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  • Essay / Tarantino's Wild West: Django Unchained

    What do you think when I say the words Wild Wild West? I bet whatever you imagined, it wasn't a complete subversion of the logic of slavery. And that's why today we're talking about Django Unchained - a film that has all the typical Tarantino hallmarks we love while also giving us an incredibly intelligent, nuanced, and dare we say funny critique of slavery. Django Unchained is a spaghetti western directed by Ocho Quentin Tarantino and set in the Deep South of 1858. It evokes the horrific past of black slaves in antebellum America with significant use of Tarantino's glorified violence and is wrapped in the western genre. The film follows Django, a former black slave, and his journey as a free man. The plot begins when a German bounty hunter, Dr. Shultz, buys Django's freedom and the two embark on a precarious journey as bounty hunters. They attempt to trick Calvin Candy, a wealthy established plantation order, into saving Django's wife. Growing up as a movie buff and working in a video store, it's no surprise that Tarantino draws a lot of inspiration from others in his work. Without a doubt, the genre of 1970s blaxploitation is Django's greatest wild intertextualization. An ironic genre in relation to slavery because it mainly involves racism and violence towards white culture. We see the rise of the black antihero in this film – a bad man but not a good one either. Through cinematic form and an interwoven narrative, it presents an exploration of freedom and takes the idea of ​​“an eye for an eye” beyond the point of same. In saying that, Tarantino's use of an existential black spaghetti western hero, Django, to tackle the heavy subject of slavery is very interesting and effective. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Language as a symbol of supremacy Surprisingly, Django Unchained offers a purpose for language beyond just a means of carrying a man of culture. This is because, from the perspective of white slaveholders like Big Daddy and Calvin Candie, white bodies represent culture and civilization, while black bodies are seen as uncivilized and incapable of properly using language and communication. appreciate culture. Enter Schultz, this eloquent German speaks. English as a second language is so good that it confuses native-speaking slaveholders. His mastery of English vocabulary repeatedly disconcerts those around him: meanwhile, his rhetorical skills allow him to speak around the simpletons of the South of the United States. Schultz disrupts the racist binary we just discussed by making these self-satisfied southerners look extremely barbaric in comparison. It is an emblem of the mythical European civilization on which wealthy American men built their plantations. And he reminds us that these so-called men of culture are, well, they're full of crap. The idea that slaves were incapable of speaking properly dates back to Aristotle. For Aristotle, humans were distinguished from animals by “logos,” a Greek word meaning both speech and reason. In contrast, my dog ​​Woody can only communicate through “phonos” – the yips and barks that can only communicate fear, displeasure, and hunger, as well as other base instincts. More importantly, Aristotle used this to justify slavery in Greece because, in his mind, they were only capable of receiving and understanding the "logos", but not possessing it. In other words, slaves,.