Analysis Of The Movie ' Django Unchained '

Movies and entertainment outlets speak volumes about the current state of a nation’s culture. Cinematic creations in the United States allow small voices to be heard and controversial issues to be addressed. However, a repetitive and monumental issue continues to be addressed, yet continues to persist in our 21st century culture, racial inequalities. Since the inception of the United States, black men and women alike have been disenfranchised at the hands of the “white man” in America. Instead of continuing the conversation today, the issue is continually silenced referencing the successes and achievements of the Civil Rights Movement in the 20th century. Nonetheless, an unfortunate reality looms upon this great land; racially based systems and structures continue to exist in 2015 the in United States. This paper synthesizes three films focused on racial inequalities in different time periods. Separate but Equal (1991), Selma (2015), and Crash (2005) illustrate how influential the Civil War amendments are, while serving as an uncanny reminder of how the racial prejudices during the 20th century continue to exist in our great nation today. Needless to say our nation has made great strides, but still has a long way to go.

Disney has faced a large amount of criticism from critics over the tropes and stereotypes that it portrays in its animated films. This is not a recent event however. One of Disney’s most notorious and controversial films, Song of The South, was released in 1946. Song of the South, set during the Reconstruction Era, focuses on a young boy named Johnny who learns that his parents will being living apart for an unknown amount of time, moves to a plantation in Georgia, while his father continues to live in Atlanta. Depressed and confused over the recent events Johnny decides to run away to Atlanta, but is drawn to the voices of Uncle Remus, an ex-slave living on the plantation, telling stories of Br’er Rabbit. Although it is implied that the African American workers are no longer Johnny’s family property, the black characters are still wholly subservient and are happy to be so. James Baskett plays Uncle Remus as a blissfully, happy companion ready to please. Due to this “magical negro” trope, the characters’ ridiculously stereotypical voices, and the unrealistic happy and joyful relationship between the white landowners and their black help, Song of The South, is one of Disney’s most offensive, racist, and fictitious film. Disney’s portrayal of Uncle Remus is his veiled justification of the mistreatment that minorities received before and after the Reconstruction Era.

The film Django Unchained (2012) by Quentin Tarantino defines the historical issue of institutional racism that existed in the antebellum era of Southern slavery. This unique perspective on history defines the struggle of Django (Jamie Foxx) and Dr. King Schultz (Christopher Waltz) to save Django’s wife, Broomhilda Von Shaft (Kerry Washington) from the evil southern plantation owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo Di Caprio). Candie’s presence as the primary patriarchal figure in the story not only defines the dominance of white racism in the south, but the class-based elitism of the “southern plantation owner” as the apex of the institution of slavery in the antebellum era: “The transition from two 18th and early 19th-century models—the genteel

Using the language of the moving image, which includes cinematography, editing, sound, music and mise-en-scene, this essay will investigate the ideology of Racism in film. OxfordDictionaries.com describes racism as “Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.” When we, the audience think of racism in film, we traditionally think of movies for adults and often overlook the sinister aspect of racism in children’s films. I have chosen to contrast a recent R-rated film with a G-rated Disney movie from the 1990s. Disney films, even up until the 1990s have persistently reinforced the image of blacks or latino and asian races as being below whites. The

Going in to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, I expected the show to be similar to the popular Broadway show Hamilton, loosely based on the life of Andrew Jackson with songs to support the storyline and characters. As the story unfolded, I found that the plotline was a little disjointed and hard to follow, and many of the songs seemed to come out of nowhere. There were elements of pure history infused into the play such as the mention of dates and battle names on the TV screens between individual scenes, but they weren’t referenced in the stage action. I was also taken back by how profane the dialogue of the play was. I’m sure the director intended to use vulgarity to appeal to the general college student population, and there are times when a well-placed swear word can be used to enhance a joke, however, right off the bat the use of the F-word and sexual innuendos was excessive and took away from the historical elements and the plot of the production.

Through the depiction of Chiron and his struggle in the film Moonlight Jenkins shows that the system one lives in and the internal self results in domination against oneself. Chiron the protagonist of the film is considered weak and fragile in comparison to his classmates and the people in his community and thus Chiron is targeted by his peers and even within his own household. In Frantz Fanon’s Black Skin, White Masks it is argued that the black man plays a part in their own domination by constantly viewing themselves as less than the white men.

