Cash Green’s Character Development and
Representation in "Sorry To Bother You"
January 2022
Kelly Brennan
The film directed by Boots Riley, Sorry to Bother You, from 2018 takes a critical look at Hollywood’s representation of Black characters. The protagonist Cassius “Cash” Green, played by Lakeith Stanfield, rejects stereotypes about Black men and challenges the White-savior complex that Hollywood is all too familiar with. This paper will take a look at Cash’s character arc through the film, the way that Cash is presented through costume and sound, the way that Cash is represented through color throughout the film and will take a close look at the White savior complex that Cash rejects by being the hero of the film and being the main character as a Black man.
Throughout the film, the viewer watches the main character Cash go through a character arc in order to find out what he truly believes in. At the beginning of the film, the viewer is introduced to Cash in his small “apartment” in his Uncle’s garage. He takes a job at a telemarketing company to make ends meet, but is immediately disturbed by the way that the company treats their employees. Cash joins forces with several other members of the company to create a union to fight for better work environments. However, just as the union is actually getting some traction, Cash gets promoted to be a “power caller” and because of his lack of money in the past, he jumps at the opportunity to be making a lot of money and living comfortably. When he gets promoted he becomes blindsided by the money and doesn’t realize how what he’s doing is actually harming so many. However at the end of the film, he turns his morals back to where they started, gives up the money and rejects Worry Free to save the mutants and destroy the company that is so harmful.
Cash is shown throughout the film with a clean cut outfit, although often slightly mismatched, and a “White voice.” According to Grenville-Price (2011), “The very structure of classical Hollywood narrative form encourages all spectators, regardless of their actual colour, to identify with white protagonists'' (p. 2). Just as Grenville-Price says, Cash uses this “White voice” and lifestyle in order to get people to identify with him. Because of the lack of representation of Black men as successful business men, Cash must put on the “White voice” and clothes daily in order to be successful. As he goes through his character arc that was described above, the director uses this cultural code of costume design to show Cash’s evolvement in the film. At the beginning of the film, Cash is shown in dorky looking outfits with sweater vests, short sleeve button down shirts, and slacks. But when he becomes a “power caller” and promoted to make more money, he begins wearing suits and ties, fancy shoes, and overall looking dapper — arguably more “White”. These work clothes that Cash wears throughout the film coincide with his “White voice” that he must “wear” throughout the film. Another cultural code chosen by the director, this “White voice” adds to Cash’s character’s representation because it shows that he is willing to sacrifice who he truly is (a strong Black man) in order to make some money.
The director uses artistic codes to represent Cash in different ways throughout the film through color in the set design and lighting. For example, in this film the colors yellow and gold represent opportunity while the colors blue and red represent the downfall of opportunity. Through the beginning of the film there is a high emphasis put on the color yellow; the golden elevator leading up to the “power caller” section of the company, or the yellow office that Cash gets hired in. These yellow emphasized moments for Cash represent his longing for a better opportunity and more money.
On the other hand, the colors blue and red represent the downfall of opportunity for Cash. For example, the blue work space that all of the telemarketers are in making their calls, or the red lighting at the party at the CEO of Worry Free’s house towards the end of the film when Cash is realizing how messed up everything has gotten. Slowly the film transforms the colors from representing opportunity, to representing the downfall of opportunity.
Cash is represented most importantly through his character as a Black man. There are several moments throughout the film where the stereotype of the Black man is challenged and Cash is the epitome of those challenges. For example, the Worry Free billboard says, “Show the world you’re a responsible baby daddy” with a photo of a black man on it, but that is challenged in the next clip with a remade version that says, “Show the world your response baby.” Also, at the party that Cash is at, his boss tells the CEO of Worry Free that Cash is “friendly” insinuating that because he’s a Black man he is an animal. Seconds later, the CEO of Worry Free wants Cash to rap as if that’s the only thing a Black man can do saying that Cash must be familiar with that “Oakland gangster shit.”
All of this representation of Cash throughout the film through costume and voice, colors, and his character arc are used to show the biggest point of the film of a Black man being a strong protagonist who is truly the main character who is not overshadowed by a White character. This is the opposite of what Hollywood normally does to Black characters: As Grenville-Price (2011) writes, “Sometimes this practice is referred to as tokenism – the placing of a non-white character into a film in order to deflate any potential charge of racism. Token characters can often be found in small supporting roles that are peripheral to the white leads and their stories” (p. 3). The White-savior complex that Hollywood is all too familiar with is challenged in Sorry To Bother You by making Cash the hero, protagonist, and main character.
This film is intertextually linked to other films such as Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing or Jordan Peele’s Get Out because of the focus on Black stories and Black character development. Sorry To Bother You takes a complex story focusing on the negatives of a capitalist society and turns it into a heartwarming story focusing on the character development of our hero Cassius Green. Is it possible that Hollywood is beginning to change to a more inclusive environment? Are we finally straying away from the White-savior complex and White characters that overshadow people of color? Sorry To Bother You is definitely a step in the right direction.
References
Grenville-Price, S. (2011). The Concept of Whiteness and American Film. ISSUU.
Whitaker, Forest (Producer), & Riley, Boots (Director). 2018. Sorry To Bother You [Motion
picture]. United States: Cinereach.
Comments