The Oscar-nominated Quentin Tarantino film “Django Unchained” is stirring up quite a buzz in not only Hollywood, but the rest of the world too. Slavery is a sensitive subject, but that does not mean it should be dealt with lightly.
Jamie Foxx, an Academy Award-winning actor, stars in the controversial,action movie as a slave named Django (pronounced “Jango”) pre-Civil War. Django is set free by German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). Together the two set out to rescue Django’s wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), from Candieland. Candieland is one of the largest plantations in the South and is owned by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) aided by right-hand man and head house slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson).
The film is nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Film and Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz.
Much of the commotion over the film is due to the consistent use of a racial slur, which I find puzzling. In a time where slavery was the main form of labor in the southern United States and black people were the thought of as less than nothing, that word was used. It was a way to separate white people from black people either to make white people feel better or to make black people feel worse.
The word is still in use today. Go on YouTube and listen to the unedited versions of songs from several rappers and other pop artists, and the slur is sure to be uttered at one point or another. So when making a movie centered toward slavery, it is inevitable that such a word will be said. In the film it is said 110 times, upsetting but somewhat necessary.
Tarantino has received constant criticism for the use of the word in this film as well as others. In an interview with TheRoot.com, he says that is necessary usage for taking a 21st century viewer back to 1858 Mississippi and that “[it’s] just part and parcel of dealing truthfully with this story, with this environment, with this land.”
The conversation over slavery and how the world accepts its influence on the everyday person is long overdue. Although this is 2013, this is not a post-racial America. Society is improving at a tremendous rate, yet that does not mean society is perfect.
“Django Unchained” may be a tad farcical in its portrayal of the determined Django, but it also transports the viewer back to a much more disturbing time of racism. This makes the viewer think, which leads to a thought and thus a conversation.
