Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube to access our full video library. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).
Produced by Armand Aviram. Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands)Bad Faith - Episode 351 Promo – American Friction (w/ Jason England, Mtume Gant, & Bertrand Cooper)
Subscribe to Bad Faith on Patreon to instantly unlock this episode and our entire premium episode library: http://patreon.com/badfaithpodcast Succession/The Good Place/Watchmen writer Cord Jefferson's adaptation of Percival Everett's novel Erasure is getting Oscar buzz, but does American Fiction deserve the hype? Writers Jason England and Bertrand Cooper join director/actor/writer Mtume Gant to discuss. Do meaningful departures from the book indicate a disinterest in working class politics that cut to the heart of what Everett was trying to say in his novel? Or are they good cuts in service of the economy of film? Is the basis of satire in the 20-year-old book -- the interest of white audiences in Black "struggle" literature -- still current now that more middle class Black authors have access to publishing houses? Did the movie miss an opportunity to pick a new target -- say, the BLM protest to hype-house grift? Or does it capture a still-relevant critique of Black elites and the stories that make them rich?