What happens when an unassuming, straight white male takes a deep fascination with battle rap? Well, nothing spectacular... at first. However, throw in a dopamine rush from an impromptu battle, surround him with a bunch of Liberal Progressive Leftists as his pseudo-friends and love interest, and then topple it off in a society where saying the 'N' word can permanently ruin your life, and you have Bodied.
The comedy in this is more of a satire of real-life cancel culture than traditional comedy films. There are no ridiculous sight gags, no obnoxious physical humor, nor any heavy reliance on bodily fluids or gratuitous sex to get the point across.
The film, instead, focuses on how someone's passion can literally ruin their life simply because they're surrounded by the wrong people. It shows the effects of how cancel culture can target and label somebody because of their passion, as well as how Liberal Progressivism actually does more to hurt race relations than help it.
Bodied accurately mirrors how one wrong word or viral clip passed through Left-wing circles can end a scholarship, turn a school against you, or have you classified as a "racist", by everyone. We see it happening in real life seemingly every other day by celebrities and non-celebrities alike, many of whom get "cancelled" for saying things we would have considered benign during the 1980s, 1990s or early aughts.
The film also accurately dives into a sub-plot about hiding aspects of yourself to preserve your passion. We sometimes hear celebrities talk about this because too much exposure can actually tank your career. Even in the case of people who work 9-to-5 jobs, sometimes it's just easier to hide your true self behind a pseudonym to make it easier for people to digest the alter ego.
At the heart of the film, though, are a lot of cleverly written and highly entertaining battle raps. I'm not familiar with anyone from the scene, but the showdowns and match-ups are all expertly shot, well-lit, and contain plenty of emotion.
This film obviously isn't for everyone because it contains lots of raunchy language and racy subject matter in the battle raps themselves, but the juxtaposition of having Progressive types pick apart that aspect of the raps helps add context to what's going on for people unfamiliar with the whole scene. It's definitely worth a watch, though, especially given how it zeroes in on everyone's own (mis)conceptions about other cultures and views on what is and isn't actually racist.
