They'll Just Call You a Nigger Anyway. Who Gives a Damn?

American Fiction as a title for this movie is fitting because it highlights how society at large is only interested in, especially financially, a stereotypical view of Black/African-descended people in America. This narrow view of Black/African-descended people is indeed fictional.

 American Fiction’s main character is Monk, and he’s a professor and recently struggling author who reluctantly wrote a book that centers Black stereotypes on subjects such as crime and language as a joke to see how people would react. Still, his stereotypical book ended up being a bestseller. Must Black people and other minority groups in America lose their souls a little bit to reach achievement in a White supremacist world?

 Before I write about what I thought the film's main messages were, I’d like to briefly discuss how much I enjoyed a certain aspect of romance displayed in the film. Monk was interacting with Coraline, played by Erika Alexander, in her home as her ex-husband walked in. I love how normal it all seemed. Coraline calmly explained to Monk that she and her ex-husband were recently divorced, and Monk didn’t bat an eye. The ex-husband even asked if Monk was staying for dinner. I don’t have the data because who gives a damn right now, but I have noticed that most people in society are conditioned to hate their ex-lovers and banish them to the netherworld. You don’t have to hate your ex, and it’s okay to remain cordial or even maintain a platonic relationship.

 Maybe I’m not so brief now, but I also loved seeing the family’s maid, Lorraine, fall in love and marry her lover because they don’t fit the archetype of people who have “nice” bodies and look like celebrities and social media influencers who receive all the praise for their looks. It was nice to see some other types of people get all the love and glory.

 This film proves how silly the American Dream really is. In the movie, you have three individuals who have achieved the highest level of education possible, and they are still experiencing financial hardship and familial issues, even though the American Dream says that whoever works hard will be blessed abundantly. I wonder if the movie was attempting to make some critique about capitalism. The movie shows that America is financially difficult to live in regardless of the social or educational status achieved, so is going to college really necessary, or is it just a money grab for major corporations?

 Issa Rae’s character, Sintara, does pose a critical question about the usefulness of writing stereotypical Black stories. She wondered if Monk’s real problem was with the real stories of these real Black people or if his problem was ultimately with the White people who were fascinated with these real stories in a toxic way.

 I love it when the savory smell of some ultra-crispy fried chicken that was seasoned with ancestral love and determination dances past my negro nostrils, but why does the world like to read about these stories from Black people so much? Why are watermelon and gang fights in a neighborhood where White people don’t jog in so entertaining to people?

 The stereotypical stories deserve to be told, too, because if they don’t get told, then those types of Black people would then be erased from literature. Black people read and enjoy these books, too. You can’t scream, “Black people aren’t all the same!” and then be upset when Hot Cheeto-loving, weed-smoking Sha’Neequa Luvita Jenkins is the main character in a hood novel where she braids hair for a living and lets her no-good baby daddy use her Nissan Altima to drive to fake job interviews.