Capitalism
Boots Riley has said that the film offers a radical class analysis of capitalism,[15] not a specific analysis of the United States under President Donald Trump. He wrote the initial screenplay during Barack Obama's administration,[15][18] and the target was never any specific elected official or movement, but "the puppetmasters behind the puppets".[19][20] While most of the final script remained the same, minimal changes were made to avoid appearing to critique Trump specifically, including removing a line where a character says "Worry Free is making America great again",[21] written before Trump used the line in his 2016 presidential campaign.
False consciousness
The film's title has a double meaning, referencing both the phrase's use by telemarketers and its general usage when telling a person something they might not like to hear, such as the film's anti-capitalist message. According to Riley, "when you're telling someone something that is different from how they view things, different from how they view the world, it feels like an annoyance or a bother. And that's where that comes from."[15] The plot of a strike was used to reflect the need to "organize people in the workplace" and for workers to recognize their power.[22]
