BAMBOOZLED

What Jada loves about Bamboozled.

Audio Answer

Q: Did Spike give you some type of pep talk or prepare you in any way for the number of toes you were going to step on?

Oh no. I think Spike definitely didn't come with that approach. I think he felt that anybody that read the script and anybody that was down with this project knew what was coming with it. That was just a given. He didn't sit us down and give us a pep talk or anything. He just made sure that we were well informed and we had a lot of research about the history. Every day, he had tapes and posters and sheets of music and dolls... all types of paraphernalia to basically prepare us for the material in the script. I did a lot of talking to Spikes. I was the one doing the pep talk. I was like "Spike, you know during press time, we all need to get together and have a united front." He was like, "No, everything is cool". Because I knew from Day One, it was like "Here we go". But I really thought that the material was so important and that it was time to confront this issue.

Q: With the research, was there anything that you learned that you found surprising?

Audio Answer

I was really surprised that those images... you know, it really wasn't that long ago. It really wasn't that long ago. I've watched plenty of Shirley Temple movies and Fred Astair movies and Lord knows I've watched Bugs Bunny all my life. And to know that these shows and that these particular famous people were a part of the projection of these images was surprising to me and shook me up a little bit. I had no idea that it really wasn't that long ago and I was like, "WOW! This was right around the corner". And that's why it so important for people to revisit their past before their past revisits them. It was really an eye opener and really a slap in the face.

Q: Should those shows be withdrawn. Should they never be shown again?

I definitely don't think they should be shown on television. You know... here's a Bugs Bunny show and then you see a little cartoon character who's got this dark face with the big lips and a big bone going through his nose. (See: Minstrel Show Clips) Coming out dancing with Bugs Bunny or what have you. I definitely don't think those images should be on television but I don't think they should be thrown at the bottom of the ocean either. We have to keep them available. It's part of our history and you never want to throw away history because it will come and bite you in the butt.

Q: Did the research and the film make you reevaluate the way you look at everything?

Definitely. Scripts that are sent to me, television shows, music, commercials... everything has a whole different meaning.

Q: When you're looking at images like this... is it something you bring home? Is it something where you look at your kids and you think, "Thank god they don't have to deal with this"?

They do have to deal with it in a way. I look at it as a blessing that I was able to be informed and educated. It was actually empowering because it really gave me a place of gratitude that even though we still have our problems, I see our progression. Do you understand? And that there is still hope. And that you have to be conscious and you have to be aware in order to move on because if you're not it's easy to be stagnant when you don't have the information and the reason to mobilize. That's how I took the material after my initial shock.

Q: We've had at least one generation where it's been politically incorrect to laugh at this material. Do you think audiences can let go and enjoy the satire of the film?

The bottom line is that if it's funny, it's funny. I think people become offended when you laugh and then you come out and you aren't willing to talk about what you were laughing at. Or why. I think that's why I really loved Bamboozled because it's really time to create a situation where we are willing to sit down and talk about something substantial. You can't help but examine the race relations in America after watching this movie. You can't help but sit down and examine that in a very healthy way. In a very very healthy way. And I think that's something we have to learn to do because it's not easy talking about this subject matter. It's just not. But at the same time you have to. It's almost as if integration happened not that long ago. And America has just decided to put a bandaid on top of a horrible seeping wound and disease has just continued to fester underneath of it and in order to really clean that wound and bring it to a healthy stage, you've got to talk about those sticky nasty issues. It's just a must.