Bamboozled

Bamboozled is a 2000 satirical film written and directed by Spike Lee about a modern televised minstrel show featuring black actors donning blackface makeup and the violent fall out from the show's success. The film was given a limited release by New Line Cinema during the fall of 2000, and was released on DVD the following year. It stars an ensemble cast including Damon Wayans, Jada Pinkett Smith, Savion Glover, Tommy Davidson, Michael Rapaport, and Mos Def.

Plot

Pierre Delacroix (whose real name is Peerless Dothan), is an uptight, Harvard University-educated black man, working for the television network CNS. At work, he has to endure torment from his boss Thomas Dunwitty, a tactless, boorish white man. Not only does Dunwitty use AAVE, and use the word "nigger" repeatedly in conversations, he also proudly proclaims that he is more black than Delacroix and that he can use nigger since he is married to a black woman and has two mixed-race children. Dunwitty frequently rejects Delacroix's scripts for television series that portray black people in positive, intelligent scenarios, dismissing them as "Cosby clones".

In an effort to escape his contract through being fired, Delacroix develops a minstrel show with the help of his personal assistant Sloane Hopkins. Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show features black actors in blackface, extremely racist jokes and puns, and offensively stereotyped CGI-animated cartoons that caricature the leading stars of the new show. Delacroix and Hopkins recruit two impoverished street performers – Manray, named after American artist Man Ray, and Womack – to star in the show. While Womack is horrified when Delacroix tells him details about the show, Manray sees it as his big chance to become rich and famous for his tap-dancing skills.

To Delacroix's horror, not only does Dunwitty enthusiastically endorse the show, it also becomes hugely successful. As soon as the show premieres, Manray and Womack become big stars, while Delacroix, contrary to his original stated intent, defends the show as being satirical. Delacroix quickly embraces the show, his newfound fame and awards while Hopkins becomes horrified at the racist nightmare she has helped to unleash. Meanwhile, an underground, militant rap group called the Mau Maus, led by Hopkins' older brother Julius, becomes increasingly angry at the content of the show. Though they had earlier unsuccessfully auditioned for the program's live band position, the group plans to bring the show down using violence.

Eventually, Womack quits, fed up with the show and Manray's increasing ego. Manray and Hopkins grow closer, which angers Delacroix. When he attempts to sabotage their relationship, they only grow closer. Delacroix confronts Hopkins, and when she lashes back at him, he fires her. Then she shows him a videotape she created of racist footage culled from assorted media to shame Delacroix into stopping production of the show, but he refuses to watch it. After an argument with Delacroix, Manray realizes he is being exploited and defiantly announces that he will no longer wear blackface. He appears in front of the studio audience, who are all in blackface, during a TV taping and does his dance number in his regular clothing. The network executives immediately turn against Manray, and Dunwitty (who is also wearing blackface) fires him.

The Mau Maus kidnap Manray and announce his public execution via live webcast. The authorities work feverishly to track down the source of the internet feed, but Manray is nevertheless assassinated while doing his famous tap dancing. At his office, Delacroix (now in blackface make-up himself, mourning Manray's death) fantasizes that the various coon-themed antique collectibles in his office are staring him down and coming to life; in a rage, he destroys many of the racist collectibles. The police kill all the members of The Mau Maus except for a white member known as "One-Sixteenth Black", who tearfully proclaims that he is "black" and demands to die with the rest of his group.

Furious, Hopkins confronts Delacroix at gunpoint with her brother's revolver and demands that he play her tape. As the tape plays, Hopkins reminds him of the lives that were ruined because of his actions. Then Delacroix tries to get the gun from her, but is shot in the stomach. Hopkins, horrified, flees while proclaiming that it was Delacroix's own fault that he got shot. Delacroix, holding the gun in his hands to make his gunshot wound appear self-inflicted, watches the tape as he lies dying on the floor. The film concludes with a long montage of racially insensitive and demeaning clips of black characters from Hollywood films of the first half of the 20th century.^[2] After the montage, as the cameras point to Delacroix's dead body on the floor, the camera then shows Manray doing his last Mantan sequence on stage.

Cast

• Damon Wayans as Pierre Delacroix/Peerless Dothan
• Savion Glover as Manray/"Mantan"
• Jada Pinkett Smith as Sloan Hopkins
• Tommy Davidson as Womack/"Sleep 'n Eat"
• Michael Rapaport as Thomas Dunwitty
• Mos Def as Julius Hopkins/"Big Blak Afrika"
• Thomas Jefferson Byrd as "Honeycutt"
• Paul Mooney as Junebug
• Gano Grills as "Double Blak"
• Canibus as "Mo Blak"
• Charli Baltimore as "Smooth Blak"
• MC Serch as "One-Sixteenth Blak"
• The Roots as The Alabama Porch Monkeys

Production

Most of the film was shot on Mini DV digital video using the Sony VX 1000 camera, and later converted to film format.^[3] This kept the budget to US$10 million, and allowed the use of multiple cameras to capture masters, two-shots, and close-ups at the same time to save time.^[3] The Mantan: New Millenium Minstrel Show sequences, and their sponsor ads, were shot on Super 16 film stock.^[3]

Soundtrack

The soundtrack album for the film was released September 26, 2000 by Motown Records. The album consisted of hip hop and contemporary R&B, and was India.Arie's first time on an album, with six singles.

Reception

Bamboozled received mixed reviews;^[4][5][6] it currently holds a 48% 'rotten' rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with the consensus "Bamboozled is too over the top in its satire and comes across as more messy and overwrought than biting."^[7]

Box office

The movie grossed $2,463,650 at the box office on a $10 million budget.^[1][8]

See also

• Ethnic Notions - a 1986 documentary film by Marlon Riggs about the portrayal of blacks in advertising before the era of television
• Color Adjustment - a 1992 documentary film by Marlon Riggs about the portrayal of blacks in television
• Melvin Van Peebles' Classified X - a 1998 documentary film by Mark Daniels and Melvin Van Peebles about the history of blacks in cinema.

References

External links

Look up bamboozle in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Bamboozled at the Internet Movie Database
• Bamboozled at AllMovie
• Bamboozled at Box Office Mojo
• Bamboozled at Rotten Tomatoes