American Fiction
Short description
Thelonious "Monk" Ellison is a novelist and English professor whose literary career has stalled because publishers consider his work not "Black" enough. Frustrated that the establishment profits from Black entertainment built on tired and offensive stereotypes, he adopts a pseudonym and writes an exaggerated novel that leans into every one of those clichés, intending it as satire aimed at the publishing world's hypocrisy. The book becomes an immediate sensation, pulling Monk into the very machinery he set out to mock and forcing him to reckon with his own assumptions.
American Fiction is a comedy-drama directed and written by Cord Jefferson, marking his debut as a feature director. Jeffrey Wright leads the cast as Monk, with Erika Alexander, John Ortiz, Leslie Uggams and Sterling K. Brown among the supporting players; the production credits 57 cast members and 194 crew. Made for a budget of about 10 million dollars, it earned roughly 22 million dollars worldwide, a solid return for a film of its scale.
Audiences received it favorably: on IMDb it holds 7.5 out of 10 from around 133,000 votes, and on TMDB 7.2 out of 10 from a much smaller base of 1,442 votes. Critics were more enthusiastic still, giving it 8.2 out of 10 across 296 reviews.
What's left behind the scenes
- Monk, as portrayed by Jeffrey Wright, is examining a photograph of the so-called “doll test” (a series of experiments conducted by psychologists Kenneth and Mamie Clark to study the impact of segregation on African American children). This photograph was once used in legal proceedings (the case of *Brown v. Board of Education*), which put an end to segregation in schools. The photograph was taken by Gordon Parks, one of the most celebrated photographers of the 20th century and one of the first Black photojournalists hired by predominantly “white” publications such as Life Magazine and Glamour.
- Monk's pseudonym – Stagg R. Lee – is a reference to a folk song from the early 20th century performed by many singers. The song's plot is based on real events. It concerns the murder committed in 1895 by a man named Lee Shelton, a pimp from St. Louis nicknamed “Stagg” (or “Stack-O-Lee,” or “Stagger Lee”). The song was very popular, which led to a stereotype about the masculinity of Black men and their propensity for crime.
- After finishing filming on the sixth season of the melodrama *This Is Us*, Sterling K. Brown (who played Clifford) was looking for an opportunity to play someone who was the complete opposite of the noble character he had embodied on screen in the television series. Brown immediately agreed to work with Cord Jefferson and even stated that the film's script (Jefferson was one of the authors) was the best he had ever read.
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