I've been bamboozled

Let me first begin by saying that Spike Lee did an outstanding job with this movie and he deserves all the praise and respect that he gets.  I honestly didn't have much of an opinion coming into this and thought maybe I wouldn't like it for reasons I can't really explain.  Man was I wrong.  I thoroughly enjoyed Bamboozled and despite it's very heavy subject mater, found the satire to be very well done.  I think Spike Lee of creating an almost meta-satire and addressing the issues surrounding blackface and racist stereotypes.  I'll admit that I did feel a bit uncomfortable in a few scenes with some of the content being presented.  Most notably that scene later in the movie where the character Honeycutt goes into the crowd and begins asking members of the audience if they were "niggers".  When the audience members, all of different races yet all of them in blackface, began to answer yes to Honeycutt's question I shifted a bit in my seat.  In my opinion, at least, nigger is one of, if not the most offensive and taboo word in our society today.  And yet, here's this crowd of people making a joke out of it like it means nothing to them.  I realize that's sort of the point, but it still made me a bit uncomfortable watching it.

Something else that crossed my mind while watching was reasons as to why Mantan grew to be so popular.  the main thing that I thought of was that maybe people saw Mantan as a sort of release for all their racist and stereotypical thoughts.  Let's be honest, all of us have had in some form a racist thought or two creep into our minds at some point in our lives.  Obviously some people have more than others, and more so still choose to act on these thoughts, though most don't.  Still, they're there, and a show like Mantan would be a great way to release some of these tensions that build up.  It's sort of the same argument that people make with violent video games being used to help relieve people of violent thoughts or actions.  This idea that I can use this medium to help clear my mind of these negative thoughts that doesn't involve me directly offending or hurting anyone else.  I honestly don't know how many of you may agree with this train of thought, but I felt it was something worth sharing after watching the movie.