When
I chose to watch Django Unchained as
my second primary source for this assignment, I didn’t really know what to
expect. I knew that the movie was about slavery, and starred well-known actors
like Jamie Foxx and Leo DiCaprio, but I never realized the extensive and
meaningful storyline that went along with it. In Quentin Tarantino’s film,
slavery is one of the most prominent factors in the movie. Jamie Foxx plays
Django, a freed slave that accompanies Dr. Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German
bounty hunter, across the southern United States to free his still enslaved
wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), from CandyLand, the large plantation in
Mississippi owned by Calvin Candie (Leo DiCaprio). Something interesting about
this movie is that while the bounty hunting and Django’s freedom are important
parts of the movie, slavery itself is the main character.
In
Toni Morrison’s Beloved, it’s the
complete opposite: slavery is a thing of the past, and is only referenced in
memory. That being said, it still plays a prominent part in the creation of
each character's personality. All of the characters are free throughout the
entire book but the horrors of their time in servitude still haunt them; however,
in Beloved, slavery is expressed on a
more emotional level than in Django
Unchained. In the CNN article Why Django Unchained Stirs Race Debate, Gene Seymour writes, "Many of my African
American relatives and friends... told me they were not going to see [the movie
of] 'Beloved,' no matter how good it was or who was in it, because they simply
did not want to watch a movie about slavery's legacy". This statement is
completely justified and I understand why people don't want to revisit this
horrible era of American history, but when looking at Django Unchained in
addition to Beloved, I think everyone can agree that the issue of slavery is
way more prominent in Tarantino's film rather than Morrison's novel.
An
interesting connection between Beloved
and Django Unchained are the
semi-parallel story lines of the characters Beloved and Django. One
of the closest similarities is that they both start out in a "bad"
place; Beloved was murdered by her mother and Django is suffering as a slave in
the south during the 1800's. Throughout their respective stories, each
character begins to gain back his or her strength and eventually uses it as an
advantage over others. Beloved uses it to form positive relationships with
Sethe and Denver, whereas Django uses it to build up his physical strength and
agility and to increase his mental capabilities. Ultimately, Beloved and Django
take full advantage of the knowledge and manipulative skills they have both
acquired and betray the ones they have come to love. Beloved works hard to mend
her relationship with her long lost mother but in the end manages to change Sethe
from a caring parent into just a weak soul. Django plays the role of student
and follows Dr. Schultz's lead, but once the original bounty hunter has died, Django
picks up right where his mentor left off and tricks everyone so he can accomplish
his goal of being reunited with his wife.
One
would never expect that these two stories, written almost thirty years apart, to
match each other so well. It's an unforeseen truth, but one that is analyzed and
appreciated nonetheless.
