Spike Lee fails to deliver his message in this video filmed satire that exploits the imagery of the minstrel show while failing to deglamorize it. The choice of filming technique and some ill-advised ad-libbing make matters worse as the viewer starts realising that the actors are as clueless as the characters as to what is happening to them.
Part of the problem stems from the TV show itself. Damon Wayans "Putney Swope" character fails to be black or white and his success defies conventional wisdom. We do not believe the show is good enough because it isn't. Surrounding himself with minstrel memorabilia like a retired Nazi, his character is beyond redemption because he never had any good qualities to begin with. And what IS with that accent? I have never heard anyone talk that way in real life.
In one scene his arrogant, but efficient, assistant (Jada Pickett-Smith) is shocked to find she is considered "hired help". If you are no longer sleeping with him, err, isn't that what assistants are? In the end Spike Lee fails to understand what made black stereotypes funny. It was the fact that we could feel superior to them. In this film they are superior to the preposterous being who inhabit them and that makes the film oddly racist.
Spike would have been better off with white leads and black voices in the background showing reason. By casting black actors in the role, the film echoes not some old time racist pastimes but rather the current charade of wealthy black rap artists going out every night pretending be ghetto gangstas. (the judgemental Mau-Maus?) His rainbow coalition audience and the talent of the two entertainers undermines his message about minstrels and gives the old shows unintended warmth.
A monumental failure in many ways, BAMBOOZLED disappoints more because of what it should have been that what it really is. Although Spike Lee fell up his own ass several films ago, this one takes the cake.
Instead of a tribute to the fine actors who were subjected to silly stereotypes by white producers he has insulted the artists, who show more talented in the few clips near the end than that exhibited by the two previous hours.
Is the movie anti-black? Yes, Mr. Lee, I think you have made a very racist film. Someday some better filmmaker may have to use a clip.
Part of the problem stems from the TV show itself. Damon Wayans "Putney Swope" character fails to be black or white and his success defies conventional wisdom. We do not believe the show is good enough because it isn't. Surrounding himself with minstrel memorabilia like a retired Nazi, his character is beyond redemption because he never had any good qualities to begin with. And what IS with that accent? I have never heard anyone talk that way in real life.
In one scene his arrogant, but efficient, assistant (Jada Pickett-Smith) is shocked to find she is considered "hired help". If you are no longer sleeping with him, err, isn't that what assistants are? In the end Spike Lee fails to understand what made black stereotypes funny. It was the fact that we could feel superior to them. In this film they are superior to the preposterous being who inhabit them and that makes the film oddly racist.
Spike would have been better off with white leads and black voices in the background showing reason. By casting black actors in the role, the film echoes not some old time racist pastimes but rather the current charade of wealthy black rap artists going out every night pretending be ghetto gangstas. (the judgemental Mau-Maus?) His rainbow coalition audience and the talent of the two entertainers undermines his message about minstrels and gives the old shows unintended warmth.
A monumental failure in many ways, BAMBOOZLED disappoints more because of what it should have been that what it really is. Although Spike Lee fell up his own ass several films ago, this one takes the cake.
Instead of a tribute to the fine actors who were subjected to silly stereotypes by white producers he has insulted the artists, who show more talented in the few clips near the end than that exhibited by the two previous hours.
Is the movie anti-black? Yes, Mr. Lee, I think you have made a very racist film. Someday some better filmmaker may have to use a clip.