Háskóli Íslands

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Resisting the Norm:

The Possibility of Revolutionary Black Cinema

Ritgerð til M.A.-prófs

Hrannar Már Ólínuson Kt.: 121092-3369

Leiðbeinandi: Björn Þór Vilhjálmsson September 2020 Abstract This thesis does an in-depth analysis of ’s in order to examine whether a Black revolutionary cinema has emerged in . His film is invaluable in understanding the depiction of contemporary aesthetics in Black cinema as it is highly racial and politically charged. It also offers a way forward for Black cinema, perhaps even a revolutionary Black cinema, in its fusion of politics, style and narrative, as well as in its dismantling of generic boundaries. The thesis is broken down into three chapters. The first chapter will lay down the methodological blueprint that will ground the analysis of Riley's film. The literary genre of the fable will be adopted as it gives us an understanding of how Boots Riley activates fantastical elements in order to bring the film's moral message to the audience. The reading of Tzvetan Todorov’s The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, will supply the functions of the fantastical and in addition, so too will Rosemary Jackson’s Fantasy: Literature of Subversion to see the relationship between fantasy and the political in a social context. V.F. Perkins’s book Film as Film, will provide formal and aesthetic methodology when it comes to discussing the language of film. The second will be dedicated to the the historical and social context of the film in question. In regards to the film industry, Maryann Erigha has thoroughly examined how Hollywood’s fixation on profit has created a thinly veiled racial line where Black filmmakers are unable to gain proper access to significant financial backing for their films. The role of Hollywood and Blackness, which, as an example, can be depicted through its historical context, using Ed Guerrero’s book, Framing Blackness, which presents an analysis of the language Hollywood narrative has constructed in order to mediate certain fundamental political mechanics through racist imagery. By doing so, it will broaden our understanding of how Black aesthetics and culture came to be and how it appears in contemporary films. Chapter three will address the films analysis, Sorry to Bother You and how it aligns with the methodology previously outlined. The film is blatant in its confrontation towards its viewer of the contemporary zeitgeist that thrives in the United States, such as capitalism, race and class which brings forth the question whether Black revolutionary cinema has emerged?

ii Table of Contents

Abstract ...... ii

Introduction: How it All Goes Down ...... 1 Becoming Vocal on Film ...... 7

Chapter 1: Perkins and the Fantastical ...... 10 1.2 The Fable Shift ...... 12 1.3 Fantastic Fable Framing ...... 14 1.4 Perkins the Pragmatist ...... 15 1.5 The Unconventional Method ...... 18 1.6 Conceptual Stratagems ...... 25

Chapter 2: Birth of the Black Imagery ...... 28 2.1 Hollywood’s Exploitation ...... 37 2.2 Segregated Hollywood ...... 42 2.3 The Two Horsemen from Frankfurt ...... 44 2.4 The Reaganite White Backlash ...... 52 2.5 Black Aesthetic ...... 60 2.6 The Love and Theft of Blackness ...... 66

Chapter 3: Fable of the Socialist Revolutionary ...... 69 3.1. Conform to the System ...... 71 3.2 Fantasy Reality ...... 88 3.3 Fable Findings ...... 91 3.4 Sorry to Bother Perkins ...... 94 3.5 Green Between Blue and Yellow ...... 96 3.6 Boots’ Range of Achievements ...... 105

Conclusion: The Revolution Will be Televised ...... 109 Bibliography ...... 111 Filmography ...... 127 List of Figures ...... 131

iii Introduction: How it All Goes Down The 91st was a significant event where the Black director was acknowledged for his achievement by winning the award for “Best Adapted Screenplay” for his film, BlacKKKlansman (2018).1 Although other black filmmakers have received prestigious awards for their achievements, what is noteworthy in this instance is how Lee’s film, (1989) was neglected by Hollywood at the time of its original release, and, furthermore, how his overall work has for decades never been widely acclaimed. Ironically, as Stephen Galloway points out in an article for , both Oscar nights, his first as well as his most recent (the 1990 and 2019 nights), Lee’s films were up against -type film.2 In 1990 it was in fact Driving Miss Daisy (1989) itself but in 2019 it was a virtual replica of the earlier film, Green Book (Peter Farelly, 2018), which won Best Picture, “a reheated version of Daisy's black-white/driver-passenger conceit that's faced similar accusations of being comfort food for liberals.”3 Before knowing the winners, Galloway expressed his optimism for a sea-change in Hollywood due to the social “effects of the #OscarsSoWhite and #MeToo movements [...] and his embrace by a new generation of African-American filmmakers.”4 Galloway further articulates how “a shift within the Academy itself” has helped bring into being a more inclusive environment which Spike Lee underlines when he says, “[a]ny time there's an award, you should think about who's voting [...] [a]nd the membership of the Academy today is much more diverse than it was back then.”5 Spike Lee’s words in regards to Hollywood ring true in many respects. Lee began his career during the eighties, and since then, as noted above, there have been instances of Black filmmakers being embraced by, for example, the Academy. , Steve McQueen,

1 “The : 2019,” Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, accessed December 26, 2019, https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2019). In regards to the capital B in Black, the thesis is using the structure of Manual Style cites “ethnic groups by color are usually lower- cased”, but they also respect the publisher’s or author’s preferable choice. Therefore, this thesis will be using a capital B when in discourse of Black Americans as Lori Tharp eloquently said, “In so many ways, it’s about the lower- class way that Black people are perceived” [...] “And we are not a lower-class people.” For more information see; Meredith D Clark, “Making the Case for Black with a Capital B. Again.,” Poynter, August 24, 2015, https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2015/making-the-case-for-black-with-a- capital-b-again/.; Lori L. Tharp, “The Case for Black With a Capital B,” , November 18, 2014, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/19/opinion/the-case-for-black-with-a-capital-b.html. 2 Stephen Galloway, “As 'BlacKkKlansman' Surges, It's No Longer Spike Lee vs. the Oscars,” Hollywood Reporter, February 5, 2019, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/why-no-longer-spike-lee-academy- 1182575). 3 Stephen Galloway, “As 'BlacKkKlansman', Surges,” (February 5, 2019). 4 Stephen Galloway, “As 'BlacKkKlansman', Surges, (February 5, 2019). 5 Stephen Galloway, “As 'BlacKkKlansman', Surges, (February 5, 2019).

1 and have all been nominated for an Oscar in the category “Best Director.”6 Similarly, the 91st Oscars were seen as a “historic [win] for diversity... as more women and more individual black nominees won than ever before.”7 It seems as if Hollywood has become more inclusive for minorities, which in turn gives an opportunity for Black Americans and others to be embraced and represented on the silver screen. Since “the black movie boom” of the nineties, Black filmmaker’s have been more noticeable in Hollywood. Lee Daniels, Barry Jenkins, Steve McQueen, and Ava DuVernay have all enjoyed considerable industry success.8 Their films have given audiences an opportunity to broaden their own perspective of lives that they may not have had insight into otherwise, namely the Black American experience. In Lee Daniel’s Precious (2009), a film that focuses on Claireece Precious (Gabourey Sidibe), an overweight teenage girl who is illiterate and pregnant with her second child after her father raped her, living with an abusive mother (played by Mo’Nique).9 In a review for Variety magazine, John Anderson described this film as a that Daniels never allows, despite its gothic and nightmarish elements “to lose its footing in the real world” where the “urban nightmare” is brought to life on the silver screen.10 Thus, Lee Daniels captures the ever-day life and hardships of the urban Black American, if in a somewhat heightened manner. In contrast to Daniel’s depiction of the urban life, Barry Jenkins’s Moonlight (2016) takes charge of a common depiction of Black American stereotypes of ghettoization in films and seeks to allow them to “control their own self-images or to challenge disparaging stereotypes about themselves – stereotypes that not only influence individual people but also shape crucial social factors such as politics, racial attitude, and treatments by authority, namely, employers and law enforcement.”11

6 Although no Black director has won that category, each of them, respectively, have won an Oscar in the other categories, such as; Best Picture, Steve McQueen for !2 Years a Slave (2013) as well as Barry Jenkins for Moonlight (2016), Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay); Barry Jenkins for Moonlight (2016) and Spike Lee BlacKkKlansman (2018); Best Writing (Original Screenplay); Jordan Peele (2017). For more information see each respectable year on the Oscars database, 2014, 2017, 2018, and 2019; “Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences,” Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, accessed March 29, 2020, https://www.oscars.org/. 7 Lauren Fruen, “Diversity the Big Winner at the Oscars 2019 as More Women and More Individual Black Nominees Win than Ever Before, ”The , February 25, 2019, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6741661/Diversity-big-winner-Oscars-2019-individual-black- nominees-win-before.html. 8 The term “black movie boom” refers to Ed Guerrero’s book Framing Blackness which he describes the commercial success independent Black filmmakers of the nineties. See; Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness: the African American Image in Film (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1993). 9 Precious. Directed by Lee Daniels. (Lionsgate, 2009). 10 John Anderson, “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” The Variety, January 18, 2009, https://variety.com/2009/film/markets-festivals/precious-based-on-the-novel-push-by-sapphire-2- 1200473264/. 11 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 29.; Moonlight. Directed by Barry Jenkins. (A24, 2016).

2 Similar to Daniel’s achievements are those of Steve McQueen and Ava DuVernay’s historical films, 12 Years a Slave (2013) and Selma (2014) respectively.12 McQueen’s film is adapted from the 1853 memoirs of Solomon Northup, son of freed slaves, who was lured to the South and kidnapped and enslaved for over a decade.13 The film confronts the country’s history of slavery in a nuanced fashion as “not every white person in the film is evil,” while also showing how “they willingly participate in a system that demeans their fellow man, and the injustice is too great simply to forget and move on (as Hollywood and society would evidently prefer).”14 In the case of DuVernay’s Selma (2014), the director breathes life into Martin Luther King Jr.’s attempt to march from Selma to Montgomery Alabama; one of the “most pivotal events in American life during the 20th century”.15 Ann Hornaday wrote a review of the film for wherein she praises DuVernay’s skill in transporting the audience through astonishing and disturbing occurrences “so assuredly that they never drown in the details or the despair, but instead are left buoyed: The civil rights movement and its heroes aren’t artifacts from the distant past, but messengers sent on an urgent mission for today.”16 Now that the 2010s has ended, it has made its mark as a decade of overdue progress in Black filmmaking. In terms of the nation, the United States saw, , inaugurated as their first ever Black president where just a few decades earlier, it was legal for owners of business to refuse serving people of color.17 The magnitude of this moment in time was not lost on the nation as a whole. It was with Obama’s election to office which made it, for the first time, conceivable that the discourse on ‘post-racial’ America might become a reality. At last, perchance, the racial disparities and prejudices that lay in the darker facets of the nation’s past might finally be laid to rest; giving room for an era of ‘colorblindness’ to arise.18

12 12 Years a Slave. Directed by Steve McQueen. (Fox Searchlight,2013).; Selma. Directed by Ava DuVarney. (, 2014). 13 12 Years a Slave. Directed by Steve McQueen, 2013. 14 Peter Debruge, “Telluride Film Review: ’12 Years a Slave,’” Variety, August 31, 2013, https://variety.com/2013/film/reviews/film-review-12-years-a-slave-steve-mcqueen-1200593984/. 15 Selma. Directed by Ava DuVarney. (Paramount Pictures, 2014). 16 Ann Hornaday, “‘Selma’ Movie Review: Humanizing Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.,” The Washington Post, December 23,2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/goingoutguide/movies/selma-movie-review- humaninzing- rev-martin-luther-king-jr/2014/12/23/eb2ec2e4-8aaa-11e4-a085-34e9b9f09a58_story.html. 17 Denying service to people of color refers to the infamous law often known as Jim Crow. For further understanding see; Melvin I. Urofsky, “Jim Crow Law,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., March 13, 2020), https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law. 18 The term colorblindness is described as “an ideal that captures a vision of a non-racial society wherein skin color is of no consequence for individual life chances or governmental policy.” For more see; Amy Elizabeth Ansell, Race and Ethnicity: The Key Concepts (Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2013), 42.

3 However, during Obama’s two terms, limited evidence could be seen in terms of tangible improvements in social conditions for people of color in America. Indeed, if utopian racial equality had been achieved, there would seem to be no need for movements such as Black Lives Matter and Antifa. That there was such a need, however, is beyond question. In 2016 Ashley Nellis and Nazgol Ghandnoosh published their report titled, “The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons”, in which they asserted that African American’s were disproportionately incarcerated with small drug offenses compared to their white counterparts.19 In other words, evidence seems to be lacking for the contention that the United States is to be considered a ‘post-racial’ country. In 2016, the country elected Donald J. Trump as president, a man notorious for his outspoken refusal to believe that Barack Obama was born on American soil. Trump’s contention is especially toxic as it undermines not only the accomplishment of electing an African American president, but also his legitimacy as the leader of the United States.20 Unfortunately, this ‘white backlash’ is not a recent phenomenon as in the past resentment has often been notable once progress on particular issues has been made.21 In a New York Times article “Obama Lives in Trump’s Head”, Charles M. Bow opines that President Trump has been obsessed with his predecessor since before running for the Oval office. So much is this the case he continues, that Trump has made it his sole purpose in office to dismantle the policies, and by extension, the legacy of President Obama. Trump has for example sought to roll back the Affordable Healthcare Act (Obama-care), regulations on labor and finance, the environment, and civil rights legislation.22 This mindset is not a recent trope in the United States. In the past, many Black Americans who found success and had more money than their white counterparts were lynched, such as Elmore Bolling who, despite experiencing hardship living in Alabama

19 Ashley Nellis and Nazgol Ghandnoosh, “The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons,” The Sentencing Project, June 14, 2016, https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/color-of-justice-racial- and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons/#IV. Drivers of Disparity. 20 Michael Barbaro. " Clung to 'Birther' Lie for Years, and Still Isn't Apologetic." The New York Times. September 16, 2016. Accessed October 09, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/17/us/politics/donald-trump-obama-birther.html. 21 Stephen Jamal Leeper, “Trumping Race: A Tale of Black Progress and White Backlash,” Medium (Medium, February 26, 2020), https://medium.com/@alqalam_writes/trumping-race-a-tale-of-black-progress-and-white- backlash-1bc982089396. 22 Charles M Bow, “Obama Lives in Trump’s Head,” The New York Times, May 17, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/opinion/trump-obama.html. See also; Juliet Eilperin and Darla Cameron, “How Trump Is Rolling Back Obama’s Legacy,” The Washington Post, March 24, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-rolling-back-obama-rules/.

4 during the Jim Crow era, was shot and killed by his white neighbor, who was never prosecuted.23 In the late 1980s, during an interview, Donald Trump remarked how “a well-educated black has a tremendous advantage over a well-educated white, in terms of the job market”, going so far as to say that if he “was starting off today I would love to be a well-educated black because I really believe they do have an actual advantage today.”24 This reflects the viewpoint Trump appears to have on the “theory of unearned black privileges at the expense of white effort, that there is a hand-me-out meritocracy specifically for black people, a form of cultural welfare.”25 As Bow’s article suggests, Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign was not “only running against Hillary Clinton [...] he was also running against the black shadow of a black man.”26 Obama was the symbol of Black Americans being able to advance and to erase white advantage, which is something President Trump has attempted to stand in the way of with full force. During President Trump’s presidency, his remarks have grown to become far more toxic since his championing of the ‘birther’ conspiracy. His public stance on a variety of issues has only enhanced a feeling of racial resentment. As his presidency continues, the waking nightmare faced by African Americans and people of color continues to bubble to the surface. In 2017, there was a protest in Charlottesville in which neo-Nazis and white supremacists were protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, chanting “white lives matter”.27 This escalated into a man driving over and killing a young female, and injuring nineteen other counter-protestors with a vehicle.28 Not only is it disturbing for white supremacy to be re-emerging as a narrative within the nation, it is also

23 Carl Martz, “Readers React: How Lynching Was Used by Whites to Destroy Competition from Black Business Owners,” The Times, April 28, 2018, https://www.latimes.com/opinion/readersreact/la-ol- le- lynching-memorial-business-20180428-story.html. 24 Charles M Bow, “Obama Lives in Trump’s Head,” The New York Times, May 17, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/17/opinion/trump-obama.html. See also; Juliet Eilperin and Darla Cameron, “How Trump Is Rolling Back Obama’s Legacy,” The Washington Post, March 24, 2017, https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/trump-rolling-back-obama-rules/. 25 Charles M Bow, “Obama Lives in Trump’s Head,” May 17, 2020. See also; Juliet Eilperin and Darla Cameron, “How Trump Is Rolling Back Obama’s Legacy,” March 24, 2017. 26 Charles M Bow, “Obama Lives in Trump’s Head,” May 17, 2020. See also; Juliet Eilperin and Darla Cameron, “How Trump Is Rolling Back Obama’s Legacy,” March 24, 2017. 27“What Charlottesville Changed,” Politico, August 12, 2018, https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/12/charlottesville-anniversary-supremacists-protests-dc- virginia-219353. 28Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman. "Trump Defends Initial Remarks on Charlottesville; Again Blames ‘Both Sides’." The New York Times. August 15, 2017. Accessed October 09, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/15/us/politics/trump-press-conference-charlottesville.html.

5 perturbing to have the President withhold condemnation of white supremacy, by putting blame on ‘both sides’.29 On May 25th, 2020, racial tensions reached a boiling point as the world witnessed the murder of George Floyd at the hands of law-enforcement, captured on video by a bystander.30 In the video (see Figure 1.1), it can be seen how three officers stood in the way of bystander intervention.31 As Floyd was compliant, lying on the ground in handcuffs, he was murdered by officer Derek Chauvin who knelt on his neck for over eight minutes.32

Fig 1.1: George Floyd’s final moments as officer Derek Chauvin is kneeling on his neck.

In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, mass protests broke out across the United States making it one of the largest in the country’s history with an estimated 15 to 26 million people.33 One of the key components of the massive participation is the grassroots organization of the Black Lives Matter movement. It has been able to build up numerous

29 Michael D. Shear and Maggie Haberman. “Trump Defends’”, Accessed October 09, 2017. 30 Kim Barker, “The Black Officer Who Detained George Floyd Had Pledged to Fix the Police,” The New York Times, June 27, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/27/us/minneapolis-police-officer-kueng.html. 31 Kim Barker, “The Black Officer”, June 27, 2020. 32 Manny Fernandez and Audra D.S Burch, “George Floyd, From ‘I Want to Touch the World’ to ‘I Can’t Breathe,’” The New York Times, June 18, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/article/george-floyd-who-is.html. 33 It should be noted that even though the mass protests during the 1960s the civil rights movement gave a an extrodinary defeat in bringing civil justice, the participation was in the hundred thousands, not in the millions. For more see; Larry Buchanan, Quoctrung Bui, and Jugal K Patel, “Black Lives Matter May Be the Largest Movement in U.S. History,” The New York Times, July 3, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/07/03/us/george-floyd-protests-crowd-size.html.

6 grassroots initiatives across the country for years, strengthening their networks and Black-led groups.34 The Black Lives Matter organization began in 2013 and was sparked after George Zimmerman was acquitted of killing 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.35 At first, the movement was seen as far “too radical, too out of the bounds of what is possible”, but now, the idea of defunding the police seems to be a realistic approach that people are in unison working towards.36 This depicts the dark reality that Black Americans may yet have to endure in order to, perhaps, one day have white Americans confront their bleak history. As the mass protests are raging on in the United States, 2020 may at long last see a substantial change in terms of systematic and institutional racism. Until the Unites States and its white citizens fully reform and confront their racial viewing of Black Americans, it is a necessity to continue to depict such inequalities. If racial disparities could be eradicated in the country, filmmakers would perhaps not be as rigorously driven to portray with such vigor the racial inequality that still seems to be present in the everyday lives of Black Americans.

Becoming Vocal on Film Becoming vocal on social issues is important but accomplished in a multifaceted manner, via social media, through education, legislation, and protest.37 These are important venues that help build and spread awareness of the continuing social discontent that plagues the United States. One of the ways in which artists have been vocal is expressing these issues through their art medium, and films are no exception. Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, observed the converging relationship between race and class, Ava DuVernay’s Selma depicted the accomplishments of Martin Luther King Jr. as well as reminding the viewer of the still ever- present “systemic racism that has roots in our local government, [that] is deeply entrenched in the fabric of the United States.”38

34 The , “Black Lives Matter Network to Spend $12M US to Fight Institutionalized Racism,” The CBC, June 17, 2020, https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/black-lives-matter-network-grant-fund-1.5616065. 35 Jenna Wortham, “A ‘Glorious Poetic Rage’”, The New York Times, June 5, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/05/sunday-review/black-lives-matter-protests-floyd.html. 36 Jenna Wortham, “A ‘Glorious Poetic Rage’”, June 5, 2020.; Alexis Okeowo, “How to Defund the Police,” The New York Times, June 26, 2020, https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/how-the-police-could-be- defunded. 37 “10 Ways Youth Can Engage in Activism,” accessed July 31, 2020, https://www.adl.org/education/resources/tools-and-strategies/10-ways-youth-can-engage-in-activism. 38 K Williams, “Can't I Be Bad, Boujee and Healthy Too? - Blavity,” Blavity News & Politics, October 11, 2017, https://blavity.com/changing-to-healthy-lifestyle?category1=community-submitted. Do the Right Thing, Dir. Spike Lee, (, 1989).; Selma, Dir. Ava DuVernay, (Paramount Pictures, 2014).

7 This thesis will feature one contemporary Black director, Boots Riley and his film Sorry to Bother You. Riley, an activist and a musician, band member of an Oakland hip-hop collective, , has been politically active and conscious since an early age as his parents (and later on himself) were members of the Marxist-Leninist Progressive Labor party.39 During an interview with , Riley was asked what the initial motivation to make his film, Sorry to Bother You, was, and to this he replied that he wanted it to be “set in the telemarketing world” in which Riley himself had personal experience.40 The themes in Sorry to Bother You (2018) capture and mirror the contemporary American zeitgeist, the spirit of the era, especially as it is manifested in race and class relations, and how the protagonists strive for success under capitalism.41 This is executed in the mode of an absurdist social within a dystopian world, which mirrors in a critical fashion how it is for a Black American to be living in a country that continuously entraps its civilians, especially people of color. His film is invaluable in understanding the depiction of contemporary aesthetics in Black cinema as it is highly racial and politically charged. It also offers a way forward for Black cinema, perhaps even a revolutionary Black cinema, in its fusion of politics, style and narrative, as well as in its dismantling of generic boundaries. This thesis will focus on the current moment in Black American cinema through the lens of the filmmaking practices of Boots Riley, and raise the question whether, finally, a structural shift has occurred, widening the accepted level of success for Black filmmakers. The thesis will also examine the state of Black cinema theory as it intersects with structural institutional analysis Various theoretical perspectives derived from Black cinema theory will subsequently be employed when it comes to an analysis of the thesis' central case study, Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You. The first chapter will be dedicated to aesthetic, formal and analytic methods that will ground the analysis of Riley's film. The literary genre of the fable will be adopted as it gives us an understanding of how Boots Riley activates fantastical elements in order to bring the film's moral message to the audience. The reading of Tzvetan Todorov’s The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, will supply the functions of the fantastical and in

39 Killian Fox, “Boots Riley: ‘In Film, the More Personal You Get, the More Universal You Get,’” The Guardian, November 25, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/25/boots-riley-musician-director- sorry-to- bother-you-interview. 40 Additionally, Riley was in telemarketing as a part time job while organizing an activist group called, the Young Comrades. See; Killian Fox, “Boots Riley: ‘In Film, the More Personal You Get, the More Universal You Get,’” The Guardian, November 25, 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/nov/25/boots-riley- musician- director-sorry-to-bother-you-interview. 41 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: , 2018).

8 addition, so too will Rosemary Jackson’s Fantasy: Literature of Subversion to see the relationship between fantasy and the political in a social context. V.F. Perkins’s book Film as Film, will provide formal and aesthetic methodology when it comes to discussing the language of film. Through Perkins, the following question will be articulated: is it accurate to assume that Boots Riley film is successful in producing a film which bears significance within its own frame? The second chapter will depict the historical and social context of the film in question. In regards to the film industry, Maryann Erigha has thoroughly examined how Hollywood’s fixation on profit has created a thinly veiled racial line where Black filmmakers are unable to gain proper access to significant financial backing for their films. The role of Hollywood and Blackness, which, as an example, can be depicted through its historical context, using Ed Guerrero’s book, Framing Blackness, which presents an analysis of the language Hollywood narrative has constructed in order to mediate certain fundamental political mechanics through racist imagery. By doing so, it will broaden our understanding of how Black aesthetics and culture came to be and how it appears in contemporary films. The third chapter will center on Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You.42 The film is blatant in its confrontation towards its viewer of the contemporary zeitgeist that thrives in the United States, such as capitalism, race and class. Furthermore, the film shows how the fate of Black Americans have been prescribed in which the viewer is confronted with the stark reality of the state of America that continues to enforce injustice. The thesis will conclude on shedding light on the contemporary Black filmmaker. Riley’s Sorry to Bother You fuses the fantastic fable, the grotesque, comedy and avant-garde aesthetics deriving from the surrealist movement with an accent on social realism to create a venue for cinema so politicized and so filled with rage that the question presents itself: Are we seeing Black revolutionary cinema emerge in Hollywood?

42 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (US: Annapurna Pictures, 2018).

9 Chapter 1: Perkins and the Fantastical

Fairy tales, then, are not responsible for producing in children fear, or any of the shapes of fear; fairy tales do not give the child the idea of the evil or the ugly; that is in the child already, because it is in the world already. [...] What the fairy tale provides for him is a St. George to kill the dragon.43 - Tremendous Trifles - G. K. Chesterton

The literary narrative forms of the fantastic and the fable will assist in illustrating the how Boots Riley employs fantastical elements to elevate and defamiliarize the narrative in Sorry to Bother You. In the 1975 book, The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, Tzvetan Todorov attempts to define the fantastic effect and the relationship it creates between two other literary genres, the uncanny and the marvelous.44 For Todorov, the fantastical genre is a mere subjective term to define a narrow cannon of literary works where it positions itself between two other literary genres, the uncanny and the marvelous.45 In regards to the uncanny, Todorov believes it to be brought forth “[a]t the story's end, [when] the reader makes a decision even if the character does not; he opts for one solution or the other, and thereby emerges from the fantastic.”46 It is only when the reader has decided that the laws of reality will not be affected, along with an explanation of its phenomenon within the text.47 In addition, the marvelous has a somewhat opposite affect where the phenomenon does not require a response or an explanation, only that the fantastic is present.48 One of the key components for Todorov, is to seek is to examine the effect the fantastic has on the identification of the reader with the narrative's protagonist. On his exploration of the fantastic, Todorov utilizes Jacques Cazotte's novel, Le Diable amoureux as an example of a fantastic event in which a devil, or demon, falls in love with the novel’s protagonist, Don Alvaro.49 The novel evokes ambiguity on the question whether the devil is “an illusion, an imaginary being; or else he really exists, precisely like other living beings -

43 G. K. Chesterton, “XVII. The Red Angel,” in Tremendous Trifles (Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, 2009). 44 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic: A Structural Approach to a Literary Genre, trans. Richard Howard (Ithaca, N.Y: Cornell University Press, 1975), 3-175.; The term ‘uncanny’ has its origins from German “das unheimliche” to which Sigmund Freud described as the “class of the frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar.” Due to the das unheimliche not having the equivalent in English, the uncanny is used as its substitute. See; Scott Brewster, “Sigmund Freud: Das Unheimliche [The Uncanny],” The Literary Encyclopaedia, November 1, 2002, www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=5735. 45 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 25. 46 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 41. 47 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 41 48 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 41-42. 49 Jacques Cazotte, The Devil in Love, trans. Judith Landry (Sawtry: Dedalus, 2011).

10 with this reservation, that we encounter him infrequently.”50 Through the duration of this uncertainty, the fantastic thrives, but as Todorov explains, once “we choose one answer or the other, we leave the fantastic for a neighboring genre, the uncanny or the marvelous.”51 Therefore, a fantastic literary work may have supernatural creatures such as vampires, devils, or talking animals, but what makes it fantastical is the reaction of the reader, which then also forms the distinctive characteristic of the genre. Todorov further cites Jan Potocki’s novel, The Found Manuscript in Saragossa where its protagonist, Alfonso, begins to experience supernatural incidence but hesitate to believe them at first and brushes them off as mere coincidences.52 It is not until the reoccurrences begin and Alfonso admits, “I nearly reached the point of believing.”53 It is this juncture, located between belief and disbelief, that makes visible “the formula which sums up the spirit of the fantastic. Either total faith or total incredulity would lead us beyond the fantastic: it is hesitation which sustains its life.”54 Moreover, for the fantastic effect to be successful, the reader must integrate herself “into the world of the characters; that world is defined by the reader’s own ambiguous perception of the events narrated.”55 Todorov's definition of the fantastic is crucial in understanding the function of the fantastical Equisapien beings in Sorry to Bother You. However, Todorov’s readings are limited and, to an extent, reduce the fantastical genre to “‘transcending’ reality, ‘escaping’ the human condition and constructing superior alternate, ‘secondary’ worlds.”56 In Rosemary Jackson’s Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion, a further step is taken, one that is necessary should readers wish to bring the social into play when considering the fantastic. Jackson states that “throughout its ‘history’, fantasy has been obscured and locked away, buried as something inadmissible and darkly shameful.”57 She builds onto Todorov’s extensive

50 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 25. 51 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 25. 52 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 28.; The novel, The Saragossa Manuscript, is a frame-tale novel with several intertwining stories that is recounted by the protagonist and narrator, Alphonso van Worden, over the span of sixty-four days. See more; Jan Potocki, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, trans. Ian Maclean (London: Penguin Books, 1996. 53 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic,31; This is a quote that Todorov uses from Jan Potocki’s novel, The Saragossa Manuscript, however, in the Penguin Books edition, it has been translated to say, “It seemed to me a moment ago that all my experiences could have had a natural explanation, but now I was not so sure.” For more see; Jan Potocki, The Manuscript Found in Saragossa, 1996, Chap. 10. 54 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 31. 55 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 31. 56 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion (London: Routledge, 1981), 1.; In addition to Todorov’s shortcomings, he wrote during the seventies and yet he makes no references to literary works from the twentieth-century, apart from Franz Kafka. This makes it seem as if his critical work is incomplete and that no fantastical literature has been produced since then. See; Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 3-175. 57 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 100.

