Sorry to Bother You. This movie has always been an extremely interesting one to me. In 2018, I had seen Sorry to Bother You advertisements in a state of torment. I really wanted to watch the movie but lacked the funds and time to make it out to catch a viewing. I had been too busy hopping between odd job to odd job and devoting all of the rest of my time to school. In 2023, I got to watch Sorry to Bother You and all I can say with a childlike grin is that the Karlique of 2018 needed to see this film. In 2018, I was in a rut. I had just graduated high school and signed up for another four years to major in business, a subject I honestly couldn’t care less about. Admittedly, I struggled to care about anything at that point. A poor mix of not the right pushes and not enough motivation and I had just been wading in the water. Scratch that—– mud. I hated life but not enough to do anything about it. At this moment, I was approached by a call center job selling insurance in an attempt to recruit me. I had almost signed on with them when a girl I was once romantically involved with had called me up attempting to recruit me not knowing I was already in talks with the company. Divine intervention. The conversation threw me off and felt exploitative and culty even to my in-between-jobs ears. Years passed and my indecision in life brought me to working as a corporate job in banking.
I see myself in Cassius Green. The name Cassius was undoubtedly a name chosen to reflect the name that Mohhamed Ali famously denounced as being his “slave name”. Cassius in the movie however allows himself to play the role of a slave in the name of succeeding at something. The chain of corporate America can restrict an individual with ease. Your individual qualities are ignored for the sake of productivity. The scene that made the movie for me was Danny Glover’s Langston instructing Cassius to use his “White Voice”. For any black person in America, the idea of a “White Voice” is always a point of contention as our vocal inflections allow others to cast judgments that are guided by their prejudices. Are we too black? Are we not black enough? The truth of the “White Voice” is unveiled in this movie. The “White Voice” is not about proper grammar or depth of speech, but rather mastering the “art of talking like you don’t have a fear or care in the world. Like the world bends to me.” Guilty as charged. First rule of sales is to not value yourself over the sale. I found this to be an extremely powerful message. Sorry to Bother You has been solidified in my Top 15 films and I definitely has some more Boots Riley content to check out.
By Karlique Caesar