If you want to understand this film, imagine a mainstream version of the John Singleton film, “Rosewood,” with a lot more action. To be honest, only a white guy could have made this movie and convinced so many white people to pay money to see it.
No matter how we feel about “Django Unchained,” we should be sure to remember that the best way to have our stories told is to tell them ourselves.
I don’t think that every depiction of slavery has to be a purely educational endeavor which turns the movie theater into a history class. It’s OK to laugh, fight, love, live and learn, all at the same time. Even Quentin’s liberal use of the n-word in the film didn’t seem in the least bit out of context,
But I had my own reasons for loving “Django Unchained,” and here they are:
1) There was a legitimate African American hero: Jamie Foxx, who played Django, was one of the few serious black heroes ever produced by Hollywood, a place that tends to put black people in a box. Django wasn’t just a sidekick or comedic buffoon. He didn’t have some ridiculous set of character flaws like Will Smith’s conflicted hero in the movie “Hancock.” He didn’t need a white man to save him, like most other fictional or non-fictional accounts we see on screen. Instead, Django was simply a strong, brave, highly-skilled black man who loved his wife enough to put his life on the line to save her. In fact, I dare say he was downright inspirational, which is more than you can say about the black men in “T’he Color Purple.”
2) It had a beautiful portrayal of black love: Far too many Hollywood films enjoy highlighting the incessant conflict between black men and women. We live in a world where love and marriage are consistently replaced with abuse, addiction and baby mama drama (just watch nearly any VH1 show or listen to the radio to see at least 25 examples of what I’m talking about). Django’s’ deep love for his wife and desire to save her from her slave masters struck a cord with anyone who has had a first hand experience with such overwhelming emotion. It was beautiful to watch a black man show bravery to protect his family.
3) An in-your-face portrayal of slavery: Most of us are given the polite story about slavery when we’re in school. It’s as if the period of bondage was but a moment in history, followed by Abraham Lincoln giving us our freedom, and Martin Luther King giving us a speech. This film, to the extent that it is historically accurate, probably mortified many of the people in the audience by showing the depths of dehumanization that took place during the greatest holocaust in American history. Unfortunately, this film will be the best education on slavery that many of the audience members will ever receive, but it’s certainly better than nothing.
No matter how we feel about “Django Unchained,” we should be sure to remember that the best way to have our stories told is to tell them ourselves.
I don’t think that every depiction of slavery has to be a purely educational endeavor which turns the movie theater into a history class. It’s OK to laugh, fight, love, live and learn, all at the same time. Even Quentin’s liberal use of the n-word in the film didn’t seem in the least bit out of context,
But I had my own reasons for loving “Django Unchained,” and here they are:
1) There was a legitimate African American hero: Jamie Foxx, who played Django, was one of the few serious black heroes ever produced by Hollywood, a place that tends to put black people in a box. Django wasn’t just a sidekick or comedic buffoon. He didn’t have some ridiculous set of character flaws like Will Smith’s conflicted hero in the movie “Hancock.” He didn’t need a white man to save him, like most other fictional or non-fictional accounts we see on screen. Instead, Django was simply a strong, brave, highly-skilled black man who loved his wife enough to put his life on the line to save her. In fact, I dare say he was downright inspirational, which is more than you can say about the black men in “T’he Color Purple.”
2) It had a beautiful portrayal of black love: Far too many Hollywood films enjoy highlighting the incessant conflict between black men and women. We live in a world where love and marriage are consistently replaced with abuse, addiction and baby mama drama (just watch nearly any VH1 show or listen to the radio to see at least 25 examples of what I’m talking about). Django’s’ deep love for his wife and desire to save her from her slave masters struck a cord with anyone who has had a first hand experience with such overwhelming emotion. It was beautiful to watch a black man show bravery to protect his family.
3) An in-your-face portrayal of slavery: Most of us are given the polite story about slavery when we’re in school. It’s as if the period of bondage was but a moment in history, followed by Abraham Lincoln giving us our freedom, and Martin Luther King giving us a speech. This film, to the extent that it is historically accurate, probably mortified many of the people in the audience by showing the depths of dehumanization that took place during the greatest holocaust in American history. Unfortunately, this film will be the best education on slavery that many of the audience members will ever receive, but it’s certainly better than nothing.
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