Bamboozled Film Analysis

The roles of African American actors and actresses in popular Hollywood films can be grouped into three categories: rags to riches, gangsta and hood life, and segregation. When African American actors are portrayed in different roles, they seem to receive many negative reviews. In recent years, actor Kenneth Branagh was cast as a Idris Elba, a Nordic god, in Thor. There was debate about whether or not a man of color should play the character, but Branagh defends himself by saying that Elizabeth Taylor played Cleopatra and other white actors played people of color, yet he gets hate for being a man of color playing a white character. Racism has been a dominant force in media for years, starting with minstrel shows that demeaned African Americans. Bamboozled, directed by Spike Lee, tells a story about a modern day minstrel show that effectively sends a message about losing …show more content…
The films abrasive humor is no Mel Brook’s The Producers, which the film can be loosely based off of, but it hits the funny bone in the right places. Bamboozled is a conscious comedy, it makes you laugh but it makes you think. For example, Delacroix’s white boss Dunwitty claims that he knows more about what African Americans will find funny and points at images of popular African American men while saying “Look at the brothers on the wall.” This sarcastic humor makes the audience laugh, but also makes them think “Does this really happen?” Yes, many white men do think they know more than an African American man does and thinks he has more rights than his counter. The end scene is also humorous and makes one think. The scene shows the rap group Mau Maus drinking the liquor that was parodied as a “black people liquor” while celebrating the killing of Manray. Cops barge in and shoot everyone but the white man, who claims he’s one-sixteenth black and asks why he was not shot. This one claim is a crack-up, but it ultimately shows society 's white