This analysis of Monáe’s short film will be split into two sections: the first my initial thoughts and interpretations, and the second some further thoughts informed by reading Wendy Hui Kyong Chun’s ‘Race and/as Technology; or, How to Do Things to Race’, published in Camera Obscura number 70; Daylanne K. English’s and Alvin Kim’s ‘Now We Want Our Funk Cut: Janelle Monae’s Neo-Afrofuturism’ from American Studies 52.4; and John Calvert’s ‘Janelle Monáe: A New Pioneer Of Afrofuturism’, published by The Quietus. All three essays are linked at the end of this post. To give a brief background to ‘Many Moons’ for readers who may not be acquainted with either the film or Monáe herself, the feature takes place in the last remaining city on Earth, Metropolis, in the year 2719. Monáe’s character is Android No. 57821 – Cindi Mayweather – who is already branded a rebel for falling in love with a human, and for leading an enlightened android rebellion, a key part of which was creating ‘a rebellious new form of pop music known as cybersoul’ (quotation taken from the liner notes of the Metropolis EP). This ‘cybersoul’ is exemplified in ‘Many Moons’.
Upon first listening to the track and watching the official video (fan-made versions and videos ‘inspired’ by Monáe’s also exist on YouTube), I was first struck by the video’s pixellation, which is clearly visible even when watching the HD 2009 version, rather than the original 360p 2008 incarnation. Presumably, then, the visible pixels are a deliberate artistic choice. The reason this struck me particularly is because the video is intended to be set in 2719, by which time technology may be expected to have advanced beyond what we call high-definition today, let alone the now-outdated 2009 offering. However, I then realised the immediate effect that actually seeing the pixels has: it forces the viewer to consciously recognise the screen at which we are looking. We are aware of the technology we are using, causing additional attention to be directed towards the technology featured in the video and the use, or lack of, digital screens and machines. Pushing deeper, the antiquated sensation that looking at pixels produces (I myself spent a good two or three minutes selecting the 720p HD setting on YouTube, then refreshing the video and trying again when it appeared not to load) highlights the temporality of the setting, and the transient, disposable nature of technology: we become hyper-aware of the age of Monáe’s video, and the disconnect between the year 2719 and seeing pixels. Once we have ascertained that yes, whatever device we are watching on is not malfunctioning, and yes, there was HD video in 2009, these pixels can only be attributed to the time portrayed within the narrative of the film – 2719 Metropolis then takes on a monochrome tarnish of age, like an iPhone X running iOS 3. From the first few seconds, it feels that there is something unsettlingly technologically antediluvian about this supposedly futuristic world. When the parade of available Android women of colour up for auction begins, the ‘something’ is given a name.
From here, the essays mentioned above offer a deeper understanding of Monáe’s use of technology and the invocation of the slave trade by exploring race as technology. ‘Technology’ as I understand it so far may here be defined as something that is used as a tool; it can be employed to benefit a section of society by creating images and categories, or individually to build a performed persona. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun’s essay in Camera Obscura particularly sets out how viewing race as technology separates itself as a ‘body of scholarship’ from viewing race as a biological or cultural phenomenon. Specifically, she states that ‘it [considering race as technology] also highlights the fact that race has never been simply biological or cultural, but rather a means by which both are established and negotiated.’. Looking then at ‘Many Moons’, by performing as Cindi Mayweather, Lady Maestra: Master of the Show Droids, and as every other female Android in the film, Monáe visually harnesses the element of technology as a means of exposing the way in which the black female body is commodified and consumed as a purchasable entity in society. As she pushes a switch at her temple at 0:39, her skin changes from pure white to her natural colour, signalling the beginning of her perfomance; from this it may be interpreted that there are expectations of how one should perform as a black woman in society. The character of Mayweather, however, refuses to conform to these trends, and the Metropolis saga (continued across multiple EPs and albums) presents a harnessing of race as technology for revolutionary ends.
I could write a very long essay about the musicality and political elements of Monáe’s work, but I will end this post here. Please see below for links to all essays mentioned for further reading, and to the HD version of ‘Many Moons’ on Monáe’s YouTube channel.
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, ‘Race and/as Technology; or, How to Do Things to Race’: http://cameraobscura.dukejournals.org/content/24/1_70/7.full.pdf
Daylanne K. English and Alvin Kim, ‘Now We Want Our Funk Cut: Janelle Monae’s Neo-Afrofuturism’: file:///C:/Users/Student/Downloads/4475-8068-1-PB.pdf
John Calvert, ‘Janelle Monáe: A New Pioneer Of Afrofuturism’: http://thequietus.com/articles/04889-janelle-mon-e-the-archandroid-afrofuturism
Janelle Monáe, ‘Many Moons’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EZyyORSHbaE
Millennialisms 