Quantcast
Channel: The Young, Black, and Fabulous®
Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 21297

EXCLUSIVE: 'Sorry To Bother You' Stars Tessa Thompson & Lakeith Stanfield Break Down How Social Media Is Wrecking Our Senses

0
0

 photo STBY-bootstessalakeith.png

Social Media has literally taken over our lives in more ways than one. Sorry To Bother You stars Tessa Thompson and LaKeith Stanfield offer up so interesting takes on how the platforms are invading our spaces. We also chopped it up with writer/director Boots Riley. Find out what they exclusively told TheYBF.com inside...

Social media is taking over our lives. This is not up for debate.

It seems our lives have been transformed where we're constantly watching a never-ending show of people sharing literally everything about themselves, from new relationships, breakups, your baby's first words, political jargon, vacation pictures, etc. The list goes on and on and on...and you get the picture.

The new movie Sorry To Bother You is based in the 70s, but many of the same social themes are still quite relevant today: Race relations, corporate greed, classism, making changes to not scare white people at your lucrative job, the plight of working class citizens and more. Shocker? Nope.

Inspired by his time as a telemarketer, writer/director Boots Riley created a film filled with comical satire about a guy named Cassius Green (played by Lakeith Stanfield) who nabs a job at a telemarketing company in Oakland. He got the job to impress his girlfriend Detroit (played by Tessa Thompson) and to pay back his Uncle Sergio (played by Terry Crews).

 photo STBY-lakeithandtessa.png

Stars Tessa Thompson and Lakeith Stanfield sat down to chop it up with TheYBF.com to share what they want people to take away from the film.

"My hope is that people come to the story with an open mind and are able to receive and retain whatever they feel personally," Lakeith told YBF correspondent Unique Chapman . "I can say what I took from Cassius, just reinstating the idea to remain steadfast and tenacious in your pursuit of not only higher and better things for yourself, but also a sense of self and identity in the world. And just be willing to fail so you can grow. So I hope people can see the parallels between those things."

These days, it's hard for people to construct their own ideas and views about certain situations and topics when folks are trying to keep up with the Joneses on social media. Folks are seemingly becoming desensitized. Tessa and Lakeith definitely notice it and have some ish to say:

"In terms of dehumanization, social media is incredible for being able to disseminate information and create community, but I think we also get into a space where we're bombarded with images and we feel disconnected from the fact that they are happening in actual in this click bait culture," Tessa explained to TheYBF.com.

"I think if you show people images enough, human beings become comfortable with things after a while and we adapt," Lakeith shared. "We've always had to adapt but now there's less censorship."

He continued, "But, the internet is also a place where you can be insensitive and that's OK because you're removed from the experience. So you can say and feel and do things that you wouldn't do in real life. So in a sense, it feels like people are becoming less sensitive but I don't think that's the case. People are more sensitive, but now we just have these avenues that we can explore and safely not have to come into contact with these things. So, I say spend less time on the internet everyday and get back on the ground."

Peep our exclusive interview with the actors below:

Lakeith is dropping some truth serum on the masses. Do you agree with his point? Are people more sensitive now? Or, does it seem like they are since we now have different platforms to express our sensitivity?

 photo STBY-bootsriley.png

Also, TheYBF.com spoke with writer/director Boots Riley, who makes his directorial debut in Sorry To Bother You, where he opened up about creatives who don't use their art/platform to show what's really happening in the world. Here's what he said:

"I think that if people were making art that reflected what really happens in the real world there's no way to keep the way the world works out of it," Boots Riley told us.

"So, I don't think that it's only that people have a duty to talk about these things. I think that if you're duty is even to make art that's relevant to the world, that it has to include in these worlds that you're creating rebellion and resistance," he continued.

He said when you're making up an created world, you're still going to end up having some type of reflection of what's going on in society.

"Just in the process of making that world more real, you're going to have to end up having an analysis of the world and it's going to in some way have ideas about social change even if that's not the main storyline," Boots said.

Peep our interview with the cast - including Omari Hardwick and Terry Crews who dished on stereotypes and protests - below:

Sorry To Bother You will be in select theaters July 6th and everywhere else on July 13th.

 

 

Photos: Getty/Annapurna Pictures


Viewing all articles
Browse latest Browse all 21297

Latest Images

Trending Articles





Latest Images