In an industry climate where movies that aren’t superhero franchises have a tougher time making it to the forefront, American Fiction is a celebration of original Black stories getting a chance.
Based on the 2001 novel Erasure by Percival Everett, the film follows Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, played by Jeffrey Wright, a Black upper-class author whose novels receive academic praise but sell poorly due to not being “Black enough.” When he writes an offensively stereotypical novel that accidentally becomes a best-seller, we follow Ellison on a winding journey of identity, grief, and defining Blackness, blurring the lines between satire and reality. The film is star-studded, featuring acts like Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, John Ortiz, and Erika Alexander, amongst others.
Named one of the top 10 films of 2023 by the American Film Institute, American Fiction earned five Oscar nominations at the 96th Academy Awards, including Best Picture; it won Best Adapted Screenplay.
‘American Fiction’ Plot Explained
A writer and professor at a Los Angeles university, Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is sent on temporary leave due to his brashness with students over racial issues, forcing him to retreat home to the city of Boston. There, he deals with his mother’s progressing Alzheimer’s disease, the sudden death of his sister Lisa and reconnecting with his estranged brother, Cliff. Amidst this all, he meets Coraline, a lawyer living across the street from his mother’s beach house whom he begins dating.
As a middle finger to an industry failing him and deliriously succumbing to the overwhelm of life, Monk writes My Pafology, a satirical novel that employs all the literary stereotypes expected from Black writers: a melodramatic plot of deadbeat dads, gang violence and drugs. Jokingly submitting it to his publisher, he’s shocked to be offered a $750,000 advance, reluctantly accepting the deal under the persona of a convict on the run named Stagg R. Leigh.
Monk receives much critical praise from the book and is offered a movie deal from a big-time producer. Meanwhile, under his true identity, Monk is invited to help judge the New England Book Association’s Literary Award as part of a “diversity push.” His satirical novel, now named F*ck, is submitted for the Literary Award, forcing him to judge it. With everyone in his life unaware that he is “Stagg,” Monk struggles with upkeeping both identities, eventually breaking up with Coraline during an argument over her enjoying the novel and emotionally confronting the impact of his father’s suicide with his brother, Cliff.
‘American Fiction’ Ending Explained
The ending of the film is pretty meta, with many wondering, “What happens at the end of American Fiction?”
During the Literary Awards ceremony, F*ck is announced as winner. When Monk goes onstage, he claims that he has a confession to make, yet the film cuts to black. Suddenly on a movie set, it’s revealed that the events we’d been following were Monk’s screenplay based on his experiences, written for the production company as an alternative to the F*ck film adaptation.
In true reality, Monk has not revealed his identity to the public and is still separated from Coraline. After discussing a few alternative endings to the screenplay, including Monk running away from the ceremony to apologize to Coraline, the producer is only enthused about a much wilder ending, where police, believing Monk to be a wanted criminal holding a gun, fatally shoot him at the ceremony. Much to Monk’s dismay, the film moves into production and he drives away from set with his brother, subtly yet consciously acknowledging a Black actor playing a slave on the studio lot.
So what does it all mean? Truthfully, whatever you take away emotionally. The ending of the film cleverly acknowledges that even after this entire journey of racial stereotype and identity reclamation, we will always end up back at square one. The white film producer, knowing Monk’s entire story, pushed for a violent ending rather than a soft one. This speaks to people’s affinity for violent narratives from the Black community, and the more they become desensitized to it, the more it will be normalized and sought out. Critically, the ending struck a nerve with many, igniting a polarizing discourse American Fiction inherently aims to platform.
