Assignment 1

A scene that I think the most impactful to me is the scene from Bamboozle where Man Ray (Man Tan) was executed due to his offensive show, The New Millennium Minstrel Show.  To make it worse, he was executed after he was kicked from the show for refusing to continue the show. He refused to continue the character of Man Tan, wearing the costume and blacken up his face.  He told the audience, he was sick and tired of being a nigger.  But it was too late. The gang kidnapped him and broadcasted the execution on all major TV networks. It was called as the dance of death. I don’t think he deserved to be executed even though I do somewhat understand the outrages of the gang who are offended by the performance.

I watched this movie without having good knowledge of the history of racial conflicts in United States.  But, I do have some idea of the existence of such conflicts by following the local news and social media that claimed of racism especially involving the biased treatment of the cops towards black people.  For instance, Ferguson, Baltimore, etc.

So this movie is really an eye opening for me. I found the scene is very disturbing because I firmly believe that Man Tan was not the main culprit of the offensive show and should not be executed in such a tragic way. Due to his unfortunate life quality, DelaCroix manipulated him to be the actor of the show by bribing Man Ray with expensive apparels and money.  Right before this scene, it was a scene where the cops ambushed the building where a lot of homeless people live illegally including Man Ray and Womack. That is very clear to show they are very desperate. He accepted the offer to be the actor just because he needs some cash to enjoy a better life.  The executives of the TV network were the one who tailored everything in order to boost their number of views. They do not want to see the black people in TV unless they are buffoons.

Towards the end of the movie, Womack and Man Ray started to realize what they are doing is actually wrong and not respectful despite having good ratings from the viewers.

After they are no longer influenced by the poverty, they started to think rationally about the show, unlike before when they first accepted it. They begun to feel the show is not the right to do and very offensive. Just like Sloan and Delacroix’s mother, they started to disagree with the idea of the show. This supports my opinion that they were not the main culprits of the show.

I think Lee is trying to show the ideological of media. Even though Man Ray should not be fully blamed for the show, he was executed since he was the front face of the show and no one knows the mastermind of it. People often time misjudged on some issues based on what being shown to them on the media. The media can also be used as a propaganda machine.  For instance, during the last show, everyone black painted their faces and were proud to call themselves as a black even when they are not.