By Chris Courtney Martin · January 31, 2024
Sorry to Bother You (2018) is made to be unpacked. This unapologetic anti-capitalist absurdist film is a perfect case study for an avant-garde story structure analysis tool because it basks in the bizarre. Unabashedly, writer/director Boots Riley takes an out-of-the-box approach to highlight the ridiculous attitude that mainstream society has about the issue of inequality.
Here’s a link to the script so you can follow along!
The Script Lab has published several screenplay breakdowns based on the storytelling theories of script experts such as Blake Snyder (Save the Cat) and Christopher Vogler. Some professionals (including executives, reps, and producers) have lamented that heavily relying on those beat sheets can yield a story that feels formulaic.
Using four of Carol S. Pearson’s 12 Character Archetypes, screenwriting expert Jeffrey Alan Schechter has distilled the cinematic emotional journey into an arc of Orphan, Wanderer, Warrior, and Martyr. Though this paradigm crosses over beautifully with Snyder and Vogler (see: Dr. Stan Williams’ Story Diamond), it allows enough latitude to freshen up the flow of the beats while achieving the same dynamism in character growth. Schechter expounds upon this in his academically celebrated book, My Story Can Beat Up Your Story!
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‘Sorry to Bother You’
Sorry to Bother You‘s Logline: “In an alternate present-day version of Oakland, telemarketer Cassius Green discovers a magical key to professional success, propelling him into a universe of greed.”
As Sorry To Bother You opens, our tragic hero Cassius (LaKeith Stanfield) is in the middle of a job interview for a telemarketing company called Regalview. The gig comes via a recommendation from his buddy Salvador (Jermaine Fowler). Both young men are just trying to find a way to pay their bills, but Cassius is in a tight spot. He is someone who drives a “bucket,” and lives in his uncle’s garage.
On top of poverty, Cassius has an existential restlessness that his equally broke loved ones don’t get–including his eccentric artist girlfriend, Detroit (Tessa Thompson). It leaves him misunderstood and emotionally orphaned.
Cassius is initially a fish-out-of-water at Regalview, unable to hock his wares of encyclopedia sets. He finds all his high school achievements count for nothing in this world. After watching him struggle, his older colleague, Langston (Danny Glover), advises Cassius to use his “white voice” on the phone.
The suggestion only further alienates Cassius. And while he grows discontent in the peculiar atmosphere of this company, he finds the outside world only grows stranger. Ads for lifelong slave-labor contracts under a corporation called WorryFree pop up all around, and a protest group called the Left Eye rebels defaces WorryFree propaganda. When Cassius learns his Uncle Sergio is considering becoming a WorryFree slave due to possible foreclosure, the outlandish toxicity hits home.
Having experimented with his “white voice,” Cassius decides to see how far it will take him. Though his new co-worker Squeeze (Steven Yeun) has a strike brewing among the workforce, Cassius hopes that applying himself will be the key to a decent wage.
In no time, management tempts him with promises of the lofty Power Caller position. Though Cassius has little idea of what that role entails, the guarantee of a lavish raise is all he needs to hear. He optimistically wanders through this new role to see what it will bring him. At the same time, Squeeze’s collective action movement is ramping up. The workers (including Detroit) stage a primetime labor stoppage.
Cassius is called into the manager’s office right after the work stoppage and braces himself for dismissal. However, Cassius is thrilled to find that he has been promoted to a Power Caller thanks to the effectiveness of his “white voice.” The exclusive upstairs world of the Power Callers is the stuff of myth, lavish beyond belief.
Francy Suit Guy, who rose to be the head Power Caller, trains Cassius with a “white voice” of his own. He explains that the Power Callers sell weapons and WorryFree brand slave labor to the elites in the world.
Cassius is left to learn the ropes again in this high-pressure, nefariously gilded world. He is forced to stay late on his first day of training and forgets to pick up Detroit from her other job. It is clear having one foot in his old life and one in another is a problem.
