I had no idea what I was watching, then the A24 logo appeared and it all made sense.
Now, over the last year or so, I’ve become very intrigued by art of film. In delving into the film community, that is by spending several hours a day on Youtube listening to videos essays on classic works and new masterpieces and finally obtaining a Moviepass subscription right as the company goes up in flames, I’ve spent my time trying to gain an understanding of scene structure, character development, having a proper score, and the importance of a director’s eye. Time and again, I come across film titles that strike a chord with these internet critics—Ex Machina, The Florida Project, Moonlight to name a few—and see them sing the praises of their art house: A24.
Karsten Ruiquist, a YouTube film critic I’ve been following, once described that an A24 film is “a movie with no barrier between the art and the artist.” It’s easy to spy Random Acts of Flyness series creator Terence Nance’s vision; he and the show are fundamentally linked. Just like in his past works, Nance seeks to explore his own ideas on themes of identity, the nature of relationships, sexuality, insecurity and the Black experience in RAoF, but he is able to enough space for nuance allowing the audience to reflect on these concepts. I credit this, in part, to the show’s use of long-take close-ups. The cinematography is captivating. Most every scene is able to connect the emotions of a character outside of the limitations of the frame and onto its audience. In this intimacy, we able to feel terror. We feel irony. We feel joy; just like with a painting and its audience. It’s beautifully empathic.
Make no mistake: Random Acts of Flyness is not concerned with respecting your level of comfort. It is as much a crash course into the psyche of young Black America as it is kaleidoscopic escapism. It is a dark-humored, at times morbid, painfully honest depiction of the Black experience that seeks to make everyone uncomfortable, especially those of Caucasian descent. White people will be uncomfortable and, as the show notes, White people really don’t like being uncomfortable. And despite residing on a platform whose audience is predominantly White, Nance (whom is also a reoccurring character in the RAoF universe) has purposely made the show unapologetically Black. It’s like Beyoncé’s Coachella performance but with more existentialism and no Beyoncé.
Nance doubles down unapologetically. Take the controversal “White Thoughts” skit for instance, where we find beloved actor John Hamm monologuing about the detrimental side effects of Whiteness in action within in a drug commercial. We see portrayals of victims of police brutality as a royal figures. We see the belief that the racist ideology of the Klan being equated to the that average person’s inclination to believe that they are not a racist because they like books written by Jewish men or use “black vernacular” from time to time on full display. This did not go over well critically, but it’s delivery was flawless in execution. As I see it, casting Hamm was very purposeful. Here you have the lead character actor from the television marvel Mad Men, quite possibly one of the whiteness shows of the decade in terms of its plot’s era and general viewership, addressing the internal thoughts White people have that contributes to systematic racism. This not only subverts the expectation of who would typically give this sort of speech but insists that the audience callback to Don Draper, Hamm’s character in Mad Men. Hamm is well dressed, charismatic and commanding in his conviction like his character Don; however, although all the show’s climax centers around the imminent rise of the Women and Black power movements, we all know that Don Draper would never say anything like this in his life, ever.
This and the vast majorty of RAoF‘s skits feel extremely in-your-face. It’s easy to get the gist of a general concept across using extremes since a large number of folks get lost in subtly. I guess that’s why people see the show as blatant “reverse racism” as opposed to it being an artistic form of social commentary. Please note, those that spout out “Reverse racism!!” are actually talking about prejudice. And, to be clear, racism in reverse would be love, trust and acceptance, as racism is ignorance and the fear of differences (between people in power and those beneath them structurally in a society) in practice.
Random Acts of Flyness is not all “Everybody Dies” or “White Angel” skits, however. At times, I look at the series as Black Mirror written by and for Black Americans. RAoF is concurrently stylized in surrealism while being compellingly authentic. By showcasing the various everyday aspects about identity, feelings and expressions of Black people without filters RAoF gives an insight to complexity of the reality of what it means in this day and age to be Black in America. And in doing so, it is provocative by its own nature. Whenever I get the chance to talk to someone about Random Acts of Flyness I have to mention the “Bitch Better Have My Money” skit. The dark humor is strong in this satire of Apple events. Dozens of tech-savvy White youth are watching a presentation in an auditorium, suddenly become locked in and are then forced to confront the tragic of slavery and the necessary implementation of reparations. Considering that victims of American cattle slavery contributed an estimated $300 billion in free labor to the American economy it’s only right that the descents of slave owners should pay off a student loan or fifty, right? If only it could become reality. Although skits like “Bitch Better Have My Money” are as funny as they are heartbreaking, they are a pure reflection of the double-sided drama mask Black folks wear daily: one part comedy, one part tragedy. A Black face, up close and personal, that stares back at America and says, “I am terrified,” “I am happy,” “I am human,” all at once without being silenced.
In closing, I implore you to watch this show. It’s so good, and I’ve barely scratched the surface in this post. Also, it’s getting a second season in 2019 before Terence Nance and Lebron James begin production on Space Jam 2 (Wow, the direction on that going to be so trippy, my goodness). I cannot wait to have this on in the background when the race war starts.
Stay Black. Stay Fly.
SYDSUGOI SPEAKS 