Animacy, Agency and Animatedness: The Human-Animal Transformation in Sorry to Bother You

Abstract

This paper investigates the racialized affect of ‘animatedness’ (Ngai) as presented in the film Sorry to Bother You (2018). In this dark comedy, workers’ subjectivities are constituted by their labor: Their subjectivity is presented as plastic, by formal techniques such as the use of Claymation or animatronics, but especially by the corporate plan to transform workers into human-horse hybrids dubbed Equisapiens, to improve workplace productivity. This paper outlines the connections between this visual plasticization and the continued dehumanization of Black people, to justify the exploitation of their labor. However, this paper argues that rather than using the Equisapiens as figures symbolizing the loss of the workers’ agency, Sorry to Bother You presents both the workers and Equisapiens as excessively animated, ultimately allowing them to form a coalition based on this shared affect.