Who Is "The Boy?"

On March 12, 2014, Complex posted Childish Gambino’s Chicken and Futility, a short film that seems to create an existential discussion about futility, and how it presents itself in different aspects of our lives. Gambino himself plays The Boy, while Swank and Stephen Glover, simply play themselves. The film begins with the Boy reading an E. E. Cummings poem in preparation to write a essay, and then teaching himself to roll a paper. The three characters then talk about the social scrutiny that Chick-fil-A was facing at the time, in addition to the real reason that moths fly toward light.

The Boy differs from the other two characters in the film. While Swank and Stephen just seem to be bantering, The Boy is the character that introduces the moth discussion, and is learning to roll a blunt so that he can say he can do it at parties. Rather than making light of a serious situation, he's doing just the opposite. Childish Gambino has always been one to embrace weird things, but The Boy isn’t just a weird character. The Boy seems very analytical, even existential, which does not seem far off from Childish Gambino himself. He allowed the idea that moths often cannot find moonlight to ruin his mood the previous day, and when he explains his reasoning, the other two don't seem to understand what he's talking about.

This is only the Boy’s second appearance, as he appears in the Because the Internet screenplay, and it can even be argued that he appears on the Kauai EP, and the Because the Internet and CAMP albums.

But, for the purposes of this discussion, we'll only be discussing the short film, since I don't want to keep your here all day, by painstakingly searching through all of Gambino's work (I'll save that for another time). By only looking at the Chicken and Futility screenplay, it’s difficult to gather much information about the Boy. However, we can assume that he has a decent grip on reality. He is the one to tell his friends that they will not go through with their plans to thwart Chick-fil-A, by selling chicken sandwiches on Sunday. Though it seems weird, he has the most understanding of the futility that exists in a moth's life. He also seems to have a good grip on social ideals, especially what things he should do in order to remain socially accepted. This is why he says they are not "supposed" to eat at Chick-fil-A "because of the gay stuff." He's not really sure what "the gay stuff" is, but he knows that others will be upset with them for disregarding the information and eating at Chick-fil-A anyway. He knows that his opinion doesn't matter in this case, only others opinions about his opinion.

Swank seems to be the most unaware of the three, but at first glance he seems the most aware. He understands that if he doesn't eat Chick-fil-A, he's the only one that will be at a loss. He doesn't want The Boy to become one of those guys "just talking shit," but fails to realize that he is one of those guys himself. After all, he's not going to sell chicken sandwiches outside of Chick-fil-A on Sundays. However, this seems like a bit of a paradox. The other two characters seem more realistic, because they seem like guys any of us would know, and while The Boy has a grip on reality, he does not seem realistic himself.

Though incredibly short, the film packs a bit of a punch and makes the viewer think about what the hell they just watched.