"Stephen: I count six shots, n****r.
Django: [pulls out a second revolver] I count two guns, n****r."
Is Django Unchained an exploitative work of cultural appropriation?
Quentin Tarantino’s film Django Unchained (2012) is, like the rest of his films, intentionally provocative. “Django is a black film. More than that, it is an exemplary black film.”As a revenge tale told in a Blaxploitation/spaghetti western style, set in the world of pre-Civil War slavery, with Tarantino’s trademark dialogue and unorthodox violence, there is more than enough to make viewers apprehensive. “Blaxploitation is classified by films that exploit black people” such as featuring a black hero or a predominately black urban setting, excessive violence, and a blues soundtrack. Django Unchained incorporates all that and because it’s a contemporary film is why it's gathered so much criticism before and after it’s release on the 25th of December 2012. Most predominantly from the American film director, Spike Lee who tweeted and explained his outrage over Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained: "American Slavery was not a Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It was a Holocaust". What Lee is saying is that slavery obviously was too formidable to be turned into Gothic entertainment in a disreputable genre. This isn't the first time Lee has taken issue with Tarantino's films, particularly when it comes to the use of a racial denomination that is used countless amount of times in Django and appeared frequently in Tarantino's 1997 film Jackie Brown. However, in defence of Tarantino, Django Unchained is taking place in slavery therefore it would’ve been odd not having the racial slurs in there. He is not the only one who stated his disgust at the film, Tavis Smiley went on to say, “To my mind there’s clearly a level of arrogance with what Tarantino has with appropriating and reimagining black culture and black history, and that’s what I find offensive”. Slavery is a very serious subject matter and, therefore, presenting it through the playful lens of a white director was perceived by some as outright racist. “Undoubtedly, it is much harder for white filmmakers (be they directors or not) to make “black film” than it is for black filmmakers to do so, since most white people have never had to face the harsh realities of systemic racism in the way that people of color (filmmakers or not) are forced to everyday.” Django Unchained showcases the topic of slavery in 1800s Southern America in a very real way, more so than other recent films such as 12 Years a Slave which relies more on the "emotional valences of loss, shame and despair.". The use of the N-word may be excessive and even though it’s an offensive slur, it only adds to the realism of the whole film so it’s use may be excused if it’s purposely used for an artistic sense. The possessiveness of the N-word by the black culture only increases racism and segregation so mainstreaming the word will diminish the offensive element to it. “I have a definite problem with Quentin Tarantino’s excessive use of the n-word. And let the record state that I never said that he cannot use that word -- I’ve used that word in many of my films -- but I think something is wrong with him." This is very interesting as this comes from a black man’s perspective and he clearly feels very uncomfortable seeing Tarantino “appropriating the black cultural” and make a movie out of it. So the indisputable question then arises: Is Tarantino’s use of slavery and African American characters a product of exploitation or an artistic interpretation which attempts to “revise cinematic history”?
One of the central characters in Django Unchained is the slave owner Calvin Candie. Tarantino has designed him as a handsome blond man in opulent clothing, whose only physical indicator of his inner ugliness is visibly poor dental hygiene. The luxurious lifestyle of this wealthy young white man is imbued with the star power of Leonardo DiCaprio, making the character inherently magnetic despite the clear understanding that his wealth is built upon the backs of the slaves he exploits. The Skull Phrenology scene is one of the most significant scenes in the entire film because it signifies how white Southern Americans in 1800s used to think and more importantly portrays Quentin Tarantino’s interpretation as to why slavery existed at that time. Calvin Candie is the protagonist in this scene when he’s holding the skull of a black slave: He's using the “pseudoscience of phrenology” (measurement of the skull to gauge intellectual ability) to explain why all black people are naturally subservient, thereby answering his question of why “Why don't they kill us? Now right out there on that porch three times a week for fifty years, old Ben here would shave my daddy with a straight razor. Now if I was old Ben, I would have cut my daddy's goddamn throat, and it wouldn't have taken me no fifty years to do it neither.” His lawyer burst out laughing as he found what he said very ridiculous but then he stopped and started to think once Candy started speaking. This theory that Tarantino came up with racist Phrenology has riled up with media and the masses because he is using science in the wrong way and he is using that theory and appropriating