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Juel Taylor's They Cloned Tyrone is a sci-fi comedy that released to little fanfare. The summer of 2023 was jam-packed with iconic blockbusters such as, Spiderman: Across the Spiderverse, Barbie, and Oppenheimer, so when They Cloned Tyrone was quietly released on Netflix in June of 2023, it simply fell through the cracks.
The film follows Fontaine (John Boyega) , Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), and Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) as they try figure out how Fontaine, was able to come back from the dead. Through their investigation, they realize that their neighborhood, the Glen, is one of many Black neighborhoods that are being experimented on by the government. These experiments are meant to force them into assimilating into white society through brainwashing, selected breeding, and, of course, cloning.
On the surface, They Cloned Tyrone is a fun sci-fi film with a side of racial commentary, however, I'd argue that it also comments on a larger film genre: Blaxploitation.
What is Blaxploitation?
In the early 1970s, Black indie filmmakers came together to create the Blaxploitation genre/movement. An offshoot of the exploitation and grindhouse movements, Blaxploitation films generally focus on explicit topics such as violence, sex, and crime in a somewhat glorifying manner. The genre includes films such as Shaft, Blacula, and Dolemite.
While the movement was initially created to empower Black creators, it always had some pushback. Some, including members of the NAACP, felt that Blaxploitation films created negative representation for Black people by leaning into racist stereotypes. Whether intended or not, many of these stereotypes linger in a lot of films today, especially in films which are not created or intended for Black audiences.
They Cloned Tyrone fits perfectly into the Blaxploitation genre. Its main characters, Fontaine, Slick Charles, and Yo-Yo fill the commonly found roles of the drug dealer, the pimp, and the prostitute respectively. Usually, these archetypes might embody their entire characters, however, this trio proves themselves to be clever and caring towards their community.
The trio's quest for the truth takes them to many places that are stereotypically associated with Black culture, such as a church and a fried chicken restaurant. They find that both settings are involved in the government conspiracy; the fried chicken is used to brainwash the people of the neighborhood and the church holds a secret entrance to the government's lab. Using settings linked to Black stereotypes shows that these stereotypes do the same thing as the government in this film: control the lives of Black people.
The group realizes that the government is also cloning specific people, such as Fontaine, so that the experiment may continue. (It is called They Cloned Tyrone, afterall). Because of this, every aspect of these clones lives are controlled. For example, throughout the film, Fontaine speaks to his mother exclusively through a closed door. Eventually, Fontaine opens her door to find that there is no one behind it, only a radio which plays pre-recorded dialogue over and over again. The entire Glen is carefully constructed in order to server the needs of the government. This construction reflects the way a writer might build their world in order to serve their message or satisfy their audience.
Being a clone means that Fontaine isn't seen as a person. Much like a character, all of his backstory and personality traits are under the control of his creator.
In the end, the entire Glen is able to break free from the government's control by using these stereotypes against them. Fontaine fakes his death by staging a fight with a rival drug dealer in order to reenter the lab. Meanwhile, Slick Charles rallies the people of the Glen against the government so that they can all be free. Both of these actions reflect another common stereotype, that Black people are argumentative and violent towards each other, that we lack community. Because the government believes that they can't break free of their stereotypes, they ultimately fail to control not only the people of the Glen, but every neighborhood they are experimenting on.
They Cloned Tyrone not only shows us how people break free of stereotypes, but it also proves that when we ban together, we can truely achieve something great!
