Tom Novak is a senior behavioral analyst at Canvas8. After completing his second master's degree in cultural sociology at LSE, he was drawn to cultural insight. Tom has conducted qualitative and ethnographic research from the plazas of Santiago to Coventry's suburbs. In his spare time, he can be seen rowing down the Thames or world-building around feminist science fiction.


People want their identities to be reflected in mainstream culture

Collective Equity

People are constructing meaningful collectives 

World Builders

Thanks to its successful four-season run between 2016 and 2022,

has become a widely lauded Afro-surrealist TV project. On the surface, it follows the personal and professional journeys of a group of four Black American friends: rookie manager Earn; his cousin and rapper Alfred (aka Paper Boi); Alfred’s wacky sidekick Darius; and Earn’s on-and-off again girlfriend Val. Yet according to Frederick McKindra, essayist and fiction writer from Little Rock, Arkansas, 

 uses the looseness of its fictional premise “as a springboard for trenchant cultural commentary on everything from racial capitalism and the music industry to modern dating.”

Interview with Frederick McKindra conducted by the author

’s creator Donald Glover originally pitched his show as a ‘Black 

’, recognizing the surge in absurdist and satirical 

 in pop culture and art. According to Dr. Ntare Ali Gault, a lecturer in Africana Studies at the University of Arizona, Afro-surrealism “uses fantastical, dreamlike imagery to explore the complex and often-painful experiences of Black people, to challenge and subvert traditional notions of reality and identity.” 

Interview with Dr. Ntare Ali Gault conducted by the author

 that means cars can be invisible, Justin Bieber is Black, and 

 is deconstructed from a scathing and satirical perspective.

The series’ huge popularity opened the door for 

 with a focus on underrepresented groups. However, while the 2010s ushered in what has been described as ‘

’, a 2021 report from McKinsey & Company revealed that Black-led stories and productions are widely underfunded and undervalued – despite often earning higher relative returns than other types of content. 

McKinsey & Company

 With Black professionals still seriously underrepresented in executive and creative decision-making roles throughout the industry – 91% of studio heads, 93% of senior executives, and 86% of unit heads are White – are shows like 

Los Angeles Times

 defies straightforward categorization. “Just when you think you’re watching a whimsical stoner-comedy, 

 turns into an existential horror or slice-of-life drama,” says Dr. Gault. 

 The series uses its genre-busting eclecticism to expose the challenges that young Black Americans face. From racial profiling at the airport to the fact that success in the hip-hop industry often depends on the perpetuation of 

 are constantly running up against the absurdities of everyday life in a racist society. Yet instead of falling into the trap of didactic moralism or so-called ‘

’, the show uses off-beat humor and surreal motifs to explore themes of Whiteness, police brutality, Instagram fame, and Black poverty through unique narrative devices.

Despite frequent episodes of satire and surreal comedy, 

 excels in providing a hyper-realistic portrayal of the 

 faced by many poor, working-, and (nominally) middle-class Black Americans. Princeton dropout turned music manager, Earn, is shown in the final episode of the first season to have been sleeping in his storage unit for an entire year, while Paper Boi’s alluring indie-rap career dissembles a life of petty drug dealing. The series neither moralizes nor celebrates its characters’ aspirational hustle; when protagonists finally ‘make it’ in later seasons, the series progresses to examine the emotional, mental, and political anxieties felt by those who have acquired a newfound security in life. 

The Nation

 With two-thirds of Black Americans saying that they want to see more TV shows and films that portray the diversity of the Black experience in the US, 

’s shrewd use of Afro-surrealism brings a more nuanced perspective to the reality of a world where it could take an entire century to eliminate the wealth gap between Black and White Americans if policy is not enacted. 

Next TV

Forbes

According to Dr. Gault, many lower-income Black men are forced to enact something called ‘Cool Pose’: “a sturdy, fearless, aloof masculinity that they see as a coping mechanism against racial oppression and economic precarity.” 

’s storytelling refuses to stereotype its male characters: both Paper Boi’s tough guy rapper persona, and Darius and Earn’s hipster casualness hide deep traumas alongside an openness to everyday joy and emotional vulnerability. Research by the American Psychological Association shows that just 26.4% of Black and Hispanic men who experience daily feelings of anxiety and depression have utilized mental health services, while a separate 2021 study found that suicide rates among young Black men were up by almost 80% when compared to other races and ethnicities. 

