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‘We’re So Much More’: Issa Rae Reflects on Black Onscreen Stereotypes

“If this were... just about that Black family, I don’t know that it would get praised as much," Rae said about 'American Fiction' in a new interview.

During the interview, Rae delved into satirical drama American Fiction, where she plays an author who pens a hit novel, We’s Lives in Da Ghetto, riddled with grammatical errors and harmful tropes involving Black communities. Her book butts heads with novelist and lead Thelonious “Monk” Ellison ( Jeffrey Wright), who is troubled by publishing companies who are eager to reward novels that perpetuate Black stereotypes. Because I’ve been Monk, and I remember in the Awkward Black Girl days — and even prior to that — feeling so enraged about what wasn’t being made, and being mad at who was in the spotlight at the time because I was like, ‘I know we’re so much more than what’s being presented here,'” Rae said.

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