In my essay I will take on the role of a film critic and synthesis the move Django Unchained. This is a crazy montage about an ex-slave turned bounty hunter who takes the bloody business of emancipation into his own hands. This is not Tarantino’s best film but it is probably his most clever.
Django unchained is a spaghetti western directed by Quintin Tarantino, and set in the Deep South of 1858. The film touches on America’s horrific antebellum black salve past with a significant use of glorified violence and is wrapped up in the western genre. The film follows Django, a black man once a slave on his voyage being a freed man. The plot begins when a German bounty hunter buys Django’s freedom and the two set out on a precarious journey as bounty hunters. They attempt to deceive Calvin candy a wealthy established plantation owner in order to rescue Django’s enslaved wife.
Quintin Tarantino grew up as a film buff in a video store and to no surprise that Quintin Tarantino takes the influences from other films in his own works. Undoubtedly the blaxploitation genre of the 1970’s is intertwined in this film. This genre is ironic in contrast to slavery since it mostly entails racism and violence towards white culture. Through film form and narrative the film showcases its exploration of freedom and taking revenge past the point of even. With this foundation Tarantino uses his black anti hero to fight back against slavery from a very interesting perspective.
The film features a vast array of beautiful western landscapes. The landscapes depicted show beautiful deserts, rocky snowy mountains, and thick grassy fields in wide shots. The big landscapes make the subjects look seemingly small in comparison to their surroundings. This accentuates the amount of space traveled on Django and Dr. Schultz’s journey.
The main character is first introduced as a scar riddled, shirtless, disheveled slave. Shortly after this he is displayed with well groomed hair dressed in a clean and vibrant blue suit. This separates him from the other slaves shown in the film with their tattered clothes and dirt covered bodies. The white culture portrayed perfectly represents 1850’s style. The setting is emblazoned with the brutality of slavery, classy victorian style households, and outfits that well represent the time and place.
Over exaggerated sound effects are used adjacent with the gruesome portrayal of violence Tarantino has used in this gory feature. An endless amount of fake blood obnoxiously splatters out at every angle from every action scene. Seemingly the directors use of violence is purely for his aesthetic pleasure; However, Tarantino’s use of violence in this film creates a chilling sympathy towards the slaves. This violence towards the white slave owners further encompasses the blaxploitation elements of this film.
Watching the film closely, one can easily uncover many Easter eggs riddled throughout the story. Beers that are half empty magically refilling with the cut of a scene. Unrealistic gunshots from practically any angle hitting their mark. The numerous use of items, certain words, and phrases that were invented way ahead of this century. Not to mention Samuel Jackson’s use of the word “Motherf*cker’s” (Samuel L. Jackson).
Typically Quintin Tarantino does not strive for complete historical accuracy; However, what he lacks in historical accuracy he adds to underlying meanings in his films. In one scene there is a very powerful metonym that is used with blood. The scene unfolds with a gunshot from Dr. Schultz ripping through the overseer. The blood splatter rains over the cloud like cotton flowers which envelops irony that the blood came from a white man and not a slave.
The violent scenes showing the brutality of slaves is cruel and hard to watch. It drives home the horrible and gruesome history of slavery. Tarantino harnesses this painful spectacle and uses it to drive his revenge plot against the slave owners. This motive sympathizes with the slaves to such a degree that it completely justifies an entire massacre of white slave holders.
The use of humor when directed in this film is used as a sort of catharsis towards slavery. The comedy used is closely in comparison with comedians like Key and Peele and Dave Chapelle. They use this comedy not to ridicule slavery but to take away from its power. A comical scene with klan members arguing about the bags they're wearing on their heads and one of the members arguing “my wife made these bags for all you ungrateful sob’s” clearly emulates this form of comedy. This dramatically contrasts the ideology of slavery in a dark and shameful period of American history.