A director who has built a reputation lacing often wildly comical
entertainment with a challenging dose of harsh reality, Spike Lee is
stepping up to the plate once again whether Hollywood likes it or not,
with BAMBOOZLED. A modern day satirical fantasy that critically touches
on the legacy of U.S. minstrel shows and similar racially humiliating
artifacts, BAMBOOZLED is a bit to cultural racism in America what the
mock musical The Producers was to the Jewish holocaust.
Stars Damon Wayans and Savion Glover negotiate difficult and often
heart wrenching material in BAMBOOZLED that never flinches in exposing
the artisic manifestations of both racist contempt and racial self
hatred. Spike Lee dropped by to discuss his choice of weapons in
confronting established cinematic conventions with BAMBOOZLED, and to
defend his unique and subversive approach to movemaking.
THE INTERVIEW
What made you want to take up this very controversial subject of the minstrel
show legacy in BAMBOOZLED?
It was not one particular incident, but rather evolution, a life of going to
films and seeing as much TV as my parents allowed me to see. and being in
this industry, and experiencing and hearing about other people's experiences.
And finally just knowing about the misrepresentation of people of color in
TV.
What is it about what's going on in racial misrepresentations today that
influenced your decision to make this movie?
It doesn’'t matter, people are intelligent and they can surmise. It
doesn’'t do me any good to say specific shows on The WB or UPN , I
don’'t
think that’'s appropriate. A lot of gangsta rap videos have evolved into
21st
century minstrel shows. Take a bunch of them and lump them together, and you
see the same thing.
What kind of research went into making BAMBOOZLED?
A ton of stuff. Like I had never seen Bugs Bunny in blackface before. We
tried to put that in the film, but the gatekeepers at Time Warner said, hell
no, we ain’'t letting you use this.
What's the greatest motivating factor that spurs you to make a movie?
You have different goals for different films, it depends on the subject
matter. Does a Crooklyn impact with our goal to effect society? No, it’'s a
small story about a girl growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y. That’'s much different
than what we wanted to do with Malcolm X. We really wanted to put the focus
back on the media, and it’'s uses and abuses of people.
Do you feel actors should assume social responsibility or blame for the roles
they accept?
As artists we make choices, and there’'s consequences of those choices and
the
directions we chose to go in. I think this film has much more leaning with
the generation of actors like Bill Bojangles and Stepin’' Fetchit. They
didn’'t have a choice in the roles they did. Nowadays, we have choices.
So to me there’'s no comparison between the two. Everybody feels they
have to do what they have to do, but at the end of the day what you do is not
going to go away, whether it’'s a movie, a song, or a TV show. It’'s
going to
be there until infinity.
But that’'s a question each individual has to answer for himself.
Somebody might feel they have no responsibility at all. So it really depends,
but criticism is good. What this film does is raise the stakes for African
American performers, and it might put them under scrutiny so people might
start to think about the roles or the songs.
Was it difficult for the actors to put on blackface for their roles?
It was painful. It bothers your soul and your spirit to do that. No joke,
that was not an easy thing for them to do. But it was a good think to play as
an actor.
How important was it for you to include that collection of Black memorabilia
in "BAMBOOZLED?"
I think a great deal. Once I decided to do this film, I started buying up the
stuff left and right. When I was writing this script I had two things on my
desk’ the big Aunt Jemima thing, and the Jolly Nigger bank on the other
side.
Why did you want to make "BAMBOOZLED" at this point in your career?
This was the time now. It wasn’'t like why, don’'t we wait until the
election
is over or let me sign this deal first. I just think this is a good time for
this film. Look at this past summer and some of the biggest films: "The
Klumps," Big Momma House, "Scary Movie,"and on a much smaller plane, "The
Original Kings of Comedy." You could make the argument that it hasn’'t been
a
bad time for Black films in the history of Hollywood.
Will [Smith] is getting twenty million, Chris Tucker is getting twenty
million, Martin [Lawrence] is getting seventeen million for his next movie.
We’'re all happy for that, but let’'s not be lulled to sleep, or
BAMBOOZLED
just by that.
There’'s a whole lot of stuff that has to happen, and for me, until we
get in a position with the gatekeepers. These are the people that decide what
goes on television, what movies get made, what gets heard on the radio, and
what appears in the magazines. And I can tell you those are all exclusive
white men.
These are the guys making the choices of all of western civilization,
because American pop culture goes the world over. Nine to ten guys, they
decide what we’'re going to do. We've got to get in those positions to evoke
a
change.
What do you want audiences to get out of "BAMBOOZLED?"
I always try to stay away from answering that question. They always get you
for that one! But there is so much stuff in this film, that you can really
pick and chose.
What are you working on next?
It's a script about Joe Lous and Max Schmeling. In their fight that took
place in 1937, you might say that Joe knocked out fascism when he knocked out
Max Schmeling in the first round. There was a buildup to that fight with Nazi
Germany and the threat of war. Louis said, these are the muscles that helped
us beat the nazis. It’'s a great, great story, despite the fact that the two
were always friendly.
After the war, Max was broke and Joe was hounded by the IRS until his
death. In post-WW II Germany Coca Cola was moving in, and they said, we need
someone to run Coca Cola, let’'s get Max Schmeling. So he becomes a
multi-millionaire, and Joe Louis is broke. He ends up up being a greeter at
Caesar’'s Palace, and was buried at Arlington Cemetery.
How do you feel about the controversy surrounding your ad campaign for
"BAMBOOZLED," and the NY Times refusing to accept the ad you submitted
to them?
I did not make up blackface. There’'s nothing on those sheets that you
don’'t
see in the film. This is the image we chose to represent the film. Is it
offensive to some people? It might be, I acknowledge that. But that does not
negate the fact that we still have to deal with these images.
