AN ATTACK ON CAPITALISM MASQUERADING AS A POP CULTURE ROMANCE: DONALD GLOVER'S NEW FILM PREMIERS AT COACHELLA |
Love Magazine
By Juno Kelly.
After Donald Glover - who goes by stage name Childish Gambino - performed the headlining slot at Coachella this weekend, his new short film, Guava Island premiered before the crowd.
The 55 minute short is set on the fictional, Spanish-speaking island 'Guava', a picturesque paradise run by capitalist tyrant, Red Cargo (portrayed by British actor Nonso Anozie), who rose to prominence thanks to his position at the head of the Island's biggest income revenue, the silk trade.
The short film opens with a cartoon overture and voiceover, that sheds light on the tragic history of the island at the hands of capitalist avarice, and the bittersweet childhood meeting of the film's protagonist Deni (Glover) and his love interest (played by Rihanna).
The rest of the Cuba-shot film follows Deni, a worshiped local musician, who is planning an island-wide festival which comes to represent a workers revolution. Deni's romantic relationship with Kofi - a local girl who works in the local silk factory - acts as a touching, undeniably significant sub-plot, with all the modern markers of a wholesome on-screen romance.
The film's overarching message - like much of Glover's work - is a critique of the perils of capitalism. When one of Deni's fellow dock workers expresses longing to migrate to America, Glover's character retorts, "America is a concept, anywhere where, in order to get rich, you have to make someone else richer, is America. This is America, Guava's no different than any other country." Said elucidation is followed by a re-enactment of Glover's internet-breaking single This is America, with a similar, if less violent rendering of the music video's stylised dance routine.
Following the film's release, viewers drew parallels to the recent murder of rapper, Nipsey Hussle, whose widespread cultural impact as a community activist was not dissimilar to Deni's. “I think it’s something that we as a crew, Royalty, talk about a lot. I think a lot of people, like Nipsey Hussle, it’s this idea of capitalism in America and how it’s left people out over the years. But at the same time, it has the power to empower you if you can wield it. The idea of capitalism and the relation that black people especially have to capitalism is something that’s interesting to us,” Glover's brother and the film's writer, Stephen Glover, explained.
As always, the iconoclastic Glover succeeded in expressing this societal moment of economic and political discontent, bringing diversity, inclusion and a new perspective to a conforming, at times problematic festival.
Guava Island can be streamed now on Amazon Prime.