Touré - Sorry to Bother You: is this the most shocking anti-capitalist film ever?
A wealthy man once
told me that you can’t get really rich unless you have other people working for
you. To achieve the American dream of boundless wealth, you need to stand on
many other people’s backs. That’s capitalism. But how do you entice them to let
you stand on their backs so you can make more money than them, and what do you
owe them for that privilege?
These questions are at
the core of Sorry
to Bother You, a comedy-drama starring Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa
Thompson, written and directed by Boots
Riley, a rapper with Oakland band the Coup. Sorry to Bother You, set in an
alternative version of that Californian city, is one of the most
anti-capitalist movies Hollywood has ever produced. We’re used to seeing the
rich portrayed as evil, but here we see people sell their souls to ascend the
corporate ladder. The film shows how easily people will compromise their
principles for money – and, more frightening still, how far owners and
management will go to create perfectly obedient workers.
But Sorry
to Bother You could easily find itself remembered primarily for a
brilliant repeated gag: a black character speaking with a comically white
voice. Stanfield has quickly
established himself as one of the most interesting actors of his day. He played
Snoop Dogg in Straight
Outta Compton and more recently featured in Get
Out and Atlanta.
But here he is doing something totally different. His character, Cassius “Cash”
Green, a low-level telemarketer, learns that, in order to succeed at work, he
has to put on a white voice. This does not mean a nasal affectation, along the
lines of that corny old nerdy-voice stereotype that mid-level black comedians
do. It means putting into your voice an embrace of the ease that white
privilege brings. It means sounding as if you’re entitled to the good life. It
means feeling calm way down in your soul. It means never having to be afraid
someone will call the police on you just because you’re breathing... read more:
