3.22 - BAMBOOZLED (2000) & Satire

After a significant disclaimer this week, we launch — somewhat trepidatiously — into our next Spike Lee joint: BAMBOOZLED (2000). We talk about how this film didn’t get the critical love it deserved, the camera shots that make it, and the sad deficiencies of contemporary African-American on-screen representation.

Next Week
We conclude our Spike Lee month with his most recent film, 2015’s CHI-RAQ

This Week’s Media
FANTASTIC FOUR: RISE OF THE SILVER SURFER (2007): Tim Story, Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba
BLACK PANTHER (2018): Ryan Coogler, Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan

Recommendations
DEEP BLUE SEA (1999): Renny Harlin, Saffron Burrows, Thomas Jane
SCREAM 2 (1997): Wes Craven, David Arquette, Neve Campbell
LAST ACTION HERO (1993): John McTiernan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham
THE MATRIX RELOADED (2003) and THE MATRIX: REVOLUTIONS (2003): The Wachowskis, Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne

Footnotes
Firstly, the Spike Lee film on which we didn’t have time to focus this month, but from which this film takes its name, is the Denzel Washington vehicle MALCOLM X, available here. This book is a good introduction to the history of blackface in American popular culture, and this has interesting things to say about race, class, and minstrelsy. Here are a couple of interesting reviews of the film. This is similar to the infamous picture at which Pierre Delacroix looks, and which Sam mentions. This is the former NAACP leader to whom Rob refers. And finally, here’s a really enjoyable review of the film with which Rob started (and we finished).