American Fiction

First off, I am glad that my professor played this movie for our minority politics class. This was such a beautiful film about an issue I have had for years. Why do minorities lean into the stereotypes that some white viewers see as reality because it makes a profit when it harms the culture in the end? While the movie focuses on the black community stereotypes such as dead-beat dads, gangsters, police violence, drug dealers, etc. I've seen the same thing in Latino written characters who are just sex objects, drug dealers, border hoppers, blue-collar workers, etc. The worst in my opinion is that every Mexican from LA is saying "ese" or "no mames güey", wears bandanas n' flannels, and only speaks in Spanglish slang. The film does a good job addressing but also allows viewers to leave it up to opinion. For instance, Sintara Golden allows viewers to understand that these are real stories in some instances but if it appeals to white audiences then it will sell. However, I lean more towards Monk's view that stories should uplift and advance minority communities instead of preventing their advancement by confining them to generalization. The cast in this movie is great, everyone had their moment in this film whether it was Sterling K. Brown's confession, Wright and Rae's lunch discussion, or Coraline's dinner argument. The moments in this film felt real and I'm glad that this book got adapted in a way that audiences could understand the points being made while leaving it up to interpretation. The ending of this film was great and while it could be seen as being incomplete or lazy writing. I feel like the ending helped solidify what the director wanted out of this film. However, I mark this film down a bit just because I would have liked a couple more minutes to let this film breathe and cool down as it feels like we race to the end.