it to the cultural of black people back then. I believe Tarantino put that on purpose in order to show the differences between the two Southerners at that time. Ones which question and wonder why those black people just settle down as slaves for them and the other just accepts that as a norm in everyday life. However, they still both believe divinely that slaves are their property which brings Candy back to square one because he came up with a ridiculously false theory to his question. “Why not? You see, the science of phrenology is crucial to understanding the separation about two species. In the skull of the African here, the area associated with submissiveness is larger than any human or other sub-human species on planet Earth.” .This was interesting because it shows Candy has thought it out and came up with the answer that there are two species of humans, the white (pure) and the colored (savages) although it's ridiculous and false, back in the 1800s, the Southerners needed cheap labor to work on their plantations and cotton farms and so they weren't scientifically advanced to actually research this theory and it was just brought upon to them by racist scientists, scholars and public figures so they just believed it anyways because it made sense to them and they can justify it easily. “Phrenology really was used to justify slavery, as portrayed in Django Unchained. But it was also used to justify abolition.” It can be argued that Tarantino’s use of African American Cultural history as a cinematic tool is a similar exploitation to the actions of his slave-owning villain Calvin Candie. While some (i.e. Spike Lee) may think that Django Unchained diminishes the horrors of slavery, I believe that he’s only partly right. Rather than making a flatly evil antagonist, DiCaprio and Tarantino, create a beautifully pathetic person, a man who’s only goal is to live a life of intellectual hedonism. And by doing so, he becomes a commentary on an often over-simplified period in history. The institution of slavery had more nuance that many would be willing to admit, and the ideologies that supported it continue to be common today.
Schultz’s ideas on abolitionism which is “The belief that slavery should be abolished. In the early nineteenth century, increasing numbers of people in the northern United States held that the nation's slaves should be freed immediately, without compensation to slave owners.” and is found in the KKK raid scene where Schultz and Django are being chased by a group of white Southern men who with their white masks represent some kind of precursor of the Ku Klux Klan. “Arguably, the character is a symbolic nod to the image of the white abolitionist as an erudite social reformer of tastes and traditions somewhat distinct from American common folk.” The group is being led by slaveholder Spencer ‘Big Daddy’ Bennett, the boss of the Bennett plantation where Django and Schultz have shot the Brittle brothers. On horseback, they raid Schultz’s dentist cart, but Schultz has anticipated this and has loaded the cart with dynamite. Django and Schultz are hiding in the bushes and when the group is gathered around the cart, Schultz fires a bullet in the dynamite. The cart of course explodes and many henchmen and horses die on the spot. The camera turns to Django and Schultz. Django calls out “whoa!” and laughs excitedly. Schultz nods and states: ‘bull’s eye’. The approval of both of them is thus recorded, showing their hatred towards these men affiliated with slavery and racism. Then Schultz starts to cock his gun and points it at ‘Big Daddy’ who is still struggling to get away. Django looks at Schultz puzzled and then looks at ‘Big Daddy’ concerned. It shows that Django had not expected that Schultz wanted to kill this man. Indeed, it is not necessary to do so. However, Django does not disagree with Schultz and patiently looks at ‘Big Daddy’, awaiting what will happen next. Schultz then lowers his gun, looks at Django, and asks him: ‘would you care to?’, while he offers him his gun. This is interesting because why does Schultz want Django to shoot ‘Big Daddy’? Perhaps he wants to give Django an opportunity to take revenge on a slaveholder, or Schultz is trying to instigate rebelliousness against slavery in Django, or both. Either way, Schultz now actively incorporates Django in his abolitionism. This act can be called abolitionism, as it serves no purpose for Schultz to have this man dead, other than the fact that it wipes out a slaveholder, which is a step towards the end of slavery. “At the film's core is an abolitionist representation of slavery as despotic, unbridled cruelty. As a consequence, Django does something no American film has done before: it places the experience of terror -- as a structural, daily, lived reality -- at the center of the experience of slavery.” Django is eager to shoot the man and takes hold of Schultz’s gun. Django takes a long time aiming at ‘Big Daddy’ while Schultz tells him that ‘Big Daddy’ is getting away. But Django calmly says ‘I got this’ and when he shoots and kills the man. Schultz is pleased and sees potential in Django as he states smiling: “whoa, the kid is a natural”. Schultz seems to be an active abolitionist who tries to instigate rebelliousness in a freed slave, namely Django.
