Revisiting: The Strange Thing About the Johnsons
Why casting black actors unintentionally elevates an already taboo film subject
*Content Warning: this article contains topics featuring sexual assault, molestation & incest*
Even if you haven’t heard of Ari Aster, you’ve more than likely heard of his first two movies; Hereditary & Midsommar. Both films focus on trauma in the way of cults & the disastrous results that we may find ourselves in when we deny our truth. I got a minor panic attack when watching that scene from Hereditary & the deceivingly bright Midsommar features some fairly gory deaths I’m not eager to revisit.
Ari has a knack for establishing a mood before pulling the rug from under you. One of the central themes of his films is familial passing. Family in general seems to be a big theme for Aster. This is made more apparent by his most recent film, “Beau is Afraid”, which follows an arrestingly neurotic man-child on his acid-washed anti-Wizard of Oz nightmarish odyssey. Like Ari’s past two films, the protagonist is propelled by the death of a family member, in Beau’s case, his mother.
“Beau is Afraid” is a far cry from the grisly Midsommar or the sardonic Hereditary. It instead focuses on a man’s relationship with his mother, his lack of control of his life, & the secrets his family holds. I’d say secrets are another connective tissue Ari uses in his films. It’s the fear of the known unknown. Suddenly, you realize a reality that’s been in your face your entire life. Possibly more horrific, is living in that nightmare reality & constantly enduring it. That’s the thesis behind Ari’s short film, “The Strange Thing About The Johnsons”, an extremely taboo film that is more of a reality than most would like to admit.
When the film was first released, it became instantly viral due to the subject matter. Ari was going to school at the American Film Institute & was mulling around ideas for taboo topics when he came up with the idea for the story. It follows a stereotypical nuclear African-American family in which the son has been molesting the father for years. You can probably tell why this became viral.
In an interview with Ari, he stated that the choice to use black actors wasn’t important to the story but I’d like to propose that this choice singlehandedly liberated this film from being another shock value movie. What makes this choice important is the unfortunate reality that society has with incestuous relationships. It’s been normalized amongst a certain group of people & has even been affectionately coined, ‘white people shit’. Killing your entire family & bathing in their blood? White people shit. The neighbor’s dog told you to skin your wife? White people shit. The plot of The Strange Thing About the Johnsons? White people shit.
The actors being black elevate the roles to such a height that the film is known as a satire in some circles. It’s impossible to see these characters as real people because some viewers' attachment to the subject is tied to a specific race. If the Johnsons were white, their affair would be more palatable. No less abhorrent but more understandable. It’s this kind of denial—thinking one type of abuse is fastened to a specific race, that perpetuates said abuse within the black community; waving it off as an unreality or ‘white people shit’.
The cast is undeniably great. Billy Mayo plays the father with such remorse & trepidation, the squirrely, wide-eyed mother played by Angela Bullock, & the grotesquely devious son played by Brandon Greenhouse & Carlon Jeffery respectively, perform their roles perfectly. Their big, sometimes over-the-top performances, are matched with cold, dynamic shots; giving the feel of a modern Hitchcockian social thriller.
In under 30 minutes, Ari manages to maneuver around this delicate subject matter while exemplifying the horrors of this unspoken act. The black community has had a turbulent time addressing the veiled conversation of sexual assault. Depictions of sexual assault against black people isn’t uncommon in film. Usually coming from movies with slave narratives, where the activity is as common as waving their hand. It’s rare when a movie deals with the elephant in the room straight on instead of throwing a blanket on it. Especially when it’s a black family.
The film itself doesn’t deal with the family’s ethnicity. There are no “families like us don't do this” conversations or any talks of what the cultural implications of this situation might be. Since Ari didn’t plan on this being a factor, there’s no depth to be found on that topic. Furthermore, I don’t believe there’s a need to have a deeper meaning other than, these things happen. There are no ghosts here. No cults. No gory sacrifice to the Gods. There’s just a predatory son, his tortured father, & his willingly oblivious mother. The movie tackles its subject matter carefully but doesn’t shy away from showing the uncomfortable; challenging the audience & never making light of its victims’ situations—it’s a haunting examination of abusive power dynamics hiding within the suburban home.
This film is far from ‘revolutionary’ but it’s miles away from being a satire making fun of a sensitive subject. It’s harrowing, disturbed, intriguing, and unnerving. Ari set out to make an anti-oscar movie and, yeah, he did. But he also made an unflinching look at the horrors that sexual abuse has on everyone involved & by inadvertently hiring black actors to play the roles, he made an extremely provocative & unique horror film that should be remembered as a staunch debut instead of the incestual internet meme.