Random Acts of Flyness
Random Acts of Flyness is an HBO television series that Terence Nance, the show’s star and creator, says is “a show about the beauty and ugliness of contemporary American life.” A mix of sketches, found footage, clips, animation, documentary, dark humor, and musical performances, Random Acts translates the stark differences between blackness and whiteness in the American imaginary.
In Episode 1, Nance introduces the show by recording himself on his cellphone while riding a bike. A police officer pulls him over, and Nance and the officer simulate an altercation not unlike those captured and circulated via Facebook live, Snap Chat, and YouTube. In the next skit, Nance parodies one of black people’s fears and worries: mistaken identity. But there’s a twist. He mistakenly gets into an unlocked car that looks identical to his own car. Nance’s character promptly realizes his mistake and gently exits the car. The owner of the duplicate car, a white woman, stands close by. Despite there being no real threat, the woman announces she must call the police. Nance tries but fails to imagine how he will explain the situation to the police, if he will even be given a chance to explain, without any repercussions. The woman assumes Nance has transgressed a boundary, and for that, he must be reprimanded. Beyond the content, the black-and-white filmic appearance of the skit exaggerates the racial connotations of the encounter on the level of form. Random Acts is clever and innovative in this way, calling up film’s racist histories as well as the realities and political effects of how blackness functions in the white imagination.
Frances Bodomo’s short film, Everybody Dies!, also appears in this episode. The image is grainy and approximates a children’s public access show. A black woman character named “Ripa the Reaper” is the host, and she is perceived as a grim reaper. Two doors marked “life” and “death” make up the set, along with streamers and a disco ball. When a group of white children enter the stage, Ripa tells them they are lost and escorts them through the door of life. She promises there are cookies on the other side. Black children, however, meet a different fate. Next, she asks the black children standing on stage to give her an answer to a phantom question, and none of them gets it right. “The answer is death,” Ripa replies, and she sends the black children through the door of death. This film, embedded within Random Acts, raises important questions about the value of life and its relationship to racial difference in the U.S. Is black life valued at all?
- Kaila G.
