Touré - Sorry to Bother You: is this the most shocking anti-capitalist film ever?

By Dilip -
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:

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/aug/19/sorry-to-bother-you-is-this-the-most-anti-capitalist-film-ever

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