American Fiction is a rich story — but is it a successful satire?

It's Been a Minute

NPR

News Commentary, Society & Culture, News, Spirituality, Religion & Spirituality

4.6 • 8.8K Ratings

🗓️ 9 January 2024

⏱️ 23 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

American Fiction is a movie you can spend hours discussing. Based on Percival Everett's novel Erasure, the movie is a satire of what the publishing industry wants from Black authors. The film also belongs to a lineage of Black movies that look at selling out in the entertainment industry: from CB4 to Hollywood Shuffle. But does American Fiction say anything new? Host Brittany Luse chats with Aisha Harris, NPR culture critic and co-host of Pop Culture Happy Hour, about her essay on what American Fiction gets right — and the cultural marks it misses.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message come from SAP Concur, a leading brand for integrated travel expense and invoice management solutions.
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0:14.0	Learn more at concur.com.
0:16.0	Hello Hello.
0:20.0	I'm Brittany Loose and you're're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR.
0:24.5	A show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. All right, y'all, we've got the Golden Globes under our belts, and that award season has officially kicked off.
0:46.0	And there's one movie that I love that's been getting a lot of buzz and nominations.
0:51.0	It's American fiction.
0:52.4	These books have nothing to do with African American studies.
0:55.0	They're just literature.
0:57.0	The blackest thing about this one is the ink.
0:59.0	I don't decide what sections the books go in,
1:02.0	and no one here does.'s how chain stores work.
1:06.0	It's a satire of making and selling black art in America today.
1:10.0	It's a rich film and a fantastic directorial debut from Emmy winning writer Chord Jefferson.
1:16.2	It's also stacked with an incredible cast, Tracy Ellis Ross, Erica Alexander,
1:22.0	and the incredible Jeffrey Wright.
1:24.0	I'm just going to put them back up to you, me, and don't you dare,
1:28.0	Ned, do not you dare.
1:31.0	It's hilarious and moving, and my husband and I did not shut up about it for nearly three hours after it was over.
1:39.0	But still I couldn't quite square the film's commentary with the black art of today.
1:44.0	Could it be that its satire is feeling a little past its hell by date?
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