Blog Seven. Bamboozled (2000). Due by 9 PM.

Bamboozle: 1: to deceive by underhanded methods: DUPE, HOODWINK. 2: to confuse, frustrate, or throw off thoroughly or completely.  Synonyms: beguile, bluff, con, delude, dupe, fool, sucker, take in, trick.

"When we did this film we were approaching the 100th anniversary of cinema and the 50th of television. So I want to look at Bamboozled, which a lot of people didn't get. You can make the same film about women, the same film about gay people, the same film about Native Americans, about Hispanics, about how people have been dehumanized in cinema and television."
—Spike Lee

Written and directed by Spike Lee
Music: Terence Blanchard
Cinematography: Ellen Kuras
Released 6 October 2000
Budget: $10 million
Box Office: $2.5 million

Pierre Delacroix/Peerless Dothan...Damon Wayans
Sloan Hopkins...Jada Pinkett Smith
Manray/"Mantan"...Savion Glover 
Womack/"Sleep 'n Eat"...Tommy Davidson
Thomas Dunwitty...Michael Rapaport
Julius Hopkins/"Big Blak Afrika"...Mos Def
"Honeycutt"...Thomas Jefferson Byrd
Junebug (Peerless's father)...Paul Mooney

Spike Lee, never adverse to self-promotion, uses this clip from his own Malcolm X, starring Denzel Washington in Bamboozled. He also has Dunwitty mention that "Spike Lee" can't tell him what to do.

Here's a surprise: Bamboozled was a flop both commercially and critically. It's rarely mentioned when people discuss Lee's hugely varied canon of works—the certified classic Do The Right Thing, the sprawling and powerful Malcolm X, the devastating documentary on the bombing of a Birmingham AL church by the Klan, Four Little Girls, his one huge commercial success, Inside Man, and most recently his Oscar winning BlackkKlansman. Yet it has its supporters. Read this 2015 reassessment of it. It's not a date film: I doubt Barrack would have taken Michelle to see this on their first date (their first date movie was Do The Right Thing). It's not Thank You For Not Smoking, a crowd pleaser. If anything, it is closest to the Negro Town sketch by Key and Peele that we watched (the writer for the Guardian essay saw this as well).  Here is the trailer for it: it barely hints at what's to come in the film.

1. After today's break, I asked what you all thought of the movie, and those of you who spoke said you liked it; generally there were smiles of assent to this position by those who didn't speak. What we watched after the break...well, the room felt different to Clark and me. More somber, less comfortable, less humored. Few were smiling when the class ended. So did your reaction to the movie change after the break?  Was there something different about the film as we went from the auditions (which were, let's admit it, pretty humorous) to our seeing "Mantan: The New Millennial Minstrel Show" to seeing Junebug's routine at the small club to the way the public embraces the show? Did the way you felt about the movie change as you watched it? In fact, in addressing this question, what do you feel as you watch the movie?

Fans of "Mantan: The New Millennial Minstrel Show"

2. Pierre/Peerless and Sloan: they come up with this offensive show to...what? Pierre/Peerless wants to get fired from CBN so he can make the kind of shows that would not be the stereotypical presentation of the lives of black people that populate the airwaves. Sloan agrees and supports him on this. Yet neither walks away from the show that is so racist.  Why? And what do you think of these two? Like? Dislike? Understand? Are they all that different than Nick Naylor: it's clear they all have mortgages to pay?

3. The tough one: what is the object (or objects) of satire in the movie?  And do you think the satire is effective?

4. What scene or moment has stayed with you from today's viewing? And why?

Jada Pinkett Smith and Damon Wayans

Tommy Davidson and Savion Glover

Spike Lee directing Savion Glover and Jada Pinkett Smith

See you all tomorrow.  But before you do, watch the brilliance of Savion Glover.

