It almost feels like yesterday, yet 15 years have already passed since film auteur Spike Lee released his racial satire, and for many fans his most important film, Bamboozled (2000).
A reflection of the Black image in American media, the film stars Damon Wayans as fed-up television executive Pierre Delacroix, who pitches a modern-day minstrel show to his higher-ups hoping to be fired so he can move on with his life. But the reverse happens when his boss Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport), a man presumably in love with all-things Black, instead buys into the idea, forcing Delacroix to produce the show that becomes a worldwide hit and sad observation on how Americans easily embrace the worst of Black stereotypes.
With last year’s unearthing of a ‘lost’ Bert Williams movie by New York City’s Museum of Modern Art, featuring the Black comedian performing in his requisite ‘blackface,’ to juxtapose that with Bamboozled’s similar ribald imagery, coupled with cringe-worthy performances that harkens back to Williams’ and others minstrel shows of the early 1900’s, the new exhibition of Bamboozled is even more of a must-see. The film also stars Jada Pinkett-Smith, Savion Glover, Tommy Davidson, and Mos Def.
Just as worthwhile are the other standout films in this series, curated by author and film programmer Ashley Clarke (Facing Blackness: Media and Minstrelsy in Spike Lee’s Bamboozled), and dedicated to how cinema explores television’s ability to represent race and exploitation due to its accessibility. Usually I would pick two or three best films, then just list the rest, but over these six days of films they are all worth going to see.
However, if I had to pick just one that most modern audiences are unaware of, and fits snugly within the series’ perspective, it would be Marlon Riggs’ Color Adjustment.
I first became aware of this seminal documentary when it aired on PBS in about 1992-93. In the film, perfectly narrated by the legendary Ruby Dee, Riggs explores, “the interplay between America’s racial consciousness and network programming, tracing 40 years of race relations through the lens of primetime entertainment. Scrutinizing the racial myths and stereotypes perpetuated by television, director Riggs asks the viewer to consider favorites like Julia, Good Times, Roots, and The Cosby Show in a new way, with revelatory, thought-provoking results.”
Needless to say, Color Adjustment reinforced my then teenage thoughts about the stereotypes present on network television, made even stronger by the then recent ending of the anti-stereotype Black sitcom, The Cosby Show. I practically wore out my VHS copy of the documentary, which is still in storage somewhere. Some things you just don’t throw away, much like the knowledge and entertainment and snark that audiences will get from this series.
See the entire lineup below, which includes hidden gems like Julie Dash’s Illusions and Elia Kazan’s A Face in the Crowd, and the full descriptions at BAM.org.
Behind the Mask: Bamboozled in Focus Schedule
Wed, Oct 28
7:30pm*: Bamboozled
Thu, Oct 29
7pm: Ethnic Notions + Illusions
9:15pm: Color Adjustment
Fri, Oct 30
7, 9:30pm: Network
Sun, Nov 1
4, 6:45, 9:30pm: A Face in the Crowd
Mon, Nov 2
5, 7:15, 9:30pm: Livin’ Large
Tue, Nov 3
4:30, 7, 9:30pm: Dear White People + Free, White And 21
*Intro by curator Ashley Clark
