So you want Black representation in novels? Well, only a certain kind of Black story will sell in American Fiction. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk in the trailer for Cord Jefferson’s directorial debut. He’s a poindexter writer type frustrated by the fact that stereotypical “urban†novels dominate the Black book market. We see him on a beach spreading ashes into the breaking waves. Whether they are human remains or the ashes of his career is an open question. His editor tells him to take a break. Has anything he’s ever written changed someone’s life? “Absolutely,†Tracee Ellis Ross’s character responds to his desperate inquiry. “My dining-room table was wobbly as hell before your last book came out.â€
Monk might be just as upset over the minstrel-lite best sellers as he is over the fact that his own professorial books consistently flop. His ire leads him to jokingly write My Pafology, a book about a hardened gangster, based on the “true story†of his alter ego and pen name Stagg R. Leigh. To his shock, a publisher picks it up. Now, he must become the thing hates — a person who monetizes “Blackness†for white consumption. Nothing could have prepared him for a stop on Sintara Golden’s (Issa Rae) book tour, where the Oberlin-educated writer slips into cartoonish AAVE to read an excerpt from her latest. “Yo, Sharonda! Girl, you be pregnant again?†A white woman in the audience gives a standing ovation. The checks clearing might not be enough to tolerate all this. Jefferson’s satire is based on Erasure, Percival Everett’s 2001 novel. American Fiction landed in theaters in December 15, with an expansion set for December 22. Stay tuned for real-life publishers asking, “Wait, is this movie about us?â€
This post has been updated.