American Fiction Plot Summary
Having written for successful shows like The Good Place and Succession, screenwriter Cord Jefferson makes his directorial debut with American Fiction, a comedy that packs a punch. As a black comedy (no pun intended), it focuses on Thelonious “Monk” Ellison, a well-to-do Black writer who is tired of the publishing industry pigeonholing Black writers into the “African American Experience”.
But when his next satirical piece on Black stereotypes is taken seriously, he suddenly becomes a best-seller and decides to go with the flow just to see how far the industry will go. Unfortunately, he is unable to see the biggest hurdle that comes his way, his own frustration and stubbornness.
Why is Cliff at the beach house?
Cliff Ellison, Monk’s brother is a carefree freeloader who decides to embrace his homosexuality and turns to a life of partying and drugs. While he is a plastic surgeon, he insists that he is not well off and seemingly lives with whoever he is hooking up with. After their sister’s funeral, when Monk puts their mother, Agnes in a care home, Cliff pretends to leave.
But it is hinted that he has a fight with his current partner and decides to secretly move into Agnes’ beach house which now lies empty. When Monk and his girlfriend, Coraline visit the beach house and find Cliff swimming, he claims that he has returned to visit their mother.
Later, during their housekeeper’s wedding at the beach house, when the family again finds Cliff living there, he comes clean. He confesses that he never left and has been living at the beach house because he has nowhere to go. Earlier, it is mentioned that after his wife and kids found him having an affair with a man, he lost his house and half his medical practice.
Why is the FBI after Monk?
During a moment of frustration, Monk writes the satire ‘My Pafology’, later changed to ‘F*ck’, under the pen name, Stagg R. Leigh. When his agent, Arthur realises that White publishing agents are taking it seriously and offering to go as high as $750k, he takes advantage. Noticing that the publishers love everything “ghetto” and Black tropes, he claims that Stagg is a convict.
Monk decides to go with the flow only to see how everyone will react but they keep proving him wrong. The lies keep building till everyone assumes that Stagg has served a decade-long sentence for murder and then escaped. This leads to the FBI calling the publishers to look into the matter. However, Arthur assuages Monk that it is not a big deal since Stagg does not exist and the FBI cannot arrest him.
Why do Coraline and Monk break up?
Initially, Coraline and Monk bond over their similar tastes. When he writes the satire, he does not tell her that he is Stagg. When she asks him where he got the money to put Agnes in a care home, he snaps back at her. And while she finds his elite outlook endearing at first, it becomes the reason for their break-up argument.
During one of their dinners, Monk learns that Coraline has read ‘F*ck’ by Stagg and actually liked it, he takes out his pent-up anger on her. He is unable to put his points across calmly as he berates her and insults her for encouraging negative stereotypes against Black people. Provoked, Coraline lashes back that his not being able to relate to the masses does not make him superior. She decides that enough is enough and tells him to leave.
What happens at the award ceremony?
During the final act of American Fiction, it is shown that Stagg wins the literary award. At the award ceremony, Monk goes on stage to accept it and everyone is confused. After he says he has a confession to make, the scene ends.
It is then revealed that this is the ending for Monk’s new film. It seems that the producer, Wiley knows about Monk being Stagg and has struck a new deal with him. Instead of a movie adaptation of ‘F*ck’, they will be doing a movie on Monk’s life and how he pretended to be Stagg. However, Wiley does not like the ending.
The second ending that Monk suggests is Movie Monk leaving the award ceremony and showing up at Coraline’s house to patch up. Wiley finds it too much like a romantic comedy and rejects this ending as well.
The third alternative that Monk comes up with is – Movie Monk goes on stage to take the award. Coraline shows up but at the same time so does the FBI. They surround him and refuse to listen to his explanation. Thinking that the award he is holding is a gun, they shoot him fatally. Wiley loves this ending as it is very fitting and approves it.
However, in reality, when the literary award ceremony took place, Coraline did not show up nor did the cops. Monk simply left the venue when Stagg was announced as the winner.
American Fiction ends with Monk giving in to the idea that people will continue to pander to the Whites as his rival author Sintara puts it. This is suggested when he nods and acknowledges an actor dressed as a slave on Wiley’s set.
Read More: American Fiction Review