Thelonious 'Monk' Ellison (Jeffrey Wright) is a relatively successful novelist, who just wants to write quality fiction, without feeding into the diversity market that wants to hear stereotypical, authentic stories from black authors.
Outraged that this type of black fiction sells incredibly well he writes his own stereotypical black fiction novel as a joke and sends it to a publisher under a pen name. He is shocked to discover that they love it with the book propelling him into a spotlight that he never imagined.
That's the premise for American Fiction, a fairly low key, satirical commentary on the 'diversity industry' looking to broaden the types of voices being heard but channeling those voices into what the market thinks is authentic and real... i.e what sells.
Jeffrey Wright is perfectly cast as an author who's maybe wound up a little too tight in his own idea of how things should be.
While it is definitely satire it's not exactly a comedy, though it does have some funny moments. Particularly as Monk is forced to face some family issues that distance has given him the luxury of leaving to his siblings.
It seemed to me this movie wanted to be deeper with more to say, perhaps even being the type of film that inspires an ongoing conversation. However I think it maybe undermined itself a little by dumbing down the white cast a little too much, specifically the characters propelling Monk's joke book to notoriety.
I have no doubt such a book could exist but it seemed like any smart book publisher might see through the facade, and still publish the book, because they know that's what their market wants.
That aside the film does kind of tell two stories, one that is very much the authentic human story that Monk would prefer and one that is pure fantasy fiction.
While it's a little slow to get started American Fiction does draw you in to its characters with a few very unexpected turns along the way. It's trying hard to be a commentary on entertainment media and how diversity ideals are maybe pandering to white audiences instead of representing authentic, diverse role models for black audiences.
I'm just not sure about the conclusion it reaches even though the ending worked just fine for me. Enjoyable and worth a watch.
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