10 Movies That Ought to Have a Villain But Don't

Cord Jefferson's directorial debut American Fiction has its flaws, not least a weird, Wizard of Oz-like ending, in which the main conflicts don't so much get resolved as swept off the narrative plane in one fell swoop. Nonetheless, it is a scathing satire against the contemporary literary scene, which prizes identity far above the writing itself.

Tenured professor and published literary author, Monk (Jeffrey Wright) struggles against a world which only wants to see his Blackness on the page, and despite being up against a slurry of white folks who fetishise the colour of his skin and their misconceptions of what his genuine experience may be, none of them qualify as an authentic villain.

Bearing in mind this is a film that begins when its protagonist embarks on a tour de fraudulence under the guise of an ex-gangbanger on the run from the law, and ends when the FBI bust into an awards ceremony guns blazing, there really ought to be a clear antagonist.

But there isn't. What there is is an entire establishment, shored up in office blocks around the globe, and hell-bent on raking in cash from poverty porn - and you can't exactly throw that down a Death Star shaft.