The institutions behind Django Unchained and Tarantino are at the heart of the issue of cultural appropriation and blaxploitation. The main institution being Hollywood which is at the centre of the US film industry during the golden age of the studio system. "Hollywood' interest in black film-making seems another version of niche marketing; they remain interested so long as the film provide the successful economic returns that a number of them have achieved.” Blaxploitation played an important role in bringing issues of race and justice to the Hollywood big screen. Some white viewers viewed the films as a symbol of Black empowerment. African-American criticised the movies as they are promoting common white stereotypes about Blacks. Regardless of whether or not the films are seen in either of these two lights, the impact both culturally and financially on Hollywood is undeniable. Another thing that’s undeniable is that Hollywood has a major diversity problem, this is backed by evidence: only 7% of films had a cast whose balance of race and ethnicity reflected the country’s diversity. This is significantly low and again indicates that there is a domination of whites in the film industry and they continue to exploit ethnic minorities in order to generate profit and maximise ratings with the excuse that film is another way to channel art. The debate of Capitalism can be involved here; it is an economic system in which the production and distribution of goods and services in society is organised via a free market for the purpose of maximising profits. This was a key feature in 1800s America as it encouraged slavery because it minimised costs and maximised profits as Slave Masters did not have to pay wages at all. Which the same is observed in the production of Django Unchained as there's a particular group in Hollywood who are profiting from a dramatised film about Slavery. Major film studios have their corporate headquarters there and it is a major centre of corporate activity and film finance.
Django Unchained has gratifying contrasts and similarities with The Legend of N****r Charley where three runaway slaves: Charley, Tobey, and Joshua miraculously manage to fend off the sheriff and his posse who chase them from the plantation after they murder their slaveholder and make their escape. “We ain’t never gonna be free so long as black people are slaves,” Charley says to his hesitant compatriots. In Tarantino’s movie, by contrast, Django tries and fails to escape and is only liberated, and empowered, by the benevolent bounty hunter Dr. Schultz. A scene early in Tarantino’s movie, Dr. Schultz and the newly liberated Django enter a Texas settlement to the bafflement of the white townspeople. Django explains to Schultz why they’re acting so strange; “n*****s” don’t ride horses, and they definitely aren’t served in saloons. For Django, white people present a persistent threat; entering white spaces like a saloon or a plantation can cost him his life. He’s able to navigate those spaces mainly because he has the protection of a white man. In The Legend of N****r Charley, Charley and Tobey have no such protection. When Django and Schultz visit a saloon in that Old West town, they escape with their lives only because of Schultz’s lawyerly explanation that they’re there on official law enforcement business. When Charley and Tobey walk into a saloon, Charley beats up a racist patron and the rest of the barflies exit, out of fear, without a fight.
In conclusion, Yes, Django Unchained is a prime example of cultural appropriation in the modern era and Quentin Tarantino, without a doubt, exploits the theme of slavery. He cleverly combined different genres and romanticised slavery by adding comedic elements to it and fitting a love story in there to play with the audiences emotions. However it is still a masterclass by him because Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained both entertains and unnerves the audience by placing America’s complex history with slavery at the centre of attention in the intense setting of the pre-civil war West. Tarantino juxtaposes his unique mix of humour and irony with the horrific contextual violence of the film in such a way that allows the viewer to not be overwhelmed by the film’s violence, or to be lead to a state of denial of the seriousness of the subject matter due to its comical tone. Jamie Foxx answered back at the critics and summarized it perfectly by saying in an interview: “There's something for everyone to hate in this outfit that is something to make everybody angry and that I don't think. Do film like this. With Quentin Tarantino and not expect and I think that's what you sign up for black and personal saga to says we're in -- about an impasse is supposed to.” He is 100% correct, if you go and watch a Tarantino movie, you should not be surprised by the plethora of violence in it or the controversial topics because that’s what Tarantino does; It's not a historical documentary to showcase the horrors of slavery, don't expect that from him nor a film in Hollywood. In my personal opinion, Cultural appropriation shouldn’t be a problem in the 21st century, we should be able to borrow the good things from each other without feeling any sense of possessiveness. I believe that directors and filmmakers should have the freedom to produce artistic visuals without being limited to any problems with cultural appropriation. The possessiveness of an attribute from your culture is only a stepping stone into more serious issues; if we have a problem with a white director making a film about slavery in the 1800s or that each cultural theme should be explored by filmmakers from a similar ethnicity, then racism will never stop and would only lead onto gender, sexuality and more socio-political issues. He’s done cultural appropriation right and produced an absolute masterclass with Django Unchained.
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