Beloved vs. Django Unchained: An Interesting Mix of Similarities and Differences

            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.