Django Unchained and the Expendability of Black Bodies in Cinema
I should preface this by saying I enjoy reading. writing, and watching material about Black histories. There is no history of Black peoples that has not been marred by white colonialism and the devastating violence that comes with it. I am no stranger to imagining, describing, or viewing these brutalities.
Even so, I was not prepared for the toll that director Quentin Tarantino’s Christmas release, Django Unchained, would take on me. I walked into the theater feeling hesitant but cautiously optimistic, excited if for no other reason than to see Kerry Washingto and Jamie Foxx act opposite one another. I left 2 hours and 45 minutes later feeling jittery, unsettled, and overwhelmed by emotions I hadn’t experienced consciously in ages.
To be perfectly fair, the film is breathtaking from a cinematographic perspective. Tarantino is an artist, and his eye for camera work is impeccable. He is by no means afraid to take risks, and this resonates with audiences; it is no accident that he has acquired so large a following.
The work has alreay been applauded as groundbreaking; Tarantino has been referred to as “bold,” “daring,” and “edgy” for having the tenacity to write and direct a thriller loosely based on the antebellum South and reveling in depictions of violence primarily against Black people. If I may be blunt, however, I do not believe the risks Tarantino takes in Django are his to negotiate. In “post-racial” America—where Black bodies are disproportionally targeted by hate crimes, police brutality, the prison-industrial complex, dishonest housing and banking practices, and numerous other institutional forms of violence—there is nothing novel about a white director choosing to regale audiences with the coordinated murder of Black people.[spoilers and descriptions of graphic violence under the cut]
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This.
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Very interesting, I got to read this for a theatre history class and it was very eye opening
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