11 definition and seeks to challenge Todorov’s lack “of social and political implications” when considering literary forms.58 For Jackson, fantasy does not function as a tool to invent “another non-human world: it is not transcendental. It has to do with inverting elements of this world, re-combining its constitutive features in new relations to produce something strange, unfamiliar and apparently ‘new’, absolutely ‘other’ and different.”59 This way, fantasy can be a form of subversion where social values are inscribed and represent the undeclared desire for greater social change.60

1.2 The Fable Shift In contrast to Todorov’s reading of the fantastic and its structural requirement that the reader dismiss allegorical meanings, the fable demands such readings. The fable is a sub-genre of the fantasy genre in literature and an essential component of many of its more famous manifestations. In general the fable constructs a morality lesson for audiences to absorb with an almost pedagogical aim, that is, the betterment of its readers. The fable is most commonly concerned with “animals that behave and speak as human beings, told in order to highlight human follies and weaknesses. A moral—or lesson for behaviour—is woven into the story and often explicitly formulated at the end.”61 This is exemplified in what no doubt remains the best known fable of 20th century literature, George Orwell’s 1945 novel, Animal Farm. The novel depicts the revolt of farm animals against the mistreatment they endure at the hands of their human farmer.62 In doing so, they begin to form a new social hierarchy where the pigs become the new exploiters of the other animals. Animal Farm is a fable in so far as it employs the iconography of classic fables in the line of Aesop's Fables, namely its protagonists are animals. As such it can also be read as communicating certain moral messages. What makes it a 20th century fable, however, is the explicit political undercurrent, as the novel's relationship to the Russian

58 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 6. 59 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 4. 60 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 8, 31. 61 The earliest work that presents fable “dates to the 4th century BCE” with most notable work been given by Aesop through oral traditions., such as “The Lion and the Mouse” and “The Hare & the Tortoise”. Besides Aesop, one of the highest points of the fable was produced in the 17th century, by Jean de La Fontaine “whose theme was the folly of human vanity.” For more see; The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Fable,” February 9, 2016, https://www.britannica.com/art/fable.; Aesop, “The Lion & the Mouse,” accessed August 6, 2020, http://www.read.gov/aesop/007.html.; Aesop, “The Hare & His Ears,” Library of Congress Aesop Fables, accessed August 6, 2020, http://www.read.gov/aesop/030.html.; Leslie Clifford Sykes, “Jean De La Fontaine,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., April 9, 2020), https://www.britannica.com/biography/Jean-de-La-Fontaine. 62 George Orwell, Animal Farm (London: Signet, 1996).

12 Revolution and subsequent oppression in the Soviet Union. Certain animals even correspond to particular historical personages, with the pigs Napoleon for example being a clear stand in for Joseph Stalin, Snowball representing Leon Trotsky, and Old Major who embodies both the political and economist Karl Marx, and Russian Revolution leader Vladimir Ilych Lenin.63 As an example of fable used in a film one could name Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The film, much as the children's book by Roald Dahl on which it is based, is a modern retelling of Aesop’s fable story of “The Goose with the Golden Egg”. In all three texts there is a clear moral message that translates across time and different media, “those who have plenty want more and so lose all they have.”64 In the article, “The Fable as Literary Genre”, Lidiya Vindt notes how, in light of its longevity, the genre can now be seen as a literary-historical fact that is almost ahistorical, “side by side with individual fable systems, an idea of “the fable in general” beyond time and space, exists in the literary consciousness of all epochs.”65 The basic narrative structures that are always present can be seen as manifesting themselves in three ways. The first appears in the fable’s allegorical essence, a general outline where “the event described has meaning not only in itself, it serves as a symbol or a sign” and is always present “beyond the narrative plane.”66 The second materializes in its characters as “animals or inanimate objects” in which they serve the purpose of symbolizing human relationships.67 This does not however mean that fables can only have animals, although an “entire collection of fables about people would be a falling away from the genre.”68

63 George Orwell, Animal Farm (London: Signet, 1996). 64 This refers to the 1971 version of the film where four lucky winners are given the opportunity to visit and see inside of the Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. In the scene where the group goes to see the Golden Egg Room where golden geese lay golden eggs. The golden eggs are categorized in two, good egg and it is shipped off, while a bad one is dropped down a garbage chute which will be incinerated. One of its characters, Veruca Salt, demands to adopt one of the golden goose from Willy Wonka. Upon being rejected she displays bratty and greedy behavior as she goes around the room creating a mess. She ends up sitting on the “Eggdicator” and is sorted as a “bad egg” to which she is dumped into the garbage. As a fable, the reference of Aesop’s “The Goose and the Golden Egg”, Veruca Salt symbolizes power and wealth, through her actions of being rejected for what she wanted, the golden goose, she is rewarded nothing. For more see; Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Dir. Mel Stuart, (Paramount Pictures, 1971).; Aesop, “The Goose & the Golden Egg,” Library of Congress Aesop Fables, accessed August 6, 2020, http://www.read.gov/aesop/091.html. 65 Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable as Literary Genre,” trans. Miriam Gelfand and Ray Parrott, Ulbandus Review 5 (1987): pp. 88-108, https://www.jstor.org/stable/25748090, 89. 66 As an example of this is Aesop’s “The Fox & the Crow” where the moral of its tale is “[t]he flatterer lives at the expense of those who will listen to him.” See; Aesop, “The Fox & the Crow,” accessed August 11, 2020, http://www.read.gov/aesop/027.html.; Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 89-90. 67 Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 90. 68 Vindt further elaborates that the “admission (if but potential) of "dumb animals" into literature surrounds the fable with such a sharp line of demarcation that it leaves its imprint on fables about people as well. Interspersed

13 The single text does not live in “isolation, but against the background of the "idea" of the total genre existing in the literary consciousness.”69 The third and final structural element consists of what Vindt suggests has gone unnoticed in classical theory, “the peculiarities of plot structure.”70 In regards to the fable plot, it is broken down into two elements, often constructed symmetrically; “the denouement destroys the line projected in the initial situation, lending it an unexpected, opposite result.”71 In addition, it often entails that in the fable, it is rather rare to have “virtuous heroes and happy endings.”72

1.3 Fantastic Fable Framing Important aspects of our theoretical grounding have now been outlined and it would be useful to indicate how some of these conceptual frameworks apply to film analysis and function to shed light Sorry to Bother You. Todorov’s reading suggests avenues to approach the question of how audiences might react to the fantastical element of the film. This in turn would bring out an implied audience, one that is suggested by the filmic text itself. The construction of such a spectator is facilitated by the fact that the uncanny/the marvelous reading is incorporated into the film itself. As the fantastical elements appear, there is a tonal shift and the viewer lives within hesitation until the structure leaves them leaning either towards the uncanny or the marvelous. With the appearance of the genetically altered humans spliced with horses, (hereinafter, ‘Equispaiens’), Sorry to Bother You introduces a decisive tonal shift into the fantastical, which had already made its incursion into the narrative.73 The protagonist is, quite naturally, shaken to his very moral (and mortal) core, but the viewer is also left with a dilemma akin to that discussed by Todorow. The need to make a cognitive decision as to the nature of the narrative becomes even more crucial than before. In this fashion, the structure of the fable further accentuates one of the film’s essences.

from time to time into the common mass, they are perceived not as "tales from the life of people," but as links in a motley rank of conventional, half-real fable heroes.” Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 90. 69 Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 90. 70 Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 90. 71 Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 90.; Once again H.G Well’s Animal Farm is a prime example of this narrative structure.; the animal farms are being abused by its master, they revolt; a new power emerges, and similar exploitation happens. The novel is an allegory of the Russian Revolt and its warnings on greed and power, and with a happy ending, the novel’s moral message would be lost. See more; George Orwell, Animal Farm (London: Signet, 1996). 72 It should be noted that when ‘happy endings’ is present, it is a particular “branch of the fable – the sentimental – as in Florian and the Russian Kramzinians; but for the general mass of fables a description of prudent or comic behavior is more characteristic.” See; Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 91. 73 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (US: Annapurna Pictures, 2018).

14 Here we should also bear in mind that although Todorov's reading of the fantastic is somewhat narrow, Rosemary Jackson broadens the idea of how the fantastic incorporates cultural and socio-political aspects into the genre, something that Todorov was mostly blind to. Moreover, Jackson rejects the notion of fantasy as a genre and instead argues that it is a mode where reality and supernatural elements create the hesitation in its narrative.74 More importantly, and as noted before, it is Jackson's introduction of the social into the meaning generation of the fantastic that will prove most valuable in terms of this thesis. As useful as the fantastic and fable concepts are, they are historically formulated and their semantic function revolves around narrative and thematic content. In the case of film, however, the unique characteristics of the medium must also be considered, film is a visual medium, one with its own means of expression and principles of communication. In order to approach this aspect with respect to the medium of film, aesthetic aspects of film language need to be considered. This is where the film writings of V.F. Perkins will be found to be of considerable importance.

1.4 Perkins the Pragmatist The most notable film theories which have been established as canonical in the field of film studies include, but are not limited to, Rudolph Arnheim, Sergei Eisenstein, and André Bazin. Rudolph Arnheim observed how silent films displayed “in detail how the very properties that make photography and film fall short of perfect reproduction can act as the necessary molds of an artistic medium.”75 Similarly focused on the effects of silent films, Sergei Eisenstein’s “montage of attraction” describes how “arbitrarily chosen images, independent of the action, would be presented not in chronological sequence but in whatever way would create the maximum psychological impact”, which the filmmaker would construct, thus communicating his idea towards the spectator.76 Additionally, André Bazin sought in his essay, “The Evolution of the Language of Cinema” to elaborate that “the cinematic image is more than a reproduction, rather is it a thing in nature, a mold or masque,” which in turn should be left for the spectator to interpret.77 In the case of Arnheim and Eisenstein, their theories were built on their film viewing of the 1920s and 30s, while Bazin was writing from his film experience during the 1940s in

74 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 20. 75 Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art (Berkeley: University of Press, 2009), 3. 76 Jean Mitry, “Sergey Eisenstein,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., January 18, 2020), https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sergey-Eisenstein. 77 André Bazin, What Is Cinema?, trans. Hugh Gray (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2005), 6.

15 which cinema had adopted sound and refined many technical aspects from the earlier development of filmmaking.78 Looking back, these men are worthy of being considered canonical in laying the foreground to our understanding of film as art but they should also be approached with an awareness of their historical context. In V.F Perkins’s 1972 film theory book Film as Film, Perkins examined the critical perspectives of the theorists who came before him and cited the Hollywood films of the 1950s and 60s to ground his own analysis. During an interview, V.F. Perkins summarizes his book, Film as Film, and notes that the aim of his book was to place “the achievements of the filmmaker first, and the critic second”, and thus place the critic in a relationship to the film under examination in manner that is conductive to the suspension of categorization and judgment, and instead challenge the critic to define the film's aesthetic achievement.79 The book avoids convoluted jargon and instead, places its focus on elucidating the aesthetics of cinema, with the emphasis being on Hollywood films. The book Film as Film begins by criticizing earlier theories as too monolithic, each critical or theoretical school intent on answering only questions that touched on a limited range of the possible meanings of film, such as what is “pure cinema”, orthodox theory, and the contemplations of realism in cinema.80 Perkins argues that the “[o]rthodox theorists shun technology, except where it allows distortion”, due to the theories enthusiasm “to dissociate art from mechanics”, while the “[r]ealist theories take account of the cinema’s basis in

78 André Bazin praised the American film directors, and William Wyler as Bazin examined “the revelation of wartime Hollywood films by closely examining the aesthetic potential of deep focus and long takes.” For more see; Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. NY: McGraw Hill, 2010, 343.; See also; Rudolf Arnheim, Film as Art (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2009).; Sergei M. Eisenstein, Film Form: Essays in Film Theory, trans. Jay M. Leyda (New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1977). 79 Film as Film: Interview with Victor F. Perkins. HBKsaar. (Vimeo, 2012). https://vimeo.com/28977240. 80 In this instance, V.F. Perkins cites Rudolph Arnheim and Phil Rotha as men who “proclaimed pure cinema the lofties form of film art.” For further reading see; V. F. Perkins, Film as Film: Understanding and Judging Movies (New York: Da Capo Press, 1993), 15. Additionally see the primary readings of Arnheim, Film as Art, 165.; Also; Paul Rotha, Film Till Now, 88. In the case of orthodox theory, Perkins notes how S.M Eisenstein and V.I. Pudokvin worshipped editing which they believed “identified with the creative language of the cinema” (21). Perkins counter argued that the orthodox theories are unwilling to examine complexity of organization which film- makers like Hitchcock, Keaton, Murnau, and Welles have achieved within the sustained shot.” (23- 24). For an in-depth reading see: V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 21, 23-24. Additionally, André Bazin criticized the orthodox theory of Eisenstein and Pudovkin as “mistaking the alleged primacy of the image for the true vocation of the cinema which is the primacy of the cinema” (36) and argued that “reality is ambiguous and that films should respect that ambiguity” (32). Bazin drew on his contemporary filmmakers, Jean Renoir and Orson Welles as examples of ones who “renounced editing effects in order to explore the dramatic possibilities of an uninterrupted continuity in space and time.” (33) Perkins highlights how Bazin’s argument against the orthodox theory became hypocritical as Bazin fell into the trap of himself where “[h]is theoretical statements threaten a purism of the object as narrow as that of the image.” (39) See also; V. F. Perkins, Film as Film 36, 32, 33, 39.; Additionally Perkins is citing Bazin’s 4 volume collection of his work, see; André Bazin, Qu'est-ce que le cinema?, 4 vol., (Paris: Les Éditions du Cerf, 1958-1962), vol. II, 48.

16 photography but do not give enough weight to other equally important, factors in the movie’s mechanism.”81 Perkins’s notes how an “[e]stablished film theory is distinguished by its reverence for the drawbacks, its insistence on the beneficent nature of mechanical limitations.”82 This approach towards film theory is both restrictive and futile, according to Perkins, as a film’s achievement cannot be fully acknowledged and appreciated until the technological refinements of the technological progress of the cinematic apparatus – color, sound and mobility, to give a few examples – is present.83 As Perkins observes, “[o]nly with colour as an available resource can we regard the use of black-and-white” imagery as a filmmaker's creative choice, and, similarly, the innovation of sound in film also gives a creator the alternative freedom to accentuate tension with silence.84 Furthermore, these earlier theorists and their approaches to film style and the theory of film, in Perkins mind, were centered on having “universal validity [which] must provide either an exhaustive catalogue of film forms or a description of the medium in such general terms as to offer minimal guidance to the appreciation of any movie.”85 Instead, Perkins juxtaposes the films of the Lumiére brothers and Georges Méliés to show how these movies offer “two forms of magic”, where they are placed as opposite representations of the capability of film as a medium.86 In this example, the Lumiére’s films encompasses “the realist theory” where it is reality that “concentrates, gives [cinema] the power to ‘possess’ the real world by capturing its appearance”, while at the other end, Méliès’ films “focus [on] the traditional aesthetic, permits the presentation of an ideal image, ordered by the film-maker’s will and imagination.”87 According to this logic, the practice of the Lumiére brothers leads to the formal and narrative aesthetic of the documentary film, while Méliès showed the way toward the fictional narrative film. Perkins' overall aim, however, is offering a theoretical path for film analysis that is devoid of orthodoxy and can therefore serve to liberate films from conforming to an a priori definition, and being haphazardly condomened should they fail to adhere to such an artificial framework. Furthermore, despite the linear lineage drawn from the two early behemoths of cinema, Perkins ultimately aims to show that films should

81 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 40. 82 Perkins cites Roger Manvell and Ernst Lindgren as both sharing similar notions of art being successful or an artist’s greatness is achieved through the art’s limitations. For more information see; V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 54. 83 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 54. 84 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 54. 85 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 60. 86 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 60. 87 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 60-61.

17 be regarded as a hybrid which depicts both reality and ‘magic’; that cinema is a form open and conductive to what he terms synthesis.88 Perkins further notes how “the critical problem is to arrive at descriptions which are both specific and comprehensive enough to be useful. The critic cannot require a movie to fit his definitions; it’s his task to find the analytical model which best fits the movie.”89 The film medium is complex and is not defined by one aspect over the other. Therefore, Perkins aims to approach a film on its own terms and from there, see whether it has successfully achieved coherence through its unity. His theory is thus in some essential respects classical.90 Perkins' classicism is apparent when he suggests, “a synthetic theory, [in which] a theory of balance, coherence and complexity, does carry us towards this goal,” which thus proves central to his notions of cinema’s aesthetic value and subtlety.91

1.5 The Unconventional Method An important ingredient in a successful film, is how its meaning and symbolism are produced organically out of its imagery.92 Perkins draws examples from two films and the editing of particular sequences within their narrative framework. At stake in this instance are Alfred Hitchcock’s shower-murder scene in Psycho (1960) and Sergei Eisenstein’s lion montage in Battleship Potemkin (1925).93 For Perkins, Hitchcock’s scene offers “complex layers of interpenetrating meanings and effects that editing can offer the film-maker”, while

88 The concept of synthesis derives initially from Hegel’s dialectic, that is, his theory of universal history, and would later be taken up my Karl Marx. For more on this, see; Mueller, Gustav E. "The Hegel Legend of "Thesis- Antithesis-Synthesis"." Journal of the History of Ideas 19, no. 3 (1958): 411-14. Accessed March 25, 2020. doi:10.2307/2708045.; Additional reading see; Julie E. Maybee, “Hegel's Dialectics,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Stanford University, June 3, 2016), https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hegel- dialectics/.; In the regards to his term, synthesis, Perkins depicts how the fictional world within a film is able to exploit “the possibilities of synthesis between photographic realism and dramatic illusion.” For a further understanding see; V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 62, 61. 89 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 62. 90 The classical narrative can be traced from Aristotle’s Poetics in which he describes the importance of tragedy is its plot, its unity that “must be a self-contained narrative with a clearly marked beginning, middle, and end; it must be sufficiently short and simple for the spectator to hold all its details in mind.”; Aristotle. Poetics. Translated by Anthony Kenny. (Oxford University Press, 2013), 29.; Moreover, in 17th century theatre, the classical French tragedies expanded Aristotle’s thoughts on unity; the “unity of action, unity of place, and unity of time.” See more; "Unities." Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019, accessed August 29, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/art/unities#ref57007. 91I V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 189. 92 The term, organic unity, as Aristotle’s wrote, describes how “a complete whole, with its several incidents so closely connected that the transposal or withdrawal of any one of them will disjoin and dislocate the whole.” For a further reading see; The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Organic Unity,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., April 22, 2016), https://www.britannica.com/art/organic-unity. 93 In the montage, the lion statue rises upon witnessing the massacre inflicted on civilians on the Odessa steps where Eisenstein used a Russian colloquialism which means “’the very stones roared’: roughly, ‘all hell broke loose’.” For further information see; Battleship Potemkin (1925), Sergei Eisenstein, (Goskino, Soviet Union). See also; V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 100, 103- 104.

18 Eisenstein’s “lions served no purpose in the movie beyond that of becoming components of a montage effect.”94

Fig. 1.1 and 1.2: Stills from Psycho and Battleship of Potemkin where the former successfully creates meaning while the latter serves no purpose in the film.

In these two examples, Perkins demonstrates how Hitchcock’s shower murder scene depicts a significant, “emotional and intellectual, arises rather from the creation of significant relationships than from the presentation of things significant in themselves.”95 While in Eisenstein’s lion statue montage becomes a cautionary tale on how a film is not to be defined as more valuable “or [more] profound than another on the grounds” of its intellectual references, nor on its “given meanings”, and instead, in its “intensity of cohesion”, such that in every “level of detail we can value most the moments when narrative, concept and emotion are most completely fused” within the fictional world.96 It should be noted, however, that in this particular instance Perkins does not perhaps play completely fairly. Although the shower murder scene in Psycho is non-verbal it is situated in a sound film, and the overall aesthetics of the sequence are thus constructed

94 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 107, 103. 95 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 106-107. 96 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 131, 133.

19 according to logical very different from Eisenstein's.97 Working in the medium of silent film, Eisenstein was experimenting with new communicatory channels, meant to compliment a medium that was devoid of internal sound. Having been rendered obsolete, it is perhaps not surprising that Perkins finds the more recent filmic example, the one deriving from the mode of cinema familiar to him, to be more resounding and efficient. Moving beyond the historical context of Perkins' analytical examples, an important lesson can nevertheless be drawn. Thus, it might also be pointed out, Perkins valorizes the internal content of the filmic text, viewing the meanings generated by systems internal to the textual order as more genuinely cinematic (and, presumably, artistic), than a meaning generating mechanism that relies for its validity on referencing a symbolic register outside the work in question. That is, symbolism dependent on cultural codes external to the filmic text are found wanting, in part because their syntax depends on knowledge or familiarity on behalf of the spectator that the filmic work in question does not itself provide. The coherence of the film is thus not guaranteed by its own meanings; its own internal structure. The central concept here is coherence.98 Coherence, according to Perkins, “is the means by which the film-maker creates significance” and from there the spectator is expected “to recognize meaning at all levels.”99 Although Perkins does not use the term, this use of ‘coherence’, refers to the mise en scène, which is traditionally seen to include “everything onscreen [mise en scène] contains the scenic elements of a movie, including actors, aspects of lighting, sets and settings, costumes, make- up, and other features of the image that exist independently of the camera and the processes of filming and editing.”100 In Film as Film, Perkins uses films from the classical Hollywood period to illustrate how the mise en scène should strive for a “cohesion between realism and expressionism” and to avoid “decorative, affective or rhetorical effect.”101 The classical Hollywood style, or the mise en scène, presented “as a form of pointmaking in

97 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 107-115. 98 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 116. 99 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 116. 100 Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2015), 64. Furthermore, Perkins avoids using the term mise en scène and instead described it as “details of performance, décor, space, camera angle and position, lighting and sound design.” For more see; Jacoby, Alexander. "V.F. (Victor Francis) Perkins, 1936-2016." Sight and Sound, August 5, 2016. https://www2.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/comment/obituaries/vf-victor-francis-perkins- 1936-2016. 101 James Donald and Michael Renov, The SAGE Handbook of Film Studies (London: SAGE, 2008), 316.; V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 131. For a thorough overview of the assumptions and aesthetics that guided key film critics writing for a large audience in the period preceding Perkins, and, to an extent, his contemporaries, see; David Bordwell, The Rhapsodes: How 1940s Critics Changed American Film Culture, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016).

20 which various elements comprising the onscreen world are so meticulously organized that they function as a critical tool.”102 Although Perkins did not conform to the auteur theories of Cahiers du Cinema, he believed that the director was responsible for a film achieving its coherence and should be at the forefront, preceding judgement.103 Perkins describes how:

The most telling argument for a critical belief in the “director’s cinema” is that it has provided the richest base for useful analyses of the styles and meanings of particular films. Yet on theoretical grounds alone, when a movie offers a complex and meaningful interrelation of event, image, idea and feeling, it surely makes sense to think the most likely source a gifted director’s full involvement with his materials.104

A successful film should present a “meaning [which] may exist without internal relationship[s]; but coherence is the prerequisite of contained significance. By this I mean significance which we find within, rather than attached to, the form of the film”, and thus becoming a critical tool.105 For instance, during the kitchen scene in Vincente Minnelli’s film The Courtship of Eddie’s Father (1963), the mise en scène creates an awareness of “the fragility of china”, how the uncertain stability as Eddie (Ron Howard) stands on the high- stool, symbolically gestures an American assumptions about the proper roles and interest of parents.”106 In this regard, the “given meanings are essential to the significance of the scene. But as components only. The special concern of the movie is to put such components into significant relationship; their correlation is the content of the film.”107 Furthermore, Perkins demonstrates how a filmmaker achieves coherence, such as depicting a dramatic element, without damaging the balanced unity of the fictional world, which he calls, asserted

102 Brad Stevens, “Reflections on Style: What Became of Classical Hollywood Mise En Scène?: Sight & Sound, ”British Film Institute, June 4, 2019, https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound-magazine/comm- ent/bradlands/bradlands-reflections-style. 103 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 184.; The term auteur theory varies upon scholars as to how much creative control a filmmaker is admitted upon having. For a further reading on key theorists and their in-depth reading of auteur see; André Bazin, “De La Politique Des Auteurs,” in Auteurs and Authorship: A Film Reader, ed. Barry Keith Grant (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2008), 19-28.; François Truffaut, “A Certain Tendency of the French Cinema,” in Auteurs and Authorship: A Film Reader, ed. Barry Keith. Grant (Malden Mass.: Blackwell Publ., 2008), 9-18. 104 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 186. 105 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 117. 106 The Courtship of Eddies Father, Directed by Vincente Minnelli (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1963).; V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 117-118. 107 The Courtship of Eddies Father, Directed by Vincente Minnelli (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1963).; V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 118.

21 meaning.108 The examples he uses are that of two filmmaker’s, Alfred Hitchcock and Otto Preminger, who Perkins deems as representative of divergent methods in this context.109 In Hitchcock’s Rope (1948), the two main protagonists have murdered and placed their victim in a chest, which is on display, directly in front of unsuspected party guests.110 The audience knows of the corpse in the chest, and the suspense of the film occurs during a scene where the guests are in mid-conversation and the housekeeper slowly begins to clear things off the chest, with the intent of opening it once everything has been cleared off.111 As this takes place, the camera is fixated on the chest, thus allowing the audience to clearly see the housekeeper slowly removing things off the chest.112 Hitchcock has created a deliberate “controlled viewpoint”, where he forces concentration to “heighten our response to action without making our awareness of control a barrier to imaginative involvement.”113 This scene’s contained significance is achieved due to Hitchcock having presented the apartment “so freely in the preceding sequences that by the time Hitchcock begins to exploit his décor for dramatic effect we have come to accept its reality and the limitations which it imposes.”114 In the case of Otto Preminger’s River of No Return (1954), the style and symbolism is completely immersed within the film to the point that it can be said to be virtually undetected.115 Preminger, Perkins observes, “reveals significance by a dramatic structuring of events which his camera seems only to follow” and yet “the image appears to attempt always to accommodate the entire field of action so that is the spectator’s interest which defines the area of concentration.”116 Both directors achieve aesthetic coherence but are quite distinctive in their methods. Additionally, the directors’ dissimilar technique is present in their narrative style, as “Hitchcock tells stories as if he knows how they end [while] Preminger gives the impression of witnessing them as they unfold.”117 In order to pass judgment on a film, the viewer is persuaded to observe the inner consistency of the fictional world, and by doing so,

108 Perkins describes asserted meaning as “crude juxtapositions, tend to be both blatant and unclear, like over- amplified noises bellowing from a faulty loudspeaker.” V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 118-119. 109 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 129. 110 Rope. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, (Warner Bros., 1948). 111 Rope. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, 1948. 112 Rope. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock, 1948. 113 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 124. 114 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 126. 115 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 128. 116 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 129. 117 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 130.

22 “encourages a proximity between the critical viewer and the film itself, necessitating a heightened level of observance and engagement.”118 Concluding his book, Perkins expresses the sentiment that as critics, “[w]e cannot lay down rules for the creators. If we insist on the concept of balance we do not thereby demand to dictate how or between what elements the balance is to be achieved.”119 Moreover, the criterion that Perkins has laid down is intended to influence a positive approach, “based on synthesis [in] that it allows us to assess a range of achievements, degrees of productive tension and relationship” and to avoid seeing “a movie as either a masterpiece or a nonentity.”120 Therefore, the mind-set when critiquing films should not be diluted with a mere ‘thumbs up or down’, ‘fresh or rotten’ but instead to examine the rich material each film has, the mise en scène, and judge it by how well the films fictional world achieves a coherent synthesis. Perkins’s viewpoint in Film as Film is noteworthy and proves especially important when it comes to recognizing how the spectator becomes emotionally invested in a film’s narrative. The term ‘identification’, which refers to the spectator’s relationship towards a character is something that Perkins criticizes on the grounds that the word implies “an intense relationship of involvement” and therefore prefers to define it as “association” with the character.121 Perkins agrees that “our involvement is [...] important; without an emotional commitment from the spectator the films would become tediously schematic, a conducted tour of arguable opinions.”122 No director approaches this in the same way, as Perkins illustrates. In ’s film The Far Country, the director’s intention is for the spectator to “associate” with a singular character; Otto Preminger’s River of No Return, Exodus, and Advise and Consent are different, however. In these films “Preminger produces a form of detachment-in- involvement”; and Alfred Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man, Marnie and Rope, “depend on multi- dimensional involvement whereby we watch and share the experience not simply of one character but also of relatively minor figures.”123 These examples, according to Perkins, are not to be seen as being overtly value-laden, placing one method as preferable to another, yet he underlines how Hitchcock’s method of constructing a narrative is an unique approach since the “motive behind our identification, not just the fact of it, is integrated into the

118 James Walters, Fantasy Film: A Critical Introduction (Oxford: Berg, 2011), p.116. 119 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 189. 120 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 192. 121 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 139 122 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 151. 123 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 150-51.

23 structure and meaning of his films.”124 Therefore, if one hopes to examine films thoroughly, it is vital to keep in mind how a film and its director attempt to convey the emotional connection, or ‘association’ that of the spectator. As an afterthought of Film as Film, Perkins expressed in an interview how “the best movies of the twenties, thirties, forties, fifties were better than the best movies that we’re getting now[...] [m]y sense, however, is that movies have gone into a trough.”125 This is an understandable observation since 1975, the year that Jaws () was released, Hollywood films have been dominated by blockbuster filmmaking which “demand and ever more spectacular emphasis on mise-en-scène.”126 The superhero franchises, reboots and remake films (collectively known as IP franchises) have proven to dominate the current zeitgeist.127 Although there have been significant changes since the classical Hollywood films of the twentieth century, there do of course exist contemporary Hollywood films which balance significance and still adhere to an inherent aesthetic ‘laws’ of the film.128 To close, there might seem to be some conceptual difficulties embedded within an attempt to employ theories of the fantastic alongside Perkins' classical aesthetics and their tendency to privilege various modes of realism. In Film as Film, Perkins uses films from the classical Hollywood period to illustrate how the mise en scène of films should strive for a “cohesion between realism and expressionism”, a point that allows for a significant realignment of his aesthetics.”129 The classical Hollywood style, or the mise-en-scène, presented “as a form of pointmaking in which various elements comprising the onscreen

124 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 151. 125 “Interview: V.F. Perkins,” Movie: A Journal of Film Criticism, no. 8 (2019): pp. 45-52, https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/arts/film/movie/8_v.f_perkins.pdf, 51. 126 Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2015), 69. For more on this, see; Tom Shone, Blockbuster: or, How Hollywood Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Summer (New York: Free Press, 2004).; Stephen Neale and Murray Smith, Contemporary Hollywood Cinema (London: Routledge, 1998).; Sheldon Hall and Stephen Neale, Epics, Spectacles and Blockbusters: a Hollywood History (: Wayne State University Press, 2010). 127 In regards to the term IP franchise is described as “where intellectual property is remade and retrofitted on an endless loop.” See more; Katz, Branfon. "Why Your Favorite Film Franchises Are Letting You Down This Year." The Observer, November 22, 2019. https://observer.com/2019/11/box-office-how-hollywood-can-make- better- blockbusters/. 128 Various scholars have noted how the discourse of aesthetics have changed since the publishing of Film as Film. As an example, Steven Peacock has argued that “[c]ontemporary Hollywood film speaks to us in a language that is related to the classicism of the Golden Age, but moves beyond it, branching out into distinct trajectories of stylistic relations.” For a further reading see; S. Peacock, Hollywood and Intimacy: Style, Moments, Magnificence (Place of publication not identified: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), 13. Furthermore, the film Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) inhibits fantastical elements throughout the film, but it does not imbalance the aesthetic coherence of the film. See more; Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Directed by Michael Gondry (, 2004). 129 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 120, 131.

