“I am sick and tired of being a
nigger and I ain’t going to take it anymore.” This quote comes from the first
taping of Mantan, a fictional show in the Spike Lee film, Bamboozled. However, this
same line is used at the end of the film when Man Ray refuses to perform in
front of the audience. This line, used at the first taping of Mantan, was
initially meant to be satirical and provocative to get the audience to pay
attention to how troubling the minstrel show can be. Once the audience accepted
how troubling the show was, this line becomes a call for help and a rejection
of mass culture. I am still trying to figure out what this transformation from
provocation to rejection means in its entirety, but there seems to be an
escapeless pattern here. How can black people be treated equally as people if
mass culture can only put aside or totally suffocate black culture? Use of the
word “nigger” is historically linked to racial violence and injustice, but mass
culture refuses to accept the ideology of the word and move forward.
The use of this quote twice
seemingly demonstrates Spike Lee’s frustration with society’s positions toward
African Americans. Having an audience
for the show within the movie allows Lee to directly commentate to the
audience of Bamboozled. He wants to
show the audience of Bamboozled that
commentary on black culture seems to only fit within two extremist categories:
extreme embracement or extreme racism. Spike Lee blends these two categories by
developing a racist show that is embraced by mass culture. The viewer is then
left reflecting on their perspective of black culture, and how (even though Bamboozled provides an extreme scenario)
African Americans are still viewed differently from the rest of society. Is there any way African Americans can be treated just as Americans? Spike Lee seems to think that society can only take provocative commentary and turn it into conformity or rejection. Mass culture refuses to include ideologies beyond the larger systems that make up mass culture.
Patrick, your statement about Manray’s outburst that “I am sick and tired of being a nigger . . .” and Brendan’s observation that Spike Lee must have been inspired by Howard Beale’s emotional outburst in Network reminded me of Lee’s similar approach in When the Levees Broke. Not unlike Beale, most of Katrina’s victims that Lee interviewed expressed shouts of anguish about the lack of relief by local, state, and federal authorities. And, of course, the on-air emotional plea by Major Ray Nagin for immediate relief nearly paralleled Beale’s breakdown.
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