The representation of black culture in contemporary Hollywood films, in response to Spike Lee's Bamboozled.

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The representation of black culture in contemporary Hollywood films, in response to Spike Lee's Bamboozled.

Bamboozled (2000), a film directed by Spike Lee is a satire that explores the portrayal of black race in the media and looks at the way in which elitist corporate companies exploit black culture. As a black director, Lee attacks the media, and suggests, in this film, that it remains the central structuring feature of Hollywood. Bamboozled exposes the racism that underlies American popular culture, and uses history to make its points and to remind us of the importance of the minstrel shows that first introduced blacks to the mainstream.

Lee's contentions that minstrelsy produced stereotypes are crucial elements of the film. Offering the outrageous as utterly conceivable, Bamboozled tells the story of an educated black man (Pierre Delacroix played by Damon Wayans), who whilst working for a struggling television company, produces the hugely popular 'New Millennium Minstrel Show' to save his employers and career. The 'New Millennium Show' is an unbelievable mockery of stereotypical comedy can imagine. Delacroix reinvents the black- face minstrel show from the early 20th century. Incredibly, Delacroix's spoof turns into a ratings bonanza, a cultural phenomenon that has