Upon the release of the film, Chameleon Street hardly got attention because it was categorized as too black for white audiences and too white for black audiences. It didn’t appeal to white audiences, because it promoted a message of how easy it is to fool whites through subverting the stereotypes of blacks, and it didn’t appeal to black people because it didn’t align with the tone of most hood movies getting made by the black community in the film sphere at that time. The battle between black and white is a much exhausted topic, but Chameleon Street’s message on its own, is far from a clear cut explanation of Black and White.
Chameleon Street is a 1989 movie from a Chameleon himself, Wendell B. Harris Jr, who wrote, directed, edited, and starred in the film as the main character of William Douglas Street. The film is about a famous con artist, who attempts to impersonate and act in many jobs such as a reporter, doctor, lawyer and more, even If he’s not qualified for the job. As long as he looks and sounds qualified for the job and can make money off it, he’s in the clear. The movie is a 101 lesson of how to assimilate into different lanes of society while looking like you belong there. Essentially, the art of being a Chameleon: presenting yourself the way society wants you to be and becoming that exact vision they have in mind in order to get the edge in front of any person, any place, any time. While taking on those many jobs seems risky and something you could get caught for after years of people knowing your track record, William still pushed the envelope further for one reason: people forget.
One of the first things Street takes on before jumping into the game of a Chameleon, is committing extortion for money. He eventually gets caught for the big sham and ends up doing a press run on TV for it, but soon goes straight to taking on many jobs from doctor to lawyer, with nobody even stopping to think he may be that same person who was on television screens hardly any long ago. While that situation of forgetfulness may present himself a unrealistic, its ultimately still an accurate reminder of how so many things slip people’s minds in the fleeting moments of life and the world. If William’s case of extortion was truly that important in the grand scheme of that American society, his 15 minutes of fame would last longer onto the streets, where people stop and recognize him to say “hey you’re the guy from TV!” But they didn’t. The truth is, most are insignificant and ordinary enough to be forgotten about in the public eye for even things such as extortion. Even will his shameless acts such as that, it’s too tame of a crime to be remembered compared to other acts like murder in society, and too one dimensional moraled of a person to be remembered. When William street was asked on TV his motives behind the act, his simple answer was to get money. Everyone wants money, they just may not do heinous acts for it. That’s nowhere near enough for William to be remembered in the grand scheme of society’s hell that has way more scummy people and way more drastic situation. Truth is, only people that keep records of you in the midsts of life’s chaos is the government who are mandated to, so who really cares about being caught for taking on multiple personalities? Right?
Despite my description, being a Chameleon in a space where many high value occupations need proof of qualification for, is not an easy task. You have to be one with others you may not like or fancy in particular, or become a person you’ve hardly ever known yourself. However, Street nails the task of it in a white society. While he may not be qualified or properly taught for the jobs like a doctor or a reporter, he knows how to appear as such for many and put on a performance. He talks intelligently, using proper language and grammar rather than classic black slang. He dresses proper and appropriately in collared shirts. He appears educated with degrees and college experience rather than a drop out. He appears so clear to subverting the expectations the current white society has on black people that they don’t even bother to question whether he’s qualified for the jobs or not. Not being hood or uneducated is enough for them to be impressed by a black man in that day and age. That’s ultimately what being a Chameleon is. Ultimately, while it appears that street is giving up his morals of unapologetically being black and being himself as an individual person, he’s just trying to get the edge in society and an economy where good money is hard to come by.
In the economic field, the system for application Is already filled with a number of bias and standards hard to meet that make getting the top of the line jobs nearly impossible for an average Joe like William. It seems corrupt to switch up and be a con artist to meet those standards, but being content with who you are is a lot more easier said than done. At the top of the corporate ladder holds many who have sacrificed many morals to get there. While that seems like a lowdown life and is one, it’s the easiest way to the top and climbing your way up out of being broke. As humans, its natural to crave more and be desperate to get to a point of ultimate stability, and its hard to get there in a world of systemic bias and qualifications hard to meet for a rake of cash. If many have done worse to get to the top like killing off competition or giving up their morality completely, what do you think’s gonna stop William Douglas Street from simply becoming a Chameleon?