The film 12 Years a Slave, an adaptation of the 1853 autobiography by a slave named Solomon Northup, depicts his everyday life after his rights and freedoms are ripped away. Through the unpleasant slave auction scenes to the sickening slave punishments, 12 Years a Slave is a heartbreaking story that unfortunately conveys the harsh truth on the issues surrounding slavery. Consequently, during the film there are many themes and events that trigger different thoughts and reactions varying between viewers, and importantly a better understanding of Solomon Northup’s story and slavery itself.

[1] Before I start this essay, I feel the need to remind the reader that I find slavery in all its forms to be an oppressive and terrible institution, and I firmly believe that for centuries (including this one) bigotry is one of the most terrible stains on our civilization. The views I intend to express in the following essay are in no way meant to condone the practices of slavery or racism; they are meant only to evaluate and interpret the construction of slavery in film.

The film, Django, where star actor, Jamie Foxx (Django), plays the role of a slave in the rural south, two years before the civil war. in the beginning of the film, Django ends up getting captured by Dr. King Schultz, a German bounty hunter, who saw the slaves, walking with barely any clothes on, no shoes, and in the cold(white privilege); while the white slave transporters are dressed and clothed warmly on horsebacks while they walk. Dr. King Schultz, later finds Django, in which, he needs Django’s assistance to capture the two Brittle brothers, who are wanted by the government, having a bounty on their heads. From this, Django, tags along with Dr. King Schultz, to find the two brothers, and hunt some of the South’s most wanted criminals. Riding horse back through the rural south, whites become in shocked, by seeing Django on top of this horse. As some of the characters in the film, go off by saying, “well that was nigger on a horse.” Based on that phrase, that leads to an example of racial moral cognitive dysfunction, because residents within the first town they arrive to

Django aside from being a fantasy film, it does show how an older America once was. Set during 1858, is full of racism and violence. Although, the movie stabilizes these characteristic with a bit of comedy. Nevertheless, according to Karl Marx’s conflict theory people of lighter skin would be more dominant whereas darker skin people would be considered more submissive and less powerful. Even Calvin explained how the slaves could have ganged up, or slayed his ancestors prior but instead they did not. Another theory is Emile Durkheim’s functionalist theory. In the movie this concept is present in how there are two groups of society and how one of the groups retains other in order to keep harmony. Even though the

Southpaw is a beautifully illustrated film about a fighter, who once felt as if he was on top of the world. Throughout the film, the character Billy Hope is put through extreme circumstances that cause the man to go from on top, to the lowest depths in a matter of moments, or so it seems. As Hope loses his wife in a terrible stage of events, because of his career choice, and enemies; he’s left feeling alone. Due to the loss and extreme heart break he begins to make bad life altering decisions that result in his child going into foster care which only made it worse. Billy decided to get his life together and began working hard to get his daughter back although their family can never be the same. The movie itself portrays how quickly life can change for one person, but how it isn’t impossible to recover from horrific events although it is very difficult.

Racism has been a prevalent issue throughout the history of the United States. From the introduction of slaves to the “New World” in the 17th century to the killing of innocent black individuals by police officers today, racism has defined this country. Director Quentin Tarantino, in his spaghetti western film Django: Unchained, addressed this issue. The film features a black slave who is freed at and sets out on a revenge mission against his white slave owners to free his wife. The heavy black and slave narrative lead many critics and scholars to question the historical accuracy of the film and ramifications of the film. Many critics felt the film was too soft on the

Analyse aspects of visual and/or oral text(s) through close viewing and/or listening, supported by evidence.

Shawshank Redemption is directed by Frank Darabot, published in 1995 Australia. The film focusses on the theme of forgiveness and escape. It follows an unusual friendship between Andy and Red set in a 1930’s American prison. The main focal scenes explored include: Brooks suicide and Tommy’s death. The film is to be narrated by Morgen Freeman (Red), it shows the 20 year period of Andy’s imprisonment. As a part of the analysis emphases on the scenes as it introduces the audience to the Shawshank prison and Andy’s first moments when attends to the prison to the very moment when he escapes to Mexico.

The meaning behind the title Django Unchained comes from Django himself. With Django being a slave, the movie shows him being “unchained” because of Schultz, as well as gaining power and intelligence to rescue his wife.