24 world are so meticulously organised that they function as a critical tool.”130 It is within these parameters, the possible equilibrium between realism and expressionism, that the fantastical and fable can, despite appearances, coexist with V.F. Perkins aesthetic model. His emphasis on realism does not mean that his theories are limited to that particular set of aesthetics.131 It is here that Sorry to Bother You presents itself as a balance between realism and the fantastical, or realism and expressionism, where social and political issues meet the fable- esque symbol of humans transformed into Equisapiens.

1.6 Conceptual Stratagems From Perkins’ enticingly lucid articulation of cinema style and film analysis, several central notions, concepts and keywords now need to be elucidated, as these will provide the analytical tools employed in the case study chapter, where the discussion of a specific film needs to rely on sound theoretical basis. First and foremost, a film’s coherence shall be understood, as it is a prerequisite for successful meaning-generation where the viewer is allowed to “make sense” of the film’s social engagement and political stances.132 At stake, in other words, is the internal coherence of a film's logic. It would be a mistake to assume that the aesthetic category of coherence demands pedestrian film stylistics or is somehow embedded within a register of film realism. The question, rather, becomes: Does the film address the spectator in a coherent fashion? In the case of the particular film that will be examined, Boots Riley's Sorry to Bother You, which deals with complex and thorny problems, contested and inflammable topics – even “unsolvable” problems – such as race relations in the United States, coherence would seem to become more difficult to maintain. Here it becomes necessary not to overvalue the most rudimentary meaning of coherence. The concept does not demand child-like simplifications or pat answers. Rather, that issues be addressed in a coherent fashion, even if that encounter brings forth complex or ambiguous answers. In the face of doubt, issues having two sides, there not even being a solution, contradictory meanings may well be generated, which do not place the internal coherence of the narrative at risk as much as enrich it and make the viewing experience more demanding, offering alternative paths for

130 Brad Stevens, “Reflections on Style: What Became of Classical Hollywood Mise En Scène?: Sight & Sound,” British Film Institute, June 4, 2019, https://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/sight-sound- magazine/comment/bradlands/bradlands-reflections-style. 131 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 9-27. 132 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 116.

25 interpretation. The issues and problems mentioned above, are all profitable sites for analysis and the notion of coherence is the gateway. Contained significance is when a filmmaker who has achieved coherence in their films has significance and meaning grow naturally out of its imagery and does not adhere to exterior axioms (i.e. , psychoanalysis).133 In the case of this thesis and the film to be analyzed, the significance of its political address has been vocalized by Boots Riley himself, and the film itself is not overly conductive to such an epiphenomenon of the external systems of thought, whose conceptual apparatus needs to be exported willfully into the filmic text in order to do its work. Asserted meaning, is the notion of how, as viewers, there are presented certain cognitive cues imbued and embedded within the text for the purpose to clarify the film’s viewpoint.134 This is depicted in every field of expression (narrative, performative, visual), which can be seen to point towards a certain meaning, or sets of meanings, thus privileging a certain confluence of significant elements above others. In order to do this concept justice, one needs to be sensitive to other registers than the thematic, that is, one needs to examine the mise en scène, the whole of the filmic apparatus such as the visual track as a whole, the performances, music and filmic soundscapes.135 Range of achievements, is taken to refer to the possible state of any cultural or artistic artefact.136 Namely, as a combination of many subsidiary mechanisms, aesthetic pursuits (as in cinema, where excellence in lightning does not equate to narrative coherence), and distinct features. Therefore, the range of achievements will circumvent simple judgements (what Perkins refers to as “badness”) and requires disassembling in order for the analysis to take into account such questions as, how do they work together? Why are some aspects of a filmic text more successful than others?137 It is with V.F. Perkin’s aesthetic sensitivity and critical tools in tow that this thesis strives to use as an analytic framework to elucidate the significance of Boots Riley's film. Although Perkins will be an essential element in the thesis analysis, it is just as important to understand the gravitas of the historical and socio-political context of race. Therefore, a comprehensive reading of Hollywood as an industry is now in order. The next chapter examines how race inequality is a structural element of the Hollywood institution, visibly

133 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 117-18. 134 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 119. 135 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 119 136 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 192. 137 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 192.

26 apparent in its day-to-day practices. Concomitantly with the industrial and institutional analysis that constitutes the next chapter, the following question will be posed: What space is there for Black aesthetics in the current Hollywood climate and what can be defined as the essential representation of such aesthetics.

27 Chapter 2: Birth of the Black Imagery

Once many plantations grew cotton; today, some grow movies.138 -Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness

In his 1993 book, Framing Blackness: The African Image in Film, Ed Guerrero examines how Hollywood imagery of Black individuals has been dominated by a white perspective.139 Guerrero traces Hollywood’s history towards Black imagery, from the early years, starting with The Birth of a Nation, but glosses over the Golden Age of Hollywood in order to primarily focus on the films of the 1970s. Guerrero then concludes his overview on the Black Boom of the nineties.140 Guerrero argues that racial subordination “and [its] difference are not produced in a formal, aesthetic vacuum devoid of political concerns or historical influences.”141 Instead, he sees such subordination as a “part of a broad cultural hegemony structured into the fabric of dominant cinema at all levels, its production and content “overdetermined” by Hollywood’s profit-making strategies, the oppositional pressures of black political consciousness and activism, and the historical conditions at the moment of a given film’s production.”142 One of Hollywood's first full-length feature films, D.W. Griffith’s, Birth of a Nation (1915), depicts African Americans as “the root of all evil and unworthy of freedom and voting rights”, “infantile, lazy, and subservient”, as well as a “’brute Negro’ who, out of lust and hatred, presents a clear and presents a clear and present danger to the purity and sanctity

138 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 9. 139 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness. 17. 140 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness. 1-7. 141 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 10.; The concept of overdetermination derives from psychoanalysis, referencing a phenomenon (often dream phenomena) whose constitutive elements derive from more than one origin, thus making it overdetermined in the sense that the phenomena in question stands for several other significant issues. See more; "Sigund Freud." Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020, accessed August 27, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sigmund-Freud/Psychoanalytic-theory#ref386098. 142 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 17, 10.; Additionally, what Guerrero is demonstrating is the ideology of the French Marxist philosopher, Louis Althusser. In his essay, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”, Althusser described the term “ideological state apparatus” in order to “to denote institutions such as education, the churches, family, media, trade unions, and law, which were formally outside state control but which served to transmit the values of the state, to interpellate those individuals affected by them, and to maintain order in a society, above all to reproduce capitalist relations of production.” For further information see; “Ideological Tate Apparatus,” A Dictionary of Sociology (Encyclopedia.com, March 5, 2020), https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/dictionaries-thesauruses-pictures-and-press-releases/ideological- state-apparatus.; Furthermore, an important influence on the writings on Black aesthetics was an African American scholar Larry Neal. In his essay “The Black Arts Movement”, Neal expresses how the need for Black aesthetic is for “the destruction of the white thing, the destruction of white ideas, and white ways of looking at the world.” See more; Larry Neal, “The Black Arts Movement,” The Drama Review: TDR 12, no. 4 (1968): pp. 28-39, https://doi.org/10.2307/1144377, 30.

28 of white womanhood and civilized America as well.”143 The negative imagery depicted in The Birth of a Nation, demonstrated the dangers of the racist ideology towards Black Americans. During this time, Africans Americans in the South were living under the constant threat of being lynched as thousands were over the span of mere thirty-five years alongside with a “rise of a reinvigorated and popular Ku Klux Klan.”144

Fig. 1.3: In The Birth of a Nation, a white man in portraying a Black man as he pursues a white woman in.

During the Reconstruction era of 1865-77, an attempt was made in the United States Constitution to address and rectify the racial inequalities of “slavery and its political, social, and economic legacy” by adopting the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments thereof.145 Although they remained in the Constitution, these amendments were often flagrantly violated in order for white domination to continue. In the 14th amendment it is declared that:

[n]o State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United Sates; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or

143 Dick Lehr and Lee Pfeiffer, “The Birth of a Nation,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., December 19, 2019), https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Birth-of-a-Nation.; Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 12,13. 144 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 3rd ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2011), 695-696. See also; Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 15. 145 Eric Foner, “Reconstruction,” April 3, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/event/Reconstruction-United- States- history. For a further reading of the Amendments see; Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 3rd ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2011), A-51, A-52.

29 property, without due process of law; nor deny any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.146

However, in the 1896 Plessy v Ferguson the U.S Supreme Court deemed racial segregation to not violate the 14th amendment if “facilities were “separate but equal”.147 This in turn helped create a leeway around the amendment where southern states began to pass “laws mandating racial segregation in every aspect of southern life, from schools to hospitals, waiting rooms, toilets, and cemeteries.”148 This helped in the continuation of “an all-encompassing system of white domination, in which each component – disenfranchisement, unequal economic status, inferior education – reinforce the others.”149 Birth of a Nation became “enormously successful”, establishing a genre of the “plantation” movie, and, ironically, “brought new respectability to the movies”, as it was indeed “innovative in technique, using special effects, deep-focus photography, jump cuts, and facial close-ups.”150 Birth of a Nation “revolutionized the young art of moviemaking”, with the subsequent result that in American film historiography D.W. Griffith has been appointed “the father of American Cinema.”151 The technological innovations and racial ideology within Birth of a Nation, “projected itself into the continuum of cinema history.”152 The ripples continue to be felt, as the film has been considered vital to the progress and development of cinematic technique, while it also offered a narrative that labored to depict a demeaning vision of African Americans. Thus, a single film both constituted a “paradigm in the highest innovation and technical standard of the time and in the newest, and potentially most powerful, medium of mass communication and culture ever to stimulate and entertain the social imagination”, while also being undeniably deeply and utterly racist.153 After Birth of a Nation, films began to depict African American stereotypes in a way that

146 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!:, A-51. 147 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!:, 654-655. 148 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!:, 655. 149 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!:, 655. 150 Dick Lehr and Lee Pfeiffer, “The Birth of a Nation,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., December 19, 2019), https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Birth-of-a-Nation.; Thompson, Kristin, and David Bordwell. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. NY: McGraw Hill, 2010, 61.; Additionally, within “its first eleven months in it had 6,266 showings and was seen by an estimated 3 million people”, with an unprecedented at the time, $10 million grossing at the box office. In a modern perspective, $10 million in 1915, and with inflation, the amount is estimated to be $256 million in 2020. See more; “Inflation Rate between 1915- 2020: Inflation Calculator,” CPI Inflation Calculator, accessed March 11, 2020, https://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1915?amount=10000000.; Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 3. 151 Bernardi, Daniel. “Birth of a Nation: Integrating Race into the Narrator System.” In Film Analysis: A Norton Reader, by Jeffrey Geiger and R. L. Rutsky, 59. 2nd ed. NY: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. 152 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 15. 153 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 15.

30 became a common trope across film genres. Birth of a Nation was not celebrated without exception, as other directors saw Griffith’s depiction as “too explicit” and moved Hollywood “toward a certain moderation”, but outright condemnation remained rare in the white film community of Hollywood.154 Before moving on, it might at this point be fruitful to accentuate the meaning of certain terms, some of whom are employed above but all of whom revolve around issues of representation, and how they are to be understood in terms of Hollywood cinema and Blackness. On the one hand, there are the concepts of representation, imagery and perspective and on the other hand, stereotype and trope. Those in the former grouping deal with semantics and the latter deal with narrative traditions. Specifically, as James Monaco observes, how representation becomes a relationship between the filmmaker and the audience as a “direct line of communication between the subject and the observer.”155 The verisimilitude has further created ambiguity as the film language has progressed from sound and color, which is to say that color “reproduces more of reality than does black-and-white; sound film is more closely parallel to actual experience than is silent.” [emphasis added]156 As the medium continues to improve, so too does numbers of storytellers, which means more variety and in turn the quality of storytelling. History has shown us that the storytellers have been dominated by white voices, therefore as Hollywood established itself as a cultural facet, the representation of Black Americans became canonical. Perspective can mean the literal aim of the camera. However more important is the concepts relation to narrative and how narrative is structured and aligned with one perspective rather than another, even above another. Narrator or narrative frames are often used to gesture “the specific perspective of the narration.”157 As a filmmaker, it is most common to introduce “tonality, speed of motion, and perspective in realistic ways.”158 This

154 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 17.; Furthermore, it should be mentioned that even with the appraisal it was given, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) attempted to have the film censored or banned but to no avail. This was due to Thomas Dixon, the author of The Clansman which was adapted by D.W. Griffith, becoming Birth of a Nation. Two days before the films premier, Dixon successfully “made an end run” in attempt to “get the tacit support and leverage of his graduate school buddy, now President Woodrow Wilson” as well as to persuade the Supreme Court and the Members of Congress which resulted in the NAACP and other oppositional groups considered to be a “minor legal skirmishing.” For further information see; Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 13. 155 James Monaco, How to Read a Film, 43. 156 James Monaco, How to Read a Film, 43. 157 Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience: An Introduction (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012), 240. 158 David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson, and Jeff Smith, Film Art: An Introduction (New York, NY: McGraw- Hill Education, 2017), 177.

31 results in creating illusions in order to ‘trick’ the eyes “by combining painterly and filmic perspectives. Like mise-en-scène, visual perspective can be stylized, imaginative, and blatantly unrealistic if the filmmaker chooses that path. It all depends on how the stylistic choices function in the pattern of the overall film.”159 In the case of the narrative frame, the “narrative elements describe formal tactics for drawing us into a story, and both direct the arrangement of the plot and create a specific position implying attitudes, standards, or powers.”160 Therefore, narration becomes a tool for which to generate the “attitudes, values, and aims that are central to understanding any movie.”161 Within these narrative frames, “they indicate certain cultural, social, or psychological perspectives on events of the story.”162 Perspective is thus a narrative category that can be employed to identify the element that structures the politics and the ideological emphasis of a work of art in a decisive fashion. This representation links directly to an important facet of film, its imagery. It is the power of focusing our attention to the two vital aspects of the framed image, “the limitations that the frame imposes, and the composition of the image within the frame.”163 “Since the frame determines the limit of the image, the choice of an aspect ratio suggests the possibilities of composition. With the self-justification that has been endemic to the elusive subject of film aesthetics.”164 Furthermore, the filmmaker has the power to “the dimensions of the frame during the course of the film by masking the image, either artificially or naturally through composition.” 165 This is a key element of “the syntax of frame shape ever since D. W. Griffith first explored its possibilities.”166 Imagery is a powerful component to narrow our attention towards what the filmmaker seeks for us to visualize. In Griffith’s exploration, he implemented the imagery of Black Americans as a violent threat, mischievous, or docile which in turn became the canon stereotype and perception of how Black Americans are seen even in contemporary life.167 In the Oscar winning film, Crash, depicts the simplistic and lack of nuances towards racism and inequality that thrives in the

159 David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson, and Jeff Smith, Film Art, 177. 160 Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience, 240. 161 Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience, 240. 162 Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience:, 240. 163 James Monaco, How to Read a Film, 183. 164 James Monaco, How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond: Art, Technology, Language, History, Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 183-84.; See also; David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson, and Jeff Smith, Film Art: An Introduction (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Education, 2017), 185. 165 James Monaco, How to Read a Film, 185. 166 James Monaco, How to Read a Film, 185. 167 In addition, the imagery of Black Ameicans have been played with in recent films such as where Django (Jamie Foxx) must tread lightly within the bounds of Candyland. See; Django Unchained, dir, Quinten Tarantino, (US: Weinstein Company, 2012).

32 United States, where the imagery of Black American social issues is reduced to parabolic after- school specials.168 Furthermore, within these frames, stereotypes are birthed in which oversimplification or rationally unsupported caricatures, are depicted regarding members or “nearly all, members of a given social group.”169 During the early years of filmmaking in the United States, it was common to feature “racial themes, usually drawn from the egregious stereotypes circulating in minstrel shows and other forms of popular culture”, often white performers wearing black face.170 As Hollywood films progressed, Black American actors and singers were given roles to portrayed that reflected and reinforced stereotypes of African Americans. These often featured actors such as Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen and Lincoln T. M. A. Perry.171 Although Black Americans were given roles, none were ever given the opportunity to surpass demeaning stereotypes during the classical Hollywood era. The employment of such stereotypes also brought a common thematic trope to life, in which it “is a universally identified image imbued with several layers of contextual meaning creating a new visual metaphor” that in the end served to reproduce racist ideology.172 The term trope is derived from literary theory meaning “a “turn of phrase” or a “change of sense”; in other words, a logical twist that gives the elements of a sign—the signifier and the signified—a new relationship to each other,” thus, trope becomes a “connecting element between denotation and connotation.”173 On the subject of cinema, trope is not bound by facts

168 Crash, dir. Paul Haggis, (US: Lionsgate, 2004). 169 “Stereotype,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., May 22, 2020), https://www.britannica.com/topic/stereotype-social. 170 Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience: An Introduction (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2012), 384. 171 H Vera. & A Gordon. (2001). “Sincere Fictions of the White Self in the American Cinema: The Divided White Self in Civil War Films”. In D. Bernardi (Ed.), Classic Hollywood: Classic Whiteness (pp. 263-280). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota. African American actresses, Butterfly McQueen and Hattie McDaniel, portrayed Scarlett’s O’Hara’s maid and mammy in the film, Gone with the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming), who were “reduced to background figures” where they were “primarily as slaves: loyal servants [...] stupid and cowardly servants.” This is portrayed in the film Gone with the Wind. Directed by Victor Fleming. USA: Loew's Inc.; 1939.; Actor and entertainer Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, the first African American film star, was also known by the stage name as, Stepin Fetchit, were his character bore the slogan “The World’s Laziest Man”. In the film, Hearts in Dixie (1929, Paul Sloane) he is characterized as a gullible, “overtly slothful” black man whose sole purpose was to be casted to “represent a lazy roustabout lying along a fence, whose duty in one scene was to rise regretfully and yawn”. Mel Watkins, Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry (New York: Vintage Books, 2006), p. 66, 128, 130, 149. Additionally, see his portrayal of Stepin’ Fetchit in; Hearts in Dixie. Directed by Paul Sloane. (USA: Fox Film Corporation, 1929). 172 Michael Rizzo, The Art Direction Handbook for Film (Amsterdam: Focal, 2005), 321. 173 Monaco further elaborates by saying “When a rose is a rose is a rose it isn’t anything else, and its meaning as a sign is strictly denotative. But when a rose is something else, a “turning” has been made and the sign is opened up to new meanings.” For a more in-depth reading see; James Monaco, How to Read a Film: Movies, Media, and Beyond: Art, Technology, Language, History, Theory (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009), 170. Moreover, to see a better reading on the term connotations and denotations see; https://www.britannica.com/topic/connotation.

33 but rather, regarded as static; “the image comes alive: as a connotative index, in terms of the paradigm of possible shots, in the syntagmatic context of its associations in the film, as it is used metaphorically as a metonymy or a synecdoche.”174 In terms of Hollywood’s use of tropes, we can see that certain tropes are bound by social stereotypes, and are “used again and again because they speak to us on some deep level and connect with our experiences, fears, and hopes,” or, in terms of the thrust of this thesis, they speak to the racist imaginary in a powerful way, and thus also serve to underpin, validate and reproduce reductive, repressive and racist notions of the social.175 To give a more concrete example, we might mention a thematic trope commonly found in gangster films, namely where we see the “gangster’s rise and fall as he struggles against police and rival gang[s].”176 In regards to Hollywood and the racial imaginary, negative race tropes are found in abundance. Examples include the characteristics of a ‘scary Black man’; ‘ the ‘sassy Black woman’; the ‘Black best friend’, also referred to as the token Black friend; the fact that a Black character dies first in a film (this trope often being found within the horror genre).177 The ‘Black but not too Black’ character, who often plagues Black women rather than their male counterparts; and ‘Blackface’ now largely seen as a relic of the

174 James Monaco, How to Read a Film, 170. 175 “Trope: Definition and Examples,” Literary Terms, September 16, 2017, https://literaryterms.net/trope/. 176 David Bordwell, Kristin Thompson, and Jeff Smith, Film Art: An Introduction (New York, NY: McGraw- Hill Education, 2017), 330.; See also; Warshow, Robert. Chap. The Gangster as Tragic Hero In The Immediate Experience : Movies, Comics, Theatre and Other Aspects of Popular Culture, 181-86: Harvard University Press, 2002, 182. 177 The ‘scary Black man’ trope can be depicted as physical and in characterizations but there are times where physicality is the farthest it portrays this trope; Mississippi Burning, Dir. Alan Parker, (, 1988).; The Green Mile, Dir. Frank Darabont, (Warner Bros., 1999).; Sin City, Dir. Robert Rodriquez, ( Films, 2005).; The Whole Nine Yards, Dir. Jonathan Lynn, (Warner Bros., 2000).; Escape from New York, Dir. , (AVCO Embassy Pictures, 1981).; Police Academy, Dir. Hugh Wilson, (Warner Bros., 1984).; Cliffhanger, Dir. Renny Harlin, (TriStar Pictures, 1993).; For more information on the ‘sassy Black woman’ trope see; Gone with the Wind, Dir. Victor Fleming, (Loew’s Inc., 1939).; Sister Act, Dir. Emile Ardolino, (Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc., 1992).; Jackie Brown, Dir. , (Miramax Films, 1997).; Taxi, Dir. Tim Story, (20th Century Fox, 2004).; Additionally, seek out ’s Madea films for further examples, such as; Diary of a Mad Black Woman. Dir. Darren Grant, (Lionsgate, 2005).; Madea Goes to Jail, Dir. Tyler Perry, (Lionsgate, 2009).; A Madea Family Funeral, Dir. Tyler Perry, (Lionsgate, 2019).; In regards to the token Black friend see; : The Empire Strikes Back, Dir. Irvin Kershner, (20th Century Fox, 1980).;Clueless, Dir. Amy Heckerling. (Paramount Pictures, 1995).; Semi Pro, Dir. Kent Alterman, (New Line Cinema, 2008).; That Awkward Moment, Dir. Tom Gormican, (Focus Features, 2014).; What is noteworthy to mention is that if Black characters are not the first to be killed in horror films, they have an inevitable death, as well as lacking any character development. See; Matt Barone, “Fact Check: Do Black Characters Always Die First in Horror Movies?,” Complex, October 31, 2013, https://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2013/10/black-characters-horror-movies/. See also; Shining, Dir. , (US: Warner Bros., 1980); 300, Dir. Zack Snyder, (US: Warner Bros., 2007); Scream 2, Dir. Wes Craven, (US: Dimension Films, 1997); Aliens, Dir. James Cameron, (US: 20th Century Fox, 1986); X-Men: First Class, Dir. Matthew Vaughn, (US: 20th Century Fox, 2011); Red Dawn, Dir. John Milius, (US: MGM/UA Entertainment Company, 1984).; One Missed Call, Dir. Eric Valette, (US: Warner Bros., 2008); The Monster Squad, Dir. , (US: TriStar Pictures, 1987); Gremlins, Dir. , (US: Warner Bros., 1984).

34 early years of cinema, and thankfully no longer as prominent.178 In regards to this thesis, these concepts needed to be elucidated in order to fully grapple with the historical magnitude of cinematic racism and the way Hollywood has constructed its language out of racist tropes, imagery, stereotypes, representations and perspectives, resulting in a medium in which racist attitutdes are deeply ingrained. As Hollywood grew as a mass entertainment industry, the resulting production cost of making films shaped the inflection of African American imagery.179 The Hollywood magnates and producers, with more subtlety, began to produce films with such imagery which “reflect[ed] conservative middle-class values and the strict racial codes of to guarantee profits from their films as well as offset the costs of increased capitalization and consolidation.”180 Consequently, Guerrero demonstrates how Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) came from “a line of developmental continuity from Birth [of a Nation]”, sharing similarities with the earlier film such as both being “spectacular, hegemonic masterpieces of antiblack sentiment”, showcasing how economically beneficial it became to produce racist imagery.181 The only difference being that Gone With the Wind “avoids the overt inflammatory propaganda and plea of The Birth of a Nation, revealing how much Hollywood had refined the art of suggestion.”182

178 Nina, Dir. Cynthia Mort, (US: RLJ Entertainment), 2016. The film sparked controversies as the famous dark skinned singer, Nina Simone is played by light-skinned actress, Zoe Saldana. See; Rebecca Sun, “India Arie: Why Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone Is ‘Tone-Deaf’ Casting (Q&A),” The Hollywood Reporter, March 6, 2016, https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/india-arie-why-zoe-saldana-872960.; Although Blackface was more common to use during Hollywood’s early years, it should be noted that Blackface has been present in modern films. For more on early works see; A Nigger in the Woodpile, Dir. A.E. Weed, (US: American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, 1904).; The Birth of a Nation, Dir. D.W. Griffith, (US: Epoch Producing Co., 1915); Uncle Tom's Cabin, Dir. Harry A. Pollard, (US: Universal Pictures, 1927). ; Jazz Singer, Dir. Alan Crosland, (US: Warner Bros., 1927).; Mammy, Dir. Michael Curtiz, (US: Warner Bros., 1930).; The Party, Dir. Blake Edwards, (, 1968).; For a more modern visual of Blackface see; Soul Man, Dir. , (US: New World Pictures, 1986).; , Dir. (DreamWorks Pictures, 2008); A Mighty Heart, Dir. Michael Winterbottom, (Paramount Vantage, 2007). 179 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 17. 180 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 17. 181 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 12. 182 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 17.

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Fig. 1.4: Hattie McDaniel as Mammy gave the meaning of Black Americans as being loyal and dependent of the white America.

During the early years of the Golden Age of Hollywood, the narrative shifted emphasis to placing blame on the ‘racist South’ for the lack of Black representation in films.183 That is, Hollywood couldn't feature more Black characters, it was maintained, because Southern cinemas would then refuse to screen them, leading to immense loss of revenue. Guerrero cites Thomas Cripps and his essay “The Myth of the Southern Box Office: A Factor in Racial Stereotyping in American Movies, 1920-1940”, where Cripps “rejects the notion that Hollywood feared that a more just representation of blacks on the screen would jeopardize its “southern box office” and regards the industry as completely responsible for the racism in its films.”184 This is similar to Maryann Erigha and her findings of contemporary Hollywood’s label of Black directors and their films being ‘unbankable’, excusing themselves by stating their belief “that the international motion picture audience is racist.”185 It becomes evident that the difficulties of Black filmmakers and artists of the twentieth century have a long lineage and some of the issues encountered in the second

183 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 18. Additionally, the term Golden Age of Hollywood is referred to between 1915-1963, which “started with the silent movie era and the first major feature-length silent movie called the 'Birth of a Nation' (1915). The Golden Age of Hollywood ended with the demise of the studio system, the emergence of television, the rising costs and subsequent losses notably 'Cleopatra' (1963).” For more information see; “Golden Age of Hollywood,” American Historama (Siteseen Limited, January 9, 2018), http://www.american- historama.org/1929-1945-depression-ww2-era/golden-age-of-hollywood.htm. 184 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 18. 185 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 53.

36 decade of the twenty-first century have not changed as much as one would assume (or want) in the decades separating us from the dark past of overt racism. Moreover, the myth of the southern box office is further shown as flawed when it is examined how Hollywood established color lines which mirrored American’s segregated society.186 During the years 1934 to 1968, Hollywood studios followed guidelines from the Production Code (often referred as Hays Code) where, “the Code was an outline of moral standards governing the depiction of crime, sex, violence, and other controversial subjects.”187 Scholar Randall M. Miller observed that the Code’s racial discrimination “prohibited scenes and subjects which [...] suggested miscegenation as desirable, thereby building a color barrier in Hollywood's dream worlds as rigid as the color line in America's real world.”188 Miller continues to suggest that “[b]y casting the issue of racial mixing in black and white terms, the Code proclaimed an assimilationist ideal for European ethnic groups and a segregationist ideal for the ‘colored folks’.”189

2.1 Hollywood’s Exploitation During the 1950sand the early 1960s, the most notable Black actor of Hollywood was Sidney Poitier who was known for portraying the ““Exceptional Negro” where [h]e was humble but never servile, concerned but rarely intemperate, unwilling to pretend bigotry was anything other than an immense national problem, but optimistic that it would eventually give way.”190 Poitier’s portrayal of saint-like characters “was beginning to increasingly wearing thin for African Americans; it did not speak to the aspirations or anger of the new black social consciousness that was emerging.”191 Furthermore, Poitier always portrayed characters that were “not allowed to manifest more than a hint of sexual appetite or energy.”192 In Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), directed by Stanley Kramer, the plot revolves around a wealthy white liberal family that is confronted with the ultimate test of

186 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 17. 187 Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 198.; Furthermore, the article “Ritskoðun í Hollywood”, Gunnar Tómas Kristófersson gives an in-depth understanding of the effects the Production Code had on Hollywood. In addition, this article expands on the opportunity for expanding Iceland’s film studies using the Icelandic language as Gunnar translates key terms such as Production Code becoming “Framleiðslusáttmálinn”. See; Kristófersson, Gunnar Tómas. "Ritskoðun Í Hollywood." (Janurary 2, 2020), Hugrás, http://hugras.is/2020/01/ritskodun-i-hollywood/. 188 Randall M. Miller, The Kaleidoscopic Lens: How Hollywood Views Ethnic Groups (Englewood: Jerome S. Ozer, 1980), 3. 189 Randall M. Miller, The Kaleidoscopic Lens, 3. 190 Mark Harris. Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of New Hollywood. NY: Penguin Press, 2008, 113. 191 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 72. 192 Mark Harris. Pictures at a Revolution, 154.

