Bamboozled: The 21st Century Invisible Man

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“Bamboozled”: The 21st Century Invisible Man

When director Spike Lee’s film, “Bamboozled” was released in the fall of 2000, many people were shocked and outraged. Critics said that the film was the least entertaining satire ever made. It was said that satire requires a subtle touch and that Lee was so defiant and reactionary that he bludgeoned the material to death. “Bamboozled” is the story of a hot, young television writer Pierre Delacroix, also known as Peerless Dothan, who is frustrated with the status quo at his network. He creates an outrageous show with actors appearing in black face, recalling the days of the minstrel show. The show becomes a huge success despite Pierre’s intentions, and the events of the show’s popularity lead to a day that will change everything.
Even though “Bamboozled” takes place in 20th century New York, the characters—specifically Pierre, Womack and Manray—struggled with their identities as did Ellison’s narrator “IM”. The stereotypes which characterized black people as lazy, ignorant and uneducated manifest themselves in Pierre’s show “ManTan’s New Millennium Minstrel Show”. The show was set on a watermelon patch and the characters Aunt Jemima, Sambo, and Little Nigger Jim have exaggerated features—big lips and big, flat noses which were stereotypically African features. The show’s “stars” Mantan and Sleep & Eat, Manray and Womack respectively, were forced to change their names and were told not to ask any questions but do as directed; this is where the movie begins to parallel Invisible Man. IM was also given a new identity and told that he was not there to think but to relay to the community only what the Brotherhood believed they should know. In both the novel and the movie, the characters were not treated as humans being but as a means to an end, merely actors in a play where they could neither stop the show or contribute to the plot.
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