The Piano Lesson/ Bamboozled

As a class there was a lot of discussion about the theme of the play, The Piano Lesson.  However, there was no real discussion on the movie, Bamboozled (Spike Lee, 2000).  When reviewing these two, there is one element that these two have in common, which is violence.

In The Piano Lesson violence is subtler.  Throughout the play there was referencing of rope.  In Scene one of the play Avery describes how he works as an elevator operator at the Gulf Building.  One of the characters Lymon, asks him, “How you know the the rope ain’t gonna break? Ain’t you scared the rope’s gonna break?”   Then in Scene five, Boy Willie and Lymon are trying to take the piano out of the room to the truck, but the piano will not budge, so Boy Willie tells Lymon to get some rope so they can put around the piano and then build a plank so they can wheel it out of the house.  Both of these references of “rope” are referring to lynching.  Lynching, is a form of execution, often carried out by hanging.  This was a common form of execution for blacks during this time.  Rope was used in the hanging process. 

Also, in The Piano Lesson there was violence in the form of a battle between Sutter’s Ghost, and Boy Willie.  Doaker, Berniece, and Maretha had seen Sutter’s Ghost, but the only person that the ghost attacks is Boy Willie.  Some say that Boy Willie is the person that ghost wanted the most, because Boy Wille was trying to sell the piano.  The ghost wanted the piano to stay with the family, because of the history it represented for both the Sutter family, and Boy Willie’s family. 

In Bamboozled, there was more obvious violence.  The gang led by Sloan’s brother, Julius aka Big Blak Afrika did not agree with the show so the gang decides to kidnap one of its stars, Man Tan.  The gang end up torturing and killing Man Tan, then when the gang tries to exit the warehouse where they killed Man Tan, the police had a shoot out, which results in the death of the gang, except the white member of the gang who gets handcuffed and taken into police custody.  This is a representation of the black on black crime, which occurs daily in the African American community.  One person kills another person, then all of a sudden that sparks a revenge killing.  It is like a never ending cycle.

The police shoot out scene was another all too familiar scene in the American culture.  Violent shootouts are caught on film every day in this nation and aired on television as entertainment. Then they will show the dead victims, especially if they are African American.  This shows a lack of respect for African Americans, still in this country. 

Therefore, there are two different portrayals of violence in these two works of art.  One is subtler, and one is more in your face, but violence none the less. One form of violence was prevalent back in the day, and the other form of violence is still currently going on.