37 their morals when they are asked to accept their daughter’s marriage to a Black American. The film came onto the screen during a historic period in Hollywood. During the sixties, the old studio system of Hollywood was challenged by the new wave innovations occurring within Hollywood that questioned the grounds of American cinema.193 New Hollywood was typified by a less formalized studio filming style, and an increased emphasis on realism.194 Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner straddled the worlds of old and new Hollywood by bringing a real life contemporary issue to the screen, that of US race relations, but within the framework of an Old Hollywood studio set-up.195 Some scenes were filmed on location, but a great deal of the film was filmed in a studio.196 Established Hollywood stars Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey play in the film alongside a new actor who would go on to change the rules of Hollywood, Sidney Poitier.197 The director, Stanely Kramer, was known for making films with a social conscience, but the late 1960s his filmmaking style nevertheless was considered stodgy and old-fashioned. By having the film star icons such as Hepburn and Tracey, it would be possible to make a film that featured stalwarts of the old order welcoming a black man into their family, and therefore give the same message towards the American audience. Although there were African American actors that came before Poitier, such as Butterfly McQueen, Hattie McDaniel, Lincoln T. M. A. Perry, they were only given roles that portrayed stereotypes of African Americans.198 Sidney Poitier was given the opportunity to change the course for African Americans in cinema and break free from the ideology that

193 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Directed by Stanley Kramer. (USA: , 1967). 194 Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell. Film History: An Introduction. 3rd ed. NY: McGraw Hill, 2010, p. 301; p. 475. 195 Ibid. 196 Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Directed by Stanley Kramer. (USA: Columbia Pictures, 1967). 197 Tim Gray. "Happy Birthday to Sidney Poitier, a Hollywood Game-Changer." Variety, February 20, 2016. Accessed January 7, 2018. http://variety.com/2016/film/news/sidney-poitier-birthday-oscar-diversity- 1201710790/. On his 89th birthday, this article looks back on Poitier’s achievements and as well as the new hope he paved for a more diverse film stars much like himself.; 198H Vera. & A Gordon. (2001). “Sincere Fictions of the White Self in the American Cinema: The Divided White Self in Civil War Films”. In D. Bernardi (Ed.), Classic Hollywood: Classic Whiteness ( 263-280). Minneapolis: University of Minnesota.; Moreover Black American actresses, Butterfly McQueen and Hattie McDaniel, portrayed Scarlett’s O’Hara’s maid and mammy in the film, Gone with the Wind (1939, Victor Fleming), who were “reduced to background figures” where they were “primarily as slaves: loyal servants [...] stupid and cowardly servants.” This is portrayed in the film Gone with the Wind. Directed by Victor Fleming. USA: Loew's Inc.; 1939.; Actor and entertainer Lincoln Theodore Monroe Andrew Perry, the first African American film star, was also known by the stage name as, Stepin Fetchit, were his character bore the slogan “The World’s Laziest Man”. In the film, Hearts in Dixie (1929, Paul Sloane) he is characterized as a gullible, “overtly slothful” black man whose sole purpose was to be casted to “represent a lazy roustabout lying along a fence, whose duty in one scene was to rise regretfully and yawn”. Mel Watkins, Stepin Fetchit: The Life and Times of Lincoln Perry (New York: Vintage Books, 2006), 66, 128, 130, 149. Additionally, see his portrayal of Stepin Fetchit in; Hearts in Dixie. Directed by Paul Sloane. (USA: Fox Film Corporation, 1929).

38 they had been under ever since films in the US began to be produced.199 Now that the Civil Rights Movement was in high gear, white liberal Hollywood was ready to take on the impossible subject of miscegenation that was a deep-rooted terror for the white citizens. In the mid-1960s and early-seventies, the United States faced numerous instances of social turmoil, such as “postwar struggles for racial equality” with boycotts, marches and protests, the , and the sexual liberation.200 Before the sixties, Hollywood was accustomed to “[spending] lavish amounts on films featuring popular white celebrities that promoted a culture of glamor and luxury.”201 However, during times of change and turmoil in the United States, Hollywood studios were experiencing a “financial crisis. Most releases lost money, and executives proved slow to understand that the big picture was no longer a sure thing”, in which major studios losing between 1969 to 1972, an estimated $500 million.202 Guerrero depicts how Hollywood “had been aware of the consumer potential of blacks for years” however, it was “[o]nly when Hollywood found itself confronted with the familiar, menacing conjunction of multiple political and economic forces did it begin to act.”203 Therefore, in a desperate attempt to find a solution, “Hollywood executives began modestly bankrolling films featuring all-black or majority black casts.”204 Unlike Poitier’s “ebony saint”, the protagonists of Blaxploitation were “severely flawed people who often lived in the underbelly of American economy such as pimps, hustlers, drug users, prostitutes and revolutionaries.”205 One of the first Blaxploitation films,

199 Sidney Poitier. Measure of a Man: A Spiritual Autobiography. NY: Harper Collins e-books, 2007, p. 84. In his autobiography, he experiences of being an outsider in the film industry stating that “Hollywood let me know my place from the beginning”. As he was working on set, with a cast and crew making the total close to the hundreds, he found himself in a situation where he was carrying the weight of all his black brothers and sister, “I qualified hands down as the only black person on the set. I qualified hands down as the quintessential outsider. Accordingly, I felt very much as if I were representing fifteen, eighteen million people with every move I made”; See also Vanity Fair’s article that celebrates the beloved actor of the late sixties during hard times in the civil rights movement.; L Jacobs. (2017). “Sidney Poitier, 1967, and One of the Most Remarkable Runs in Hollywood History.” Vanity Fair. Retrieved January 10, 2018, from https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2017/02/sidney-poitier-remarkable-run-in-hollywood-history 200 Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 472. See also; Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 71. 201 Kaia Niambi Shivers, “When Black People Saved Hollywood,” Ark Republic, January 16, 2018, https://www.arkrepublic.com/2018/01/16/black-audiences-saved-hollywood/2/. 202 Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, Film History: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (Boston: McGraw-Hill, 2010), 474. Additionally, Guerrero cites how Columbia and Fox studios nearly became close to bankruptcy by the late sixties. See more; Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 82. 203 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 85.; Furthermore, Guerrero is citing scholar Richard Maltby and his book, Harmless Entertainment: Hollywood and the Ideology of Consensus, in which Maltby argues how conservative Hollywood does not change until multiple influences force them to do so. See more; Richard Maltby, Harmless Entertainment: Hollywood and the Ideology of Consensus (Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1983), 129-30. 204 Kaia Niambi Shivers, “When Black People Saved Hollywood,” Ark Republic, January 16, 2018, https://www.arkrepublic.com/2018/01/16/black-audiences-saved-hollywood/2/. 205 Kaia Niambi Shivers, “When Black People Saved Hollywood,” Ark Republic, January 16, 2018, https://www.arkrepublic.com/2018/01/16/black-audiences-saved-hollywood/2/.

39 Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song (1971) directed by Melvin Van Peebles, was “a maverick breakthrough movie” which Peebles eloquently described as a “story of a ‘bad nigger’ who challenges the oppressive white system and wins, thus articulating the main feature of the Blaxploitation formula.”206 These protagonists were a better reflection of the frustration of inequality and civil injustice of the Black experience than staid Hollywood productions, even when they meant well, as was no doubt the case in Guess Who's Coming For Dinner. Moreover, as Guerrero notes, the films depicted Black men as “macho”, and featured actors who were often former athletes, which “seemed to reflect an emergent assertive, sometimes violent, black manhood, and to exude a sexual expressiveness long denied blacks on the screen.”207 The angry black man, with Blaxploitation films, had at least made his appearance on the silver screen. The Blaxploitation film genre gave an opportunity to explore the Black aesthetic thoroughly and in a way that had not been previously on display in Hollywood cinematic practices. The new genre “let the black audience out of the bag, by helping shape a politically self-conscious, critical black audience aware of its commercial power and hungry for new cinematic representations of a diverse range of African American subjects and issues on the big screen.”208 Guerrero references the work of Gordon Parks’ The Learning Tree (1969) and Ossie Davis’s Cotton Comes To Harlem (1970) as being two films that were produced by Hollywood but nevertheless eschewed the traditional blockages and resistances, partly by being cheap and partly by not going the major studio route, and thus managed to “point [cinema] in the direction of an honest depiction of blacks, of a black point of view.”209 Parks’ film is a semi-autobiographical and follows the life of a young Black man as he grows up in Kansas in the 1920s and his struggles as he grows into manhood.210 Guerrero notes how the film was one of the few commercially successful independent films of the time which “articulated the complex humanity of black people beyond the industry's exploitative formulas and stereotypes.”211 In contrast, Ossie Davis’s Cotton Come To Harlem, established

206 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 86.; Additionally, for more Blaxploitation films that depict strong male Black characters see; Shaft. Directed by Gordon Parks Jr.. (US: MGM, 1971).; Super Fly. Directed by Gordon Parks Jr.. (US: Warner Bros., 1972).; . Directed by D'Urville Martin. (US: Dimension Pictures, 1975). However, in regard to Dolemite, the protagonists seek revenge on a fellow rival who is Black, however, Dolemite is shown yelling profanity towards white law enforcements. 207 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 78. 208 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 137. 209 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 81. 210 The Learning Tree. Directed by Gordon Parks Jr. (US: Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, 1969). 211 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 104.

40 the “black style” of the Blaxploitation genre with “the pacing and the formal visual-musical elements” where the film is directed by a Black man, filmed in Harlem, adapted from a Black novelist, and with a Black cast.212 However, the Black aesthetic produced during the height of Blaxploitation only had a short lifespan as Hollywood began to incorporate “its traditional moneymaking ingredients of violence and sexploitation, wrap them in the distorted and grotesque signs and imagery of the urban black underworld,” and simultaneously, “[kept] the insurgent black political thought and cultural expressions of the times to a minimum.”213 Central roles for Black characters and filmmakers only became available when Hollywood was nearing bankruptcy, underscoring Guerrero’s argument that Black imagery is adopted only if economically beneficial for Hollywood.214 Guerrero notes that the surge of Blaxploitation films and their cultural significance for contemporary Black audiences would also go on to influence the later "black independent cinema movement" that is associated with the films of university-trained black filmmakers of the 1970s, and that together these seperate moments of Black cinema laid a clear political, philosophical, and aesthetic foundation for an ongoing cinematic practice that challenges Hollywood's hegemony over the black image.”215 During the 1990s, however, Blackness in mainstream Hollywood films was again depoliticized and decontextualized in what Guerrero terms the “black cinema paradox.”216 On Hollywood's part this strategy entailed employing a “mixed bag of tricks”, should resistance to the “cinematic regime” surface in any quarters of the cinema institution:

[T]he studio system is quite adept at containing insurgent impulses of difference, usually by excluding or ignoring them, but also in times of economic insecurity or shifting cultural relations by the more pervasive strategy of co-opting resistant images and narratives into the vast metamorphosing body of its cinematic hegemony. Thus a black director may make the most popular film ever or successfully work a very lucrative genre only to find that the studio system has co-opted the form of blackness while emptying it of its emancipatory content and cultural impact.217

212 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 81. See also; Cotton Comes to Harlem. Directed by Ossie Davis. (United Artist, 1970). 213 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 94-95. 214 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 82. 215 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 137. 216 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 168. 217 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 168.; Moreover, Guerrero’s words are similar to that of the essay “The Culture Industry: As Mass Deception” by the Marxist philosopher’s Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer

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As a contemporary example, such suppression-through-incorporation tactics can be noted as various Black filmmaker’s have attempted to broaden their audiences by making ‘biracial buddy’ films along the lines of the model provided by Mel Gibson and in the Lethal Weapon series (1987-98), Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones in the Men in Black (1997), and even as recent as and in Get Hard (2015).218 However, from Hollywood’s perspective, “the great appeal of the biracial buddy movie is profit,” and the goal thus is to attract as large of a demographic as possible “while presenting, containing, and in some instances fantastically resolving the socially charged and vexed issue of race relations on the screens.”219 It is thus common that “the idea of racial cooperation is limited by Hollywood’s eradication of the black point of view in these narratives; in all these films, the black makes sacrifice to solve problems the white man defines.”220 Moreover, independent Black films would fall into the “conflict between rendering an honest black perspective on the big screen while being forced to measure a film's survival and importance solely on its profitability at the box office.”221

2.2 Segregated Hollywood In the book, Jim Crow Hollywood: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry, Maryann Erigha discusses how the film industry in Hollywood, through the thinly veiled use of social and economic language, keeps Black filmmakers at a standstill, preventing them from succeeding in the film industry. As the title suggests, Erigha argues that the notorious mid-twentieth century law is still prevalent in Hollywood. This doctrine has been infamously named "the Jim Crow", deriving from a minstrel routine which came to be known as “a derogatory epithet for African

in which they described Hollywood is capable of adapting any resistance to the make it as one of their own saying, “[c]apitalist production hems them in so tightly, in body and soul, that they unrestingly succumb to whatever is proffered to them. However, just as the ruled have always taken the morality dispensed to them by the rulers more seriously than the rulers themselves, the defrauded masses today cling to the myth of success still more ardently than the successful.” For a further reading see; Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception," in Dialect of Enlightenment, trans. Edmund Jephcott (CA: Stanford University Press, 2007), 106. 218 Lethal Weapon. Directed by Richard Donner. (Warner Bros., 1987); Men in Black. Directed by . (Sony Pictures, 1997).; Get Hard. Directed by Etan Cohen. (Warner Bros., 2015). 219 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 128. 220 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 131. 221 Ed Guerrero, Framing Blackness, 172.

42 Americans and a designation for their segregated life.”222 Jim Crow thus refers to the 20th century Jim Crow era, as it was “an infamous symbol of Black oppression at the hands of whites in the United States”, which Erigha argues lives on in “contemporary racial structures within organizations and occupations in a major U.S. popular-culture industry: Hollywood cinema.”223 The perception of contemporary race in the United States is often seen as a post- racial society “by the election of Barack Obama as president”, however Erigha reasons that his presidency “prompted a monumental shift in racial norms – from subdued, implicit racism to a bold, unapologetic racism and a rise in overt racial discourse.”224 Erigha demonstrates and provides reasoning for her argument with a reference to a leaked email correspondence from one of the “Hollywood insiders – those with great influence on the decision-making processes in the production of popular cinema.”225 In the email, Steve (a pseudonym) expresses hesitation concerning a proposed new film, the high- budget remake of the classic , The Magnificent Seven (2016).226 Steve's hesitation concerns the likelihood of the new remake becoming a financial success and reaching the ‘correct’ audience who enjoy the Western genre. His concerns, furthermore, are fuelled by his fear that these audiences might feel alienated if the film is directed by a Black man, , as well as having one of the lead roles be played by , a Black star, one of a very few.227 What we have here is a modern day re-enactment of the old studio fear that the South might be put-off by Black elements in mainstream features, with the resulting financial loss – as discussed above.

222 From 1870s until 1954, the “Southern state legislatures... passed laws requiring the separation of whites from “persons of colour” in public transportation and schools.” For a further reading see: Melvin I. Urofsky, “Jim Crow Law,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., August 21, 2019), https://www.britannica.com/event/Jim-Crow-law. 223 It is noteworthy to mention that Maryann Erigha acknowledges the “notable differences between Hollywood’s racial troubles and the racial problems that emerged from slavery, Jim Crow segregation, or even the New Jim Crow of mass incarceration.” For a further reading, see: Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow: The Racial Politics of the Movie Industry (New York: New York University Press, 2019), 9,7, 13. 224 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 8.; In addition to Erigha’s argument of the influence of Obama’s presidency concerning race, see; Michael Tesler, Post-Racial or Most-Racial?: Race and Politics in the Obama Era (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2016.; Also see; Michael C. Dawson and Lawrence D. Bobo, “One Year Later And The Myth Of A Post-Racial Society,” Du Bois Review: Social Science Research on Race 6, no. 2 (2009), 247-249, https://doi.org/10.1017/s1742058x09990282. 225 In 2014, a hacker group attacked the Sony Pictures company and leaked the executive’s emails which exposed greedy, racists and sexist corporate interactions and value systems. For more information see; Amanda Holpuch, “Sony Email Hack: What We've Learned about Greed, Racism and Sexism,” The Guardian, December 15, 2014, https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/dec/14/sony-pictures-email-hack-greed- racism-sexism). 226 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 1-3.; In addition, the 2016 Magnificent Seven is a remake of the 1960s version of the same name which was built originally from the Japanese filmmaker, Akira Kurosawa. For more see; The Magnificent Seven, dir. John Sturges, (US: United Artists, 1960).; Seven Samurai, dir. Akira Kurosawa, (JP: Toho, 1954). 227 Regarding the notion of powerful positions, it is referring to the director being Antoine Fuqua and one of the lead character would be played by Denzel Washington. See: Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 1-3.

43 Maryann Erigha demonstrates how Steve’s rhetorical flourishes serve to disguise his true meaning. He starts by praising the two Black artists for their work but as then continues to voice his concern whether the target audience who enjoy the Western genre have “the elements they need to buy tickets.”228 Steve then voices his doubt whether “the pedigree is the perfect fit for the lovers of the genre.”229 Erigha argues that Steve’s use of the words “elements and the pedigree implicitly refer to the racial makeup of the cast and director with respect to imagined audience desires.”230 In contemporary America, blatant racist actions and slurs have been veiled through certain usage of words. For the longest time for example state's rights was code for segregation. In this instance Erigha notes “Steve manages to lump racial consideration with culture and economics in what he perceives to be a perfectly unbiased explanation of market and consumer behavior in a popular culture industry.”231 It is vital to shed light on the inner workings of the film industry and what kind of obstacles Black filmmakers need to endure in order for their films to be acknowledged in the same way as their white counterparts. One of the essential ways it is possible to influence a mass of individuals is through the film medium as it is a “powerful [tool] for shaping consciousness.”232 As Maryann Erigha notes, “[c]inematic messages influence people’s views about ideas, social issues[...] it shapes our lives indirectly by influencing what images and ideologies are available for consumption and what images and ideologies are withheld from our view.”233 Therefore, it is essential to shed light on how Black directors represent the Black experience in the United States with full creative control, but having in mind the restrictions they face by the racial hierarchy in Hollywood.

2.3 The Two Horsemen from Frankfurt Maryann Erigha approaches Hollywood with an economic viewpoint and cites Janet Wasko’s words that “[w]hile it is common to call film an art form, at least Hollywood film cannot be understood without the context in which it is actually produced and distributed [...] within an industrial, capitalist structure.”234 Although Erigha acknowledges that films “are powerful tools for shaping consciousness”, Erigha’s central focus is on how “race is linked with

228 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 1. 229 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 2. 230 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 2-3. 231 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 3. 232 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 14. 233 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 14. 234 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 14, 11.

44 expectations of profit.”235 This ethos of Hollywood as an industry with the sole purpose to produce products for profit resonates with what the theorists of the Frankfurt School, particularly, Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer, refer to as “the culture industry”.236 In the chapter “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” from their 1947 book, Dialectic of Enlightenment, Horkheimer and Adorno introduced the term “culture industry” to signify the paradox inherent in Hollywood film production, namely the industrial production of culture. Their chapter is a critique of how, under such conditions, the mechanical and the human become fused together as a commodity. They further argue that the culture industry, as manifested in the capitalist system of production, reduces all cultural forms to the a mere commercial replica of itself.237 Films become an inexorable mechanism that asserts itself as a form of mass consumption, constantly reproduced within the confines of the capitalistic machine, in what amounts to an endless vicious circle. Furthermore, the consumer is not given freedom of choice as the various products are differential in a false and meaningless way. The consumption of the products of the culture industry furthermore infiltrates the leisure time of the consumers, turning leisure into work for the capitalistic system. Even consciousness is placed at risk under such conditions. This is referred to when Adorno and Horkheimer state, “the spectator must need no thoughts of his own.”238 Additionally, they further demonstrate the subjugation the masses endure from the mechanical reproduction system, ensnaring them deeper into its ethos:

The consumers are the workers and salaried employees, the farmers and petty bourgeois. Capitalist production hems them in so tightly, in body and soul, that they uninterestingly succumb to whatever is proffered to them. However, just as the ruled have always taken the morality dispensed to them by the rulers more seriously than the rulers themselves, the defrauded masses today cling to the myth of success still more ardently than the successful. They, too, have their aspirations. They insist unwaveringly on the ideology by which they are enslaved.239

235 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 11. In addition to Erigha’s reading on Hollywood as a business, see; Douglas Gomery, Hollywood Studio System: A History (London: BFI Publishing, 2015). 236 Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception," in Dialect of Enlightenment, trans. Edmund Jephcott (CA: Stanford University Press, 2007), 94-136. 237This is further demonstrated when they say, “What is new in the phase of mass culture compared to that of late liberalism is the exclusion of the new. The machine is rotating on the spot.” See; Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry:”, 106. 238 Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry:”, 109. 239Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry:”, 106.

45 Every individual, from all classes, has surrendered to the mass culture that persists on exploiting and controlling them, making entertainment and leisure become extensions of an enlargement of the working force under the monopoly of capitalism.240 By doing so, it not only positions the consumers as active participants in their own subjugation, but also, hinders them from critical thinking and then deprives them of seeing the oppression their society inflicts upon them.241 This distortion of the consciousness is accomplished by blurring the parallels between reality and film where the “amusement itself becomes an ideal, taking place of the higher values it eradicates from the masses by repeating them in an even more stereotyped form than the advertising slogans paid for by private interests.”242 Ultimately, this industrial forces shapes and conditions the masses to form the gears and cogs of the capital machine that is the culture industry.243 Hollywood has perfected the social control of the masses in which “freedom to choose an ideology, which always reflects economic coercions everywhere proves to be freedom to be the same.”244 What needs to be kept in mind, however, is that despite their powerful critique of the commercial imperatives of the culture industry, Adorno and Horkheimer fail to note that what is at stake is a spectrum, not an unconditional and blind machine of oppression. Thus, despite the problems and inherent flaws of Hollywood, due as the duo rightly points out to the industry's reliance on a larger capitalistic economic system, which in turn forces the film establishment to maintain the status quo, certain injustices can still take place within this cultural wasteland, to echo without necessarily agreeing with their position on films generally. That is, whatever problems there are to be located within the film industry, the oppression of minorities and the systematic disenfranchisement of women, to name two pressing issues, are matters that need addressing, and they need to be addressed separately

240Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry:”, 109. 241Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry:”, 115. 242Adorno and Horkheimer illustrate this further with their depiction as “it is composed of the extra touches of meaning – running exactly parallel to life itself – applied in the screen world to the good guy, the engineer, the decent girl, and also to the ruthlessness disguised as character, to the sporting interest, and finally to the cars and cigarettes, even where the entertainment does not directly serve the publicity needs of the manufacturer concerned but advertises the system as a whole.” Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry:”, 115. 243 Since 2008, Hollywood has produced twenty-three Marvel films which is roughly 1,9 films premiered each year, with nine additional MCU titled films being confirmed to release in the near future. For further reading see; Adam Chitwood, “Upcoming Marvel Movies: Here's What's Next in Phase Four and Beyond,” Collider, March 7, 2020, https://collider.com/upcoming-marvel-movies/#black-widow. Each film has gotten big-budget with an estimate average of $196 million and grossing an average of roughly $1 billion worldwide. For more see; “Marvel Cinematic Universe Franchise Box Office History,” The Numbers, accessed March 27, 2020, https://www.the- numbers.com/movies/franchise/Marvel-Cinematic-Universe#tab=summary. 244 Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry:”, 136.

46 from a critique of capitalism a such. Having said that, this thesis maintains that these problems are, in the final analysis, all linked. The oppression of Black filmmakers has more than a little to do with the economic imperatives, as understood by the financial establishment in Hollywood and in society at large, that tie directly into the capitalistic system. In other words, the industry serves to protect and reproduce hegemonic ideologies, “the dominant taste derives its ideal from the advertisement, from commodified beauty.”245 An example of this is when Erigha observes how black filmmakers and their films are often labelled ‘unbankable’, which in turn “affects a movie’s marketing strategy.”246 It is difficult to predict or know for certain that a film will become successful.247 In the discourse of media programs, two sociologists, William and Denise Bielby propose that “all hits are flukes” in which success cannot be predicted in advance.”248 Maryann Erigha concurs with this statement as it “summarize the conventional wisdom of cultural products” and yet, “when it comes to movies with Black casts or stars in the film industry, Hollywood decision-makers venture to proclaim the opposite.”249 This is demonstrated in leaked email correspondence from a Hollywood decision- maker (pseudonym Billy), who voiced his opinion on the film Equalizer (2014), a sizeable budgeted film directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring (again) Denzel Washington.250 Compared to the films big budget, Billy was highly dubious of the film being a success outside the United States as “African American lead [films] don’t play well overseas.”251 Erigha sees Billy’s viewpoint as an “example of how Hollywood insiders make race-based judgments that constrain movies with black actors and directors and reward movies with white actors and directors based on biased perceptions of box-office potential.”252 In fact, Equalizer “grossed an estimated $192 million worldwide, nearly four times its $55 million budget, about half of that which [...] came from the domestic box office.”253 Racism, it might thus be pointed out, is bad economic practice.

245 Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry:”, 126. 246 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 55. 247 In this regard, Maryann Erigha is citing the economist Richard Caves’s definition that “creative products across industries – whether in music, book publishing, or film – that “nobody knows” if a creative product will succeed or fail.” For more information see: Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 67. 248 William T. Bielby and Denise D. Bielby, “‘All Hits Are Flukes’: Institutionalized Decision Making and the Rhetoric of Network Prime-Time Program Development,” American Journal of Sociology 99, no. 5 (1994): pp. 1287-1313, https://doi.org/10.1086/230412, 1310. 249 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 67. 250 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 52. 251 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 52. 252 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 52. 253 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 53.

47 Moreover, Maryann Erigha observes how Black directors experience that if their films become successful, it is “framed as having “overperformed”, an imagined low bar having been set by studios, so that they can feign surprise at the box-office receipts. However, black-cast and black-directed movies have been grossing well for decades.”254 Ava DuVernay expresses her dissatisfaction with how Black directors continue to lay endless groundwork without ever, it seems, reaping the benefits. She thus expresses the hope that always fails to manifest itself as reality, namely that “Hollywood would take each of these kinds of renaissance as precedent-setting, like this is a foundational year and next year we will build on it. But it never happens. Black films never set precedent. We always have to start over.”255 This propels the “narrative to restrict Black movies from getting big budget and distribution overseas – where many white movies find most of their profits”, which in return makes Black filmmakers experience an economic disadvantage.256 According to Erigha’s findings, Hollywood’s film budget can be placed into three categories, the highest being the big-budget blockbuster films which cost “at or above $100 million, with roughly one-third of the budget spent on marketing and promoting the film.”257 The second category consists of “middle-budget movies [that] have average budget[s] of around $40 million, with only between 10 to 15 percent of the budget spent on advertising the film.”258 On the last and lowest tier, a small budget is given to independent films, “which generally cost less than $10 million to make and have a miniscule promotion budget that only increase if the film performs well at the box office.”259 However, there are notable contemporary Black directors who have been given a larger budget after the success of their previous films such as Jordan Peele, Ava DuVernay, Barry Jenkins and .260

254 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 104.; This assertion can also be found vocalized by Tre’vell Anderson in his article for the LA Times where Anderson notes how Moonlight, Bad Boys, Straight Outta Compton, and , are all films that are financially successful at the box-office (both domestic and international) but nevertheless are seen as anomaly to the notion that “black films don’t travel.” For further reading see; Tre’vell Anderson, “Disproving the ‘Black Films Don’t Travel’ Hollywood Myth,” LA Times, March 24, 2017, https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-black-movies-global-audience-myth- 20170324-story.html. 255 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 104. 256 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 105. 257 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 85. 258 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 85. 259 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 85. 260 In the case of Jordan Peele and Barry Jenkins, after the success with a small budget, Peele’s Get Out and Jenkins Moonlight, their next film Us (Peele) had $20 million and If Beale Street Could Talk (Jenkins) had $12 million. Furthermore, Ava DuVernay and Ryan Coogler Selma (DuVernay) was a medium budget of $20 million which was further increased when she did A Wrinkle in Time (DuVernay) with an estimate $103 million budget. Whereas Ryan Coogler had $35 million budget for his film, Creed (Coogler), was given a big budget of an estimate $200 million for the Marvel film, Black Panther (Coogler). For further information see; “Get Out,”

48 Maryann Erigha sheds light on how the corporate culture and financial logic of Hollywood serves to create a social situation which has quite a bit in common with the characterization that twentieth century sociologist W.E.B DuBois offered in his essay The Souls of Black Folk, as he asks the question “How does it feel to be a problem?”261 According to Erigha, in the twenty-first century, Hollywood “brands Blackness as problematic,” where Blackness becomes “negatively defined as marginal, particular, and specific, not universal.”262 After illustrating how the racial segregation is still apparent in Hollywood, Erigha suggests a Black cinema collective as a solution to the marginalization in which it can become a way of resurrecting “a modern, minority-oriented cinema, a Black cinema collective is the formation of a structured system of production, distribution, and exhibition that is owned, organized, and operated by African Americans.”263 In four ways, this would empower Black filmmakers to:

define what ideals, visions, and narratives should be depicted for mass audience;...foster the development of directors and their films throughout the production process;...feature forgotten or invisible works of African Americans, including Black films of varied genres and also adaptations of Black writers – content rarely produced yet desired by audiences; and... see those films through the distribution and exhibition phases, whether through cooperation with the existing distribution and theater system in Hollywood or through creating an alternate means of reaching audience.264

Box Office Mojo, accessed February 26, 2020, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt5052448/?ref_=bo_se_r_1.; “Moonlight,” , accessed March 10, 2020, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl2558428673/.; “Selma,” Box Office Mojo, accessed March 10, 2020, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt1020072/?ref_=bo_se_r_1.; Jacob Shamsian, “5 Reasons Why Disney's Fantasy Epic 'A Wrinkle in Time' Failed at the Box Office,” Insider, March 12, 2018, https://www.insider.com/a- wrinkle-in-time-box-office-results-failed-2018-3. ; “Creed,” Box Office Mojo, accessed March 10, 2020, https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl1598916097/.; “Black Panther (2018) - Financial Information,” The Numbers, February 13, 2018, https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Black- Panther#tab=summary. 261 W.E.B Du Bois, “The Souls of Black Folk,” in Du Bois Writings: The Suppression of the African Slave- Trade, and More. (New York: The Library of America, 1986), pp. 359-547, p.363.; Maryann Erigha depicts this inquiry as Du Bois criticizing “how the white American majority conceived of African Americans, then “Negroes,” as a social problem.” For a further reading see; Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 142. 262 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 142-3. 263 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 174. 264 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 174.