Blog Six. Thank You for Smoking (2006)

Citizen Ruth had us laughing about abortion issues. This film has us laughing about the Merchants of Death.  Pretty remarkable.  But then Jonathan Swift had us musing about cannibalism.  Gotta love satire.
 Here are the facts:

Directed by	Jason Reitman
Screenplay by	Jason Reitman
Based on	Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley
Music by	Rolfe Kent
Cinematography	James Whitaker
Release date	March 17, 2006 (United States)
Budget	$10 million
Box office	$39.3 million

Cast:

• Aaron Eckhart as Nick Naylor, a spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies
• Cameron Bright as Joey Naylor, Nick's son
• Katie Holmes as Heather Holloway, a reporter for the Washington Probe
• Maria Bello as Polly Bailey, a spokeswoman for the alcohol industry.
• David Koechner as Bobby Jay Bliss, a spokesman for S.A.F.E.T.Y (Society for the Advancement of Firearms and Effective Training for Youth).
• William H. Macy as Senator Ortolan Finistirre
• Robert Duvall as the Captain, founder of The Academy for Tobacco Studies
• J. K. Simmons as "BR", Nick's boss
• Marianne Muellerleile as Joey's school teacher
• Kim Dickens as Jill Naylor, Nick's ex-wife
• Rob Lowe as Jeff Megall, a Hollywood super-agent
• Adam Brody as Jack, Jeff Megall's assistant
• Sam Elliott as Lorne Lutch, the original Marlboro Man
• Todd Louiso as Ron Goode
• Dennis Miller as Himself

1.  Here are the posters for the film:

 Which one best captures the film's content? How?

2. As several of you said at the end of class today, Nick Naylor is both charming and horrifying.  We think it is interesting to compare him with Ruth.  Take a few minutes to play around with that idea and record what you come up with.

3. OR is this film a serious treatment of a father and son relationship?  Here is one of the conversations that Nick and Joey have:

https://youtu.be/_T_2DUw4noI

What do you think about this relationship?

Blog five. Citizen Ruth (1996)

Director: Alexander Payne
Screenplay: Payne and Jim Taylor
Released 13 December 1996
Budget: $3 million
Box Office: $282,112

Ruth Stoops...Laura Dern
Diane Siegler (the spy)...Swoozie Kurtz
Norm Stoney (chief anti-abortionist)...Kurtwood Smith
Gail Stoney...Mary Kay Place
Rachel (Diane's partner)...Kelly Preston
M.C. Gainey...Harlan 
Blaine Gibbons...Burt Reynolds

Alec Baldwin has something to say about Citizen Ruth:

And this is what he's talking about:

One thing you can say about the film's writers, Ken Taylor and Alexander Payne -- they are mighty comfortable with discomfort.  John and I would argue that the film takes its time getting to the satire.  The opening scenes are tough to watch.  So are some later moments.  We have to keep them in mind as we laugh at the comedic elements of the film (and should we laugh).  So, let's start with your reaction to the story's protagonist and then move on to the next two questions:

1.  What do you think of Ruth?  Is she a sympathetic character?  How or how not?

2.  What about the people who come to her aid?  Are they sympathetic characters?

3.  Keeping your reactions to these characters in mind, what do you see as the target of the satire?  What is the problem that the film addresses?  Does the film offer a solution to the problem?

Blog Four. Starship Troopers (1997)

"Violence—the supreme authority from which all other authority is derived"—Mr. Rasczak

 Director: Paul Verhoeven
Screenplay: Edward Neumeier, based on the novel by Robert A. Heinlein
Released 7 November 1997
Budget: $105 million
Box Office: $121.2 million

Pvt./Cpl./Sgt./Lt. Johnny Rico...Casper Van Dien
Pvt. Isabelle "Dizzy" Flores...Dina Meyer
Lt./Capt. Carmen Ibanez...Denise Richards
Pvt. Ace Levy...Jake Busey
Col. Carl Jenkins...Neil Patrick Harris
Lt. Zander Barcalow...Patrick Muldoon
Sgt. Zim...Clancy Brown
Lt. Jean Rasczak...Michael Ironside
Cpl. Sugar Watkins...Seth Gilliam

Carl and his posse: Nazi officers:

 The Federation Meeting Hall:

 The Nazi Meeting Hall:

The invasion of Klendathu:

The invasion of Normandy, D-Day, 6 June 1944 (Saving Private Ryan, Steven Spielberg,
1998):

 The only good bug...

