Jon Jones
Rel 240
Full Auditorium of Attendees
Bamboozled was essentially a story about a television show writer. The writer, Pierre Delacroix, is a very distinguished intellectual. He becomes bitter about television, and the type of shows people like, and decides he’s done being a writer. However, in order to receive the benefits of being unemployed, he must be fired. He figures that the best way to ensure that is to create a show that is so offensively stereotypical of black life that noone would want to watch it, and that everyone would complain about.
The show is called “Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show.” He hires two African American street performers to star in the show, and to wear “black face” while doing it. Black face is a type of makeup that was used to make people look like African Americans. However, it is a good deal darker than any real African American’s face would be. The show is supposed to be a comedy show, with many different acts, not unlike Saturday Night Live.
To make things worse, the show takes place on a plantation, and Mantan, the star, and his costar, Sleep’N Eat, are slaves. Virtually every black stereotype is exploited and used to offend the audience, including the almost complete lack of intelligence of the duo.
The only problem is that not only does his boss love the idea, it becomes a hit. Noone cares about the stereotypes, or are ignorant of them. However, Mantan does eventually see how horrible it is, as does a group of black terrorists who believe the show must be stopped in order to preserve black integrity. And they will go to any length to stop it.
Obviously, the entire movie is a parody in itself. However, it does raise some interesting points. First of all, humor is not a justification for something that will ultimately hurt many people. A show that promotes racial stereotypes would obviously fall into the category of hurting people. And, actually, the fact that the show was so well received shows exactly how people feel about the stereotypes. For the most part, humor is taking some thing we believe is true and exaggerating it in some way, or twisting it. And if people really like the show, it is because they think it is funny. Which probably shows that on some level they believe the stereotypes. And the more the show is watched, the more the stereotype becomes normal. And this is dangerous.
Of course, some people might argue that they wouldn’t have found the show funny at all. That they would have been offended if it were on television. However, I know that in the theatre I was in, almost every single person in the room laughed during the presentation of the show. Obviously, then we are affected by it. At some level we can still believe the stereotypes.
I think what the movie really points out is that we are not free from stereotypes and racism and prejudice. Movies like this can be eye openers, for they allow you to look inside yourself and see that you are not free from these demons, that they are still within you. As much as you might act in a non-racist way, there are still parts, however small, of you that identify and relate to the feelings of prejudice and racism. And when you can really relate to them, the parts grow, and expand, and get more power. Since you can really relate to television programs, there’s only one logical conclusion to draw: that what you watch can affect you, and therefore that you must be very careful what you watch on television. As my mother has said for years, “you become what you see.”