One of Them Days is No Laughing Matter

Musing on the Movie from an Artist-Organizer Perspective

Much of the art we consume—movies, TV, short videos, visual art, dance—is depoliticized. Scratch that. It is made a mere distraction. And yet, some argue all art is propaganda. I believe the artistic process carries potential clues for unlocking our liberation. Here’s why One of Them Days will have you rollin’ and why the movie is simultaneously no laughing matter.

In case you’ve been living under a rock, One of Them Days follows two LA homegirls, Dreux and Alyssa, played by Keke Palmer and SZA, on an epic, day-long escapade to secure housing. The women break into an apartment, give blood, get electrocuted, and lose a fight. At one point, they're picked up by an ambulance only to flee the scene out of fear of the medical bill. Somehow, the dangers are hilarious. I've seen the film in the theatre twice now. I watched a third time on Netflix. Each time, I giggled as the women were scammed by an ex-boyfriend or denied a loan because of their credit score. It felt cathartic to react to the violence of Capitalism in this way. But why? Because the film’s plot tackles serious issues without being preachy. It is playful but urgent, which I’d attribute to the excellent writing.

I recently had the opportunity to write and perform comedy sets. Even as a seasoned artist, it was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. My goal was to punch up, not down. Although it was a challenge, I realized performing comedy was an excellent way to politicize folks, teach them, and engage people in the ridiculousness of the systems we live under. These systems aren’t finite. They should be ridiculed into oblivion. Comedy helps us process living with tragedy.

Behind the One of Them Days laughs is a real threat that audiences can viscerally feel looming: eviction. There were moments in the film when the timer starts when Dreux and Alyssa have mere hours to come up with the money to remain housed. They’re street-smart and savvy. Even when they face hurdles, they always seem to get lucky at the last minute. Many aren’t so lucky. And eviction is violent. According to Abolish Rent: How Tenants Can Win The Housing Crisis, “homelessness isn’t an equal-opportunity misery; it tracks people into life outcomes along grooves worn by enslavement and inequality. Black people are 13 percent of the US population but 37 percent of those who sleep outdoors” (25). Many of the people who watch One of Them Days—especially Black folks and women in Cali—can relate to the characters because they’ve experienced the systemic and personal brutalities of gentrification, housing insecurity, and eviction. For example, many of us live in neighborhoods where piles of children’s clothes and toys line the sidewalk after a landlord has evicted an entire family—our friends couch surf. Our dream of owning a house has become a pipe dream. The unhoused folks who orbit our block are primarily Black or brown like us, or elderly, or disabled and in agony.

Meanwhile, the so-called progressive cities where we live are focused on homeless sweeps and more money for police. None of it is funny, as in, haha. All of it is funny, as in, weird.

It’s weird to live in a country with so much wealth and so little access to stable shelter. But we can fight back. Tenants outnumber landlords by the millions and can use organizing to get the last laugh. For example, “a third of Americans who rent their housing make these payments to a handful of corporations and the mere 6.7 percent of the population who owns that housing. This is a transfer of wealth from over 100 million tenants to just over 11 million landlords”(16). That’s real power. I saw that power activated in One of Them Days when Dreux did detective work about how her landlord was ripping her off or when, in the final scene, Dreux and Alyssa held a vibrant rent party.

The stakes are high. We’re living through a billionaire coup, with Trump serving as “developer in chief.” Much of his wealth comes from real estate development, inherited from a father who was also a developer—and a racist one at that—whose discriminatory practices violated civil rights laws. We need more movies like One of Them Days, which are as serious about what must change as they are playful. We need movies that amplify the intersecting challenges faced by Black women, who bear disproportionate rent burdens, healthcare challenges, and student debt. We need all genres. You see, sometimes we laugh to keep from crying. We need more hood heroes and characters who party with a purpose. Sometimes we need to see that our oppressors are dimwits and the systems they’ve built are devious. You should see One of Them Days for yourself and see where it takes you.