Elias AAL

    Sorry to Bother You is a film written and directed by Boots Riley, released in 2018. The movie deals with issues of class, employment, and depicts the way race ties into them. In this post, I will be discussing how Sorry to Bother You and Invisible Man relate to each other, and as a warning this post will contain minor spoilers for the movie.     Sorry to Bother You follows a young man named Cassius Green. Looking for work, and living in his uncle's garage, Cassius eventually lands himself a spot at a telemarketing company. At first, he fails to achieve any semblance of success. Unable to maintain a call with a customer for more than ten seconds, he receives some advice from a seasoned coworker. He is told by an older black man that in order to sell products to his customers, he needs to use his "white voice." The idea is that sounding like a person with their life in order will make people more likely to buy what you're selling. Similarly, the brotherhood i...

     After our most recent readings in class, something I've been thinking about recently is the perceived obligation of black writers/artists to make work centered around and exploring racial issues. In "The World and the Jug ,"  Ellison says that Howe thinks "unrelieved suffering is the only 'real' Negro experience, and that the true Negro writer must be ferocious." Ellison views this as ignorant and short-sighted, and says that the ability to "deflect racial provocation and to master and contain pain" is also part of being an African American. Howe is a white man, and speaks on the black experience like he has authority over what is and isn't adequately black. As critics ourselves, we immediately view this action as ignorant in the same way that Ellison does. At the same time, when similar arguments are provided by black writers/artists, they are given much more room for contemplative thought. For example, the poem "To the Pale Poet...