The Strange Thing About The Johnsons, a 2011 short film by Ari Aster, is one of the most divisive movies to come out in recent memory.
The scandalous and startling short film, which was also Aster’s senior project at the American Film Institute’s graduate programme, AFI Conservatory, completely rocked the film industry in under 29 minutes.
Although the director of Hereditary and Midsommar is a Jew, Billy Mayo, Brandon Greenhouse, & Angela Bullock play members of a Black family who become entangled in a web of abuse in his breakthrough short film The Strange Thing About the Johnsons. Aster started considering it after talking with his pals on taboos before entering his first year at AFI.
What is The Strange Thing About The Johnsons All about?
Following Sidney Johnson (Mayo), a celebrated poet who experienced decades of sexual abuse from the of his son, Isaiah, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons chronicles the Johnson family (Greenhouse).
The elderly gentleman hides his memoir Cocoon Man: Confessions by Sidney Johnson under his wife’s pillow in an effort to tell her everything that has been happening when Isaiah’s mother Joan (Bullock) finds Isaiah torturing Sidney.
Before Joan reads the memoir, Isaiah finds it, though. The events that follow develop into a violent altercation between Joan and Isiah, which ultimately results in the death of one of the protagonists.
Due to its topics, The Strange Thing About the Johnsons quickly became popular online after its debut. The fact that Aster, a Jewish man, was focusing on a Black family, offended many others as well.
“The colour of the family isn’t significant,” Aster said at the time to Shadow and Act. It’d be a lie to claim that we were just not hesitant, especially since many people were counseling us against the choice. We obviously anticipated that using black actors in a movie that deals with such provocative issues would cause some controversy.
Malcolm Harris, a contributor to the Huffington Post and a survivor of incest and molestation, asserted that instead, we should “applaud the fact that someone has finally showed actual courage in addressing the topic.”
Therefore, in my opinion, we should celebrate the fact that someone has finally displayed genuine guts by presenting the query, “What If? What if The Smiths, The Rosenbergs, The Mortimers, and The Herreras were hosting these weird parties behind closed doors? What if I had these unusual occurrences?
FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
The grim satirical tragedy reveals the decay that exists beneath the tidy veneer of respectable suburban life. Incest, gaslighting, sexual assault, and complicity are all topics covered. It is intended to be a challenging and upsetting viewing.
Although The Strange Thing About The Johnsons is not a true story, anyone could have a similar experience, and as viewers, we are more aware than ever of the extent to which abuse can hold anyone, no matter how small, captive.
You can watch The Strange Thing About The Johnsons right now servel video streaming platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo.
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