49 Erigha further adds how the vital distinction between Hollywood and a Black cinema collective “is that the [latter] would put forth Black visions that are neither corrupted nor co- opted.”265 Maryann Erigha’s The Hollywood Jim Crow can thus be seen as as a key component when one attempts to examine the social and hierarchal structures of Hollywood through a racial lens. Even though there have been numerous Black directed films that have been given a worldwide distribution, as well as grossing considerably more than their given budget, it becomes evident that Hollywood ‘decision-makers’ have adopted an economical and sociopolitical language to conceal racial disparity. Certainly, Maryann Erigha acknowledges that the film industry in Hollywood has significantly improved through the years, but it is difficult to shy away from the “often-overt racial codes” that thrive in Hollywood that label “Black directors and their movies economically unbankable and culturally undesirable to global audiences.”266 Ever since its Golden age, Hollywood has prided itself on “taking progressive stances on social issues” with such “themes and characters that not only purged the old dispensation of racial exclusion but also provided symbolic gestures of liberalism.”267 However, Erigha has valuably drawn attention to Hollywood’s continuation of the segregated Jim Crow period, and how racial integration becomes a mere façade “while beneath the surface lies a racially conservative industry that remains monopolized by white men.”268 Therefore, when there are films by Black directors afforded the opportunity to feature positive representations of the Black experience to a widespread audience, it becomes even more significant than would otherwise be the case, due to their ability to “shape audiences perceptions and exert influence beyond the screen.”269 Few have expressed the importance of such influence as it manifests itself beyond the screen as . African American writer and activist, James Baldwin was born August 2, 1924 in Harlem New York.270At a young age, Baldwin began to see how the class and race problem in America, with such experiences of white people as “unutterably

265 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 176. 266 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 163. 267 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 30. 268 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 49. 269 Maryann Erigha, The Hollywood Jim Crow, 29 270“James Baldwin.”Biography.com. October 21, 2017. Accessed November 06, 2017. https://www.biography.com/people/james-baldwin-9196635.

50 menacing” and reaching to the extent of wickedness.271 During a debate in Cambridge against William Buckley, he illustrates the black struggle for an identity in their own country;

From the moment you are born, every stick and stone, every face, is white. Since you have not yet seen a mirror, you suppose you are too. It comes as a great shock around the age of 5,6 or 7 to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance, along with everybody else, has not pledge allegiance to you. It comes as a great shock to see Gary Cooper killing off the Indians and, although you are rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians are you.272

The white people of America give out the subsequent message, in reality and in film, where Black American never was a part of the narrative. Similar to the Native Americans, they had to be wiped clean from whiteness or stricken of any form of characterization that could give them a positive reflection of themselves. Moreover, in his non–fiction book The Devil Finds Work (1976), Baldwin recollects the early stages of experiencing the power of film where he began to wonder what role he has within the representation of reality in film, drawing parallels to his own life:

It is said that the camera cannot lie, but rarely do we allow it to do anything else, since the camera sees what you point it at: the camera sees what you want it to see. The language of the camera is the language of our dreams.273

Black America was not given the same representations in films as white people had been given; when people of color were being depicted, it was not from the world he knew.274 From this he discusses characters from various films that each stirred different emotions within him. One of the characters he contemplates is Uncle Tom, in the novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852) by Harriet Beecher Stowe which is often a stereotypical figure portrayed as a black “who is overeager to win the approval of whites (as by obsequious behavior or uncritical acceptance of white values and goals)”.275 In Baldwin’s mind, Tom could not be

271 James Baldwin. The Devil Finds Work. NY: Vintage Books, 1976, 16. 272 James Baldwin. “The American Dream and the American Negro.” The New York Times, March 7, 1965. Accessed January 11, 2018. http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/29/specials/baldwin-dream.html 273 James Baldwin, The Devil Finds Work, 55. 274James Baldwin, The Devil Finds Work, 35. 275“Uncle Tom.” Merriam-Webster. Accessed November 08, 2017. https://www.merriam- webster.com/dictionary/Uncle%20Tom. However, it is worth noting that Uncle Tom’s Cabin was written as an anti-slavery novel that “changed the attitudes in society about the institution of slavery”, therefore, giving way

51 considered a ‘hero’ when he sacrifices himself and dies. For Baldwin, the so-called heroes he saw being presented, where white and had the power to take vengeance into their own hands.276 In contrast, Baldwin notes the significant experience it was to see for the first time, the Orson Welles theatre production with an all-black cast rendition of Macbeth.277 At this moment, Baldwin’s life would profoundly change as it was nothing:

that I had seen before had prepared me for this – which is a melancholy comment indeed, but I cannot be blamed for an ignorance which an entire republic had deliberately inculcated. The distance between oneself – the audience- and a screen performer is an absolute: a paradoxical absolute, masquerading as intimacy.278

This is profound as it gives an insight on how powerful the relationship between the film and its audience truly is as Baldwin notes that “one does not go to see [movie stars] act: one goes to watch them be [...] no one, I read somewhere, a long time ago, makes his escape personality black.279 Therefore, they are side lined to subservient, comedic, or threatening roles, Back people did not have a fulfilling role or life within a cinema that represented Black Americans and their role within the country. However, as the civil rights began to break new ground, so did Blaxploitation films increase identity and agency for Black representation.

2.4 The Reaganite White Backlash As Black Americans were beginning to see positive black imagery and powerful black representations in Blaxploitation films, along with the tactile progress made in the wake and because of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, a white backlash occurred in the 1970s. Films such as Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971) can be seen as representative of the backlash.280 Dirty Harry features as a protagonist a Californian white police detective (played by Clint Eastwood) who “stalks and deprives criminals of their Miranda and constitutional rights" became immensely popular while also being, in some quarters, "heavily criticized [...]

for the civil rights movement and abolishing slavery. For more information see also: Robert McNamara. "Uncle Tom's Cabin Made Slavery a Personal Issue for Millions." ThoughtCo. July 31, 2017. Accessed January 07, 2018. https://www.thoughtco.com/uncle-toms-cabin-help-start-civil-war-1773717. 276 James Baldwin, The Devil Finds Work, 36. 277 James Baldwin, The Devil Finds Work, 29. 278 James Baldwin, The Devil Finds Work, 29-30. 279 James Baldwin, The Devil Finds Work, 30. 280 Dirty Harry. Dir. Don Siegel. (US: Warner Bros., 1971).

52 as fascist right-wing propaganda.”281 The popularity of the Dirty Harry series and the series can, although they were not received in silence and did, as mentioned, invoke some criticism, be seen as emblematic of the white backlash.282 In these films the Black experience, their environment (the ghetto) and their behavior was represented as dangerous, alien and placed in stark contrast to white middle class life, which of course was the norm.283 This mirrored similar repercussions in the country at large and the fight for equal rights were experiencing a similar backlash in 1970s. Nixon had won the Presidency and Ronald Reagan had been re-elected as governor of California, two figures widely seen as detrimental to minorities and who ran political campaigns promoting law and order, while also stoking fears of a black threat.284 In a recent discovery, a recording has surfaced of these two men vocalizing their racist viewpoint while in power. In Nixon’s case, there is his platform which echoed white rage through his “silent majority” and “the Southern strategy”, all caught on tape in addition to be expressed quite plainly during his political campaigns and public appearances. There is also Ronald Reagan’ calling African diplomats, “monkeys”, “they weren’t even wearing shoes”. 285 It could be said that this sheds light on how both men shaped their policy making along racist lines during their political careers.

281 Dirty Harry. Dir. Don Siegel. (US: Warner Bros., 1971).; Daniel Bernardi and Michael Green, Race in American Film: Voices and Visions That Shaped a Nation, vol. 1 (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2017), 268.; Furthermore, upon the film’s release, notable film critics, and Pauline Kael concurred the films fascist rhetoric. For more see; Roger Ebert, “Dirty Harry,” Rogerebert.com, January 1, 1971, https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/dirty-harry-1971.; Pauline Kael, “Dirty Harry: Saint Cop,” New Yorker, January 15, 1972, https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/2017/12/28/dirty-harry-saint-cop-review-by-pauline-kael/. 282 Street, Joe. Dirty Harry’s America: Clint Eastwood, Harry Callahan, and the Conservative Backlash. University Press of Florida, 2016, 51.; See also the films series respectfully; Dirty Harry, Dir. Don Siegel, (US: Warner Bros., 1971).; Magnum Force, Dir. Ted Post, (US: Warner Bros., 1973).; The Enforcer, Dir. James Fargo, (US: Warner Bros., 1976).; Sudden Impact, Dir. Clint Eastwood, (US: Warner Bros.,1983).; The Dead Pool, Dir. Buddy Van Horn, (US: Warner Bros., 1988).; Death Wish, Dir. , (US: Columbian Pictures, 1974).; Death Wish II, Dir. Michael Winner, (US: Columbian Pictures, 1982).; , Dir. Michael Winner, (US: Cannon Film Distributors, 1985).; Death Wish 4, Dir. J. Lee Thompson, (Cannon Film Distributors, 1987).; Death Wish V, Dir. Allan A. Goldstein, (US: Trimark Pictures, 1994). ; Death Wish, Dir. Eli Roth, (US: MGM, 2018). 283 Ibid. 284 Street, Joe. Dirty Harry’s America: Clint Eastwood, Harry Callahan, and the Conservative Backlash. University Press of Florida, 2016, 3, 33-34. 285 As an example of conservative Former president Nixon was a predecessor of Lyndon B Johnson who signed The Civil Rights Act of 1964. For more see: Jeremy D Mayer, “LBJ Fights the White Backlash: The Racial Politics of the 1964 Presidential Campaign,” Prologue Magazine, 2001, https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2001/spring/lbj-and-white-backlash-1.html.; Although it should be noted that the term ‘silent majority’ in its essence was from Nixon’s speech on what he referred to as two different Americans, one was protestors against the Vietnam War, and the other "the idea that there are two kinds of Americans — the ordinary middle-class folks with the white picket fence who play by the rules and pay their taxes and don't protest and the people who basically come from the left.” However with time, the ‘left’ who have been at the forefront of the fight for equal rights have been people of color and is evident in our time, has been adopted by such white supremacist as Donald Trump; For more on ‘Southern strategy’ see; “Southern Strategy,” International Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences (Encyclopedia.com, April 13, 2020), https://www.encyclopedia.com/social-sciences/applied-and-social-

53 The policies and enforcements during Ronald Reagan’s presidency represented the “New Right agendas, which consisted of “relaxed controls on business and trimmed 1960s social programs.”286 Ronald Reagan symbolized America’s patriotic values and unearned confidence, as well as dimwitted celebration of a good old American know-how, and, in addition, used lines during his public speaking engagements that derived

from Warner Bros. films [...] whose high-technology Strategic Defense Initiative was nicknamed “Star Wars”, and who was wounded in an assassination attempt by a young man obsessed with , Reagan typified the extent to which Hollywood film pervaded the country’s culture.287

In the 2019 book, Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan, former Village Voice film critic and frequent film essayist J. Hoberman accurately observes how “politicians within a democracy and the makers of mass culture share a common mission, namely to project scenarios that will attract the largest possible audience – or perhaps, using a word derived from the Latin “hold together,” entertain them.”288 Reagan, a former B-List movie star was a man of Hollywood, and during his presidency, was an unstoppable force who pervaded every level of American society. A decade prior to Reagan’s presidency, the United States had been embracing nostalgic films that evoked the 1950s such as George Lucas’s American Graffiti (1973) which portrays the rock ‘n’ roll and cruising culture of the time.289 The film successfully transposed the “cultural revolution of [...] 1956 to efface the failed political revolution of the 1968-70.”290 In the 1998 book, The Cultural Turn, Fredric Jameson noted how American Graffiti was “an alarming and pathological symptom of a society that has become incapable of dealing with time and history.”291 These nostalgic disillusionments began to fade as the decade wore on, but with it Hoberman argues that the late seventies and eighties was a time sciences-magazines/southern-strategy.; In the case of the racial slur “monkeys”, it was recorded conversation between then governor Ronald Reagan and former President Richard Nixon. For more on the recording, see; Tim Naftali, “Ronald Reagan’s Long-Hidden Racist Conversation With Richard Nixon,” The Atlantic, July 30, 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2019/07/ronald-reagans-racist-conversation-richard- nixon/595102/. 286 Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, Film History, 661. 287 Kristin Thompson and David Bordwell, Film History, 661. 288 J. Hoberman, Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan (NY: The New Press, 2019), 12. 289American Graffiti, Dir. George Lucas, (Universal Pictures, 1973).; For other examples of 50s driven nostalgia, see; Last Picture Show, Dir. Peter Bogdanovich, (US: Columbia Pictures, 1971); Happy Days, Created by Garry Marshal, (CBS Television Distribution, 1974-84). 290 J. Hoberman, Make My Day: Movie Culture in the Age of Reagan (NY: The New Press, 2019), 25. 291 Fredric Jameson, The Cultural Turn: Selected Writings on the Postmodern 1983-1998 (London: Verso, 1998), 9-10.

54 of “re-illusionment” and its representative was Ronald Reagan.292 This was brought on by Reagan’s relentless drive towards “sav[ing] America from its psychosomatic ills”.293 However, not everyone was invited to live luxuriously and having his or her country be a savior. In the book, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society, Manning Marable maps the living conditions of Black Americans during the 1980s in a detailed examination of numerous classes and the social spaces they inhabited, i.e. underclass, working class, and entrepreneurs.294 These conditions, to summarize, were dire most of the time. Furthermore, this narrative of exploiting Black Americans is not a recent historical instance but rather has been a fixture in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as Walter Rodney’s book How Europe Underdeveloped Africa notes his theoretical argument and highlights the relationship where racism is “a social force”, where [o]ppression follows logically from exploitation, so as to guarantee the latter. Oppression of African people on purely racial grounds accompanied, strengthened, and became indistinguishable from oppression for economic reasons.”295 Although Rodney’s focuses on the relationships between Europe and Africa, these assessments ring just as true in the United States as Rodney himself agrees “that by the nineteenth century white racism had become so institutionalized in the capitalist world (and notably in the U.S.A.) that it sometimes ranked above the maximization of profit as a motive for oppressing black people.”296 Marable initially outlines the historical and socio-political framework of his book by referencing the Greensboro Massacre in which five civil rights activists were murdered and a dozen more “injured by Ku Klux Klansmen and Nazis in Greensboro, North Carolina.”297 Marable sees the Greensboro Massacre as a marker signifying “that U.S. capitalism was moving into a much more authoritarian mode of class and racial control”, where these racist vigilantes had no formal ties to the state permitted government officials to plead their

292 J. Hoberman, Make My Day, 29. 293 J. Hoberman, Make My Day, 28. 294 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011). 295 Rodney further sates how it would have been impossible to “open up the New World and to use it as a constant generator of wealth, had it not been for African labour.” For more see; Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Washington, DC: Howard Univ. Press, 1981), 88-89. 296 Walter Rodney, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa (Washington, DC: Howard Univ. Press, 1981), 89. 297 Although Marble explains the Greensboro Massacre having been implemented by Klan members and Nazis, they were “given the route of the demonstrators by local law enforcement authorities.” For more see; Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problem in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), xviii.

55 neutrality and lack of involvement in their crimes.”298 This is most evidently preserved in the establishment of the prison industrial complex and the mass incarceration of Black Americans. This prison industrial complex has been an ever-growing industry in the United States from 1970s to the twenty-first century. In the 70s, former president, Richard Nixon, declared “War on Drugs” and branded illegal drugs as the primary enemy of the public with the fight against heroin and marijuana which led to Black American communities being a large part of that target of being imprisoned.299 As Reagan took over, these racial disparities were further advanced with the prohibition laws of Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986, and his wife’s (Nancy) anti-drug campaign, “Just Say No” came down hard to crack-down on all drug abuser.300 The media began to implement words such as “predator” and “crackheads” with lack of stories and images of white Americans using drugs and rather centralizing the African American community as the dangerous drug abusers.301 The laws and society’s viewpoint were only increased for the next three decades as the numbers of incarcerated Black Americans were doubled with each passing president in power. This became an ever-growing power of racial domination for the white American and capitalism.302 Thereby continuing a dominant mindset and imagery where Black Americans are labeled as the American problem. Racial biases would only be accelerated upon Ronald Reagan’s ascendency to the presidency, with the support of nearly all of the Southern conservatives, “who had been in the Dixiecrat wing of the Democratic Party two decades earlier.”303 Reagan’s agenda appealed to supporters of enforcing the division of the racial line even further by opposing “affirmative

298 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), xxi. 299 Tom LoBianco. "Report: Nixon's war on drugs targeted black people." CNN. March 24, 2016. Accessed May 25, 2017. http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/23/politics/john-ehrlichman-richard-nixon-drug-war-blacks-hippie/. 300 "Thirty Years of America's Drug War: A Chronology." PBS. Accessed May 26, 2017. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/cron/.; See also; "A Brief History of the Drug War." Drug Policy Alliance. Accessed May 26, 2017. http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/new-solutions-drug- policy/brief-history-drug-war-0. 301 "A Brief History of the Drug War." Drug Policy Alliance. Accessed May 26, 2017. http://www.drugpolicy.org/facts/new-solutions-drug-policy/brief-history-drug-war-0.; Moreover, in today’s terms, an estimate of 1 in every 3 Black Americans being likely to end up in prison, one way or another, in their lifetime, imprisoned. See; Earl Smith, and Angela J. Hattery. "Incarceration: A Tool for Racial Segregation and Labor Exploitation." Race, Gender & Class 15, no. 1/2 (2008): http://www.jstor.org/stable/41675359, 82. 302 Today, the United States have an estimated 2.3 million individuals imprisoned or .7% of their population and 43% of them are Black Americans. See more; Earl Smith, and Angela J. Hattery. "Incarceration: A Tool for Racial Segregation and Labor Exploitation." Race, Gender & Class 15, no. 1/2 (2008): http://www.jstor.org/stable/41675359, p. 82. 303 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), xviii- xxi.

56 action, minority economic setasides, and enforcement of equal employment opportunity regulations”.304 In his speeches, Reagan “manipulated crude racist stereotype [...] such as images of “welfare mothers” abusing food stamps and other public assistance programs”, thus resulting in altering the country’s viewpoint on welfare state, seeing social and federal issues being the country’s downfall. This in return drove a further separation between Black and white Americans and increased the opportunity of wealth for white American while the fate of those Black Americans who lived in poverty and failed to accumulate wealth was internalized as a moral failure on their part.305 Ronald Reagan implemented this mutation of capitalism into what is termed neoliberalism, in which “human well-being can best be advanced by the maximization of entrepreneurial freedom within an institutional framework characterized by private property rights, individual liberty, free markets and free trade.”306 Reagan may have pushed the country towards this with a conservative mindset but soon enough men such as Bill Clinton and even Barack Obama have been thought of as neoliberalists.307 Furthermore, neoliberalism would not merely affect the racial tensions between white and Black Americans but also, it also exacerbated the class division between Black Americans in poverty or who belonged to an econimic lower class and those allocated to the middle class or higher. During Reagan’s presidency, deracialization began to seep into the country’s sociopolitical structures, where “the legal desegregation of U.S. civil society, the

304 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), xxi-xxii, xxxviii. 305 Marable goes into great detail on several welfare programs such as, “[m]assive reductions in social programs across the board were mandated. On October 1, 1981, more than 400,000 families were removed from federal and state welfare roles.” In addition, Marable notes how in all of Reagan’s eight years as president, he saw African American delegates only eight times, which underlines “Reagan’s apparent deep personal animus towards African Americans as a racial group.” For more see; Manning Marable, How Capitalism Under-developed Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), xxii-xxv.; Additionally, in the book, The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, Mehrsa Baradaran notes how a common trope that follows the poverty class is the idea of their moral inferiority that other individuals’ mindset in class privilege have “justified their apathy toward them” See more; Mehrsa Baradaran, The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap (Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2017), 79, 246. 306David Harvey, “Neo-Liberalism as Creative Destruction,” Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 88, no. 2 (2006): pp. 145-158, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0435-3684.2006.00211.x, 145. 307 For former president Clinton see; William F. Grover and Joseph G. Peschek, “Bill Clinton and the Neoliberal Presidency,” The Unsustainable Presidency, 2014, pp. 35-70, https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137485984_3.; To see additional work on neoliberalism, Michel Foucault’s readings where all fundamental “analyses is the replacement every time of homo œconomicus as partner of exchange with a homo œconomicus as entrepreneur of himself, being for himself his own capital, being for himself his own producer, being for himself the source of [his] earnings.” See more; Michel Foucault, The Birth of Biopolitics: Lectures at the Collége De France, 1978–79, ed. Michael Senellart (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008), 224. In respects to former president Obama see; Farhad Manjoo, “Barack Obama’s Biggest Mistake,” The New York Times, September 18, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/18/opinion/obama-2008-financial-crisis.html.

57 growth of Black suburbs, and the increased assimilation of African-American culture into the white corporate mainstream, it was inevitable that a generation of Black politicians would be produced who had few connections with Black mass organizations and traditional institutions.”308 The Black poor class was “characterized repeatedly as "lazy, shiftless, and no good. In employing low income Blacks as occasional domestic workers, the Negro elite can be every bit as paternalistic as the white ruling class.”309 Thus, class divisions of Black Americans helped to strengthen “[t]he aesthetics and popular culture of racist societies [which] constantly reinforce the image of the Anglo-Saxon ideal in the minds of Blacks, creating the tragic and destructive phenomenon of self-hatred and cultural genocide.”310 However, these lines have been muddled and blurred to such an extent that it becomes difficult to pinpoint the destructive forces of the racial biases of the hegemonic state in which diversity has become more celebrated and inclusive within “mainstream, centrists institutions like schools and corporations overtly champion diversity.”311 As an example of this “deracialized Black cultural icons”, Marable mentions Tiger Woods, Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan, but to add a more contemporary viewpoint is to mention Jay-Z, Kanye, Beyoncé who capitalize on Black aesthetics but do not do anything to disrupt the racial systems.312 Instead, they become the “mouthpiece of the new order, articulating in the media and in various aesthetic forums the ideals of the masters.”313 In the

308 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), xxxvi. 309 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), 66. 310 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), 9. 311 Robin James, “Is the Post- in Post-Identity the Post- in Post-Genre?,” Cambridge University Press 36, no. 1 (January 2017): pp. 21-32, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261143016000647, p.21. 312 In addition, the influential rapper and fashion designer, Kanye West has sparked controversies with his remarks on “slavery was a choice” and being a vocal Trump supporter. See; Lang, Cady. "Kanye West Addresses Slavery Comments and Discusses Support for President Trump." August 29, 2018. https://time.com/5381915/kanye-west-on-trump-slavery-interview/.; In addition, Kanye West has decided to run for president in the 2020 election which will siphon votes away from the major party candidates”, making it easier for Trump to be re-elected. See; Sprunt, Barbara. "Here's How Republicans Are Boosting Kanye West's Presidential Campaign." (August 13, 2020). https://www.npr.org/2020/08/13/901534846/heres-how-republicans-are-boosting-kanye-west-s-presidential- campaign. 313 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), 134. In regards to Jay-Z, Kanye, and Beyoncé see the following articles; Gillian B White, “The Unfulfilled Promise of Black Capitalism,” The Atlantic, September 21, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/09/black-capitalism-baradaran/540522/.; André Wheeler, “Kanye West Likens Backlash over Support for Trump to Racial Profiling,” The Guardian, March 25, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/mar/25/kanye-west-donald-trump-support.; Mbiyimoh Ghogomu, “Dear Black America, Please Stop Giving Beyonce A Pass On ‘Formation,’” The Higher Learning, February 19, 2016, http://thehigherlearning.com/2016/02/19/dear-black-america-please-stop-giving- beyonce-a- pass-on-formation/.;Additionally, numerous Caucasian musicians have been known to adopt

58 two-part video, “Cultural Criticism and Transformation”, bell hooks vocalize how on the music industry, mainly the rap and hip-hop that is being presented to through a mainstream lens, is what hooks believes to be “a perfect paradigm for colonialism” in which rap music is introduced as “a third world country that young white consumers are able to go to and take out of it whatever they want.”314

2.5 Black Aesthetic Ed Guerrero’s perspective is an important contribution to the understanding of how Hollywood’s racial history affects the Black aesthetics. As vital as his contribution is to the comprehension of a Black aesthetic and its inseparable connection with its political elements, Guerrero sees Blackness and its representation only being able to be present in independent films, as Hollywood’s commercial ideology of profit merely produces watered down versions of Black representation. In this perspective, no Black film produced by Hollywood or anything outside of avant-garde cinema could faithfully represent Black aesthetics. Therefore, it is equally important to examine other academic viewpoints to assess this thesis’ analytical approach towards Blackness and its aesthetics. In other words, Guerrero contention that it is only on the margins of culture that true Black representation can have the opportunity to come into existence would seem to utterly foreclose on the possibility that mainstream Hollywood can change, that Black filmmakers could ever bend racist institutions to their own vision. But that is precisely what this thesis maintains is the accomplishment of Boots Riley in his film Sorry to Bother You – and other directors could be named here, Jordan Peele and Barry Jenkins just to name two.

Blackness to capitalize on is Diplo, Iggy Azealia, and Ariana Grande. For more see; Kate Hutchinson, “Diplo: 'Being a White American, You Have Zero Cultural Capital',” The Guardian (Guardian News and Media, March 22, 2018), https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/mar/22/diplo-being-a-white-american-you-have-zero- cultural- capital.; Ezinne Ukoha, “Why Iggy Azalea's Privilege To Be ‘Black’ Needs To Be Permanently Revoked,” Medium (Medium, April 25, 2018), https://medium.com/@nilegirl/why-iggy-azaleas-privilege-to-be- black- needs-to-be-permanently-revoked-79397ee606ba.; Jeremy Helligar, “Ariana Grande and the Art of Faux- Blackness,” Medium (Medium, March 15, 2019), https://medium.com/@Theme4Gr8Cities/ariana-grande-and- the-art-of-faux-blackness-dd028bff1acf. 314 bell hooks further elaborates on how the industry is controlled by the white consumer saying, “we would have to acknowledge that what young white consumers, primarily male, oftentimes suburban, most got energized by in rap music was, misogyny, obscenity, pugilistic eroticism, and therefore that form of rap began to make the largest sums of money.” For more see; bell hooks Pt. 8 Cultural Criticism (Rap Music), YouTube, 2006, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xtoanes_L_g&t=118s.; Furthermore, in 2016 estimated that the global market for the rap and hip-hop genre was $15.7 billion and if it would continue to grow as it has, by 2021 the anuual growth would be $4.08 billion. For more see; “What Is the Size of the Global Rap Music Market? Including Music Sales, Streaming, Merchandise, Live Performance and Publishing.,” Wonder, July 15, 2017, https://askwonder.com/research/size-global-rap-music-market-including-music-sales-streaming-merchandise- live-jewxuylvp.

59 Just as the negative philosophy of the Frankfurt School, as represented in their essay on the culture industry was earlier in this thesis deemed too monolithic in its blindness to race and gender, Guerrero's privileging of the avant-garde is also too limiting. While there is an element of truth to both – the culture industry's reliance on finance and its ideological rigidity is detrimental to critical cinema, let alone a revolutionary cinema, and yes, more freedom is to be found on the margins than in the inner sanctums of the major studios, as such filmmaking practice dispenses with the burden of financing expensive films and then marketing them to recoup expenses and show a profit – these perspectives have in common the refusal to entertain the notion of social change at the level of mass culture, systematic change that is. Which, essentially, means that the war is lost. The avant-garde will never have any social influence, its address is aimed in a depoliticized direction, no matter the content of that address, and thus destined to be ineffective – unless of course the revolution will be manned by rich art collectors and academics in the humanities, which seems rather unlikely. Similarly, the Frankfurt position denies large scale social change, as such change would inevitably be manifested at the level of mainstream culture. Our horizons thus need to expand beyond clichés about the revolutionary force of art that nobody knows exists. In an essay titled, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, Clyde Taylor outlines a similar historical structure as Guerrero, where Hollywood has created oppressive and negative aesthetic depiction of Black Americans since its early years of development.315 Taylor also notes that Black aesthetics cannot be narrowed down and made into an “exclusive iconology of the group” where it falls into the traps of the “routine behaviors of cultural forms, i.e., that they are seldom if ever “pure” and are subject to much cross-breeding.”316 Even if a cultural form would transpire, “it can be learned and practiced by outsiders, at least well enough to deceive insiders asked to separate the “authentic” from the learned in blindfold tests.”317 Therefore, it becomes vital to identify the Black aesthetics that are captured in various films in order to properly comprehend what elements within a Black film containing specific socio-political factors that might have been ignored by a white Western viewpoint.

315 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics,” in Blackwell Companions to Philosophy, ed. Tommy L Lott and John P Pittman (Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2006), pp. 399-406, 400. Furthermore, Taylor corresponds with what Maryann Erigha terms, ‘unbankable’ in which “black cinema are frequently discounted, dismissed or smothered under aesthetic rationales: the lack of a story, too narrow an appeal, the content is too political, the theme is outdated, the practitioners lack a track record.” For more see additional page; Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 401. 316 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 402. 317 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 402.

