Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Week 14 - Sorry to Bother You

How is this movie a critique of American capitalism?

6 comments:

  1. This movie critiques American capitalism by telling the story of Cassius Green, a man who lands a job at a telemarketing company called Regalview. For him to be respected at Regalview, he has to use his “white voice” and work excessively with little pay. The heads at the company put on a façade and try to relate to the coworkers by saying that everyone in the company is family, even though their positions are clearly unequal and the workers barely have enough to eat more than instant noodles at night. The workers ultimately decide to form a union, but they can’t talk about their rights at their work place and have to meet at a bar to do so. At the bar, Cassius’s friend tries to relate their scenario to that of a fry cook who works really hard in hopes that they will “one day be manager” although that rarely happens. This work hard mentality is so engraved into American society even though half the time working hard doesn’t equate to more success, it just means people are being exploited. Cassius ultimately does get a raise though and is in with the elites, including the owner of WorryFree. They are trying to use him as a tie between the working class and the upper class so that they can manipulate the working class even more. The owner of WorryFree tells Cassius Green about how he is planning on giving people a drug which would turn them into half horse half humans. By doing this, these half horse half humans would become stronger than regular humans which would increase their productivity and in return, increase the companies profit. People literally being turned into animals is symbolic of how our capitalist system dehumanizes working class people and treats them as animals, always wanting more from them. Cassius Green tries to expose WorryFree after finding this out, but instead of the public being appalled, WorryFree’s stocks skyrocketed. This is relatable to America’s capitalist system because people invest in huge corporations all the time even when they are blatantly being immoral and exploiting people. Also, the movie makes fun how anything that gains the attention of the public can easily be turned into a commodity. At the beginning of the movie, Cassius gets hit on the head with a can of soda and someone catches it on film. By the end everyone is wearing wigs with a can attached, and the video is being played on TV. Also, the girl who threw the can at his head is now a popular, well-off public figure even though she didn’t really do anything that noteworthy. This movie explained and depicted American capitalism in a really interesting and creative way. Why is America’s capitalist system like this though? How does advertisement contribute to the naturalization of our exploitative economic system? How do deeply embedded American ideologies, such as working hard and even overworking ourselves, contribute to the structure of our exploitative Capitalist system?

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  2. In Sorry to Bother You, the main characters journey into gaining succession and helping his uncle out of poverty reveals some darks truths about wealth in this country. The movie emphasized greatly on how the rich become wealthier on the backs of honest hardworking people. Cash's desperation at wanting to gain prosperity and not living in his uncle's garage or not being able to pay rent, shows how he is willing to sell his soul away to appease a system that has kept him in that position. Moreover, this movie also critiques the presence of racial exploitation in capitalism, showing how racial constructs are being continually reinforced by those higher in power, therefore suppressing minority groups from gaining momentum in the hierarchy. For instance, the encouragement of Cassius using a "white voice" to appeal to the buyers and ascend the corporate ladder. This shows how in the corporate world, in order to gain notoriety you need to sell your personality in hopes of appealing to white people. Money also as a central theme to this movie signifies how people are willing to become corrupt, selfish and basically do anything that will secure their pay cheques.

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  3. Sorry to bother you is a not-so-subtle critique of todays capitalistic society. The main character Cassius Green is down on his luck until he lands a telemarketing job at a company called Regalview. In order for him to actually makes sales he must use what is called his ‘white voice’, the first nod of the satirical nature of not just capitalism as a whole, but also of the tragicomic struggles of trying to survive as an African American in modern America. The faux workplace environment as a ‘family’ and the working hard will earn a huge promotion (to a powercaller for this movie) is a common late-stage capitalism tactic to try to get everyone to work themselves to death over something that probably will never happen for most people. The regular people working at Regalview finally demand better pay by forming a union, which is highly frowned upon by the higher up, which, again, is another tactic as unions increase pay and working conditions for the masses. In the midst of the strike by the union, Cassius gets promoted to a powercaller, which now puts him at odds with not only his workmates, but also his girlfriend (who also works a Regalview) who notices that he has changed and now works for ‘the enemy’. As Cassius keeps rising, he meets the CEO of WorryFree, Steve Lift. One night when Cassius goes to Steve’s house for a party, he stumbles upon Steve’s secret plan, half-human half-horse hybrids. Steve tells Cassius that these equestri-sapiens are the future; they are stronger, which will in turn make the company more money. Steve doesn’t care about the wellbeing of the people he’s transforming, he just cares about how he will make more money. So, Cassius releases this information in hopes to destroy WorryFree, but it backfires, WorryFree’s stocks surge. This mirrors society; people don’t care about the immorality of how they make money, just that they are. This movie uses satire to obviously portray the post-capitalistic society we live in today, that money is above all, and those who willfully partake in its troubles are themselves troubled.

