Sorry to Bother You as Political Art | Comolli and Narboni Part 3

Film & Media Studies
24 Jan 202110:32
EducationalLearning
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TLDRThis lecture analyzes the film Sorry to Bother You and an essay by Como Lee Narbonnie through the lens of film theory categories outlined by Comolli and Narboni. It examines how the film breaks from traditional storytelling and representation of reality through elements like blending interiority and exteriority, medium reflexivity with the 'white voice,' and fantastical motifs. However, it also analyzes how the film adopts some classical Hollywood narrative traits. The lecture ultimately questions whether the film critiques political art and protest well enough given its own commercial nature and entertainment form.

Takeaways
  • 😊 The lecture analyzes how Sorry to Bother You breaks from traditional ways of depicting reality through elements like blending interiority and exteriority, using imaginative representations and special effects, exposing the constructed relationship between image and sound.
  • 😮 The film has elements of fantasy and surrealism like the horse people costumes and the 'white voice'.
  • 🤔 The use of dubbed voices may expose the fundamental flexibility of the relationship between image and sound in cinema.
  • 😀 The film largely follows conventions of classical Hollywood storytelling like having a well-rounded hero on a journey, mapping personal goals onto a romance plotline.
  • 🧐 But the film is very reflexive in critiquing the efficacy of art and protest to cause political change.
  • 🎨 Multiple examples given critique political art, like Detroit's performance seeming parodic, the too-literal horse sculpture, and protest art being commodified by corporations.
  • 😕 The film even suggests at the end that it could itself be a worry-free produced movie capitalizing on popular leftism.
  • 🤨 Questions are raised about how faithful representations should be to reality in order to properly critique political issues.
  • 😉 Comedy is used to pose thoughtful questions about art, protest and representing political problems.
  • 📝 We're asked to consider if some elements follow category B of combative films while others follow category D of ineffective politically critical films.
Q & A

  • What are the main traits of classical Hollywood narrative that the speaker discusses?

    -The main traits discussed are: a well-rounded main character, a narrative focused on the character's desires/fears, a causal chain of events, a decisive victory or defeat, and the linking of the main character's personal journey to a romantic relationship.

  • How does the film blend interiority and exteriority in unconventional ways?

    -The film blends interiority and exteriority through sequences like when Cash feels his desk rumbling as he telemarkets, acknowledging the imagined invasion into people's homes happening in his mind.

  • What elements of fantasy does the film employ?

    -Elements of fantasy include the horse people costumes, the emerging of commodities from old shells, and the 'white voice' dubbing used in the film.

  • How does the film critically reflect on political art?

    -The film reflects on political art through: Detroit's performance parodying radical art while using a 'white voice', the joke about the horse sculpture not effectively conveying its message, the Havacola/smile moment becoming an ad, and the final gag crediting WorryFree Inc. for the film.

  • Why does the speaker bring up the flexibility of image/sound relationships in cinema?

    -The speaker brings this up to argue the 'white voice' sequences acknowledge and expose the constructed, illusory nature of sound synchronization in cinema.

  • What are Comolli and Narboni's categories for films?

    -The categories are: A) films that unwittingly reinforce dominant ideology; B) films that deliberately reveal ideology through form and content; C) films that try to reveal ideology through content alone; D) films with political content but no ideological criticism.

  • How is Cash's journey classical?

    -Cash goes through a 'hero's journey', entering an unknown realm, gaining insight, and mapping his personal desires/fears onto a romance plotline.

  • How does the film have two endings?

    -There is the 'decisive defeat' of the Equisapiens plot, then an additional ending scene with Cash and Detroit on the beach, less conclusive.

  • What critique does the sculpture gag pose?

    -It questions how allegorical or distanced from reality representations should be in order to effectively critique political issues.

  • Why might the film itself reinforce what it critiques?

    -By adopting classical narrative traits that entertain rather than alienate, the film could be an example of political content without formal ideological criticism.

Outlines
00:00
🎥 Overview of film analysis comparing Sorry to Bother You to theoretical frameworks

The paragraph provides an introduction and overview to the lecture, which will offer some observations and questions about how the film Sorry to Bother You relates to the theoretical frameworks discussed in prior lectures, specifically the categories outlined by Comey and Narboni about films that have radical form or content or both.

05:03
❓ Questioning if the film breaks from traditional storytelling

The paragraph poses the question of how Sorry to Bother You breaks from traditional ways of depicting reality, such as through its surrealist blending of fantastical elements, play with interiority/exteriority, imaginative visuals, exposure of the constructed relationship between image and sound, etc., while also conforming in some ways to classical Hollywood narrative structures.

10:09
🤔 Musing on political efficacy of the film and its reflexivity

The paragraph reflects on whether some classical narrative elements make the overtly political film better categorized based on its content rather than its form/language. It then highlights examples of how the film offers meta-commentary questioning and critiquing the political efficacy of art and protest.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡classical Hollywood narrative
Refers to the dominant style of filmmaking in classic Hollywood cinema, with features like a psychologically well-rounded protagonist, clear causality driving the plot, decisive endings, and seamless editing for narrative continuity. The lecture analyzes how Sorry to Bother You both conforms to and deviates from these conventions.
💡political efficacy
The capacity for political or socially-conscious art to create actual change in the world. The film reflexively questions and parodies this idea through things like Detroit's performance art and the 'WorryFree' branded content.
💡medium reflexivity
When a work of art calls attention to its own constructedness as a medium. The script notes how the dubbing of white actors' voices exposes the constructed relationship between image and sound in film.
💡allegory
A literary device where fictional characters or events represent real-world ideas or phenomena. The lecture poses questions about how distant the film's allegorical representations are from reality in their political critique.
💡popular surrealism
A term for the blending of fantastical/surreal elements within a realistic narrative in order to stretch the boundaries of commercial cinema. Cited examples are the special effects for the horse people and the imagining of interiority.
💡capitalist critique
Social criticism of capitalist economic ideology, like the negative impacts of globalized industry, wage slavery, and the commodification of dissent. This frames the film's central themes.
💡unionizing
The act of organizing workers into trade unions to gain leverage over their employment conditions. An important real-world parallel to the film's fictional 'RegalView' strike.
💡category B films
In Commolli/Narboni's essay, films where both form and content are politically radical. The lecture analyzes how Sorry to Bother You potentially fits or does not fit this categorization.
💡category D films
Films with political content but not politically radical form, thereby reinforcing dominant ideology while seemingly criticizing it. Another category from the essay that is compared to Sorry to Bother You.
💡illusory continuity
Beaudry's concept for how classical editing techniques give a false impression of smooth narrative continuity. Contrasted with the film's surreal ruptures of reality.
Highlights

The film blends interiority and exteriority in unconventional ways to depict the contents of someone's mind

The film exposes the fundamental flexibility of the relationship between image and sound in cinema

The film has many elements of a classical Hollywood narrative like a heroic main character and a romance subplot

The film reflects upon the inefficacy of art to cause political change through several examples

Detroit's performance art piece is revealed to be rather artificial and parody-like

The film critiques how protest art and movements can be co-opted and commodified

The film questions how allegorical art should be in conveying a political message

The film suggests capitalism might make a movie like itself to capitalize on popular leftism

The film blends fantasy elements like the horse people costumes with social commentary

The white voice dubbing acknowledges cinema's illusory splicing of image and sound

The film has an ambiguous, dual ending regarding the main character's fate

Detroit seems to believe art can create social change like unions

Street art made to critique the company is displayed as a commodity in a mansion

The film directly questions the dehumanizing effects of capitalism

The film copyright belonging to the fictional company suggests reflexive critique

Transcripts

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