bamboozled

Spike Lee's 2000 film Bamboozled is actually in some respects an homage to Network. Both are stories where the (anti-)hero works for a television network, is put in a precarious position in terms of their job, and out of desperation "comes down from the mountain" and reveals more Truth than the network is ready to hear.

One significant difference is that Bamboozled obviously takes the scathing social commentary of Network and focuses with laser-like intensity on race, in particular, the representations of Black people in the media.

The stellar cast includes Damon Wayans in the lead role, Paul Mooney as his father, Mos Def, muMz the Schemer, MC Serch and others as part of an activist hip-hop group called the Mau-Maus (The inside pun is hilarious. The analagous characters in the original movie Network were Maoist revolutionaries). Savion Glover and Tommy Davidson play a pair of modern-day television minstrels. And the members of the Roots play the role of musicians (wow, what a stretch) for the tv show, where they are caled the Alabama Porch Monkeys.

In any case, the film is amazing and not to be missed.

An interview with Spike Lee about the film

official Bamboozled site.

If you think television is a Satanic implement to enslave humanity, and you live too far away from a Blockbuster Video, here is the screenplay to Bamboozled