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  4. In the beginning of the movie, Cash is looking for a job and will do anything to keep his garage bedroom and to save his Uncle's house from foreclosure. This desparity brings him to lie on his job application. He is pleased to find out that all it takes to get the job is to be able to read and obey, which says a lot about what is expected of these workers. Without any compassion or concern, these telemarketers are doing mindless grunt work at the bottom of the system. At the top, there is a mix of corruption and luxury. I think this is a good representation of capitalism in America. Later in the movie, we see Cash striving to become a "power caller", which requires him to put on a facade and obey the top. Faulty images and obediance is a big part of what workers at the bottom have done to acheive a better spot in the system. The problem with these guidelines is that there is no moral expectation involved. Cash rides his way up to the top by betraying his rioting friends who are working for equality and justice. Instead, he keeps his head down and does what is expected of him. This is the standard expectation of workers: to be a cog in the machine. Without defiance or a voice, workers like Cash are easy to manipulate. Furthermore, this movie explored just how far corporate leaders will go to squeeze the most out of these workers. Desperate people who are down on their luck flock to "WorryFree" as an escape from financial issues and for a sense of security. However, behind the doors and away from the smiling faces in the ads, the workers are abused and treated like slaves. But to the public, "WorryFree" is a good thing for the world because it allows for a car to be built for the same price of a bicycle. The numbness to this issue is also exemplified by the biggest TV show at the time, "I Got the Sh*t Kicked Out of Me". It amazed me that even the leaking of horse people ended up benefiting "WorryFree" and hardly alarmed anyone. This acceptance shows an increased concern for a financially sound and dominant upper class and lessening thought going towards the people who are at the bottom supporting them. An economic gain outweighs even basic respect and ethics to the point of horrific mutations. I think this movie speaks a lot for American capitalism in these respects.

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  5. The movie Sorry To Bother You contains countless critiques of American capitalism that appear in all different forms, such as in the scenery, dialogue, and events that take place throughout the film. The main character, Cassius Green (pronounced “cash is green”) is looking for a job. He applies to a telemarketing company and even though he lied about his qualifications, he gets the job. The hiring manager says to him that lying only showed how committed he can be, and that they hire just about anyone who applies to work there. Soon after, a new manager gets hired and during a meeting, she promotes the fact that she does not view the workers there as employees, but instead she views everyone as one big family. This is a tactic used in capitalism to make the lower level employees feel to be treated with around the same level of respect as to that of the managers and higher ups, as well as to make them feel more appreciated and more willing to accept the low pay that they are receiving. Cassius even asks during this meeting if they will be getting a raise, but she laughs and says no. A quote said by Squeeze is, “We make the profits and they don’t share,” referring to how the employees are for the most part the only ones doing the real work—making the company’s money—but they are not receiving a livable wage.
    As for the scenery, the company called WorryFree provides the viewers with lots of interesting visuals and slogans, such as showing happy families in the seemingly bunker-like living areas and lunch trays of food. This company is shown to be blatantly preying on people who need help, saying that it provides shelter, food, and just about everything you need- and you even get to live in the same building that you work at. It is made to seem comical, brightly colored and the people in the TV clips act a little “psychopath-y.” To me, thinking back on this, it almost seems a little bit similar to the Amazon Trailer Parks does—provides housing, and you get to work close to Amazon, but the conditions are not very good.
    It turns out that WorryFree has actually been working to create a drug that makes their human employees better workers, since normal humans have physical limitations. The idea here is to make humans more efficient and profitable for the company, and the people who are organizing this clearly have no regard for their workers since this drug physically transforms their employees into Equisapiens (horse people). Another quote that I like I believe was said by Cassius, which is the following, “They just view me as another one of their creatures to manipulate and control.” This quote directly correlates to how this film critiques capitalism, the “they” being big companies, and the “me” being hourly workers just trying to afford rent and food and support their families, and how they are being treated unfairly by these big companies and even physically turned into beasts to do a better job and drive more money into the company’s pockets.

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  6. The movie Sorry To Bother You critiques many aspects of American capitalism. The first instance is the hardships faced for many people when it comes to paying rent. Cassius was 4 months behind on rent payments for his garage studio in his uncles house. This was compounded on the fact that his uncle was struggling to pay the mortgage on the house and it close to becoming foreclosed. Housing insecurity effects many people in America with the price of living continuously rising while jobs are harder to come by and wages are stagnating. Another aspect is the need for relevant experience. Although in this movie the telemarketing job hired him with no relevant experience there are many jobs that require over a year of experience but it is nearly impossible to get this experience because there are limited or no entry level jobs available. The next critique is upward mobility and conformity. In the telemarketing firm it was possible to move up but it required the marketers to use "white voice" and make it seem like they were the same as the people have the purchasing power to buy what they are selling. If a marketer did not want to do this voice then they had no chance of moving up to a higher position. It even required the workers to use this voice all the time in the office that contained higher position marketers. The strike brought about many points about the failures of American capitalism. The workers at the bottom generate the profit, but they do not have enough money to pay to live. The make less while food, shelter, and other necessities continue to cost more. This movie displays the struggle between corporations attempts to make the most profit possible by whatever means, horse people, and the ordinary workers trying to pay their rent and give their families a chance in life. And, if the ordinary workers do not conform to their methods, read from the script, then they have no chance to do this but by doing so they sell apart of themselves out.

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