Race Relations and Conflicts
As in nearly all Spike Lee films, race relations are a central theme or as in the case of Bamboozled, flawed and ultimately, doomed race relations. The film asserts that race relations in North America, especially between Whites and African-Americans, are essentially skewed to favor whites. Moreover, the director’s sentiments lean towards the opinion that not only are racial dealings between whites and African-Americans inherently inequitable but actually doomed, and that all interactions will eventually come to a dynamic, potentially violent conflict.
Rise and Fall/Rags to Riches
Despite the socio-political content Bamboozled also plays out like a Greek tragedy. It is a classic rise and fall story, notably of Pierre and Manray, who are both eventually destroyed by their hubris. Both characters start out on the bottom of the food chain and through a combination of grit and the right opportunities they manage to make their way to the top--only to come crashing back down because of their hubris. Their egos alienate and infuriate those around them but more tragically it erodes and eventually destroys the key relationships that were central to the attainment and maintenance of their success: Manray is abandoned by Womack, his dancing partner and one-half of the Mantan comedy routine, and his departure marks the decline of the show’s popularity. Pierre fires Sloane in a fit of jealousy and this act sets off a chain of events that marks not only the decline of his career but his eventual demise.
Crisis of Conscience
The main characters in the film experience a crisis of conscience as their personally held set of ethical standards come to a head with the extraordinary situations that they find themselves in. As a network executive with no real authority, when the opportunity for recognition and power is presented to Pierre Delacroix he finds himself at a crossroads: he can take the high road and turn the project down or, as in this case, he takes the low road. He sells out and produces Mantan despite knowing that not only would he be offending the entire African-American populace but he'd ultimately be insulting himself. Manray and Womack face a similar dilemma: as literal starving artists they can nobly turn the project down, with many good reasons to do so, but they take the project on despite their disgust for it and despite the ire they will earn.
