If someone offered you the key to success, but you had to change who you are, would you take it? Or would you change the key itself instead?
Sorry To Bother You follows black telemarketer Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) as he uncovers that using a “white person voice” catapults him into acquiring an unprecedented amount of professional and material success. But as the glorified realm of financial abundance blinds young Cassius, his friends and co-workers are left fighting against the same corporate oppression.
“I think the point is that the white voice and what it really represents is not an idea that you’re necessarily stepping outside of your authenticity,” said Stanfield at a tastemaker screening at The Tribeca Screening Room. “In fact, I think it is really authentic for white people to feel comfortable and to feel like they’re a part of the majority in this country, but it’s not authentic for everyone else to feel that way.”
Stanfield added that the “white voice” aspect of Sorry To Bother You projects a backwards feeling of social acceptance and a need for people to feel like they can partake in important decision-making by adhering to the overbearing majority.
“We’re all bi-lingual,” noted actor Terry Crews, who plays Cassius’ uncle. “A lot of times, where I’m from, it was about dumbing down to be accepted.”
Crews noted that he always remained authentic to his own being. Growing up, he questioned his immediate community’s notion that “acting smart” and “acting white” were synonymous.
“Code-switching is more of a thing where you’re trying to sell someone something. You’re trying to trick them into you being accepted. I never really cared about anything like that,” added Crews.
According to actor Tessa Thompson, who plays Detroit in the film, the need to code switch extends past just white-black relations in the U.S., and is “exacerbated by race, socio-economic class, by gender.”
Sorry To Bother You will be out in select theaters starting July 6th, and everywhere beginning July 13th. Check out a trailer for the film below!
Photo Credit: Marion Curtis/Starpix
