Atlanta: The Goof Who Sat by the Door

October 28, 2022 8:45 PM - Season 4, Episode 8

An in-depth look at the making of the American classic A Goofy Movie.

Certain details may not be endorsed by The Walt Disney Company.

posted by skoosh (6 comments total)

Once again, this series shows an endless capacity to surprise us. Sometimes this kind of alternate-history satire edges into overly-broad territory, but I think, with the obvious (and intentional) exception of the way that a lowly production-line animator suddenly rises to the top, this one pretty much plays it straight and keeps it almost within the realm of believability.

(By way of context, the underlying premise that this episode is based on.)
posted by skoosh at 9:01 PM on October 28, 2022 [3 favorites]

This was pretty fantastic.
posted by triage_lazarus at 9:30 PM on October 28, 2022 [2 favorites]

My dad played the Disney CEO exec in this one. I thought he did a great job. Big role for him!

Last season and this season, Atlanta has been one of the best shows around imo
posted by lazaruslong at 12:08 AM on October 29, 2022 [13 favorites]

Incredible writing. I sort of skipped out on American culture in the mid-90s and had no idea The Goofy Movie existed. As with a lot of episodes, I went right from the credits to searching what was "real" and what was not.

Incredible acting. Part of the adrenaline that starts for me with every episode of Atlanta is not knowing what kind of story it'll be. It makes things "interesting," but it also feels similar to living with someone who's got borderline personality disorder (which I have done for long stretches). It's not a comfortable feeling. It's also similar to what it feels like to be an oppressed group. You never know which "face" or persona you yourself will have to dredge up and put on quickly in order to get out of there. So from the acting, at no point did I think this was a tongue in cheek episode or something played for laughs. I kept looking for personas to "break" but everyone and everything was masterfully coherent.

And the technical/stylistic choices, the range of media that parroted the typical documentary format, were spot on.

This whole season has bloomed in me my childhood fear and curiosity of urban legends, of stories that are just true enough to be believable but just out there enough to be disregarded. Until you're alone at home, or alone at the mall, or alone at night, and there's a noise. Or the radio comes on. Or a bee lands on you. Just that feeling of knowing you don't have any idea how big and wild the world is, at a time when all you do know is you're small and impotent.
posted by cocoagirl at 6:26 AM on October 30, 2022 [4 favorites]

I was not expecting a Documentary Now! crossover episode, but that was great.
posted by snofoam at 6:38 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]

This episode plays it so straight that you could really remove a handful of jokes and have people believing it is real.
posted by anhedonic at 5:53 PM on March 8, 2023