wednesday evening, the sun is setting. The Old Main fourth floor lounge, the most picturesque nook on campus, is warm as the shadows settle in. Friends gather at tables, laughing around mouths […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":913,"featured_media":0,"parent":1690,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1700","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/913"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1700"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7705,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1700\/revisions\/7705"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.macalester.edu\/the-words\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}