Alienated labor's hybrid subjects : Sorry to Bother You and the tradition of the economic rights film
Date
2019Author
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Abstract
Leshu Torchin uses Sorry to Bother You, Boots Riley's genre-defying take on race, slavery, and capitalism in 21st century America, as a launching pad for a broader discussion of what she terms the “economic rights” film. Often global in scope, these films argue for rights to sustenance, shelter, education, health, and labor while mapping out the myriad systems that impede access to these rights. Torchin suggests that Sorry's playful hybridity, combining science fiction, performance art, and even corporate-video mockumentary to invoke recent experimentations in black American media, belies a preoccupation around labor that positions the film within the “economic rights” film's robust legacy.
Citation
Torchin , L 2019 , ' Alienated labor's hybrid subjects : Sorry to Bother You and the tradition of the economic rights film ' , Film Quarterly , vol. 72 , no. 4 , pp. 29-37 . https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2019.72.4.29
Publication
Film Quarterly
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0015-1386Type
Journal article
Rights
© 2019 by The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. This work has been made available online in accordance with the publisher’s policies. This is the final published version of the work, which was originally published at https://doi.org/10.1525/fq.2019.72.4.29.
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