Abstract

Dan Hassler-Forest opens his monograph with a brief biographical sketch of Janelle Monáe’s remarkable career, from her working-class upbringing in Kansas City through the major outputs of her creative work.1 As a musician and transmedia creator, this includes four “science fiction concept albums” (1) with corresponding videos: Metropolis: The Chase Suite (2007), The ArchAndroid (2010), and The Electric Lady (2013) all develop a story world around persecuted android character Cindi Mayweather; while Dirty Computer (2018) tells the story of a human character, Jane 57821, sent for “reprogramming” as a “dirty computer” in a future-set dystopian story world. Monáe’s remarkable development of videographic storytelling... Read More.