Dirty Computer (film)

*This article is about the film. You may be looking for the album, the novel, or the song*.

## ***Dirty Computer***

### **Directed by**

* Andrew Donoho
* Lacey Duke
* Alan Ferguson
* Chuck Lightning
* Emma Westenberg

### **Story**

* Alan Ferguson
* Chuck Lightning
* Janelle Monáe
* Nate “Rocket” Wonder

### **Distributor**

* Wondaland
* Bad Boy Records
* Atlantic Records

### **Runtime**

49 minutes

> I wanted something that speaks about the erasure of oppressed people, and how it's happening right now. The very color of my skin as a black woman, the color of your skin as a black woman—but especially darker skin—can get you killed. It can get you escorted out of a Starbucks, because you pose a threat to them just based off your complexion. Sandra Bland and Rekia Boyd were women who died at the hands of the abusers of power and police force. Our very existence as dirty computers makes a lot of folks uncomfortable, and I just wanted to make sure that I had a story that if you didn't understand it on the album, that you visually and conceptually understood it with the motion picture.
>
> Janelle Monáe to *Vulture*

***Dirty Computer***, also known as ***Dirty Computer: An Emotion Picture***, is a 2018 science fiction film released the same day as Janelle Monáe's third studio album of the same title. Set around the 2090s, she explained to *Q*, "Dirty computers are individuals who refuse to assimilate. They refuse to, you know, wipe away their queerness, wipe away their Blackness, and because of that, they are a threat to the status quo."

## Synopsis

An Android, Jane 57821, attempts to break free from the constraints of a totalitarian society that forcibly makes Jane comply with its homophobic beliefs.

## Background

The concept dated back before Monáe's 2010 debut studio album, *The ArchAndroid*, so she connected the two albums. They revealed, "It is sort of a prelude and there are little Easter eggs in the visual. If you watch the *Dirty Computer* piece online, you'll see Mary Apple. I have a song on The ArchAndroid called "Mushrooms and Roses" that talks about a character named [Blueberry] Mary, and she shares DNA with this Mary Apple. It's all related."

The trailer video aired in select theatres before the screening of the *Black Panther*, and the film premiered exclusively on BET the day before its official release. Monáe told *Billboard*, "*Dirty Computer* is a near-future story about a citizen who finds love and danger in a totalitarian society." Monáe's character, Jane 57821, is an "outlaw" due to "being herself" as she witnesses her fellow citizens ("computers") who are regulated, controlled, and dehumanized.

## Critical reception

*Rolling Stone* praised the film, stating, "In her dazzling new short film [...] Monáe makes explicit how those boundaries still try to hold her down. She's no longer an android, though—she's a human being ready to be seen for exactly who she is. The 46-minute film is visually arresting and filled with sterling electro-pop from the upcoming record, but its dense thematic nods to sci-fi landmarks aren't meant simply as fun spot-the-reference Easter eggs."

## Cast

* Janelle Monáe as Jane 57821
* Tessa Thompson as May Apple #53 / Zen
* Jayson Aaron as Ché
* Michele Hart as Virgin Victoria
* Dyson Posey as Cleaner #1
* Jonah Lees as Cleaner #2
* Angel Blaise as Computer
* Lori Dorfman as David Bowie
* Alexis Long as BMX rider
* Miesha Moore as Black Girl Magic Dancer
* Oliver Morton as Scream Police
* Jannica Olin as Dirty Computer
* Marlo Su as Dirty
* Alex Wexo as Scream Police
* Andi Yuma as Punk

## Quotes

* "They started calling us computers. People began vanishing. And the cleaning began. You were dirty if you looked different. You were dirty if you refused to live the way they dictated. You were dirty if you showed any form of opposition. At all. And if you were dirty... it was only a matter of time." — Opening lines

## References

1. ↑ Harris, Hunter (April 27, 2018). "Janelle Monáe on *Dirty Computer* and the Music Industry's #Time'sUp Reckoning". *Vulture*.
2. ↑ "Janelle Monáe on her Afrofuturist literary debut and why she identifies as a 'dirty computer'". *CBC*. July 13, 2022.
3. ↑ Setaro, Shawn (October 29, 2018). "Reckoning, Celebration, and Reclamation: Janelle Monáe Dissects 'Dirty Computer'". *Complex*.
4. ↑ Olson, Cathy (April 20, 2018). "Janelle Monae's 'Dirty Computer' Sci-Fi Short Film Is Coming Soon". *Billboard*.
5. ↑ Rhiannon, Alexis (April 27, 2018). "Janelle Monáe's New Short Film Will Give You Total 'Black Mirror' Vibes — In The Best Way". *Bustle*.
6. ↑ Grierson, Tim (April 27, 2018). "Why Janelle Monae's 'Dirty Computer' Film Is a Timely New Sci-Fi Masterpiece". *Rolling Stone*.