Fifteen years after Spike Lee released Bamboozled, BAMcinematek will preset a nine-film reflection on his satire, running from October 28 to November 3. The films featured inspired Lee to make the film, as well movies that Lee himself inspired afterwards.
While it was originally met with controversy when it was released in 2000, BAM feels that now is an important time to show the film again to see how the image of African Americans in film and media has changed. The film starred Damon Wayans as Pierre Delacroix, a television executive down on his luck. He decides to pitch what he believes to be the worst television idea ever in the hopes that he will get fired, only to see the studio greenlight his idea and the show become a hit.
The reflection series will feature documentaries that offer views on how race is portrayed onscreen, and all of the films provide noteworthy opinions to the state of race affairs today. The films in the reflection series include: Ethnic Notions (1986), Color Adjustment (1992), A Face in the Crowd (1957), Network (1976), Dear White People (2014), Livin’ Large (1991), Free, White and 21 (1982), and Illusions (1982).
The series is curated by Facing Blackness: Media and Minstrelsy in Spike Lee’s Bamboozled author Ashley Clark.