American Psychological Association

Fortune

 have emerged to deliver accessible mental health support for Black men in the US – connecting Black barbers with therapists, healthcare providers, and nonprofit organizations to offer a familiar space for open and honest wellbeing conversations.

The success of Afro-surrealist content like 

 signals the demand for nuanced portrayals of the Black experience in America. The popularity of global blockbusters like Marvel’s Black Panther franchise that celebrate 

 hits like Get Out and Candyman, exposes significant commercial possibilities for content creators and media companies to move beyond stale formats and established genres. “People want new perspectives and bold experiments in their Black stories – things that celebrate, disturb, and reimagine their lives and societies,” says Dr. Gault. “Black creators in particular shouldn’t shy away from that.” 

’s staunch commitment to authentic media representation has seen her production company land a $40 million deal with HBO/Warner Media to continue producing nuanced TV with a focus on the Black experience.

Danielle Ryan, a news writer at Slash Film, says that TV shows like 

employ surrealism and absurdity to “[help] audiences understand the bizarre and all-too-real experience of being marginalized by society.” 

Slash Film

 McKindra also notes that many episodes of 

 deliberately make White liberals uncomfortable “because it shows how performative allyship can sometimes be more insidious than direct racism.” 

 With more than 40% of Americans unconvinced that systemic racism exists, programs like 

 that employ provocative and subversive storytelling techniques expose White audiences to social biases and challenge the pervasiveness of token gestures. 

US News

 In a move to correct the historic neglect of Black TikTokers and the lack of compensation they receive, the social platform launched its 

 campaign to both spotlight the online and real-world impact of Black content creators and challenge racial bias in the creator economy.

Investigating the intersection of race and class

With 21% of Black Americans living below the poverty line and 54% of Black households earning less than $50,000 a year, most creators of Black content hail from middle- and upper-class backgrounds and often from elite Ivy League schools, while poor and working-class Black people rarely have an opportunity to tell their stories in pop culture. 

National Alliance to End Homelessness

Pew Research Center

 McKinsey & Company estimates that closing this opportunity gap could generate over $10 billion in annual revenues across the media and entertainment industry. 

World Economic Forum

 In a bid to provide a voice and platform for underrepresented film and TV writers, Netflix has introduced its 

 – partnering with six organizations including The Black TV and Film Collective to provide opportunities to those who have been historically excluded from the industry.

 of Black Americans say they want to see more TV shows and films that portray the diversity of the Black experience in the US

of Black and Hispanic men who experience daily feelings of anxiety and depression have utilized mental health services

Atlanta’s nuanced and Afro-surrealist approach to storytelling enables audiences to explore young Black Americans’ experiences of poverty, racism, and success

Despite utilizing satire and surreal comedy, the series excels in providing a hyper-realistic portrayal of the economic uncertainty faced by Black Americans

Entertainment that employs provocative and subversive storytelling techniques can expose White audiences to social biases and challenge the pervasiveness of token gestures

Frederick McKindra is an essayist and fiction writer who lives in Little Rock, Arkansas. He attended Howard University and holds an MFA in fiction writing from The New School in New York City. His essay ‘Becoming Integrated’ was listed as a Notable Essay in Best American Essays 2018. He writes about Black pop culture, especially in the South.

Dr. Ntare Ali Gault is a playwright and lecturer in Africana Studies at the University of Arizona. He is interested in Black popular culture with an emphasis on representations of Black masculinity. He has written two books, The Sun Will Rise: A Memoir of an Urban Family and Ancestral Links: Love and other Revolutionary Mumblings. He’s also a popular slam poet who has won competitions and been featured in notable venues throughout North America and the Bahamas.

United States

Media and Entertainment

TV, film, and social media video

 is a genre-defying series that explores everyday experiences of Black poverty, middle-class success, and racism through a lens of Afro-surrealism. What does its popularity say about the demands of modern audiences? And how can brands and media companies foreground more authentic stories?

Are we entering a new media age of Afro-visualism?

Issa Rae: uplifting Black voices in American TV

‘Reservation Dogs’ breaks indigenous TV stereotypes

Barbershops get Black men talking about mental health