60 Taylor suggests that if Black aesthetics is the desired goal, then the solution might be to reject “the master narrative promoted by Hollywood movies”, citing the white male cinematic trope of an “adventurer encountering and overcoming obstacles in a narrative trope that signifies the inevitable triumph of the established Western social-political order.”318 In this case, Black films style would entail the “master narratives” being eschewed for the adoption of a thematic approach with “episodes ordered to illustrate an idea central to the films’ meditation.”319 Taylor notes several Black aesthetic traditions such as, how unlike mainstream Hollywood narrative Black film style is in its mere inchoate state, a stable music ethos has been formed.320 One of the ways in which a strong contender for a Black “cultural- based film structural style” can be located is by observing how the “looser, thematic structural organization often approximates musical development, as though the scenes were passages making variations on a theme.”321 In this sense, Black aesthetics veer off tradition of Hollywood, which uses its music to advance the “moods” of the narrative, while Black stylistics “provides a cognitive grounding for exploration of thematic issues, while also serving as aural icon of ethnic identity.”322 One of the important elements to focus on is the usage of vernacular stylistics , in which it is drawn from Black American “oral tradition, or “orature,” as a means of distinguishing films from the formulaic “literacy” of Hollywood.”323 In relation to a modern setting of Black Americans using an African oral traditions is through its depiction in hip-hop music “which provides rap with much of its current social significance, also roots rap in a long-standing history of oral historians, lyrical fetishism, and political advocacy.”324 As an example it is possible to look to the Blaxploitation film, Dolemite (1975) directed by D'Urville Martin, which demonstrates on more than occasion how this oral tradition is manifested in Dolemite (played by ) himself.325

318 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 402. 319 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 403 320 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 402. 321 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 403. 322 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 403-404. 323 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 404. 324 Although it should be noted that even if hip hop’s history is brief, it derives its origin from African oral tradition, particularly the “West African idea of nommo. In Malian Dogon cosmology, Nommo is the first human, a creation of the supreme deity, Amma, whose creative power lies in the generative property of the spoken word. As a philosophical concept, nommo is the animative ability of words and the delivery of words to act upon objects, giving life. The significance of nommo in the African oral tradition has given power to rappers and rap music within many African-American communities.” For more see; Becky Blanchard, “The Social Significance of Rap & Hip-Hop Culture,” Ethics of Development in a Global Environment (EDGE), accessed April 5, 2020, https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/socialsignificance.htm. 325 Dolemite. Dir. D'Urville Martin. (US: Dimension Pictures, 1975). Furthermore, Rudy Ray Moore is considered the ‘Godfather of Rap’ as Snoop Dog has cited him as such. See; Aisha Harris, “The Original

61 In the first scene a group of Black men gather around Dolemite and ask whether he is in fact the famous pimp Dolemite, and then, upon being told that it just so happens that he is, request he prove it. As he is known throughout the neighborhood as a master of spoken word, that is the idiom deemed appropriate for the proof of identity.326 Through rhythm and a tempo, Dolemite sets out of Shine and the Titanic, which are forms of African American toasts (where jokes are seen with one punchline, toasts have numerous ones) which scholar Bruce Jackson argued was an “[attempt] to deal with harsh realities of blacks’ experiences during the twentieth century.”327 Moreover, Taylor notes how narrative characteristics appear in Black stylistics in a negative manner, in that such aesthetics eschew and deny the Hollywood principle that demands each plot getting a “tight closure at the end, resolving all loose narrative threads, is avoided.”328 Taylor gives an example from Spike Lee’s film, School Daze (1988) where in its final scene, the lead protagonist yells out in front of a large crowd, “Wake up!” which Taylor describes as perfectly illustrative of the prophetic mode of narrative that often more subtly underlies black film rhetoric.”329 In contrast, a more contemporary example of how white Hollywood manages to continuously illustrate its racial tone-deafness in the film The Greenbook (, 2018), where the racial tensions of the film have been declared resolved at the film’s climax and a new friendship of a white-Italian () and Black American musician () has been created.330 In addition to Taylor’s examples, satire can also represent key elements in terms of Black American socio-political history. During the slave trade era, a common way of communicating the horrendous everyday living of slavery, “[r]hyming games encoded race

‘Dolemite’ Is Bad, Very Bad. But It Matters,” The New York Times, October 25, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/opinion/dolemite-is-my-name.html. 326 Dolemite. Dir. D'Urville Martin. (US: Dimension Pictures, 1975). 327 Brandie Course, “Black People and Titanic: The Myth,” Medium (Medium, April 15, 2016), https://medium.com/@BrandieCourse/african-americans-and-titanic-the-myth-7755fd1a5a82. 328 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 403. Furthermore, Clyde describes this prophecy tradition as “an implicit philosophy of history characterized by prophecy, looking toward the past as a body of crucial experiences with decisive contemporary significance rather than vignettes of the past captured in cameo celebrations, and toward the present as a barely tolerable situation which waits to be transcended toward an improving future.” For more see; Ibid, 404. 329 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 404.; School Daze. Dir. Spike Lee. (US: Columbia Pictures, 1988). 330 Greenbook. Dir. Peter Farrelly, (US: Universal Pictures, 2018). Moreover, it should be noted that all or at least in a majority of the cast and crew, i.e. producers, director, and writers of the film are white. For more see; Andrew Court, “Green Book Was Aimed at Older White Audiences Who 'Need to Be Told to Be Less Racist', Says Producer - after the Oscar-Winning Film Came under Fire for Its Depiction of Race Relations,” DailyMail, May 1, 2019, https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6980951/Green-Book-aimed-older-white-audiences- need- told-racist-says-producer.html.

62 relations between African-American slaves and their white masters in a way that allowed them to pass the scrutiny of suspicious overseers.”331 This is evident in contemporary films such as in Spike Lee's films, but is also apparent as early as in the minstrel work of Hattie McDaniel.332 Although, McDaniel was most notably known for her racist stereotypical character, as Mammy in Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939), in her minstrel act performed in front of Black audiences, she played an exaggeration of the plantation Mammy, with the intention of highlighting the ridiculousness of the trope. While “at first glance McDaniel's portrayal seemed to reinforce racist stereotypes of black [women], the African American audience certainly understood her intentions.”333 Taylor’s admirable attentiveness in avoiding narrow definitions of an authentic, essential, or “pure” ideology which is expected to be strictly followed, aligns well with an open and non-orthodoxical approach when determining a representations of Black aesthetics and thus by extension what a Black filmmaking practice might be. The examples Taylor gives of Black stylistics are mere illustrations, indicative of what to look for when analyzing films, but they are not proscriptive in the sense of being necessary to all instances of Black aesthetics. Nor are they intended to be a complete list, depicting the totality of representational avenues for Black filmmakers. Keeping this in mind we should also be aware that “[t]he quest for culturally-identifying black film stylistics and rhetorical principles, often rewarding as spectacle of heroic and artistic achievement, retains a greater importance in the larger context of its struggle between these internal and external pressures.”334 Indeed, one ought to approach the whole matter of Black aesthetics as the “instability of definitions and theoretical paradigms [which] reflects the political instability of African-American society.”335 In a social structure where the dominant force is that of white Western culture, it is understandable to elucidate how Black aesthetics and socio-political representations are to be deduced.

331 Becky Blanchard, “The Social Significance of Rap & Hip-Hop Culture,” Ethics of Development in a Global Environment (EDGE), accessed April 5, 2020, https://web.stanford.edu/class/e297c/poverty_prejudice/mediarace/socialsignificance.htm. 332 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Hattie McDaniel,” Encyclopædia Britannica (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., January 13, 2020), https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hattie-McDaniel. 333 Mack Scott, “From Blackface to Beulah: Subtle Subversion in Early Black Sitcoms,” Journal of Contemporary History 49, no. 4 (August 2014): pp. 743-769, https://doi.org/10.1177/0022009414538473, 758. 334 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 405. 335 Clyde R Taylor, “Black Cinema and Aesthetics”, 405. In addition, Karina Longworth does an extensive analysis of racism in Hollywood with a whole episode dedicated to the life and career of Hattie McDaniel. For more see; Karina Longworth, “Hattie McDaniel (Six Degrees of Song of the South, episode 2),” You Must Remember This (), October 29, 2019, http://www.youmustrememberthispodcast.com/episodes.

63 Clyde Taylor’s analysis demonstrates how one can observe key elements of Blackness in a historical, socio-political context where a definition of a Black film’s ranking of representation does not become threatened by one's limitations. However, in contrast to Taylor’s viewpoint, Michael B. Gillespie goes even further an attempts to construct “methodological interventions” to liberate the twenty-first audience and “offer instruction for how to critically assess and appreciate cinematic works in [...] ever more distant from the paradigmatic crush of an essential blackness.”336 In his view, Blackness and its representation should not rely too heavily on authenticity and “positive” imagery, but rather it is a “black visual and expressive culture as a process rather than as an essential product.”337 In the chapter, “Cinema”, from Keywords for African American Studies, Gillespie notes how the African American studies influenced the approach towards American cinema by showcasing “how cinema, as a part of a larger field of American visual culture, has contributed to, perpetuated, and instantiated a dangerously false conception of visuality as truth or innocuous.” He lays his foundation by citing Stuart Hall's rhetorical investigation of how Blackness is constructed, “What is this ‘black’ in black popular culture?” in which Gillespie retorts, “[i]n the absence of absolute assurances and sanctions in cinema, there is blackness.”338 For Gillespie, cinema is an “art and critical practice that must be irreconcilable in the sense that it must not be considered exclusively accountable to social categories of race, gender, sexuality, and class.”339 Thus, it becomes apparent that “cinema’s generative values [towards] African American studies lies in how it challenges, refashions, and engages with the field’s politics and perspectives.”340 It is clear that in the twenty-first century, Black aesthetics have made progress not only in independent cinema, but also in commercial Hollywood films. Ed Guerrero’s analysis through a historical narrative helps with the understanding of how Hollywood and Black

336 Michael Boyce Gillespie, Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016), 158. 337 Michael B Gillespie, “Cinema”, in Keywords for African American Studies, ed. Erica R. Edwards, Roderick A. Ferguson, and Jeffrey Ogbonna Green Ogbar (New York: New York University Press, 2018), 33-37, 35. Furthermore, Stuart Hall notes how “[f]ilms are not necessarily good because black people make them. They are not necessarily ‘right-on’ by virtue of the fact that they deal with the black experience.” See; Stuart Hall, Stuart Hall: Critical Dialogues in Cultural Studies, ed. David Morley and Kuan-Hsing Chen (London: Routledge, 2005), 445. 338 Michael B Gillespie, “Cinema”, 35. See also; Stuart Hall, “What Is This ‘Black’ in Black Popular Culture?,” Social Justice 20, No. 1/2 (51-52) (1993): pp. 104-114, https://www.jstor.org/stable/29766735.; Fred Moten, In the Break: The Aesthetics of the Black Radical Tradition (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2003), 255. 339 Michael B Gillespie, “Cinema”, 34. 340 Michael B Gillespie, “Cinema”, 34.

64 imagery has progressed. However, as Guerrero’s book, Framing Blackness, was published in 1993, American society and the state of racial disparities have changed. Therefore, Taylor Clyde is able to broaden the viewer's perspective by questioning what would constitute ‘pure’ aesthetics of Blackness, and how it has become watered down by commercial Hollywood conglomerates. From this position he isolates and articulates certain characteristics of social, political and historical Black attributes such as music, oral tradition, philosophical prophecy structure, and in addition often satirical elements. In the case of Michael Gillespie, Blackness becomes “a cinematic trope that forces the discourse of race to account for itself.”341 Gillespie’s liberating assessment of Black cinema, in the case of this thesis, is a combination of Ed Guerrero’s historical context, Taylor Clyde’s observation on Black cinematic stylistics, and Michael Gillespie’s rhetoric of how Black cinema should center on “how the idea of black film is bound by historiography over history, performativity over essential identity, culture over fantasies of embodied truth” are well suited.342

2.6 The Love and Theft of Blackness It is noteworthy to elucidate how the contemporary audience and the depiction and mimetic depiction of Blackness is represented in postmodern Hollywood cinema. Paul Gormley’s book New Brutality Film: Race and Affect in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema depicts how the 90’s new brutality film were most pronounced in depicting “tensions between affect and cultural knowledge”.343 In his depiction of the effect cinema causes, Gormley cites a former associate from the Frankfurt School, Walter Benjamin and his essay, “The Work of Art in the Age of Its Technical Reproducibility”, in which Benjamin “compares the affective qualities of the cinematic image and the distracted experience of the cinema-goer to the habitual, tactile experience of our knowledge of the architecture which surrounds us.”344 As a contemporary audience, we are aware of how former films have shaped our sense of narrative

341 This quote was taken from Courtney R. Baker’s review of Gillespie’s book. However this can be seen in the introduction on Film Blackness. For more see; Courtney R. Baker, “Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film by Michael Boyce Gillespie,” Cinema Journal 57, no. 4 (2018): pp. 158-160, https://doi.org/10.1353/cj.2018.0063. See also; Michael Boyce Gillespie, Film Blackness: American Cinema and the Idea of Black Film (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2016), 4. 342 Michael B Gillespie, “Cinema”, 35. 343 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film: Race and Affect in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema (Bristol: Intellect, 2005), 13. 344 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film, 17. Benjamin proposes that due to the modern films being mechanically reproduces, it has lost its distinctiveness or ‘aura’ as an art form. See more; Walter Benjamin, Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction (S.l.: Createspace independent, 2016), 43.344

65 structure, therefore have become numb and conscious of how film plots will unfold. The canon, in other words, always retains its place but its hold over us may loosen with time. With regard to white audiences, Gormley proposes that “the white cultural imagination is a shifting state where the cinema, other cultural artefacts it produces, and the fears and anxieties around blackness, change in relation to the fluid mimetic relations between white American and African-American culture”345 The relationship between the United States and Black Americans is presented as a continuing cultural moment where Hollywood cinema uses “techniques of repression and marginalisation in its representations of blackness.”346 Black Americans have throughout the history of Hollywood cinema been portrayed as a threat to whiteness, the fear of a Black mass and black anger leading to systematic attempts to repress and suppress; the same applies to the cultural fears surrounding the thought of a Black man and his ability to seduce a white woman.347 Additionally, from this viewpoint, Gormley asserts how the dominant white society creates and reproduces the idea of Blackness and their relationship with its aesthetics.348 Moreover, as Gormley notes that through time, these representations of ‘the Black threat’ are adapted and modified where the audience is consciously aware of the significance but are presented as something ‘safer’ to digest. Gormley demonstrates this by referencing the torture scene between the character Mr. Blonde (played by Michael Madsen) and a police officer in Quintin Tarantino’s film, Reservoir Dogs (1991). Throughout the film, Blackness has been adopted where “the gangsters themselves have been like gangstas. The dialogue of the gangsta character [...] often uses the same kind of rhythmic patterns and intertextual allusion as the hip-hop song.”349 Therefore, as the torture scene ensues, the audience has been consciously aware that with Black vernacular and characteristics that Mr. Blonde, torturing the white police officer,

345 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film, 30. 346 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film, 31. 347 Paul D. Escott, "What Shall We Do with the Negro?": Lincoln, White Racism, and Civil War America (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009), 157.; Kenneth James Lay, “Sexual Racism: A Legacy of Slavery,” National Black Law Journal 13, no. 1 (1993): pp. 165-183, https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3qd7s83r, 165. 348 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film, 34. Gormely further notes how “Authority to both knowingly appropriate black culture and maintain a clear distinction or border between white and black culture is missing. The fact that black culture is exalted as hip and as site of affect is illusory and does nothing to address the ‘real’ social and cultural relations between white and African-American culture which are those of exploitation and oppression.” 349 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film, 138.

66 “is the way in which they attempt to reanimate cinematic affect and the particular disturbances this affect causes in cultural signification - or the way meaning is made of these films.”350 According to Gormley, the “affective shock image” in this scene, shed light on how 90s films such as Reservoir Dogs (Tarantino, 1991) use reaffirming hegemonic ideologies where “contemporary black culture is used to produce affect” in order to create an immediate and visceral “associated with authenticity, the real and blackness.”351 This involves the intricate knowledge the viewer has regarding Hollywood films and the country’s sociopolitical understanding in order for the mimesis to retain effectiveness “and the way that questions of race have governed the affective power of this cinema.”352 During the 90s, a certain shift began to form as the new-brutality film in Hollywood attempted to reproduce the effective power of Blackness “in the white cultural imagination, while suggesting that the imminent violence of the US lies within white American cultural identity.”353 Therefore, it is important to note Gormley’s viewpoint as it gives insight into how white Hollywood has commodified, adopted, and adjusted a more tangible (digestible) representation of Blackness in films, as well as in the music world, namely hip-hop. Since the 1990s, films such as Boyz n the Hood (, 1991), Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee, 1992), (Antoine Fuqua, 2001), End of Watch (David Ayer, 2012), and Straight Outta Compton (F. Gary Gray, 2015) all portray Black Americans as gangsters, thugs and menaces of society.354 The affective shock that the 90s new brutality films display when it comes to Black aesthetics is seen as safe and more absorbable for the white audience.

350 Gormley further explains that “[a]fter all, virtually all Hollywood film since its beginning has depended on pleasure through knowledge as well as immediacy or affect.”. See more; Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film, 13. 351 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film, 8, 59. 352 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film, 179. 353 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film, 190. 354 Similarly, an example is seen in how the music industry has capitalized on Gangster rap. bell hooks notes how the music industry has capitalized on Black male artists depicted with lyrics and mannerism as misogynistic, tough and violent. However, what is to be kept in mind is that this Black aesthetics is focused on the young male consumer who adopts and commodifies Black aesthetics but in fact “in fact when he encounters a young black male on the streets feels the same racialized fear and demonizes that person as any white person who's had no contact with that music, so that there's no correlation often between the consumption of the commodity that is blackness and the culture from which that commodity comes, or that provides the resource base and that's no different again from us thinking of Third World countries.” For a further reading see; Bell Hooks: Cultural Criticism and Transformation, 1997.; See also the films respectively mentioned; Boyz n the Hood, dir. John Singleton (US: Columbia Pictures, 1991); Do the Right Thing, dir. Spike Lee, (US: Universal Pictures, 1992); Training Day, dir Antoine Fuqua (US: Warner Bros., 2001); End of Watch, dir. David Ayer, (US: Open Road Films, 2012).; Straight Outta Compton, dir. F. Gary Gray,( US: Universal Pictures, 2015).

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68 Chapter 3: Fable of the Socialist Revolutionary It is with near certainty that it can be said that each of the reviews about Sorry to Bother You refers to the astonishment of a Hollywood film depicting anti-capitalistic themes.355 In the New Yorker, Richard Brody says the film’s “heightened reality works best when it's barely distinguishable from our own” while for Variety magazine, Peter Debruge described the film as “a new form of wildly inventive, highly confrontational satire that dares to question the system.”356 In a review for the web-magazine Hugrás, Jónas Haux demonstrates his attentive understanding of Hollywood’s history by shedding light on how previous filmmakers, while under strict regulations given by the Production Code office, actively subverted the capitalistic and hegemonic structures of the country.357 The example Haux gives are that of Charlie Chaplin’s films, Gold Rush, Modern Times, Great Dictator and in John Carpenter’s They Live (1988).358 A more recent example, although not a Hollywood film, is that of Bong

355 Ricardo Lopez, “‘Sorry to Bother You’ Kicks Off Summer of Socially Conscious Black Films,” Variety, July 5, 2018, https://variety.com/2018/film/news/sorry-to-bother-you-spike-lee-black-films-1202864930/. See also; Antonia Hitchens, “The Many Voices of Boots Riley,” The New Yorker, August 29, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-many-voices-of-boots-riley.; Jonah Weiner, “How Boots Riley Infiltrated Hollywood,” The New York Times, May 22, 2018, https://nyti.ms/2wYHli0.; Leshu Torchin, “Alienated Labors Hybrid Subjects: Sorry to Bother You and the Tradition of the Economic Rights Film,” Film Quarterly 72, no. 4 (January 2019): pp. 29-37, https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2019.72.4.29. 356 Sims, David. “Sorry to Bother You Is Fizzy, Flawed, and Fascinating.” The Atlantic, July 6, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2018/07/sorry-to-bother-you-review/564263/.; Peter Debruge, “Film Review: ‘Sorry to Bother You,’” Variety, January 27, 2018, https://variety.com/2018/film/reviews/sundance-film-review-sorry-to-bother-you-review-1202671492/. 357 Jónas Haux does not mention precisely the Production Code but he implies it by referring to the timeline of Hollywood’s domineering force of filmmaking which filmmakers such as Billy Wilder’s film on sexuality Some Like It Hot (1959) and also his subversion and attack on the domestic sphere and traditional institution of family in the noir-film, Double Indemnity (1944), Howard Hawks’s feminist themes through the strong female character in His Girl Friday (1940), John Ford’s racial discourse of the American frontier and the country’s seemingly never ending prejudice towards Native Americans in The Searchers (1956). For more see each film respectively; Some Like It Hot. Dir. Billy Wilder. (US: United Artists, 1959); Double Indemnity. Dir. Billy Wilder. (US: Paramount Pictures, 1944).; His Girl Friday. Dir. Howard Hawks. (US: Columbia Pictures, 1944).; The Searchers. Dir. John Ford. (US: Warner Bros., 1956). To get a better understanding of Production Code see; Steven Mintz, “Film Censorship,” in Hollywoods America: Understanding History through Film (Malden, MA: Wiley Blackwell, 2016), 120-133.; Jónas Haux, “Rammpólitískur súrrealismi,” Hugrás, October 26, 2018, http://hugras.is/2018/10/rammpolitiskur-surrealismi/. 358Jónas Haux, “Rammpólitískur súrrealismi,” Hugrás, October 26, 2018, http://hugras.is/2018/10/rammpolitiskur-surrealismi/.; Although Jónas Haux does not mention by name Charlie Chaplin’s films, an example is presented as to give the reader some insight on where to begin its search in Chaplin’s extensive filmography. For more see; Gold Rush. Dir. Charlie Chaplin. (US, United Artists, 1925); Modern Times. Dir. Charlie Chaplin. (US: United Artists, 1936); Great Dictator. Dir. Charlie Chaplin. (US: United Artists, 1939).; In regards to John Carpenter, the filmmaker has been known for his social critique in his films but in the case of this thesis, They Live is an excellent example of the consumerism and class struggles that looms over the United States. For more see; They Live. Dir. John Carpenter. (US: Universal Pictures, 1988).

69 Joon-ho’s 2019 film, Parasite where capitalist and social critique lays heavily upon its narrative.359 In the review, headlined "Rammpólitískur súrrealismi", Jónas Haux goes on to say:

Útlit kvikmyndarinnar fangar með mikilli nákvæmni þrúgandi andrúmsloft aðkrepptra vinnustaða meðan Cash er ennþá lágt settur í fyrirtækinu og er að byrja vegferð sína. Fagurfræðin endurspeglar svo með gríðarlega útsjónarsömum hætti metorðastigaris hans hjá fyrirtækinu, leikmyndin tekur umskiptum og ná þau umskipti hápunkti í veislu hjá frumkvöðli WorryFree (). Þá virðist hugmyndaauðginni á köflum engin takmörk vera sett og Riley stígur út fyrir mörk veruleikans ítrekað og með sífellt framúrstefnulegri hætti – má þar nefna ýmsa leyndardóma innviða stórfyrirtækisins sem Cash vinnur fyrir. Rétt er þó að halda til haga að Sorry to Bother Youer samt sem áður grínmynd, svona fyrst og fremst. Með því að stilla eðliseiginleikum kapítalismans upp andspænis hugmyndinni um bandaríska drauminn verður til kraftmikil mótsögn sem knýr myndina með svörtum húmor.360

A number of Haux's critical insights will prove useful as we move forward. It is true, for instance, that Riley's visual vocabulary is astounding, that the atmosphere of the film becomes increasingly oppressive, and that, in the final tally, the film does seem intent upon staging a conflict between the American Dream and the realities of capitalism, thus revealing the insincerity and emptiness of the former and the brutal nature of the latter. Sorry to Bother You (2018) captures contemporary issues regarding race and capitalistic struggles during the whirlwind that is the presidency of Donald Trump. However, its directors has stated that the script was finished in 2012 and published two years later, giving further credence to the argument that the country’s governmental power does nothing to change the imperishable hegemonic structures of capitalism.361 As Jónas Haux noted, this film may be Riley’s film debut but that should not diminish him as an artist as he has a long body of politically driven work such as in his hip-hop

359 However, it should be noted that the film may be catalogued as a foreign film for the American moviegoer, it has been recognized and praised by the highest honorary of Hollywood, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Science in which the film and its filmmaker won four Oscars. For more see; Parasite. Dir. Bong Joon-ho. (SouthKorea: CJ Entertainment, 2019).; “The : 2020,” Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, accessed April 12, 2020, https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2020. 360Jónas Haux, “Rammpólitískur súrrealismi,” Hugrás, October 26, 2018, http://hugras.is/2018/10/rammpolitiskur-surrealismi/ 361 Boots Riley on How His Hit Movie “Sorry to Bother You” Slams Capitalism & Offers Solutions. YouTube, (July 17, 2018. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdCPvMNKvhE).

70 ensemble, The Coup.362 Since their first album, Kill My Landlord their lyrics were filled with socio-political commentary such as in the song “Dig It!” where they heavily reference former communist and revolutionary figures such as Karl Marx famous essay, Communist Manifesto, Guevara, Mao Tse Tung, Kwame Nkrumah, and the Mau Mau rebellion.363 Besides his body of work through art, Riley has been vocal a figure in Oakland and its protests movements as well as being among other radical Black community organizers to form the Young Comrades, “a radical social justice organization whose victories include a campaign against Oakland’s “no cruising ordinance.”364 Additionally, as Riley had no professional ties to the film industry, he and his fellow members of The Coup made an album, Sorry to Bother You, with songs inspired by his script, partly in order to garner attention for the unproduced script.365 By publishing the film’s script and creating an album to create viva voce, Riley further accentuates his anti-capitalistic viewpoint towards his targeted audiences, the public audience.

3.1. Conform to the System Sorry to Bother You (2018) centers on Cassius “Cash” Green (), a young Black American who lives with his girlfriend Detroit () in his uncle Sergio’s () garage. Their living arrangement however is precarious as Sergio's house is on the brink of foreclosure.366 In a desperate state, Cassius seeks employment as a telemarketer for the company RegalView, where there is no minimum wage but instead has to rely on commissions, making enough sale to survive.367 The viewer is given the perception of Green’s need to have a penny to his name in an environment that prioritizes financial growth over humanity. On his first day, the company introduces Green to his desk and stresses the importance of sticking to the script, and that fact that if he makes enough sales, he can become a Power Caller.368 A scene which demonstrates the strict rules of keeping to the

362Jónas Haux, “Rammpólitískur súrrealismi,” Hugrás, October 26, 2018, http://hugras.is/2018/10/rammpolitiskur-surrealismi/. 363 The Coup, “Dig It!”, YouTube, 2006, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsUDGxdeICw. 364 StanfordPulse, “Boots Riley: Activism Before Art,” PULSE Magazine, February 20, 2019, https://stanfordpulse.com/2019/02/20/boots-riley/. 365Jónas Haux, “Rammpólitískur súrrealismi,” Hugrás, October 26, 2018, http://hugras.is/2018/10/rammpolitiskur-surrealismi/.; , “Boots Riley Mines His Experiences As A Telemarketer In 'Sorry To Bother You', ”NPR (NPR, July 2, 2018), https://www.npr.org/2018/07/02/625321886/boots-riley-mines-his-experiences-as-a-telemarketer-in-sorry-to- bother-you. 366 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley. (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 367 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 368 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

71 script, is when he makes a sales-call to an elderly woman who is distraught, explaining her difficult times as she expresses having no money with a husband with stage four cancer to which she begins to cry.369 To this, Green expresses remorse in his facial expressions, but still feels as though he must serve the company’s policy, frantically flipping through the script where it says “[m]ake any problem a selling point”. He does as he is instructed, at which point the caller hangs up.370 At first Green struggles to make a successful sale until an experienced co-worker of his, Langston (Danny Glover) upon hearing Green’s struggle suggests masking his Blackness by adopting a ‘white voice’ (voiced by ).371 Langston explains to Green that he has “a white voice in there, you can use it. It’s like when you get pulled over by the police.”372 Code-switching is a necessity for black Americans in order to navigate in a mainly white surrounding where their literal voice is being dubbed over with a white one.373 Langston further elaborates this by describing what the power and social indications of the ‘white voice’:

it’s like, sounding like you don’t have a care. Got your bills paid. You’re happy about your future. You about ready to jump in your Ferrari out there after you get off this call... breezy like... I don’t really need this money... You’ve never been fired, only laid off.”374

This statement from Langston illustrates how the United States are divided along the racial lines, in which a white voice can be a genuine aspiration for a person of color to achieve in life. Moreover, as Green uses his ‘white-voice’, he is contributing in the white environment that is simultaneously oppressing him. As noted earlier Maryann Erigha’s analysis on Hollywood’s racial segregation, DuBois’s term, the double consciousness needs to be given better attention.375 In the essay, Souls of Black Folk, W.E.B. DuBois’s uses the phrases, double- consciousness and the veil to highlight a stark reality for the Black American in the United States:

369 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 370 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 371 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 372 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 373 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). See also for the term code- switching; Carlos D. Morrison, "Code-switching," May 30, 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/code- switching. 374 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 375 W. E. B DuBois, “The Souls of Black Folk,” in Du Bois Writings: The Suppression of the African Slave- Trade, and More, ed. Nathan Huggins (New York, NY: Literary Classics of the United States, 1986), pp. 359- 547.

72

Why did God make me an outcast and a stranger in mine own house? [...] the Negro is a sort of seventh son, born with a veil, and gifted with second-sight in this American world, — a world which yields him no true self-consciousness, but only lets him see himself through the revelation of the other world. It is a peculiar sensation, this double- consciousness, this sense of always looking at one’s self through the eyes of others, of measuring one’s soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity. One ever feels his twoness, — an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder.376

The former being that one’s identity cannot be unified, forever torn asunder, while the latter, keeps the Black American himself further entrapped and only able to see himself through the eyes of the perspective of white people. DuBois calls this ‘the veil’.377A constant conflict is thusly created within the Black American, where American society cannot accept the Black identity. This repressive state is present in Sorry to Bother You as Green is thriving in a society that constitutes for him to code-switch by adopting the ‘white-voice’ in order to endure the economic system, making him feel DuBois’s ‘two-ness’; a subjugated spectator in his own life.378 Code-switching turns out to be something Green is extremely good at. Not only does he come to the notice of his superiors, they are astounded by his persuasiveness and high sales volume. His ascent up the corporate ladder, towards becoming a Power Caller, has started and the film indicates this through a montage of successful sales calls where the viewer can tell time is passing only by the shift in Cassius' clothes.

376 W. E. B DuBois, “The Souls of Black Folk”, 363-365. 377 W. E. B DuBois, “The Souls of Black Folk”, 364-365 378 W. E. B DuBois, “The Souls of Black Folk”, 364.

73

Fig. 1.5, 1.6, 1.7: the film indicates this through a montage of successful sales calls where the viewer can tell time is passing only by the shift in Cassius' clothes.

However, the higher Cassius ascends towards financial success as a Power Caller, the more turmoil begins to stir between the low-wage workers and Regal View demoralizing policies on low-wages and no benefits, resulting in a mass protest formed by fellow labor collectives with the assistance from the leftist group, Left Eye (they are identified by their black mark under their left eye).379 As a Power Caller, Green learns that RegalView assists weapons companies selling to countries overseas, as well as engaging in the selling of slave labor, from a company called

379 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

74 WorryFree, to other companies. It becomes in other words Green’s task as a Power Caller to sell arms and slave labor to foreign corporations, and he proves equally adept at that as he was in his earlier position.380 Throughout the film, WorryFree is seen in propagandized commercials in which it sells itself as a solution to numerous social issues; homelessness, poverty, hunger, by providing individuals food and shelter in exchange for a lifelong labor contract.381 In a sense WorryFree glorifies the idea of giving up your individual autonomy and becoming a slave, in which they are traded off to companies in order to create profit with no concerns for the well-being of its workers. Moreover, in the alternative reality of the film, Riley repositions the contemporary mindset of exploitation of labor, particularly sweatshops, in foreign countries that are being utilized for corporate gain, only in Sorry to Bother You, it has been brought to American soil.382 The antagonist of the film, a symbol of wealth and power is the CEO of the WorryFree company, Steve Lift (Armie Hammer).383 The introduction to Lift comes during a news segment on the violent protests in front of the WorryFree company, stating that their “method of lifetime labor contracts is a new form of slavery.”384 In an interview with Oprah, with Lift comfortably sitting on a sofa, wearing a tweed blue blazer, a white Kashmir scarf, casual ankle- high blue jeans, and Jesus-inspired sandals, claims that allegations his “...workers do not sign contracts under threats of physical violence is just ludicrous and offensive. We’re transforming life itself. We’re saving the economy [...] we’re saving the economy” and rejects criticism by self-promoting his recently published book where “I lay out the whole thing.”385 Steve Lift is charismatic, handsome and articulate and is unfazed by any ethical or moral actions he and the WorryFree company, believing that he is making the world a better place. Similarities, although subtler, to this characterization are the various contemporary corporate titans such as billionaire Elon Musk who has garnered something of a cult following with die-hard fans believing that what he and his company are doing is life-saving, all the while raking in millions.386 Elon Musk may not be known for his immoral actions to

380 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 381 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 382 Brian Berkey. “Sweatshops, Structural Injustice, and the Wrong of Exploitation: Why Multinational Corporations Have Positive Duties to the Global Poor”, Journal of Business Ethics (2019), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04299-1. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-019-04299-1. 383 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 384 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 385 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 386 Bijan Stephen, “The Gospel of Elon Musk, According to His Flock,” The Verge, June 26, 2018, https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/26/17505744/elon-musk-fans-tesla-spacex-fandom.

