Assignment One: Bamboozled

Spike Lee's Bamboozled is a movie that brings to light questions of race and identity, media systems and how history is represented by contemporary media.  A particular scene that draws attention to these ideas is in the pitching of 'The New Millennium Minstrel Show' by the character of Delacroix, a scene that I found emotionally and morally provoking.

I found this scene to be provoking through it's many layers.  The characters of Mr Dunwitty and Pierre Delacroix are presented as mirrors of each other, both trying to find their identity through assimilation with the other's cultures.  For these characters performativity is key.  The racial tensions that foreground the pitch are not in the field of thought of these corporate individuals, rather the motive of gaining profit, fame and success is what drives them.  This is particularly shocking in the case of Delacroix as it appears that he is denying his own history and silencing his own culture in order to profit in the world of mass media.

It follows that the characters that are the focus of the pitch, Manray and Womack, are silenced and used as objects for material gain.  An interesting moment from this scene is in Manray's dancing for Mr Dunwitty on his table, connoting a false sense of power through physical height above all the other characters, but also a sense of dramatic irony for the audience as the 'real' power lies in those who control him and ultimately what he performs.

Also, Lee's use of black comedy, elements of comedy that are designed to aggravate discomfort, gives a sinister and doomed tone to the scene.  An example of this comedy is the question of Whoopi Goldberg starring in the show.  This provocation, almost Brechtian in style, encourages serious thought about the issues that Lee is highlighting, especially in contrast to the values that I consider appropriate in the contemporary world.

Lee is commenting on the ideological system of mass media and how it reflects on it's audiences, and "the ways in which what we say and believe connects with the power-structure and power-relations of the society we live in" (Eagleton).  The movie is structured as a show within a show, which in turn leads us as the audience to question the creative process and its' effect on what we perceive.  Coming from the United Kingdom I did not think I had as much social involvement in the genre of blackface but simple research has shown that this not the case, with minstrel shows being shown by the BBC up until the late 70s.  This has led me to question ideologies that are unknown to me and that may influence my perception of other cultures and histories, a goal that I do believe was intended by Spike Lee.