American Fiction: The Biggest Changes Between the Book Erasure and New Movie Starring Jeffrey Wright

The directorial debut of director Cord Jefferson, American fictionis a film you should not miss.The film follows Thelonious “Monk” Ellison (Jeffrey Wright), a black writer who is frustrated that his books are not selling while books full of racial stereotypes are selling. He decides to write a novel under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh called My pathologythe title of which was later changed, which parodies the books it sees as attracting attention.

When the novel becomes a huge success, Monk finds himself caught in a web of lies that could have dire consequences.

The film also stars Sterling K. Brown, Issa Rae, Erika Alexander, Tracee Ellis Ross and Leslie Uggams. It is based on the 2001 novel by Percival Everett. Deletion. While both the book and film present a satirical look at the experiences of marginalized authors within the publishing industry, there are some major differences from page to screen.

Read on for some of the biggest differences.Warning: major spoilers for American fiction and Deletion

The film is set in the greater Boston area, not DC

Orion Pictures

While Deletion mostly set in Washington, DC, where Monk grew up, the film’s setting was changed to Boston. The family has a vacation home in a coastal town, while the novel saw Monk’s family vacationing in a bungalow in Maryland.

The novel explores the affair of Monk’s father in more detail

Both the novel and the film touch on the infidelity of Monk’s late father to his wife Agnes (Leslie Uggams). The film took some liberties with the cheating scandal, such as Monk’s sister Lisa finding out about her father’s affair instead of Monk. Additionally, the novel delves deeper into the affair and includes letters from Monk’s father’s mistress, Fiona. Monk’s half-sister Gretchen, whom Monk eventually tracks down, was also cut from the film.

Jeffrey Wright plays an author who unwittingly wrote a hit American fiction Trailer

Monk’s sister Lisa dies under different circumstances

Monk’s sister Lisa is recently divorced and doesn’t really understand her brother’s books. One of the biggest changes regarding her character is how she dies at the beginning of the story. In the film, Lisa dies of a sudden heart attack while at a restaurant with Monk. In the novel, she is shot and killed when someone fires a gun through the windows of the women’s clinic where she works.

Monk’s girlfriend has a new name

Claire Folger

Monk’s love Coraline (Erika Alexander) is Monk’s neighbor at his family’s vacation home. In the film, Coraline is a lawyer who is just getting out of a relationship and supports Monk as he moves his mother into a care facility. In the novel, Coraline’s character is originally named Marilyn Tilman. Her uncle lived across the street from Monk’s family at their vacation home in Maryland.

Stagg R. Leigh’s entire novel is unexplored

Deletion includes the full text for Stagg R. Leigh’s novel My pathology (later titled F–-k) within the novel itself. While the entire book is understandably not explored in the film, it does include a scene where Monk is writing the book while two characters who appear in the My pathologyprotagonist Van Go Jenkins (Okieriete Onaodowan) and Willy (Keith David), act out the scene as Monk writes it.

The biggest differences between Leave the world behind The book and the movie

Stagg R. Leigh is a wanted fugitive

When he creates his pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh, Monk and his agent Arthur (John Ortiz) tell the book’s publisher that Stagg is a wanted fugitive. This background creates problems for Monk throughout the film, as the FBI calls the book’s publisher to try to discover his identity. In the novel, Stagg was only in prison, not on the run.

Sintara Golden is a judge in the commission for awarding the literary prize

ORION Pictures

In both versions of the story, Monk serves as a judge for a book award (called the Book Award in the novel and the Literary Award in the film). He is joined in the film by black author Sintara Golden (Issa Rae), author of a fictional novel We live in a ghetto, which Monk thinks is full of stereotypes. Other liberties were also taken with Sintara’s character, such as her name. (IN Deletionthe author’s original name is Juanita Mae Jenkins.)

Coraline reads Stagg R. Leigh’s novel instead of Sintara’s

One plot point that interferes with Monk’s relationship in both versions of the story is when Monk finds out that his girlfriend is reading a book that he finds problematic. However, the book he is reading is different. In the movie Coraline she reads F–-k, which sparks an argument between the pair, resulting in Monk coming out. In the novel, Marilyn reads a book by Juanita Mae Jenkins instead.

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The ending of the movie is different from the ending of the book (sort of).

While Deletion ends on an ambiguous cliffhanger, with Monk taking the stage at the Book Award ceremony, the film offers several alternative endings. The entire film is revealed to be a film that Monk is developing with a man named Wiley (Adam Brody). The two develop different endings to the film in real time, including one in which Monk leaves the ceremony to make amends with Coraline, and another in which the FBI comes to arrest Stagg and kill Monk while he’s on stage. Wiley agrees that this is the ending that works best, and American fiction ends with Monk leaving the film set with his brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown).

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Source: HIS Education