Bamboozled (2000)

From blackwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Bamboozled was released on October 20, 2000, in the USA. The American Drama film was produced by New Line Cinema. Spike Lee directed and wrote the storyline of the movie. The movie was made by Spike Lee in celebrating 100 year anniversary of cinema. However, he tries to bring the celebration from a different point of view, which is how the cinema has portrayed black people for the last 100 years[1].

Plot

Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) is stressed due to the dropping rating tv show of his company. Delacroix works as a television writer for a television media company. His boss, Thomas Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport) wants his employees to create an intriguing show that can boost the television ratings. After that day, Delacroix and Sloan (Jada Pinkett Smith), his assistant, propose an offensive and racist show as the solution. They hope that showing the racial black American fools show could create a disastrous show. They believe that by doing that they can be fired from the company as the company would get complaints and decrease their rating. However, reality does not go what they want. Yet, "Mantan: The Millenium Minstrel Show" goes successfully and becomes a hit. The show displays black American people use black faces made out of roasted cork while their lips are covered with red glossy lipsticks. Furthermore, the show portrays fumbles artists and self-deprecating racial jokes as actors do tap dances. Audiences who are mostly white people laugh loudly and enjoy the show. For that reason, the company executives state to create other Mantan shows to replace the mid-season television shows. But, after a period time of success, the African American people rage and cause turmoil to all people who take part in the show[2].

Sloan (Jada Pinkett Smith) and Delacroix (Damon Wayans) in Bamboozled[3]

Controversy

The film shows how Thomas Dunwitty, the boss, rejects all idea shows on positive messages and impacts towards black Americans. He also impersonates how African Americans speak and use the n-word all the time as he believes that marrying an African American woman allows him to say it. In addition, the movie portrays that the huge success in the movie industry is the explicitly-racist show[4].

References