75 his employees, but Jeff Bezos, the CEO of is notorious for his lack of protection for his warehouse workers all the while he remains to be the wealthiest billionaire in the world.387 A glorification of billionaires is a deeply ingrained narrative in the United States as the core of the founding father’s resistance to paying taxes to Great Britain, sparking the American Revolution.388 During the years of the colonies, the elites in those colonies viewed themselves and liberty as “the power to rule—the right of those blessed with wealth and prominence to dominate over others.”389 The elite viewed society as a:

hierarchical structure in which some men were endowed with greater talents than others and destined to rule. The social order, they believed, was held together by webs of influence that linked patrons and those dependent on them. [...] “Superiority” and “dependence,” as one colonial newspaper put it, were natural elements of any society. An image of refinement served to legitimate wealth and political power. Colonial elites prided themselves on developing aristocratic manners, cultivating the arts, and making productive use of leisure. [In fact,] elites viewed work as something reserved for common folk and slaves. Freedom from labor was the mark of the gentleman.390

Although during the 1950s and 60s the wealthy paid far more taxes than the classes below, the tax rates for the highest earners was reduced during Reagan’s presidency, dropping from 70 percent to 28 percent.391 This is the American ideology that billionaires such as Steve Lift are embodying. As a juxtaposition, the protagonist, Cassius Green reflects the conditions of the working class and their struggles in contemporary America.

387 Furthermore, in the Guardian article, it mentioned how “Jeff Bezos will remain a billionaire if he chooses to pay every worker a middle-class salary with healthcare benefits and a pension. But doing so would require a slight reduction of his world-historical wealth and be a violation of the iron law of greed: more is always better.” See more; Ross Barkan, “There Is No Greater Illustration of Corporate America’s Moral Decay than Amazon,” The Guardian, April 1, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/01/amazon-coronavirus- new- york-chris-smalls-dismissed. 388 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 4th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2014), 179- 180. 389 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 4th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2014), 124. 390 Eric Foner, Give Me Liberty!: An American History, 4th ed. (New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2014), 124. 391 Roxanne Roberts, “Why Does Everybody Suddenly Hate Billionaires? Because They’ve Made It Easy.,” Washington Post, March 13, 2019, https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/why-does-everybody-suddenly-hate- billionaires-because-theyve-made-it-easy/2019/03/13/00e39056-3f6a-11e9-a0d3- 1210e58a94cf_story.html%3foutputType=amp.

76 In the opening scenes, Green is presented as insecure and preoccupied with existential questions regarding his purpose in life and how to leave his mark on the world.392 This is evident in the bedroom scene on Green’s first day of telemarketing, where Cassius and Detroit are lying in bed as Green wears a forlorn expression staring at a photograph of a man leaning one hand next to a red ’66 Ford Mustang. Green asks Detroit, “do you ever think about dying? [...] when we are old, like 90, I think about it all the time. Like what, what would I have done that matters?”393 Detroit replies with her own thoughts on death where she prioritizes the importance of leaving this world knowing that she is “surrounded by people who love me and who I love back.”394 Green however continues to describe how their descendants will die and “then no one will know what I am doing, and what I am doing right now won’t even matter [...] I’m just out here surviving and what I’m doing right now won’t even matter.”395 Cassius' bleak existentialist mindset reflects an all too real feeling of anguish towards one’s purpose in the United States. As Chris Wright wrote for Left Voice magazine, “[m]ass loneliness, “homelessness,” and the gnawing sense of meaninglessness are not timeless conditions; they are predictable expressions of a commoditized, privatized, bureaucratized civilization.”396 Green embodies the injustice and living conditions that lower-class Black Americans are often reduced to. This can be referenced by the fact that since the Reagan-era, a neoliberal mindset has been dominant wherein human protection is best advanced “by the maximization of entrepreneurial freedom.” This in turn results in leaving individuals, often disproportionately Black Americans, unable to prosper.397 By living under neoliberalism, Green feels obligated to conform to the system in order to survive and each time he further ascends the corporate ladder, his moral principles begin to falter. In place of principles, Cassius offers the audience several different motivations that would seem to place moral meaning on his desire towards gaining wealth.398 As the viewer observes Green, it is apparent from the beginning that he lives below the poverty line, living in his uncle’s garage, only being able to pay $.41 cents for gas, and has

392 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 393 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 394 Moreover, in the commentary version of Sorry to Bother You, Riley notes that the man’s identity in the photograph is deliberately concealed. See more; Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 395 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 396Chris Wright, “Capitalism and Existential Despair,” Left Voice, September 7, 2019, https://www.leftvoice.org/capitalism-and-existential-despair. 397David Harvey, “Neo-Liberalism as Creative Destruction,” Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography 88, no. 2 (2006): pp. 145-158, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0435-3684.2006.00211.x, 145. 398 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

77 manual windshield wipers.399 Therefore, as viewers, it is understood that his first motivation is to earn enough for the bare necessities in life and to provide for himself and his family. Nevertheless, in the opening scene during the job interview at RegalView, Green attempts to falsify his résumé in the hope that it will help his chances of getting the job.400 He states that he has had previous experience working as a manager at a restaurant for five years, as a bank teller for two years and was awarded the employee of the month award, as well as getting an award from Oakland high school for winning a debate competition, furthermore boasting of his credentials as being “a salesman at heart.”401 The person conducting the interview challenges his statement by saying that the number of the restaurant is the cell-phone number of Green’s friend, Salvador, and that he worked as a branch manager at the bank at the same time that Cassius claims to have been employed.402 This illustrates for the audience that Green, as a protagonist, is an unreliable narrator. Again, this becomes evident when his uncle Sergio mentions that he is behind on his rent payment. Green replies “God made this land for all of us and greedy people like you want to hog it to yourself and your family”. Sergio reminds Green that he is his family.403 These two examples, occurring early in the film, function to make the viewer aware that Green is not completely trustworthy, and may employ deceit in order to achieve what he desires. Moreover, this encounter reveals that Green is not only pursuing a career in order to have enough to pay for the bare necessities in life, the true motivation may well be the desire to live in luxury.404 Once he acquires wealth, Green upgrades his living conditions: new car, materials, and a new apartment while simultaneously refusing to acknowledge the injustice that is being inflicted upon the people below him.405 As mentioned above, neoliberalism has had an effect on class and racial systems in which Black Americans who live above the poverty line attempt to distance themselves from the “mass cultural expressions of the Black poor and working classes, and refrain from any social relations with Blacks who rely on "transfer payments" to make ends meet.”406 This is seen when Green and Detroit have moved to a luxurious downtown apartment. As he is

399 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 400 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 401 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 402 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 403 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 404 This is further portrayed when Sergio mentions that he has offered him shelter and a car to which he ungratefully, “that’s a damn bucket.” Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 405 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 406 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), 65.

81 watching television, flipping through channels, he goes back and forth between a glorified WorryFree reality show which attempts to placate the company’s exploitation of human lives, and then to coverage of the mass protest due to RegalView’s lack of union for its workers.407 At this Green shows that once one has accumulated wealth, it becomes easy for the Black elite to detach themselves from their own community.408 Sorry to Bother You attempts to depict this ever-present reality of the desire to acquire wealth and what such a goal asks of one's humanity in order to achieve it.409 As a Power Caller, he is introduced to a colleague only referred to as Mr. Blank (as each time his name is said, it becomes bleep censored), a Black American who wears an eyepatch on his left-eye.410 Mr. Blank is an example of how he has sacrificed his individual identity and agency for RegalView.411 Moreover, Mr. Blank's eye-patch is a reminder that Cassius has decided to turn a blind-eye to the Left Eye movement, and disregard the struggles of the working-class as he literally refuses to see them.412 In addition, Mr. Blank only uses his white-voice (voiced by Patton Oswald) as a further illustration of the length to which the submission of his agency for the white dominant hegemonic system will go. It is then that Green discovers that RegalView is assisting in enforcing slave-labor from WorryFree in order to capitalize. Mr. Blank describes it as “sell[ing] power. Firepower, manpower [...] WorryFree is our biggest client. We help thousands of companies utilize WorryFree workers to improve efficiency.”413 Mr. Blank then further elaborates, saying:

WorryFree has resuscitated America. Workers live in space efficient dwellings in the same facilities where production occurs. They make anything and they make everything. Lifetime contracts so no wages needed. They make automobiles for what it used to cost to make bicycles.414

407 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 408 Manning Marable, How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America: Problems in Race, Political Economy, and Society (Cambridge, MA: South End Press, 2011), 65.; Furthermore, Marable Manning notes how historically this has been relevant during the slave-era where “Black elite was the product of the enslavement process, those New World Africans who culturally assimilated the world view of their exploiters. The Black worker majority vs. the Black elite, was an essential by-product of primitive capital accumulation in slave societies. This class division became more pronounced in the twentieth century, and represented a tendency among many "middle class" Blacks in electoral politics, the church, small business and education to articulate a "capitalist road" to Black liberation.” See more; Manning Marable, How Capitalism, 26, 255-256. 409 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 410 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 411 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 412 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 413 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018 414 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

82

At first Green is reluctant to be an active participant in exploiting human labor with the purpose of contributing to a slave marketplace, until he is shown the compensation he will be making.415 In contrast to Green’s moral dilemma on being an active contributor to slave-labor, the film’s true moral compass, which does not falter, is depicted in the characters Detroit and Squeeze.416 As an example, is during the scene when Detroit is working as a sign-twirler, Squeeze comes by and begins to talk to her about their yesterday walk-out which Detroit compares to the film, Norma Rae (Martin Ritt, 1979).417 Both of them seem to agree on the importance of unionizing RegalView through their own means. For Squeeze, he travels across the United States with the vocation to help workers to unionize while Detroit as an artist, utilizes her work to “expose the bullshit”.418 At this, the audience notices a small smudge which she missed while cleaning the mark off below her left eye, revealing she is part of the Left Eye movement.419 In their conversation, the two important facet of vocalizing the inequality are present as Riley highlights how, through art and organizing, are two key components to create a collective voice for the mistreatment of humans. As Green becomes more successful he is warned about his continued assimilation into the hegemonic system. This is further depicted in another bedroom scene, now in their new luxurious apartment, Green looks at her lovingly but unconsciously uses his white voice to say, “hey baby, good morning.”420 To this Detroit groans and asks him to stop using that voice to which he confesses that he “didn’t even realize [he] was doing it”, showing further how the ‘white-coding’ is beginning to take over both his business and personal life.421 Detroit confronts him on his willingness to work for a company that sells slave labor and he retorts angrily “what the fuck isn’t slave labor?”, attempting to avoid confronting the unethical treatment RegalView perpetrate. It is at this point where she gives him an ultimatum: “[i]f you go to work today at RegalView, crossing the picket line...we’re done.”422

415 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 416 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 417 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.; In regards to the film reference, Norma Rae depicts the struggle of textile workers fighting for union rights. For more see; Norma Rae, dir. Martin Ritt, (US:20th Century Fox, 1979).; For relevance of the films message see; Fry, Naomi. "The Ongoing Relevance of “Norma Rae”." The New Yorker, August 4, 2020. https://www.newyorker.com/recommends/watch/the-ongoing-relevance-of-norma- rae. 418 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 419 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 420 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 421 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 422 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

83 The scene cuts to him being guarded by law enforcement on his way to work, making the decision to continue a life conforming to capitalistic and racial conditioning. The confinement Green is in is further depicted during a party held by Steve Lift where Power Caller, Cassius Green and Mr. Blank, among other employees are in attendance.423 The scene begins by showing Lift, holding a crop (used in horse-riding) taking a comically long line of cocaine saying “well, I guess you are all wondering why I’ve called this meeting” to which the partygoers cheer.424 At this party Green is in a tightly confined environment within the white elite, where his identity and agency is reduced to mere stereotypes of a Black American, for the sole purpose of entertainment. During the party, Green sits on the floor while Lift and all the other guests sit in front of him. This creates a literal confined space for Green, while Lift asks him to recount any interesting stories he may have to entertain them, becoming more precise about his wishes when says: “I want to hear about some of that Oakland gangsta shit, man”, to which Green nervously replies “Luckily, I have not had to put a cap in anyone’s ass. So, I don’t have any cool stories, sorry” hoping that this will prove enough to end .425 However, Lift persists and says, “well I mean give us something. Right? These boring cunts are at every single one of my parties. You are different, man. Make an impression [...] and I know you can bust a rap, right?” where he begins to chant and demand Green to rap, disregarding the fact that he doesn’t know how to.426 The scene cuts to a nervous Green standing in a staircase while the partygoers stand in anticipation as Green begins to awkwardly rap elementary type, “[m]y name is Cash, and I would like to...” having the crowd shouting words back to him that rhyme.427

423 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 424 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 425 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 426 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 427 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

84

Fig. 1.8, 1.9: Cassius Green during Lift’s party where Green is in a tightly confined where his identity and agency is reduced to mere stereotypes of a Black American, for the sole purpose of entertainment.428

Seeing that he is unable to perform as the crowd looks at him he nervously begins to shout “Nigger shit, nigger shit. Nigger, nigger, nigger, shit” to which the crowd erupts and joins him.429 Green’s agency and identity is reduced to a stereotype; an oversimplification of his identity as a Black American, for the sole purpose of entertainment for the wealthy. We now see DuBois’ veil as Green is bound. He is bound to be in constant conflict with himself over his sense of belonging while being split apart by two worlds; one of the Black man and the other of America. He feels himself further entrapped and only able to see himself through the eyes of the perspective of white people.430 The only reason that Green is capable of climbing so high up the corporate ladder is his talent at ‘code-switching’, that is, his use of a ‘white-voice’. Moreover, the only other person of color that is a Power-caller is Mr. Blank. However, due to the environment in

428 Riley, Sorry to Bother You [film still], 2018. 429 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 430 W. E. B DuBois, “The Souls of Black Folk”, 3.

85 which they are entrapped, they do not allow them to speak freely but instead, having to use their ‘white-voice’ to communicate to one another. And yet, there is a single conversation between Mr. Blank and Green in their natural voices. After Cassius’s rapping, he sits on a chair while the camera pans out of the room into the next, making him feel isolated by the others who are engaging in an orgy.431 From the left frame, Mr. Blank appears and the camera follows him, slowly walking and observing the sexual acts as he strolls towards Green. Mr. Blank attempts to ease Green over the moral price they pay for financial stability, “Look here, young blood. We don’t cry about the shit that should be. We just thrive on what is” as he gestures the surrounding they are in and says, “and what is... opportunity.”432 As Green has accepted this fate and consciously turned a blind eye to the corrupted work ethics of WorryFree; he is confronted by the horrors that the company is breeding the Equispaiens.433 Lift requests Green join him in his office where he intends to present him with an opportunity to gain even more wealth than he already has. Green expresses enthusiasm and Lift offers him a celebratory line of presumed cocaine.434 In all the excitement Green accept it as Lift is about to show him a corporate video in order to per sway Green, but is halted due to Green needing to go to the bathroom. As Green is searching for the bathroom, he becomes lost, forgetting the directions Lift gave him and opens the wrong door, leading to him discovering the human bred horses, the Equisapiens.435 In complete shock and terror, Green runs to the hallway where he finds Lift with a gun, demanding for him to go back to his office where he can explain better the opportunity he previously mentioned.436 In a calm and exciting manner, Lift offers him to become an Equisapien for a five years and will be given $100 million by the end of the term.437 At this literal attempt to further strip him of his humanity, Green is visibly disturbed by such a suggestion. Ignoring these concerns, he attempts to calm his nerves and explains the company’s intentions in detail.438 Lift is aware that such species will inevitably create their own society, their own culture, and that they will organize in order to revolt.439 The role Lift is presenting for Green

431 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 432 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 433 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 434 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 435 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 436 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 437 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 438 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 439 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018).

86 is to become an insider “who represents WorryFree’s needs. Someone they can relate to [...] the Equisapien Martin Luther King, Jr. but one that we create. One that we control”440 During this explanation, Lift continuously smiles with confidence that this idea will not only create him even more wealth but is certain that he could convince the American public of producing such creatures. These revelations ultimately shake Green out of his stupor and he attempts to expose the WorryFree company’s unethical evil practices.441 Furthermore, in regards to the film’s visceral depiction of the social and racial issues, the audience are suspended in shock but not only by the film’s reveal of unnatural breeding of Equisapiens but moreover, to the audience conscious awareness to the social significance of Equisapiens. As Gormley observed how white audience have been coddled by 90s filmmaker’s on sensitive racial issues by presenting them within coded messages.442 However, in this film, the audience are presented with an unapologetic message which forces them to confront their own contribution on the continuous cycle of utilizing slave labor. Sorry to Bother You shows how the only way in our society to expose corruption is to humiliate oneself. Throughout the film, a reality television show called “I Got the Shit Kicked Out of Me” where participants go on in order to win money. Knowing that the show has a large following, Green participates in the hope of showing the video-clip of Equisapiens that was caught on his phone.443 Being left beaten and covered in feces, they finally show the clip. At first, Green is invited on numerous new broadcasts, being vocal of the injustice and immoral practices, “manipulating humanity for the sake of profit.”444 Unfortunately, this does not cause any societal disruption but only assists in increasing their stock market value.445 Sorry to Bother ends on a bleak note where Green has been fully transformed into an Equisapien and is, along with other fellow Equisapiens, storming into Lift’s mansion depicting how the struggle and revolt does not come with ease but instead needs a jolt, a call for the American people to finally wake up. In both worlds, the one we live in, as well as the world of Sorry to Bother You, greed is the driving force that is constantly backing the oppressed and the labor workers up against a wall; with no hope of finding the exit.

440 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 441 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 442 Paul Gormley, The New-Brutality Film: Race and Affect in Contemporary Hollywood Cinema (Bristol: Intellect, 2005), 34 443 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 444 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 445 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018).

87 3.2 Fantasy Reality

As Tzvetan Todorov examines the fantastic narrative, he believes that it can only be viable up to a certain point, where a narrative shift makes it either become uncanny or marvelous.446 Sorry to Bother You creates a world of fantastic realism, where its depiction of the Equisapien, although an unexpected shift, is placed in an environment of the ‘unreal’. This thesis will argue that the film does more than present a fantastical element out of thin air, but builds upon fable and fantastic narrative structure in order to insert the Equisapien creatures without disrupting the reality of the film. These fantastical elements are in place in order to create uncertainty for its viewer, therefore, the film has more fantastical themes within so when the revelation of the Equisapiens are a part of the film’s cohesive structure. An example is depicted during Green’s first day, where he sits behind a desk in a cubicle, in a large room filled with other employees.447 In the background is another room with two men and a copier which gradually begins to have flying papers fill the room.448 As he makes his first call, the whole desk, along with everything on it, falls from below to the customer’s homes. Green finds this unsettling but still attempts to make a successful sale.449 In line with Todorov, the film produces an unexpected phenomenon where in its reality, Green’s desk is able to be dropped down in its entirety where the people around him are unfazed but Green, our protagonist in the world within the film, is visibly unnerved by it.450 Todorov describes this phenomenon as “supernatural[ly] accepted”; or the marvelous, in which the audience accepts the effect that has occurred and is satisfied that an explanation of the event will not be given.451 Therefore, as viewers we do not need to become fixated on the ambiguous nature of the fantastic element in Sorry to Bother You; what is important is to see why they are placed. Moreover, Todorov sees that the effects of the fantastical are able to “last only as long as a certain hesitation: a hesitation common to reader and character, who must decide whether or not what they perceive derives from "reality" as it exists in the common opinion.”452

446 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 25. 447 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 448 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 449 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 450 Todorov references a similar novel where the reader/viewer is unable to determine whether an incident occurred or whether it was merely happening in their mind. For more see; Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 25. 451 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 41-42. 452 Tzvetan Todorov, The Fantastic, 41.

88 However, Todorov dismisses an important component of the fantastic where no allegory or interpretations should be given, as well as that fantastical genre lives outside of any relations with our own world. This would mean that we as viewers would miss the opportunity to see any significant expression Riley is attempting to produce within the film language. Nevertheless, this thesis’s aims to in a film analysis, and it is often appropriate to adapt literary structure in order to gain understanding of a familiar genre such as fantasy and the fable. It is with Rosemary Jackson’s viewpoint that we can further read the politically charged message as a form of expression within the given narrative. Jackson describes the modern fantastic “as a form of literary fantasy within the secularized culture produced by capitalism, is a subversive literature.”453 In contrast to Todorov, Jackson sees the fantastic genre as a mode, “which then assumes different generic forms” and places such mode in a category of three; the uncanny, the fantastic and the mimetic.454 In the latter, the mimetic, the narratives “claim to imitate an external reality, which are mimetic (imitating), also distance experience by shaping it into meaningful patterns and sequences.”455 In the scene mentioned above, the frame is focused on Green in a close-up that accentuates the frustrating and claustrophobic working environment he is in.456 Jackson sees the fantastical as a mode of subversion, where social values are inscribed and represent the undeclared desire for greater social change.457 Jackson further explains:

To introduce the fantastic is to replace familiarity, comfort, das Heimlich, with estrangement, unease, the uncanny. It is to introduce dark areas, of something completely other and unseen, the spaces outside the limiting frame of the ‘human’ and ‘real’, outside the control of the ‘word’ and of the ‘look’.458

In Sorry to Bother You, the world seems to parallel ours but with certain fantastical features, making it seem as if it can be a world which relates ours to the point that it just might be.459 This is depicted as heightened reality; where Steve Lift personifies the billionaire ideology; a

453 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 105. 454 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 8. 455 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 20. 456 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 457 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 8, 31. 458 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 104. 459 Jackson notes that “an uneasy assimilation of Gothic in many Victorian novels suggests that within the main, realistic text, there exists another non-realistic one, camouflaged and concealed, but constantly present[...]. They remain as an obdurate reminder of all that has been silenced in the name of establishing a normative bourgeois realism.” See more; Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 73.

89 reality television show, “I Got the Shit Kicked Out of Me!” which revolves around the amusement of degrading individuals for money.460 In Sorry to Bother You, the world seems to parallel ours but with certain fantastical features, making it seem as if it can be a world which relates ours to the point that it just might be.461 This is depicted as heightened reality; where Steve Lift personifies the billionaire ideology; a reality television show, “I Got the Shit Kicked Out of Me!” which revolves around the amusement of degrading individuals for money.462 Another example is when Green is on his way to work, surrounded by angry protesters, being escorted by law enforcement in riot gear through the picket-line.463 As he, among other Power Callers, are being safeguarded towards headquarters, a female protestor is shown waving in her hands a can which she throws at Green’s head and yells “have a cola and smile, bitch!”.464 This is caught on video and Cassius becomes a viral sensation which is something that is common to occur for individuals such as “Charlie bit my finger” and Sweet Brown famous for her catchphrase, “Ain’t nobody got time for that”; the latter having been in a dentist commercial.465 Additionally, the film depicts the Cola company using the female protestor’s words as a slogan for their product, and ultimately making a profit out of her. The company’s hijacking of the protestor’s words and action are a perverse focus away from representational tensions that are in the country, and instead being co-opted by the capitalistic monopoly on making a profit.466 Moreover, Jackson sees the purpose of a fantasy world not as a “protest against a life- denying ‘reality’.”467 In a fantastical sense, capitalism becomes an Ouroboros, “emblematic serpent of ancient Egypt and Greece represented with its tail in its mouth, continually devouring itself and being reborn from itself.”468 Capitalism is perverse being in

460 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 461 Jackson notes that “an uneasy assimilation of Gothic in many Victorian novels suggests that within the main, realistic text, there exists another non-realistic one, camouflaged and concealed, but constantly present[...]“They remain as an obdurate reminder of all that has been silenced in the name of establishing a normative bourgeois realism.” See more; Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 73. 462 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 463 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 464 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 465 “Charlie bit my finger – again!”, May 22nd, 2007, HDCYT, YouTuber video, 0:55, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM.; “Ain’t Nobody Got Time for That!”, October 28th, 2012, Vanessa C. YouTuber video, 0:41, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGxwbhkDjZM.; “Sweet Brown Toothache? Ain't Nobody Got Time for That!”, February 3rd, 2013, Shortline Dental, YouTube video, 0:30, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSTy4qVw9yQ. 466 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 467 Rosemary Jackson, Fantasy, 75. 468 The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “Ouroboros,” ed. Kathleen Kuiper, December 11, 2017, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ouroboros.

90 this context, devouring all and is always able to make profit out of every ripple on the surface of society.

3.3 Fable Findings

Sorry to Bother You outlines a bleak reality of America’s issues of class and race under capitalism. In its depiction of these issues, the film uses fantastical elements as well as a sub- genre of the fantastical, the fable. The literary genre has been present since the early 5th century and throughout history it has thrived and gone through numerous alterations in keeping with societal norms and morals.469 Moreover, Vindt notes that various fables were “written ad hoc for a specific instance, most often on everyday-literary and political themes.”470 The political fables were popular in the West and Russia as it was “utilized as revolutionary satire.”471 Vindt further points out that the outline of contemporary fables should:

lie in that animal interrelationships in them acquire a new, unprecedented interpretation. Too, a new moral, expressing sympathy with those rebelling and reprimanding the submissive, operates in an unusual fashion – unusual, because it is expressed within the bounds of a genre moving along the traditional outlines of punishment for the malcontent and the apotheosis of humility.472

Sorry to Bother You’s depiction of Equisapiens has a socio-political reference to the country’s horrifying history of slavery. Boots transfers this to a contemporary setting where the viewpoint of the WorryFree company is to create Equisapiens i.e. the new slave labor. In the scene when Lift informs Green of the WorryFree’s decision to create the hybrids, Lift is fully aware of the implication of the inhumane treatment of the labor force. It displays the horrific understanding that they would eventually revolt against the hegemonic system, who have already orchestrated such results, and may financially benefit from such rebellious acts.

469 Vindt notes how in “mid-century all of Aesop's fables were reinterpreted in the spirit of Christian morality and supplied with lengthy and pious commentaries. In Dem'yan Bedny these same Aesopian fables depict the class struggle.” See more; Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 101. 470 Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 102. 471 Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 105. 472 Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 105.

91 Through the fable, the voices of beasts or animals can be utilized to evoke the mistreatment of capitalism and the dominant systems. Vindt notes this in her reading as a political fable such as with the example of Krylov and his reference of Napoleon.473 However, in regards to the depiction of animals and the power of their voices, Edward Clayton, (who only has been mentioned in passing) illustrates how the voices of the ‘weak’ or small can impact our society. In the following scene of Green’s rejection of becoming an Equisapien, he discovers he has lost his phone and frantically uses his home-phone to contact Detroit to get a second opinion on whether his genitals have become enlarged, fearing he is becoming an Equisapien.474 As he is visibly frantic, Detroit demands an explanation of his behavior and mentions that he had sent her a video voicemail late last night which she had not opened.475 It is revealed that Green dropped his phone where he discovered the creatures who are attempting to send out a message for help, saying “We’re hurting! We’re hurting! Help us! Help us!” only to be interrupted by a group of WorryFree workers seizing and sedating them.476 At this, Lift himself appears and threatens the Equisapiens that if “you beautiful perversions don’t shut the fuck up, I will turn you all into glue!”477 It is here that Clayton’s examination becomes all too apparent; arguing that the animal in fables “can only watch as the powerful snakes battle and will have to accept the consequences; in the human world the people can add their voices to the strength of their leaders and in so doing can make sure that their interests prevail.”478 As Green has taken a moral stance, he attempts to break the creatures free from the WorryFree facility they are imprisoned in, and then joins his fellow RegalView workers alongside other members of society to form a stronger unity, organizing a strategic plan against the corporations with intentions to break the picket line.479 The scene is quick to escalate into violence as they are met with extreme militia who begin to charge on the civilians. The civilians are seen being beaten by the military, as Green gets knocked out and placed in a van and handcuffed where he watches the violence unfold. From the limited viewpoint, the sequence plays out in the form of Benny Hill-esque sketches as well as with serious socio-political tones, with protestors and military running in

473 Vindt, “The Fable”, 104. 474 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 475 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 476 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 477 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 478 Edward Clayton, “Aesop, Aristotle, and Animals: The Role of Fables in Human Life,” Humanites 21, no. 1/2 (2008): pp. 179-200, http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=1&sid=abd06c05-cac3- 4adf- 920b-0deebe01b89a%40pdc-v-sessmgr04, 196. 479 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

92 and out of the frame, with the next few law enforcements stopping to mercilessly beat protestors who fell to the ground.480 The sequence ends with protestors running but stopping abruptly and turning as a truck drives towards them, hearing a distinct thud.481 This hauntingly evokes the imagery that unfolded in 2017 in Charlottesville, as James Field Jr. steered a Dodge Challenger into a crowd of peaceful demonstrators, killing a 32- year- old woman, Heather Heyer.482 As the viewer is conscious of this horrendous reference, the truck comes to a halt, expecting that the vehicle has hit someone, the tires begin to screech, slowly backing away, making the viewer experience as if it is slowly crushing the body underneath.483 However, the film subverts our expectations, easing the suspense with comedy as an Equisapien comes into frame, showing that he is pushing the truck while more appear in the frame coming to rescue. Similar to the fable, it uses the viewer’s expectations but then reverses the reflection the viewer had.484 Moreover, as the fabled beasts are Green’s and other’s rescuers; embodying the dominant social structures desire for resurrecting slave-labor, rise from below and unify with the common injustice inflicted upon the working-class. This is further emphasized as they assist Green out of the police wagon, with ‘Squeeze’ and ‘Salvador’ appearing as well, the Equisapiens thank Green for setting them free.485 At this, Squeeze looks towards the hybrids and says, “Hey, same struggle, same fight”, further vocalizing the unity that must be in place in order to disrupt the hegemonic system.486 As the fantastic and the fable have been an invaluable analytical tool as it elucidates the film’s creative employment in order to further heighten its socio-political consciousness. Nevertheless, by depending on critical evaluations based solely on literary genre and its inner workings, the thesis would become short-sighted. The next step forward would be to enhance the critical tools provided by V.F. Perkins.

