Recommended Viewing: Sorry To Bother You
To call Sorry to Bother You “this year’s Get Out” is somewhat accurate, but also reductive. Similar to Jordan Peele’s cult-turned-critically acclaimed classic, it deals with race and what the Black man experiences in a dynamic way. But there’s more at play here.This film truly is a sci-fi dark comedy that also functions as a conversation starter about the idea of capitalism. It asks: How far will one man and his job’s CEO go to make a dollar? I loved this movie for director Boots Riley’s perspective, so much so that I wish I hadn’t seen it alone. It would have been better to catch it with a bunch of friends and then talk it through my thoughts over food and drinks.When I first saw the trailer (which not once hints at all the wild hell that breaks loose around the two-thirds mark of the movie), I thought this was simply going to be a funny flick about code-switching and a Black guy doing what it takes to be successful in a racist world. Having a “Black” voice, and all it suggests is typically not a good thing in the business world. Sorry to Bother You tackles that and much more.A couple of things I thought about while at the theater watching Sorry to Bother You (NO SPOILERS):
- Have I worked at a WorryFree of sorts? Yes.
- How many Steve Lift’s have I worked under? [Redacted] I have too many stories
- The feeling of being the Chosen Black Guy and then being surrounded by white people daily
- I can sense the discomfort in the white viewers beside me as they wonder if they have been unconsciously racist before and then realize the answer is Yes. That fireside chat scene where the boss asks Cash to tell him a story about the rough ghetto lifestyle he assumedly lived, followed by demanding that he raps (because all Black people can rap) and be the party’s entertainment is not too far from reality.
Go see it! I want people to be talking about this through awards season.