At one point early on in “American Fiction,” writer Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) enters a store to see if his books are in stock. He’s a black man, and when he questions an oblivious white clerk as to why his works are in the “African American” section, the clerk states matter-of-factly that it’s because Monk is black man, even though none of the books deal with what is considered these days to be “black issues.”
Also in the first act, Monk is told by his agent Arthur (John Ortiz) that Monk’s latest effort, despite receiving fawning praise by a publisher, wasn’t “black enough.” Monk scoffs and retorts that he’s black, and it’s his book, to which Arthur responds with halfhearted acknowledgment and support.
Boiling Hypocrisy
Based on the 2001 novel “Erasure” by Percival Everett, the film was adapted by, and is the first feature from, director Cord Jefferson. Both Mr. Everett and Mr. Jefferson are black, and in their own separate yet not totally dissimilar ways point out the once simmering and gurgling but now boiling hypocrisy not so much of race relations but of race expectations and implied limitations.
The big kick in the teeth here—and it is brilliantly executed—is that those who expect “black” books to be written by black writers about black issues are mostly snooty, upper-middle-class, college-educated, misplaced-guilt white females.
Again, in the first act, Monk becomes aware of a hot bestseller with a butchered title and written in Ebonics by Sintara Golden (Issa Rae). A well-spoken woman by anyone’s definition, Golden is called on to read a passage from her book to an audience of white women, who become ecstatic after hearing it even though they themselves have no clue or firsthand experience of how the “other half” lives.
‘Stagger Lee’
Rattled, perturbed, slightly envious, and certainly provoked, Monk decides to write (under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh) a “black” book. No one even notices that this is a tongue-in-cheek homage to the 1920s blues song “Stagger Lee,” about a fight between two black men, which became a chart-topping hit by Lloyd Price in 1959.“Mr. Leigh” is a wanted felon who can’t risk capture, which provides Monk with a good reason to never actually appear as himself when promoting his book, which has a profane title that can’t be printed here. Initially blanched, Leigh’s fawning white publishers give the book the full-tilt royal treatment.
Mr. Jefferson’s film is not completely concerned with the hypocrisy of race perception and the sellout mindset of desperate entertainment hucksters. While this portion of the film is the main crux, the subplots involving the relationships that Monk has with his doctor-sister Lisa (Tracee Ellis Ross), his mercurial brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown), his diminishing mother Agnes (Leslie Uggams), and his possible love interest Coraline (Erika Alexander) are woven throughout the narrative in a manner that makes Monk’s full story far richer and universally relatable.
Reverse Racism
Mr. Everett, Mr. Jefferson, and their lead character Monk collectively buck the long-established liberal dogma whereby “feeling sorry” for an entire race results in a blinding overcorrection that is the epitome of blatant reverse racism.As with most bestselling books, Monk’s is optioned for a feature film, and most of the final act is dedicated to this process. Perhaps even more so than books, modern-day movies have become more messaging devices and less entertainment vehicles. A quick look at what Disney has released over the last few years is a testament to this.
Without my giving too much away, the last 10 minutes of “American Fiction” show Monk butting heads with a director over the ending of the movie within a movie, and it is priceless.
“American Fiction” is a daring, provocative, and audacious work that takes lots of big chances by challenging our collective opinions of normality and race, blowing them up, and throwing them back into our faces. It demolishes multiple misguided theories of race by making it so clear how unimportant race is to the bigger picture of basic humanity.
Any current perceived division in our country is not based on race, class, finance, or perceived superiority of the masses; it is rooted in those with power creating and propagating false narratives to ensure unrest.
