Monae s Metropolis Saga
Monae s Metropolis Saga uses the cyborg as a metaphor for the oppressed, using cyborg bodies
as a stand in for black bodies and consequently drawing connections between the state of
blackness and the state of being cyborg. Monae herself speaks of her decision to choose an
android because the android to [her] represents the other in our society. (Kot 1) This is made
specific to blackness when, in the Metropolis Saga, Cindi time travels to the 20th and 21st centuries
and is reborn as Janelle Monae, becoming black rebels throughout history; accordingly, the line
between cyborgontology and black ontology is blurred as she jumps between the two. Monae,
additionally, describes cyborgs as neon slaves, electric savages, making clear ties between... Show
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If for Monae, black bodies are cyborg bodies, cyborg bodies have existed throughout history and
cannot be situated solely in the future. Consequently, Metropolis as a city centered around Cindi s
black cyborg body cannot be temporally alienated from history, and must reckon with it. More than
that, though, Metropolis itself is not just a vision of the future but of the past, a transhistorical
metaphor of oppression and liberation. This differs from traditional science fiction cyborg
representations because for Haraway and many others, the cyborg exists within a future world.
However, for Monae, the cyborg has always existed in the form of black bodies, and the science
fiction world serves only to illuminate this. Accordingly, the transhistoricality is the only way that
a cyborg can be raced and allows a raced cyborg to recognize and grapple with the dark history
that birthed it for Cindi, this means time traveling to literally participate in, change, and solve her
history. Perhaps this is best expressed by the name of Monae s upcoming album, presumably
containing the last two suites of the Metropolis Saga, Dirty Computer. The computer is the android;
however, the android retains its dirt, the dirt being the dark and dirty history of racializations and
blackness her cyborg refuses to be pristine and reject that history, instead
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