Obatungi McKnight writes:

When you were watching the movie, did you think about other movies or television shows you have watched that were demeaning, in some way, to black people? If so, which ones? What about them can be considered demeaning? And how might they be changed to be less demeaning?

As I watched "Bamboozled" I thought more about life situations rather than television shows. A lot of decisions were made during the movie that I feel I would have made myself. Money can corrupt. There is no power except absolute power. I haven't seen any television shows that were as realistic as "Bamboozled" was, but I have thought of other sitcoms which were just as demeaning and dehumanizing to African Americans.

For example, the Parkers, a show about a single black mother attending college with her teenage daughter, upholds many stereotypes of the African-American community. Sometimes while I'm laughing it can make me wince because the show's producers make the mother seem so desperate for a man. I know for a fact, being the son of a single black mother, that it's not like that at all.

There is also a show called the PJ's which is a story about life in the projects in the ghetto. Here the people live up to their stereotypes, and it's considered acceptable.

I felt the movie showed a mirror image of society that the people who saw the movie would find this mock society on film disgusting. Those people are in denial and by not accepting the society portrayed (which I felt was very accurate) they can never make things better. I never said they have to embrace this image but by accepting it they can acknowledge what they're doing wrong and try to improve.

Treniese Ladson writes:

In the film "Bamboozled" Mr. Lee uses laughter as a way for people to realize the painful and scary truths of minstrel shows, and how they represent black people. The movie and the content were in no way funny to me. Happy, black face, singing and dancing "niggers" have never been an image to laugh at. In fact it was this same image that actually brought a tear to my eye. Nevertheless, as I held back the anger and pain which grew inside me; I still managed to choke out a few laughs.

One scene that I found amusing was the skit where Pierre Delacroix (Damon Wayans) visited his father at a comedy club. Although the jokes were very racist and stereotypical, I still found myself laughing at them. The laughter was not because the jokes were hilarious, but because on some level I felt they were true. He made some interesting points during his act that not only made me laugh, but also made me realize the harsh reality as to how blacks are portrayed in society.

This movie contained several skits, which were performed in a humorous tone, but instead the painful realization of what we have become as African Americans in the 21st century sets in like a powerful virus. At the end of the movie laughter is the last feeling you'll feel. Instead you are overwhelmed with a feeling of hatred, betrayal, and vengeance. Your eyes will finally be opened to the truth. The truth that we as a people have lost our identities in the pursuit of fame and worldly riches.