480 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.; For an example of Benny Hill type sequences see; The Benny Hill Show, Season 17, episode 3, “Funny Old World.”, Directed by Dennis Kirkland, written by Benny Hill, (aired 16 April 1986, in broadcast syndication. UK: BBC TV/ITV).; Moreover, cartoons adopted this comedic skit, most notably the Scooby Doo, Where Are You? television series which was employed in almost every episode. But to give an example see; Scooby Doo Where Are You?, Season 2, episode 1, “Nowhere to Hyde.” Directed by Joseph Barbera and William Hanna, written by Larz Bourne, Tom Dagenais, and Bill Lutz. Aired September 12, 1970, in broadcast syndication. US: CBC. 481 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 482 Mitch Smith, “James Fields Sentenced to Life in Prison for Death of Heather Heyer in Charlottesville,” The New York Times, June 28, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/28/us/james-fields-sentencing.html. 483 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 484 Lidiya Vindt, “The Fable”, 90. 485 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 486 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

93 3.4 Sorry to Bother Perkins The film’s themes of the American zeitgeist are juxtaposed with allegorical elements that achieve a coherent synthesis. In order to demonstrate how that is indeed the case, important aspects of the film’s aesthetics – such as editing, color and the effects the emotions it hopes to invoke in the audience – will be examined below, and thus we will also demonstrate how the film presents us with a coherent unity.487 V.F. Perkins sees films being able to blend expression with realism, and in the case of Sorry to Bother You, Riley depicts a contemporary American reality with fable elements to drive the films morality and message to its farthest heights.488 Perkins’s viewpoint and methodology has been outlined in a previous chapter and these will now be utilized as analytical tools, with special emphasis being placed on his concepts of coherence, contained significance, asserted meaning, and range of achievements. In Perkins' methodology, coherence is of utmost importance. By doing so, Sorry to Bother You should be confronted by its internal values, and from there, see whether it has successfully achieved coherence through its unity.489 The film’s themes are powerful in their depiction of anti-capitalism that is seeped through every layer of society. This is evident in Green’s embodiment on the American dream where he is fixated on ascending further towards life of success and grandeur. The film shows this as a hollow dream as it comes with a sacrifice of morality. It is then we the audience who are to be left with the sense that capitalism is not only furthered by those in power, but as well by every crevice in society. The themes in Sorry to Bother You involve an organic depiction of the American zeitgeist. As Perkins notes, the success of a film’s coherence is when the film’s socio-political stance flow easily between the screen and its audience.490 In the case of the film’s portrayal of an all-too real America and its political statement and social clashes, it is evidently successful. Another perspective of coherence is to engage with a film’s contained significances, where the film’s meaning is found within, “rather than attached to, the form of the film.”491 Perkins uses Hitchcock’s Rope as a reference where the whole film takes place in a penthouse apartment where two young men have murdered a class-mate and placed the body in a chest that is visible for every party guest to see. Throughout the film, the audience is left in

487 V.F. Perkins, Film as Film, 58. 488 In contrast to V.F. Perkins’s thoughts in Film as Film, the modern viewer has far more opportunity to examine in regards to the film and its creations with access such as director’s commentary as a bonus feature when purchasing the film. See more; Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 489 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 62. 490 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 116. 491 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 117.

94 suspense as to whether the two murderers will be exposed.492 This is what Perkins describes as Hitchcock using a deliberate “controlled viewpoint” where it “may heighten our response to action without making our awareness of control barrier to imaginative involvement.”493 This scene’s contained significance is achieved due to Hitchcock having presented the apartment “so freely in the preceding sequences that by the time Hitchcock begins to exploit his décor for dramatic effect we have come to accept its reality and the limitations which it imposes.”494 Similarly, Sorry to Bother You does not limits its structure to a small scenery as the apartment, nevertheless as it creates contained significance through narrative as a whole. Boots creates the world of history with as much precision as Hitchcock created within the apartment in Rope. In Sorry to Bother You the frame never goes further than medium long- shot, often in close-up, where it creates a heightened sense of confinement Green is entrapped in.495 Therefore as the film progresses with the domineering force that is capitalism the audience are in constant awareness of this confinement as well.

492 Rope, dir. Alfred Hitchcock, (US: Warner Bros., 1948). 493 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 124. 494 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 126. 495 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

95

Fig. 1.10 and 1.11: Boots Riley 2018. Sorry to Bother You. The frame is placed in close-up, where it creates a heighten sense of confinement Green is entrapped in.496

In addition, Adorno and Horkheimer’s illustrations of the power of capitalist productions can:

confine them, body and soul, that they fall helpless victims to what is offered them [...]the deceived masses are today captivated by the myth of success even more than the successful are. Immovably, they insist on the very ideology which enslaves them.497

Green is himself enclosed within a system that it is beyond his control to get out of. By submitting to their function, he is accepting of the inhumane labor WorryFree asks him to provide them with in an exchange for wealth. This is the difficult path black Americans need to take in order to make a living in a biased system.

3.5 Green Between Blue and Yellow Sorry to Bother You has its message front and center, where the anti-capitalistic rhetoric is depicted in each scene. Nevertheless, a successful film does not merely have to shout in expositional dialogue its intended purpose or meaning, but rather, through the language of film, the mise en scène. At first viewing, audience may have overlooked certain patterns of detail, where narrative, performance, use of color and music all are used to pinpoint the film’s meaning. In Sorry to Bother You, the vivid colors, blue, yellow and green, the first two are primary colors while green is a secondary one, being created by a blend of the other

497Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer, "The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception," in Dialect of Enlightenment, trans. Edmund Jephcott (CA: Stanford University Press, 2007), p. 106.

96 two.498 In the United States, light-blue is often associated with the working-class and yellow or shades of orange tone is correlated to the middle- and higher-working class, and with Cassius Green being the symbol, just as his name implies, green.499 The opening scene establishes the color scheme which runs throughout the film. Green is seen applying for a telemarketing position. Green sits nervously and hunched, clutching a plaque against his chest, with the frame in close-up in a yellow office.500 This cuts to a different angle from outside of the office, in the foreground is a large light-blue room with telemarketers sitting in cubicles, and in the background, is a doorframe where Green is seen sitting and to the left, a window shows the manager standing, about to interview Green.501 In this frame, Cassius Green sits between the blue of the foreground and the yellow in the background, as combining the two colors creates green which illustrates the two conflicting forces that places a strain on Green throughout the film.502

Fig, 1.12: Cassius Green sits between the blue of the foreground and the yellow in the background, as combining the two colors creates green which illustrates the two conflicting forces that places a strain on Green throughout the film.

Moreover, throughout the film, Squeeze and Salvador are often seen wearing blue as they are both vocal advocates for a union in RegalView. The blue symbolizes two themes, the

498 Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs, “Color Basics,” February 11, 2015, https://www.usability.gov/how-to- and-tools/methods/color-basics.html. 499 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 500 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 501 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 502 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018).

97 working-class and individuals that are immobile due to class struggle.504 In the scene where Green, Detroit, Squeeze and Salvador all are driving through Oakland, they pass by a football field in which Green says “look at our high school football team. No, literally. Look at them. They were stars in high school, now all they do is work at Home Depot and play football every day. Just stuck.”505 This is one of the starkest examples of immobility of the lower- class in the film while in addition depicting the male Black Americans false promises of mobility is only available through athleticism.506 Additionally, when Green gathers all of these individuals together, it symbolizes the solidarity across various identities that is crucial in order to overthrow the hegemonic structures. On the other color spectrum, yellow tinted color is a form of Green’s advancement and success. On his first day, Green is in RegalView’s yellow tinted hallway, where he briefly stands curious to see a golden colored elevator as two people stand in front of it, wearing more lavish and sleek clothes.507 He merely observes for a moment as he then turns to the right and continues towards a blue colored doorway with signs marked “Basement Offices This Way”.508 In this scene symbolizes the rise to success is by gaining access to the golden elevator, a literal mechanic that moves up, while the blue colored walls in the basement desk represent stagnation within the social class. By focusing on the three colors, yellow, blue and green in Sorry to Bother You, it becomes apparent that the racial and social issues of class are imbedded within the film itself, making its statements clearer for the viewer to observe. As the RegalView workers perform a walk-out in protest of the working conditions they are in, Green is called into the manager’s office, where Green is visibly nervous as he worries that he will be laid off due to their actions.509 Instead, the managers notify him that he has been promoted to PowerCaller, where he hesitates and asks, “what about them?” and points in the direction of his co-workers. The manager brushes this off and replies “they’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. You’re not going against their actions. All their issues are down here, not up there” and points upwards to indicate Green’s opportunity of capital gain.510

504 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 505 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 506 In this article, Cooper notes how prior to the civil-rights movement, “the playing field was the one place that allowed blacks, especially black males, to be free, at least briefly, from the oppression of their daily lives. Now, it’s seen as their path to the American dream. Sports are among the few spaces in our society where black males receive adoration and support, as opposed to stigma and exclusion. See; Joseph N. Cooper, "Why Are Black Males Supported Only When They’re Athletes? " Boston Globe, August 29, 2019. https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2019/08/21/why-are-black-males-only-supported-when-they- athletes/QwspMiHYgujEvhWi3VSI7L/story.html. 507 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 508 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 509 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018).

98 At this Green sits down and the camera pans closer to him while he anxiously stares out the window towards the workers.511 Then, as he glances towards the manager in front of him, the football team in blue are standing behind the manager as he says, “this is your moment. Don’t waste it”.512 This further illustrates how Green sees this as an opportunity to improve his circumstances and not continue to live in stagnation similar to that of the football team.

Fig. 1.13: The football player’s in blue symbolizing as the opportunity for Green to escape the immobility and move up in the world.

An example of futuristic experimentation on film’s formal elements and styling devices is on how the film portrays Green’s progression towards success by utilizing the white-voice as a telemarketer.513 The scene begins with the camera slowly panning to the right, showing the numerous RegalView employees working as Green’s white voice looms over.514 The camera comes to a halt on a medium shot on Green and similar to what was depicted before, there is a cut to Green sitting on his desk in the customer’s home.515 The previous scenes where this was deployed, Green, along with his desk, fell aggressively down, knocking his monitor off the desk. The editing in other words replicated the experience of the invasive nature of telemarketing.516 In contrast, this scene converges between the two spaces, which replaces the traditional cinematic cut, where now with Green’s white voice, he is a salesman who is an inviting presences to the point where he shares a joint with the customer.

510 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 511 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 512 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 513 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 514 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 515 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 516 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018).

99 This is further accentuated when Green has become a Power Caller, now the small cubicle has been replaced with a glass tinted office as he sits in a white leather lounge chair.517 As he calls his customer, the audience is transported to a Japanese businessman sitting on the toilet in a close-up.518 In the tight frame, Green imposes himself towards the customer while he confidently charms his way towards his selling-pitch, only to stop mid- point to flush.519 At this third stage, Green has gone from uncomfortably intrusive, to casually passing along a joint, to him becoming obtrusive within a private setting, controlling the customer’s space.520

517 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 518 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 519 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 520 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018).

100

Fig. 1.14, 1.15, 1.16: Cassius Green on his three stages goes from uncomfortably intrusive, to casually passing along a joint, to him becoming obtrusive within a private setting, controlling the customer’s space.

Moreover, one of the vital element that drives Sorry to Bother You message is through costume design, primarily, Detroit’s various earrings.521 In the scene where the audience are first introduced to her earrings is simultaneous to the first appearance of the company

521 During an interview, Riley explains the decision behind the costume designs, where the “earrings were in the script.” See more; Maya Singer, "Tessa Thompson and Boots Riley Talk Activism, Message Tees, and the Radical Style in Sorry to Bother You.", June 26, 2018 Vogue, (September 1, 2020). https://www.vogue.com/article/sorry- to-bother-you-film-wardrobe-costumes-tessa-thompson-boots-riley- statement-earrings.

101 WorryFree where she wears “Murder, Murder Murder/Kill/Kill/Kill”.522 This is to present that the WorryFree corporation is more sinister than one might realize upon first viewing. Another example of Detroit’s earrings used as symbolic juxtaposition with the WorryFree company is when Green, Detroit, Salvador, and Squeeze decide to go out to have a few drinks after work.523 Green steps out and moves towards Detroit, Sal and Squeeze who are standing and smoking a joint as Squeeze compliments on Detroit’s earrings.524 At this, the camera begins on a close-up of Detroit and pans closer to focus on the gold plated earrings that are of a man in an electric chair.525 The camera continues to pan where the earrings lose focus and a billboard behind her begins to be materialize as it is an advertisement for WorryFree.526 On the billboard is a Black American sitting on a couch as a cigarette hangs from his lips, with a drink in one hand, and in the other is a remote with the caption reading, “Show the world that you are a responsible babydaddy.”527 This is a reference to the imagery we see of Black Americans disproportionally being in mass incarceration is juxtaposed with the WorryFree workers essentially being imprisoned themselves.528 Moreover, it illustrates the country’s racial profiling of the Black men being absent as statistically speaking, “half of black households are headed by women.”529 However, as the film suggest, this racial stereotype of absent Black fathers are often due to them receive sentences that are ten percent longer than white individuals with the same crime.530 Black Americans are comprise 62.7 percent and whites 36.7 percent of all drug

522 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 523 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 524 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 525 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 526 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 527 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 528 In the New York Times article, it was reported that “The United States’ incarceration rate is now more than four times the world average, with about 2.2 million people in prisons and jails. Of those, roughly 200,000 are federal inmates, double the number from 20 years ago. This substantial increase occurred even as violent crime was falling sharply.” For more see; Jason Furman and Douglas Holtz-Eakin. "Why Mass Incarceration Doesn’t Pay." April 21, 2016, The New York Times, (September 1, 2020). https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/21/opinion/why-mass- incarceration-doesnt-pay.html? searchResultPosition=9. 529 In her article, Naasel attempts to break the myth cycle of absent Black fathers but fails to mention the disproportionally Black men who are incarcerated. See; Kenrya Rankin Naasel. "It’s a Myth That Black Fathers Are Absent." The New York Times, March 12, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/03/12/the- assumptions-behind-obamas-initiative/its-a-myth-that-black-fathers-are-absent.; See also an article on the constant incarcerated cycle numerous Black families face due to their inability to pay for child support; Frances Robles and Shaila Dewan. "Skip Child Support. Go to Jail. Lose Job. Repeat." The New York Times, April 19, 2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/us/skip-child-support-go-to-jail-lose-job-repeat.html. 530 M. Marit Rehavi, Sonja B. Starr "Racial Disparity in Federal Criminal Sentences ". University of Michigan Law School Scholarship Repository 122, no. 6 (2014): 1320-54. https://repository.law.umich.edu/articles/1414.

102 offenders admitted to state prison” even though white people are five times more prone to substance abuse.531 Detroit’s earrings often derive from famous songs that are social and racially charged such as her “Bury the Rag/Deep in Your Face” comes from “The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” by Bob Dylan in which a Black bar matron is killed by a rich white farmer, the pair that says “You’re Gonna Have to Fight/Your Own Damn War” is a reference to an anti-war draft song, “Party Up” by Prince.532 In the final scene, Detroit is wearing earrings that they say “Bella Ciao” which translates to “Goodbye Beautiful”.533 One could reason that this an interesting twist of Hollywood’s intertitle, “the end”.534 Nevertheless, if given the indication on the lyrical reference throughout the film, “Bella Ciao” is a reference to the nineteenth century Italian song (of the same name), in which women often sung this in order to cope with the difficult work and poorly paid conditions on rice paddy fields in Italy.535 The song progresses similar to a journal entry as it describes with increasing intensity of the hardship of working women, but end with a hopeful and resilient note with the last line being “but the day will come when us all will work in freedom.”536

531 Punishment and Prejudice: Racial Disparities in the War on Drugs. Human Rights Watch (May, 2000). https://www.hrw.org/legacy/reports/2000/usa/Rcedrg00.htm. 532 Dylan, Bob. "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll." In The Times They Are a-Changin', 1963.; Prince. "Party Up." In Dirty Mind, 1980. 533 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley (United States: Annapurna Pictures, 2018). 534 Numerous classical Hollywood films used this tactic as a way for audience to know that the film has come to a conclusion (as they had opening credits). Now in contemporary cinema, where the credits are at the end of a film, it has become useless. For an example of this, see; Casablanca, dir. Michael Curtiz, (US: Warner Bros., 1942). ; Stella Dallas, dir. King Vidor, (US: United Artists,1937). ; Scarface, dir. Howard Hawkes, (US: United Artists, 1932). ; Some Like it Hot, dir. Billy Wilder, (US: United Artists, 1959). ; Frankenstein, dir. James Whale, (US: Universal Pictures, 1931).; See also; Timothy Corrigan and Patricia White, The Film Experience: An Introduction, 3rd ed. (Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2015), 233. 535 Saeed, Saeed. "Why It Is Impolite to Play 'Money Heist' Song 'Bella Ciao' in Italy." The National, April 13, 2020. https://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/why-it-is-impolite-to-play-money-heist-song-bella-ciao-in- italy-1.1005390#. 536 In addition, the lyrics of the song were changed during WWII as to describe the men who were fighting against fascist regime where the song ends “this is the flower of the partisan who died for freedom.” See more; Saeed, Saeed. "Why It Is Impolite to Play 'Money Heist' Song”, 2020.

103

Fig. 1.17, 1.18., 1.19: Detroit’s earrings symbolize the film’s statements on social and racial issues.

Sorry to Bother You is a prime example of how the themes and messages it produces are immersed within the film itself. In the case of colors and costume design, they become a “substitute for speech, a translation of verbal statements, rather than an alternative, independent mode of communication.”537

537 V. F. Perkins, Film as Film, 118.

104 3.6 Boots’ Range of Achievements The final critical tool Perkins has provided, range of achievements illustrates how successfully Sorry to Bother You is in producing its social and racial themes. It achieves a coherent depiction of an unapologetic representation of the American zeitgeist as characterized by the hegemonic structures of capitalism and racial repression. One of the importance of Perkins’s range of achievements is to examine is the film’s aesthetic pursuits and particular features. In Sorry to Bother You, the aesthetics eschews from Perkins focus on classical Hollywood cinema, in which the film’s aesthetics can be described as a futuristic experimentation meets the force of Cuban Fidelistic revolutionary that demands social justice.538 This is evident in the opening scene when Green’s manager emphasizes the importance on the acronym, STTS, or “Stick to the Script” as it parallels the capitalist ideology in which it demands of one to partake in conforming to its system and to never disrupt its structure.539 Moreover, the government structure and corporate interests have completely merged in the narrative structure as is seen when Green and Squeeze are in a bar and Squeeze drops a newspaper with the headline, “Senate Committee Clears WorryFree of ‘Slavery’ Charges”. Again this is demonstrated when the exposure of Equisapiens fail to overthrow WorryFree’s power and instead causes the company’s stock market value to “sky- rocket at a rate faster than any other company in history”. As it is being reported on the news, the reporter mentions that leaders of the House and Senate were joined alongside Lift in his celebration of breaking a record for stock market rally.540 This illustrates the lobbying system in the United States where “companies are now increasingly bringing government in as a partner, looking to see what the country can do for them.”541 Therefore, similar to US companies utilizing upwards of hundred lobbyist representing the WorryFree company in order to control, maintain and influence the government towards a direction that they benefit from.

538 Fidelistic refers to the revolutionary Prime Minister of Cuba, Fidel Castro. See; "Fidel Castro." August 9, 2020, accessed September 7, 2020, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fidel-Castro. 539 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 540 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 541 Drutman, Lee. "How Corporate Lobbyists Conquered American Democracy." The Atlantic, April 20, 2015. https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/04/how-corporate-lobbyists-conquered-american- democracy/390822/.

105

Fig. 1.20, 1.21: The headline showcasing how corporation and government are intertwined with one another. As well as the House and Senate representatives are basking in each other’s success.

Additionally, Detroit creates a performance piece in her gallery which parallels how Green is complacent in conforming to the capitalistic system, sticking to the script.542 During this scene, Green and Detroit’s relationship has become sour as Green decided to continue to work for WorryFree, landing him in conflict with Detroit’s strong stance on rejecting capitalist conformity. As Green arrives at the art gallery, he notices that Detroit is having a conversation with white guests while using a British white voice (voiced by ).543 Detroit uses her white voice as she goes on to the stage where she describes the night to be a transformative experience, where she instructs the guest towards several containers that have broken cell phones, used bullet casings, and water balloons filled with sheep’s blood.544 She continues to inform the guests that cellphones are only able to function by mining Cobalt

542 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 543 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018. 544 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

106 mineral, which is found in Africa’s Congo region, and due to corporate greed, it has created hardship and wars.545 Then Detroit invites the audience to throw things out of the containers at her as she recites an excerpts from the film, , specifically, the line when “Angela says to Eddie Arcadian as she leaves him.” This goes as follows, “[a]nd in the end, Eddie, you know what? You’re nothing but a misguided midget asshole with dreams of ruling the world. Yeah, and also from Kew Gardens. And also getting by on my tits.”546 In The Last Dragon, the character Angela accepts the abuse by the video arcade mogul Eddie in order to pursue her dreams. However, in the particular scene Detroit recites, Angela does the honorable thing and defies Eddie, knowing that she is in return, sacrificing her dream.547 This illustrates the power of art in which it creates a conversation on social issues. As Detroit has created a performance that parallels Green’s own decision as he sacrificed his humanity in order for corporate profit. Additionally, Green becomes distressed on seeing Detroit become mistreated on stage and attempts to end the hurling of objects and asks, “why would you subject yourself to this?” to which Detroit retorts with “you of all people should understand, right?, stick to the script”.548 Here the message has been made clear towards Green’s own tolerance of abuse that he is willing to endure. Moreover, by seeing this exploitation that is inflicted during Detroit’s performance, is the hope that Green will self- reflect on his own conditioning towards the hegemonic system.

Fig. 1.22: Detroit during her performance art right before audience participate in throwing objects at her.

545 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.; Moreover on the corrupt and mistreatment on citizens of Congo see; Kavanagh, Michael J. "‘This Is Our Land’." The New York Times, January 27, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/26/opinion/sunday/congo-mining-election-fraud.html. 546 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.; See also; The Last Dragon, dir. Michael Schultz, (US: TriStar Pictures, 1985). 547 The Last Dragon, dir. Michael Schultz, (US: TriStar Pictures, 1985). 548 Sorry to Bother You, dir. Boots Riley, 2018.

107

Sorry to Bother You illustrates a near endless examples on its range of achievements to utilize film language to bring forth the social and racial issues that dominate life in the United States. In order for capitalism to continue its function, it has created a script that the working class has placed its faith in its striving to become mobile. As Cassius Green ascends higher in class status, using the script, he is promised wealth and power. However, in this rise he realizes the abuse and mistreatment that he will become an accomplice in maintaining the capitalistic status quo. WorryFree’s immoral exploitation of slave-labor is only enhanced by the support of lobbyist and interests of legislative government which blurs the line between gaining profit and the concerns of the public they swore to serve. It is here that one turns to performance art to reveal how the pursuit of the American Dream will only lead to a life of the corporations, with the assistance of government legislation, to exploit the immobile marginalized individuals below.

108 Conclusion: The Revolution Will be Televised From its early years, Hollywood has been hostile to Black Americans, creating degrading stereotypes, imagery and tropes that still linger within the viewer’s consciousness to this day. Contemporary Black filmmakers, such as Spike Lee, Ava DuVernay, Jordan Peele have been attempting to dismantle this tradition. The film medium is a powerful tool, as its vivid imagery easily shapes our consciousness and how we view our own society and as a result, representation is vital. Boots Riley utilizes this as he depicts the American zeitgeist regarding the living conditions of the working class and how the black American is forced to code-switch to have the slightest chance of success in society. The critical tools used in this analysis were adopted from a literary theory - the fantastical and the fable - as well as a method developed by V.F. Perkins, which examines the classical Hollywood narrative. These tools proved to be appropriate to analyze Boots Riley’s Sorry to Bother You. By utilizing Perkin’s analytical approach one can observe that Riley conveys his anti-capitalistic message completely and unapologetically through the film language as it is portrayed within each layer of the mise en scène, Detroit’s earrings, the use of colors blue, yellow and green, and the futuristic experimentation are excellent examples of this. The film is a harsh criticism of capitalism; how it functions and how we as individuals are contributing to it, even as it entraps us. Here an effort has been made to illustrate how that criticism is delivered to the highest potential through the film’s various elements. In retrospect, it would have been optimal to properly delve into Black aesthetics, as they certainly play a role in Sorry to Bother You. However, as the film has numerous compelling facets, it was sadly left on the cutting room floor. It would certainly be worth the time and effort for other film theorists to speculate on how Sorry to Bother You aligns itself with the twenty-first century expression of film Blackness through its aesthetic and social context. Despite that, this thesis hopefully provides a historical understanding of how Black Americans have been subjugated and their status maintained through continuous racist imagery within the film medium. It also casts light on how Sorry to Bother You subverts Hollywood’s narrative conditioning by confronting the audience of the bleak reality of injustice that thrives in the United States. Now in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and the social turmoil it has sparked, when Black voices are finally being heard, Black filmmakers are reclaiming their agency and the audience are ready for their message; hungry for some social relevance.

109

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128 Jackie Brown. Dir. Quentin Tarantino. US: Miramax Films, 1997. Jazz Singer. Dir. Alan Crosland. US: Warner Bros., 1927. Last Picture Show. Dir. Peter Bogdanovich. US: Columbia Pictures, 1971. Lethal Weapon. Dir. Richard Donner. US: Warner Bros., 1987. Madea Goes to Jail. Dir. Tyler Perry. US: Lionsgate, 2009. Magnum Force. Dir. Ted Post. US: Warner Bros., 1973. Mammy. Dir. Michael Curtiz. US: Warner Bros., 1930. Men in Black. Dir. Barry Sonnenfeld. US: Sony Pictures, 1997. Mississippi Burning. Dir. Alan Parker. US: Orion Pictures, 1988. Nina. Dir. Cynthia Mort. US: RLJ Entertainment, 2016. Norma Rae. dir. Martin Ritt. US: 20th Century Fox, 1979. Norma Rae. dir. Martin Ritt. US: 20th Century Fox, 1979. One Missed Call. Dir. Eric Valette. US: Warner Bros., 2008. Parasite. Dir. Bong Joon-ho. : CJ Entertainment, 2019. Police Academy. Dir. Hugh Wilson. US: Warner Bros., 1984. Prince. "Party Up." In Dirty Mind, 1980. Psycho, Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. US: Paramount Pictures, 1960. Red Dawn. Dir. John Milius, US: MGM/UA Entertainment Company, 1984. River of No Return. Directed by Otto Preminger. US: Twentieth Century Fox, 1954. Rope. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock. US: Warner Bros., 1948. Scarface. Dir. Howard Hawkes. US: United Artists, 1932. School Daze. Dir. Spike Lee. US: Columbia Pictures, 1988. Scream 2. Dir. Wes Craven. US: Dimension Films, 1997. Selma. Dir. Ava DuVernay. US: Paramount Pictures, 2014. Semi Pro. Dir. Kent Alterman. US: New Line Cinema, 2008. Seven Samurai. dir. Akira Kurosawa. JP: Toho, 1954. Shaft. Directed by Gordon Parks. US: MGM, 1971. Shining. Dir. Stanley Kubrick. US: Warner Bros., 1980 Sin City. Dir. Robert Rodriquez. US: Miramax Films, 2005. Sister Act. Dir. Emile Ardolino. US: Buena Vista Pictures Distribution, Inc., 1992. Some Like it Hot. Dir. Billy Wilder. US: United Artists, 1959. Sorry to Bother You. Dir. Boots Riley. US: Annapurna Pictures, 2018. Soul Man. Dir. Steve Miner. US: New World Pictures, 1986. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. Dir. Irvin Kershner. US: 20th Century Fox, 1980.

129 Stella Dallas. Dir. King Vidor. US: United Artists,1937. Straight Outta Compton. dir. F. Gary Gray. US: Universal Pictures, 2015. Sudden Impact. Dir. Clint Eastwood. US: Warner Bros.,1983. Super Fly. Directed by Gordon Parks Jr.. US: Warner Bros., 1972. Sweet Sweetbacks Baadasssss Song. Directed by Melvin Van Peebles. US: Cinemation Industries, 1971. Taxi. Dir. Tim Story. US: 20th Century Fox, 2004. That Awkward Moment. Dir. Tom Gormican. US: Focus Features, 2014. The Birth of a Nation. Dir. D.W. Griffith. US: Epoch Producing Co., 1915. The Courtship of Eddies Father. Directed by Vincente Minnelli. US: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1963. The Dead Pool. Dir. Buddy Van Horn. US: Warner Bros., 1988. The Enforcer. Dir. James Fargo. US: Warner Bros., 1976. The Green Mile, Dir. Frank Darabont. US: Warner Bros., 1999. The Last Dragon. dir. Michael Schultz. US: TriStar Pictures, 1985. The Learning Tree. Directed by Gordon Parks Jr.. US: Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, 1969. The Magnificent Seven. dir. John Sturges. US: United Artists, 1960. The Man Who Knew Too Much. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. UK: Gaumont-British Picture Corporation, 1934. The Man Who Knew Too Much. Dir. Alfred Hitchcock. US: Paramount Pictures, 1956. The Monster Squad. Dir. Fred Dekker. US: TriStar Pictures, 1987. The Party. Dir. Blake Edwards. US: United Artists, 1968. The Whole Nine Yards. Dir. Jonathan Lynn. US: Warner Bros., 2000. Training Day. Dir Antoine Fuqua. US: Warner Bros., 2001. Tropic Thunder. Dir. Ben Stiller. US: DreamWorks Pictures, 2008. Uncle Tom's Cabin. Dir. Harry A. Pollard. US: Universal Pictures, 1927. Wild Wild West. Dir. Barry Sonnenfeld. US: Warner Bros., 1999. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Dir. Mel Stuart. US: Paramount Pictures, 1971. X-Men: First Class. Dir. Matthew Vaughn. US: 20th Century Fox, 2011.

130 List of Figures Figure 1.0: Fraizer Darnella. Officer Kneeling on George Floyd. 2020. Minneapolis. Available at:https://storage.googleapis.com/afsprod/media/f966b5bc49d147c2aa3af0- b5bfe7a1b3/1000.jpeg. Figure 1.1: Griffith, D.W.. The Birth of a Nation [film still]. DVD, 1915. Figure 1.2: Victor Fleming. Gone with the Wind [film still]. DVD, 1939. Figure 1.3: Hitchcock, Alfred. Psycho [film still]. Blu-ray, 1960. Figure 1.4: Eisenstein, Sergei. Battleship Potemkin [film still]. 1925. Figure 1.5: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.6: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.7: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.8: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.9: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.10: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.11: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.12: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.13: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.14: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.15: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.16: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.17: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.18: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.19: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.20: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.21: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018. Figure 1.22: Riley, Boots. Sorry to Bother You [film still]. Blu-ray, 2018.

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