Django Unchained & Tarantino’s Quest for the “N-word” Pass

January 2, 2013 | Filed under: African Americans,Culture,Featured,Pop culture | Posted by: Guest Author

By @Robtheidealist, Carleton College Law Student,

Originally posted on Orchestrated Pulse

The following is a two part series that examines Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained. Part 1 explores Tarantino’s approach to the film, while part 2 will explore the content. I’m writing these articles because media plays a pivotal role in cultural production. Django Unchained has real-world implications.

Both the racial representations in the film and the racialized audience receiving them are mutually constitutive. That is, audiences make active meaning of movies while movies are produced to engender what audiences desire and find relevant. Mathew Hughley “The White Savior Film and Reviewers’ Reception” 478

Legends are stories passed along and accepted as historical. Legends often serve as “myths” because in addition to being historical, these stories also function as a repository of cultural imaginings and practices.

A usually traditional story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon- Webster

The cultural space of myth-making is a contested landscape. Historically, oppressive regimes have used violence to secure their power, and they like to tell their history as the myth of massacre and domination of powerless (read: inferior) foes. Even today, these same power interests work diligently to erase resistance practiced by marginalized groups, whether in the past or present. Through myths, revolutionary violence becomes an archetype of resistance alongside noncooperation and other nonviolent tactics. As with all archetypes, there is a spiritual significance in resistance myths. There is a sense of kinship and connection to the past as the myth informs marginalized people not just of who they were, but of who they are and who they may become. Each time these myths are told they not only erase the dominant narrative that marginalized people passively accepted subjugation, but the myth also arouses the contemporary revolutionary imagination, thus threatening existing power relations.

Unfortunately, I believe that Quentin Tarantino’s “Django Unchained” is a myth that does more harm than good. First, I want to make a few things clear. I have no problem with myths of revolutionary violence, and I don’t automatically object to White people telling and/or experimenting with those stories. In fact, I was very excited about Tarantino’s film until I saw the trailer this past summer.

via Race-Talk | A Kirwan Institute Project.