Squeeze, Salvador, and the other workers learn about Cassius’s promotion, which further drives a wedge. Cassius swears the new position won’t interfere with their bargaining, but that’s doubtful. But the betrayal and brutal training (which includes ice-water shocks) pay off when Cassius makes his first big sale and gets his fat cash advance.
‘Sorry to Bother You’
While his friends put their livelihoods on the line to demand fair employment, Cassius turns his finances around overnight. He pays off Sergio’s house, buys a Mercedes-Benz, and upgrades to a chic apartment in the blink of an eye.
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Cassius is fully committed to the lifestyle of a Power Caller, even forgetting to leave the “white voice” at work. Though Detroit tries to support him in enjoying the newfound comfort, she cannot shake her disgust at his change. When Detroit points out that he’s a scab, Cassius doubles down with no shame. She gives him an ultimatum: if he goes to work again, she leaves him.
Of course, Cassius calls her bluff. It’s far too late to turn back now. The money is too good, and the approval of his fellow Power Callers replaces the love of his friends. But this war-profiteering, wage-theft-warrior receives his first battle scar when a protester chucks a can of soda at his forehead and splits it open. Steve Lift (Armie Hammer), CEO of WorryFree, rewards Cassius’s dedication with an invitation to his exclusive private party, supposedly too posh for even Jay-Z and Beyonce.
Eager to prove himself as their golden boy, Cassius willingly steps into Steve Lift’s spotlight, drawn into a minstrel-esque performance that cements his transformation into a man who worships money above all else.
‘Sorry to Bother You’
Driven by Steve Lift’s unhinged pressure, Cassius snorts drugs before facing the enigmatic business proposal. In need of a bathroom break, he stumbles into a room filled with half-human-half-horse hybrids who can only whine in pain and beg for help. When Cassius is forced by gunpoint to listen to Lift’s explanation, he learns that these grotesque “Equisapiens” are literal workhorses. They are the ultimate in slave labor. Lift wants Cassius to be their “Martin Luther King,” a highly offensive euphemism for a company plant that keeps any rebellions or organizing amongst the horse-people futile.
This, of course, requires Cassius to become a horseperson for five years and $100,000,000. In this twist of fate, Cassius has avoided sacrificing for the greater good to become the Equisapien bastardization of one of history’s most important martyrs.
As reality finally sinks in, Cassius sounds the alarm. He contacts journalists about what is happening, but they ghost him. Cassius finds that Detroit has received a video from his phone (missing since Lift’s party) that shows the Equisapiens signaling for help. He manages to get their footage to the media, but only after exploiting his infamy from the now-ubiquitous soda can moment that has become a viral meme. As the government twiddles its thumbs, it is up to Squeeze’s labor movement—which has grown exponentially—to turn the tables of the strike. Our hero sacrifices his cushy status to hold the line, leading a group of strikers to free the Equisapiens.
But with the world being what it is, the gang plans to return to Regalview with slightly better conditions. When Cassius finds his features trending equine, it turns out that despite getting it together in the end, selling out in the first place leads to him sacrificing his humanity. (At least he’s got more horsepower to kick Steve Lift’s butt.)
Read More: Why Your Story’s Twist Should Be So Good They Won’t Show It In the Trailer
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To drive home the inherent absurdity of the systems he critiques, Riley throws a genre-bending haymaker in the Third Act of Sorry to Bother You, which introduces an element of Sci-Fi/Creature Horror. It is a twist we never could have seen coming while following the main cast of ordinary twenty-somethings and the money woes that damage their relationships. In a way, this story breaks as many rules as a theatrically-released film can. But it never forsakes the distinct character shifts that signal compelling growth in its protagonist, Cassius.
Sorry to Bother You is a treat to analyze, as much as the film is a joy to watch because Riley never drops the ball in displaying multiple intentional facets of his protagonist. He breaks the rules from the very first page, hitting us with the inciting incident upfront instead of giving the prescribed 8-10 pages of preface. Arguably, a story can throw its audience for many zany loops—like this one does—as long as the characterization remains gripping and real. This is why this one is a head-scratcher to break down with any beat sheets that micromanage story cues.
Thankfully, we’ve got the Pearson-Schechter model.
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