Film Analysis Of Bamboozled

The text I decided to use was the Spike Lee directed film Bamboozled. The movies plot follows a well-educated, black man named Pierre Delacroix who works as a writer and producer for a television network called CNS. There, he works under a racist, ignorant man named Thomas Dunwitty, who expects Delacroix to come up with the next big show for the network. Delacroix, trying to get black people and actors painted in a positive light, writes roles and shows that display black citizens as hardworking, positive characters. However, all of Delacroix’s show ideas are shot down, until he comes up with a stereotypical, offensive show that exploits black Americans by having black actors dress in blackface and do stereotypical actions. However, much to …show more content…
When Delacroix initially pitches show ideas to Dunwitty, all of his ideas include roles and lives free of black stereotypes or stigmas: yet they are all turned down, as Dunwitty does not want “another Cosby show” on the air. It is not until he is pitched an idea that involves black people dancing for the entertainment of others and making fools of themselves, does Dunwitty approve. This is a problem because it tells black people that foolish characters like “Sleep N’ Eat” are all anyone does or ever will see them as. Even Delacroix, who was so adamantly against this show from the beginning began to give in and endorse it when he was able to profit personally from the shows success; even if that success was a double-edged sword. On the one hand, more money and stardom means more profit but it also means that he is telling the world that it is okay to exploit him and his people; to only see black people as caricatures of themselves. Spike Lee does an amazing job of making his audience think and of tackling tough issues head on. In one of my favorite movies of all time, Do The Right Thing, Spike Lee shows the real world problems that so many black people face today, and he does a lot of that in Bamboozled as well. He uses characters like Dunwitty to show the ignorance and racism that is still alive and well today. For example, at one point in the fil during a conversation with Delacroix, Dunwitty says