“Black is Blak”: Bamboozled and the Crisis of a Postmodern Racial Identity

Abstract

The authors contend that, although ostensibly supportive of and open to previously marginalized points of view, the postmodern age has effectively challenged the stability of all racial identities, and of African American identities in particular. Spike Lee's Bamboozled, as a decidedly postmodern document, serves as a useful lens through which to examine the process of identity building and reinforcement in contemporary times. By focusing on the primacy of the authentic self, by reinforcing the centrality of the image in contemporary thought, and by engaging a self-reflexive critique of its own message on race, Bamboozled both reflects and speaks to the ongoing struggle to forge and maintain a strong sense of racial self in a postmodern America.

KEYTERMS:

• authenticity
• bamboozled
• identity
• postmodern
• race
• spike lee