History Film / Bamboozled

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Perhaps unintentional, but the whole premise mirrors ''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Black_and_White_Minstrel_Show The Black and White Minstrel Show,]]'' which ran to high ratings from 1958 to 1978 on BBC television. It had high production values, excellent writing and performances, and was both popular and hugely entertaining. Nonetheless, it died of ValuesDissonance in the late 70's.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Delacroix, Manray and most of the Mau-Maus are all dead. Sloan will have to live with the guilt that she killed Delacroix. Its implied that ''Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show'' will continue on with another [[TheOtherDarrin "dime a dozen" nigger]], proving that no one has learned from this experience or that the show will go down as an In-Universe TooGoodToLast.]]

* TakeThat: Early in the film, Lee uses the absurdly buffoonish and offensive character of Dunwitty to take a [[{{Anvilicious}} not-at-all subtle jab]] at his much-publicized spat with Creator/QuentinTarantino over the issue of NWordPrivileges.

''Bamboozled'' (2000) is a satirical film directed by Creator/SpikeLee.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/e383144bbc154335e6ba35ddb7929341.jpg]]

'''''Bamboozled''''' (2000) is a satirical film directed by Creator/SpikeLee.

* CringeComedy: The "Mantan" sketches are meant to be this. Spike Lee claimed he wanted the show to be unironically funny to make the stereotypes and blackface all the more uncomfortable.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Perhaps unintentional, but the whole premise mirrors [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_black_and_white_minstrel_show The Black and White Minstrel Show]], which ran to high ratings from 1958 to 1978 on BBC television. It had high production values, excellent writing and performances, and was both popular and hugely entertaining. Nonetheless, it died of ValuesDissonance in the late 70's.

* AwesomeMcCoolname:

* PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy: Dunwitty. Also, one of the members of the Mau-Maus.

* AnAesop: Racial caricatures in entertainment are bad, m'kay? Particularly when enacted by members of ones own race.

* IKnowYourTrueName: Sloan invokes it to try and bring "Pierre" back down to earth.0

* AnAesop: Racial caricatures in entertainment are bad, m'kay?
** More to the point: Don't help the White Man perpetuate said racial caricatures against your own race.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: "[[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench Pierre Delacroix]]"'s real name is Peerless Dunphy.
** IKnowYourTrueName: Sloan invokes it to try and bring "Pierre" back down to earth.

* {{Blackface}}

* [[ClusterFBomb Cluster N Bomb]]

* JiveTurkey: Obviously.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Much as Mr. Lee would probably like to harm Creator/QuentinTarantino, he is much less enthusiastic about libel suits.

* ShowWithinAShow
* SpringtimeForHitler: GoneHorriblyWrong

* [[TruthInTelevision Truth In Satirical Film]]: Spike Lee did not make up the minstrel names [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantan_Moreland Mantan]] or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Best Sleep n' Eat]].

* VerbedTitle

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bamboozled_4770.jpg

Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) is a Harvard-educated African American man, working for a television network known as CNS ("Continental Network System"), who's feeling a bit pissed. His boss, Thomas Dunwitty (Creator/MichaelRapaport), is a [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy whigger]] who insists he is more black than Delacroix is, and who dismisses all the intelligent shows about African-Americans that Delacroix proposes as knockoffs of ''TheCosbyShow''. Delacroix believes that all Dunwitty wants are shows portraying African-Americans as buffoons.

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Frankly, Delacroix would just like to leave, but he's contractually bound to the network. In order to get himself fired, and to satirize the network's desire for buffoonish black people, Delacroix concocts a brilliant plan: He comes up with a televised [[ModernMinstrelsy minstrel show]] called ''Mantan: The New Millenium Minstrel Show'', in which two black street performers portray goofballs named "Mantan" and "Sleep 'N Eat" on a watermelon plantation in blackface makeup. Dunwitty, sure enough, greenlights the show.

Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) is a Harvard-educated African American man, working for a television network known as CNS ("Continental Network System"), who's feeling a bit pissed. His boss, Thomas Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport), is a [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy whigger]] who insists he is more black than Delacroix is, and who dismisses all the intelligent shows about African-Americans that Delacroix proposes as knockoffs of ''TheCosbyShow''. Delacroix believes that all Dunwitty wants are shows portraying African-Americans as buffoons.

* BrokenAesop: After a whole movie about how racial stereotypes in cinema are bad, the movie ends with a "good" black character shooting and killing somebody.

This film provides examples of:

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Perhaps unintentional, but the whole premise mirrors [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_black_and_white_minstrel_show The Black and White Minstrel Show]], which ran to high ratings from 1958 to 1978 on BBC television. It had high production values, excellent writing and performances, and was both popular and hugely entertaining. Nonetheless, it died of {{ValuesDissonance}} in the late 70's.

** Sloan's brother (and Mau-Mau's member) Big Blak Afrika, played by MosDef.
*** LampshadeHanging:

* GoneHorriblyRight: Delacroix assumes the idea for the show will get him fired, but his boss greenlights it. He then banks on it being a controversial flop, but it becomes wildly successful

* HeyItsThatGuy: Probably deliberate. The white member of the Mau-Maus is played by white rapper (and former 3rd Bass member) MC Serch, not widely known for his acting career.

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'''''Bamboozled''''' (2000) is a satirical film directed by SpikeLee.

* [[TruthInTelevision Truth In Satirical Film]]: Spike Lee did not make up the minstrel names [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantan_Moreland Mantan]] or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Best Sleep n' Eat]]. Also, black actors sometimes did peform in {{blackface}}.

* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: Much as Mr. Lee would probably like to harm QuentinTarantino, he is much less enthusiastic about libel suits.

* TakeThat: Early in the film, Lee uses the absurdly buffoonish and offensive character of Dunwitty to take a [[{{Anvilicious}} not-at-all subtle jab]] at his much-publicized spat with QuentinTarantino over the issue of NWordPrivileges.

* [[TruthInTelevision Truth In Satirical Film]]: Spike Lee did not make up the minstreal names [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mantan_Moreland Mantan]] or [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Best Sleep n' Eat]]. Also, black actors sometimes did peform in {{blackface}}.

** Up until the 1920s, before jazz truly broke out, blackface was the only way a black person could perform on stage. Even Josephine Baker was forced to perform in black face before moving to France.

Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) is a Harvard-educated African American man, working for a television network known as CNS ("Continental Network System"), who's feeling a bit pissed. His boss, Thomas Dunwitty (Michael Rapaport), is a [[PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy whigger]] who insists he is more black than he is, and who dismisses all the intelligent shows about African Americans that Delacroix proposes as knockoffs of ''TheCosbyShow''. Delacroix believes that all Dunwitty wants are shows portraying African Americans as buffoons. Frankly, he'd just like to leave, but he's contractually bound to the network. In order to get himself fired, and to satirize the network's desire for buffoonish black people, Delacroix concocts a brilliant plan: he comes up with a televised [[ModernMinstrelsy minstrel show]] called ''Mantan: The New Millenium Minstrel Show'', in which two black street performers portray goofballs named "Mantan" and "Sleep 'N Eat" on a watermelon plantation in blackface makeup. Dunwitty, sure enough, greenlights the show.

[[SpringtimeForHitler To Delacroix's horror, the show is a huge success]].

* BadBoss: Thomas C. Dunwitty, the tyrannical vice president of the Continental Network System or (CNS).

* BulletDancing: After he refuses to do his routine, the gangsta rapper Mau-Maus force Manray (the guy who plays Mantan) to tapdance at gunpoint one last time before shooting him

* TakeThat: Early in the film Lee uses the absurdly buffoonish and offensive character of Dunwitty to take a [[{{Anvilicious}} not-at-all subtle jab]] at his much-publicized spat with QuentinTarantino over the issue of NWordPrivileges.

* UnfortunateImplications: Of the real-life variety: Dunwitty is just one in a long line of Shylock-esque Jewish characters in Spike Lee's films that have drawn allegations of anti-Semitism on his part.

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