Dissecting “Sorry to Bother You”
Sorry To Bother You, directed by Boots Riley, is one of the most blatant examples of Afro-surrealism in recent cultural media. For those unfamiliar with the film, Sorry To Bother You came out in 2018, starring Lakeith Stanfield and Tessa Thompson. At its core, the film examines the African-American experience in America, especially racism and discrimination in America. However, to truly understand these themes, you have to have an understanding of Afro-surrealism. Defined by Amira Baraka, Afro-surrealism "Provides a radical framework to dispel the current orders of white supremacy and capitalism in all their rigidity, embracing chaos as a retaliation to rationality and flowing over the river". Those are a lot of big words, but my understanding is that Afro-surrealism in media uses extreme circumstances to draw attention to national issues that aren’t discussed. So in this podcast, we will discuss how Sorry To Bother You uses Afro-Surrealism to dive into modern racism. I plan to explain this concept to you with a few examples from this film, so stay tuned.
The first aspect of Sorry To Bother You that I want to examine is the main character, Cassius “Cash” Green, portrayed by Lakeith Stanfield. Let's start with the casting of Lakeith Stanfield as the protagonist. Stanfield has had a quick rise to stardom in recent years, starring in many Afrocentric productions, but more specifically, many productions focused on Afro-Surrealism. If you do not recognize Stanfield from Sorry to Bother You, you may know him as ‘Darius” in FX’s Atlanta. Atlanta is the most prominent example of Afro-Surrealism in recent media. The show uses exaggerated storylines to draw attention to the mistreatment of African-Americans in California, a very similar notion to Sorry to Bother You. If he still is not ringing a bell, you have to recognize him from Jordan Peele’s directorial debut, Get Out. Another Afro-Surrealism-focused film in the last 10 years. If it is not obvious, Lakieth Stanfield is no stranger to the concept of Afro-Surrealism, and I do not think his casting for this movie is a coincidence. Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks this. A 2018 article in SlashFilm claims Stanfield is “uniquely suited to portray the strange characters he’s been assigned. …His performances come across as effortless, with Stanfield disappearing completely into his roles”(Ryan). When talking about Stanfield, Donald Glover–Stanfield’s co-star— claims “I think he’s not acting, acting is pretending. And Keith doesn’t seem to pretend much”(Glover). Stanfield plays Cassius Green, an unemployed dreamer living in his Uncle’s garage in Oakland California. Now, let us unpack that sentence because there is plenty of symbolism represented here.
Let us start with our protagonist’s name, Cassius Green. The first name, Cassius, derives from the Irish word “Cassian”, meaning curly-headed. I believe this symbolizes Cassius’ racial identity which is important throughout the film. I honestly think they gave him such an ethnic name as a small form of exaggeration leading into a main theme in the movie, being the black experience. Director, Boots Riley, uses a lot of minuscule symbols to magnify his themes. For example, the movie is set in Oakland, CA. According to Donareli of YouthVoices.Live, “News channels and blogs demonstrate How Oakland is violent and incredibly dangerous. It’s hard even walking down the street without someone from other communities assuming that people from Oakland are going to pull out a gun and force them to give us their money”(Donareli). Oakland is a commonly used setting to portray a heavily black, impoverished population. This can be seen in movies like Dope, Black Panther, and Straight Outta Compton. I think this set is another way for Riley to convey the theme in the film. Riley oversaturates this film with these little symbols to exaggerate his themes, this serves as a big component in the Afro-Surrealism in Sorry to Bother You.
Diving into the film itself, a blatant example of Afro-Surrealism is the “white voice”. For those who have not seen the film, “the white voice” is a way black telemarketers alter their voices to sound more appealing to clients. They model their voices after white people, hence the name. They do this because of the idea that black people do not sell as well as white people do, especially to a white audience. The “white voice” plays a major role in Cassius’ furtherance in his career throughout the film. Once he models himself after a white person, we watch him get a promotion, a new car, and a new apartment. In Read, Until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature, Farah Griffin speaks on White Supremacy saying “the judicial system, the government, the police, the banks, and the press–all of those in possession of power and authority in a liberal society– work to dominate and exploit the Black poor such that form of imprisonment and state-sanctioned death is inevitable and constitute a kind of Fate”(Griffin 115-116). We see the theme Griffin speaks of throughout this film, especially in the idea of the “white voice”. This use of satire demonstrates the concept that it is almost impossible to succeed in America unless you are white, especially in corporate America. I am someone who is no stranger to code-switching, as in changing my tone and demeanor in customer service settings to fit my audience best. However, to the extent code-switching is done in this film, is definitely not possible.
In all, Sorry to Bother You does a great job of drawing attention to the hardships of the black community in regard to white spaces, especially work spaces. The little details put into this film like the protagonist’s name and setting add depth to the ideas being displayed. The exaggeration used with the “white voice” makes the content relatable to the black audience while still doing a great job exemplifying these troubling issues to a broader audience. Sorry to Bother You truly is a cinematic masterpiece and one of my personal favorite films of the last 10 years. The use of Afro-Surrealism, not only in this movie but in recent media, is a sure way to wake up the ones with a blind eye.
Works Cited
Author Doraneli, and Doraneli. “Home.” Youth Voices Site Wide Activity RSS, 8 Jan. 2019, https://www.youthvoices.live/stereotypes-in-oakland/.
Griffin, Farah Jasmine. Read until You Understand: The Profound Wisdom of Black Life and Literature. W. W. Norton & Company, Incorpor, 2022.
Insansa, Lisa. “Afro-Surrealism: The Art of Resistance.” AMAKA, AMAKA, 10 Mar. 2022, https://amaka.studio/explore/articles/afro-surrealism-the-art-of-resistance.
Ryan, Danielle. “Lakeith Stanfield Isn't Pretending: How the 'Sorry to Bother You' and 'Atlanta' Star Became 2018's Defining Actor.” /Film, SlashFilm, 24 Oct. 2018, https://www.slashfilm.com/561885/lakeith-stanfield-appreciation/.