"He is guilty for the war." 1943. (United States Holocaust Museum)

And you thought this was just a silly sci-fi movie with beautiful people and monsters.

1. The Nazi German influence in the film, something Anne quickly picked up on—and others of you as well (and some of which are pictured above: the similarity in uniforms and the way Verhoeven used Leni Riefenstahl's 1935 Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will as a model for several set pieces in the film).  To what point or to what effect in Starship Troopers?  In other words—why do this?

2. Look at the clips from the Klendathu invasion in our movie and from the D-Day invasion from Spielberg's film (considered by many as one of the most realistic Hollywood war films ever made). Spielberg's film came after Starship Troopers; but Verhoeven used documentary footage from the D-Day invasion as a basis for his own invasion.  If Spielberg's film is "realistic," Verhoeven's invasion is pretty realistic as well (forget for a minute the Arachnids as opposed to the Germans are the enemies).  So why make this invasion as graphic and realistic as Verhoeven does—to what purpose in this film that in so many ways—the prettiness of the cast, the cliches of the script—is totally unrealistic?

3. What is the satire in Starship Troopers? What is being critiqued? And it can be several thing being critiqued.

4. What is Starship Troopers proposing as a solution to what is is critiquing? Or is there no solution offered?

250-300 words. Short answers will be downgraded.

Blog Three. Brazil. Due by 9 PM Sunday.

Satire: the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, or ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.

1. So...what do you think the movie is offering as a solution to the problem?  Now that you have seen the whole film, you can talk even more specifically about what the movie wishes to change in the context of how it proposes to change whatever ill or problem it is addressing.

2. Our conversation in class today was mostly about the world today (going back maybe 30 some years) and how Brazil connects to our world. So what do you find most timely or contemporary about the movie? Really try to not repeat what others say: please, all of you present as many different views as you can about the timeliness of this wild movie.

Finally: a scene from the 1984 film 1984, which provides us a possibility of what is done to Sam Lowry by his best friend Jack. 

Blog Two. Brazil (1985). Due by 9PM. Be Sure To Click on "Add Comment" to Post Your Response.

 

Director: Terry Gilliam
Writers: Gilliam, Charles McKeown, Tom Stoppard

Sam Lowry...Jonathan Pryce
Jill Layton...Kim Greist
Archibald "Harry" Tuttle...Robert De Niro
Mrs. Ida Lowry...Katherine Helmond
Mr. Kurtzmann...Ian Holm
Spoor...Bob Hoskins
Jack Lint...Michael Palin

Released: 18 December 1985 (US)
Budget: $15 million
Box Office: $9.9 million

1. What do you think of the movie so far? Like? Dislike? And what moment or scene has stayed with you—and why?

2. What do you think of our hero Sam? Do you care about him? Do you like him? Is he a good person—a moral person? Do you care about his mission? And, in fact, what is his mission?

3. What is the problem this movie presents? What is Terry Gilliam wanting to take down? And how does he show this—how do you see him using satire here?

250-300 words. Again: click on "Comments" to post your response.

Ducts.

See you tomorrow.

Blog #1 "A Modest Proposal"

Let's follow up on today's topical humor with a 300-year-old essay about a very different time and place: early 18th century Ireland.  Read the following essay and then answer the questions below (a fully developed paragraph foe each will do).  We'll discuss your observations in class tomorrow and see if this has anything in common with Key and Peele.

1.  What is your reaction to the speaker's proposal?  Is it modest? How? How not?

2.  Given that this is a class about satire, you can safely assume the essay has something to do with the genre we discussed today.  So, do you see this as a satire?  Explain.

3.  Does Jonathan Swift, as Trinity said of Dave Chapelle, love humanity? Make sure you explain.