Assignment 1

 One moment from Bamboozled that made me react emotionally was the first office scene.  This symbolic scene enabled feelings of clarity as to what Spike Lee tries to communicate.  The scene begins as Delacroix shows up half an hour late to a staff meeting, where he is filmed at a high angle that makes him appear small and powerless, while Mr. Dunwitty, his boss is filmed with a low angle to increase an impression of power.  So, in a business setting, the white Dunwitty is above the Black Delacroix.  The scene that follows is in Dunwitty's office with just Dunwitty and Delacroix.  The camera angle levels between the characters, no longer hinting at a difference in power, size, or status between Delacroix and Dunwitty, between the black and the white man. 

Dunwitty is quick to scold Delacroix for his late arrival to the staff meeting, but after the meeting, when the two are alone in Dunwitty's office, Dunwitty loosens up and changes dialect to fit the slang terms of Black culture like 'keep it real' and 'bust a move'.  This type of dialect is later used by Delacroix after judging a folksy Black man's audition for his minstrel show.  Delacroix tells the man "I'm feeling you" and "I'm digging".  Only, Delacroix's pronunciation of the terms seem uncomfortably forced, while Dunwitty steadily weaves slang into his African-American cultural speech style.  

We realize Dunwitty's assumed position in Black culture when we see his office.  Surrounding the workspace of the slicked hair and suited boss are important figures in pop culture and sports, all of whom are African Americans.   He idolizes popular members of African American culture.  After seeing Dunwitty's shrines and hearing his new dialect, we understand Dunwitty has assumed a role as a member of the Black community.  He gets so comfortable in this thinking, that he soon addresses Delacroix with the 'n' word as well as 'Alabama porch monkey'.  Dunwitty thinks of African Americans as a monolythic culture, and believes he has passed as a member because, as he explains to ease Delacroix's offense, he "grew up with black people".  The question now is, did he grow up with close African American friends or did he just watch black celebrities and sports icons on t.v.?

I was struck by this moment because it captures a central point Spike Lee tries to make.  The point being that in the realm of business, African Americans are wrongfully assumed to a lower status than white Americans.  In the social realm, however, African American culture is the standard and envy to white Americans.

Spike Lee is commenting on the ideological system of America.  Lee does this by contrasting racial discrepencies in relatable small talk settings.  He increases relatability by using handheld digital cameras to film the settings.  This increases audience intimacy with the natural settings, and serves for better understanding of the symbolic characters in this polyphonic film.  Lee has found racial problems in our country today.  To undress these issues to the public, he uses the character Delacroix to create a show (within a show) so openly discriminative and racially offensive, real viewers will feel disgusted (especially while humans in the movie find it hysterical).  In this way, by creating his minstrel, Delacroix does what Spike Lee wished he could do in reality.  

This response itself also works within the ideological system of America.  For instance, I would have to make serious editing changes if I were to effectively prove some of these points to a foreign reader or even an American mass for that matter.