Blog Post #3

 Riley Boot’s 2017 film follows protagonist Cassius “Cash”, a young Black man who is down on his luck financially and who is living in the garage of his uncle’s garage in a futuristic urban city of Oakland California. Cassius comically lands a job as a telemarketer for a company called Regalview. Initially, Cash is not successful with landing deals, but when his Black co-worker recommends he adopts a white voice while on the phone, Cash quickly finds himself rising in the ranks of the company. Cash’s coworker Sal organizes a protest against Regalview for better labor conditions after Cash hesitatingly participates in the protest he expects to be dismissed from the company but to his surprise, he is promoted to the coveted position of being power caller. In this new position, Cash is told to always use his white voice and Cash soon learns the secret hidden agenda of Regalview, that Regalview sells slave labor to another corporation WorryFree. Cash is invited to a party hosted by the C.E.O of WorryFree Steve Lift, where Cash is humiliated as he is forced to rap in front of a crowd of white guests. Later in a one-on-one meeting with Steve Lift, Cash takes a substance believing it is cocaine. Cash accidentally stumbles upon a horse-human hybrid shackled in the basement which pleads for Cash to help them escape. Steve Lift then explains to Cash that WorryFree is secretly developing these horse hybrids also called “equisapiens” to make Worryfree’s labor more efficient thus making the company more profitable. Lift offers Cash a 100 million dollars for becoming an equipsarian for five false revolutionary leaders among them once they unionize to keep WorryFree’s labor efficient. Cash then becomes desperate to expose WorryFree for their corrupt practices and goes on a media campaign attempting to gain the public attention. His efforts are minimal, not until Cash stars on a humiliating reality T.V show called “I Got the Shit Kicked Out of Me.” Cash finally is able to play a video that was accidentally recorded the night of the party, revealing the horse-human hybrids begging for release. This ironically only increases the popularity and stock of WorryFree and Steve Lift are hailed a genius for his gene modifying technology. At a protest where the police and protestors against WorryFree clash and the Equipsarians overpower the police force and release Cash where he has been captured. It is revealed that the leader of Equipsarians was once a black man from East Oakland and when Cash attempts to communicate to the horse-hybrid, it responds in a normal Black mans voice commanding Cash to “talk normal” alluding to Cash dismissing his previous ways of code-switching in any capacity. Cash slowly morphed into a horse-hybrid himself as the substance he snorted was the gene modifying horse-hybrid stimulator. The film concludes with Cash now fully transformed into a horse-hybrid along with all the others breaking the door down of Steve Lifts' home, where it is assumed that Lift is killed for his misdoings.