Day 4: The Aftermath of Bamboozled

Today’s class was by far one of the most interesting days in my opinion. The class had a chance to discuss how we felt about the movie Bamboozled, and the responses varied greatly. I personally felt offended by the movie, while also understanding the point trying to be made by director Spike Lee. Spike Lee is known for being an African American director whose films seek to display social injustices while using very “in your face” techniques. One of the students compared his wow factor directing style to Michael Moore, who has directed works such as Sicko and Capitalism: A Love Story. I feel that the goal of Spike Lee in the creation of Bamboozled was to show the extremes of how African Americans have become complacent with playing the “role” in the entertainment business. This role exploits negative stereotypes placed upon African Americans by members of society. Again, I do want to state that I understand the underlying theme and goal of the movie but I did not feel that the content was appropriate. Professor Murray stated that the movie was made to make audience members uncomfortable. A fellow Caucasian student stated that she had not been raised around racism so the movie was hard to appreciate for it’s artistic value due to the shocking content. It was hard to appreciate the artistic goal of the director when the content itself seemed so disturbing. Students went on to discuss that they felt as though the movie should have come with a disclaimer or a warning label to ensure that audience members understood the message of the movie. I do feel as though this would be helpful because the plot of the movie is so far fetched that it is hard to place one’s mind around the idea of a movie of this caliber. Many of the African American students felt as though the movie was effective and one student even voiced that she felt as though the Caucasian students could not appreciate the film due to racial differences and the differences in cultural upbringing and experiences. Other Caucasian students spoke out against this and one student even stated that he felt as though the movie made whites look worst than the blacks because it seemed as though this “role” was being forced upon the blacks by the whites. There stood the common question, why was this movie made? I found myself asking this question over and over and I feel as though the contrasting experiences and opinions answer this question. Although the content was shocking enough to affect the class member’s comfort level, the end result was that each student was indeed affected. Whether the movie angered audience members or shamed them, each student took home a different message. Although I did not agree with the content of the movie I do feel as though it was effective because audience members were forced to understand their place within this society. In relation to this class, this movie offered the class a chance to see how big of an impact we have as audience members have on the need for individuals to act out negative stereotypes for our own personal enjoyment. Today I personally confronted what it meant to be bamboozled. I defined bamboozled as being tricked into behaving a certain way for the enjoyment of others; in the case of African American reality television this would be perpetuating negative stereotypes.
Next, we began talking about the negative stereotypes of African American women portrayed in reality television. We learned that there were eight different stereotypes commonly displayed by African American women on today’s reality shows. The class began to watch the show Candy Girls which follows four women working in the video and modeling business. This show was a perfect example because each woman including the boss subscribed to some form of the listed stereotypes. We as a class found that the show offered stereotypes such as: the gold digger, the attention whore, the power hungry bitch, the ugly duckling, and the angry black woman. I feel that the power hungry bitch and the angry black woman are the two stereotypes commonly found in today’s television shows. There lies the assumption that whenever a woman is strictly about business that she is a hard bitch. Danielle, the boss, was very professional and in her efforts to maintain a successful business comes off to her models as her being a power hungry bitch. It seems as though a black woman with power and authority is automatically viewed in a negative light. I feel that these two stereotypes are only in place because the image of a strong black woman who has a knack for business intimidates individuals. We then went on to discuss the way that African American women compete with other black women. This was very evident during the show, whether it was verbal or subconsciously. The models competed for jobs and attention, and one model even stated that she was way better and would definitely book more jobs. The class went on to discuss the reason for this competiveness and the black female classmates agreed that black women were extremely competitive with each other. There seems to be the common belief that if another black female finds another female that offers competition that more than likely the black female will downplay or “hate” on the other female in order to boost their own self esteem. This became evident when Terricka criticized Olivia for her “white” side, only because Terricka felt threatened by Olivia’s beauty and there is even a chance that Terricka could be jealous of Olivia’s racial background. Within the black female community one has been known to aspire to have long beautiful hair and lighter skin, so Terricka was trying to hide her jealousy by making Olivia realize her differences. I found these characteristics to be very true not only within the black female community but females in general. I just feel as though black women are more verbal and confrontational where as a Caucasian female might “hate” in a slyer manner.

By: D. Michelle Curry