7/25/2019 How Can Django Unchained Be Viewed as a Postmodern Film

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Charlotte Hull

How can Django Unchained be viewed as a postmodern flm?

Postmodern texts deliberately play with meaning and will oten exhibit many traits o

intertexuality !hey encourage oppositional reading to what is presented through the use

o bricolage" homage" pastiche and parody # postmodern flm we have studied is Django

Unchained $%&'%(" a )uentin !arantino flm set in '*+* about an ex,dentist now bounty

hunter called Dr -ing .chult/ who buys the reedom o a slave" Django as his deputy

Under .chult/0s wing Django is then led and trained to 1ill various 2wanted0 men including

the gang who 1ept him and his wie as slaves !he pair ends up at one o the biggest

plantations" Candyland" bargaining with Calvin Candie or the reedom o 3roomhilda"

Django0s wie" disguised as beginning 4andingo business men

!he main aspect that labels this flm as postmodern is the use o intertexual reerences to

other flms" including those made by the same director" )uentin !arantino !he flm pays

homage to Django" through the name as well as the opening titles which use the same

bac1ing trac1 as well as almost identical imagery and text Django $'566( stars lead actor

7ranco 8ero who also eatures in Django Unchained during a scene where he as1s Django"played by 9amie 7oxx" how his name is spelt :nce he responds the character silently

mutters 2; 1now0 reerencing his previous role and reason or the use o the name in the

flm !here are urther uses o names as reerence to other sources or example Dr -ing

.chult/ and the song 2His name was -ing0 ta1en rom the '5

7/25/2019 How Can Django Unchained Be Viewed as a Postmodern Film

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Charlotte Hull

it this ar ; believe that the audience identifes with the duo until Dr .chult/ is 1illed

Django does not immediately come to his aid but instead acts solely on revenge or his

wie" enslaved by the Candyland household" as well as the people then trying to 1ill him

!hroughout the flm it continues to moc1 the genre not only as 3roomhilda aints when

greeted with Bhey little trouble ma1er rom her long lost hero" an over,reacted happily

ever ater seen within this genre" but li1ewise through the act that there are no actual

cowboys within this 2cowboy0 flm

!here were many criticisms or this flm" mostly revolving around the issue o side,lining

slavery as a result o historical deaness Donald !rump said the flm was Btotally racist

and .pi1e ee reused to even watch the flm as he Balready 1new it was racist !hese

critiues may be as a result o the chosen genre>style o mixing 3laxploitation with over,

exaggeration o violence ta1en rom !arantino0s basic ormula or through )uentin

!arantino0s postmodern choice o flm 7rederic1 9ameson describes postmodernism as

2vacuous0 and 2trapped in circular reerencing0 which may justiy !arantino0s choice o

using the word 2nigger0 and other racial lin1s as they were not to be read into but instead

just a act o that time #lthough using the word 2nigger0 may be justifed as beinghistorically accurate there is no real evidence to suggest 4andingo fghting actually

happened so instead suggests this is a fctitious antasy created by !arantino under the

in@uence o the flm 4andingo and so uestions the reasoning behind his other choices

.chult/ and Django use the oppressors racist values against them by bargaining B@esh or

cash in order to buy the reedom o his wie 8evertheless" the flm does not try to

produce a powerul message o overcoming slavery as" towards the end" Django has the

opportunity to unite with the other blac1 slaves in order to see1 revenge on their captures

but" goes bac1 to the plantation alone !arantino0s choice to leave .tephan as the 2last

man standing0 shows the unconditional love .tephan eels towards his white master as heplots against his 2true amily0 representing his inability and reusal to recognise his own

identity !hereore the use o parody in the flm demonstrates the harsh reality o the

situation during this time #lthough Django is now a ree man he is moc1ed as a blac1 hero

through his use o stance and cheesy grin as the plantation explodes which is heighted by

3roomhilda0s reaction o clapping His horse then dances beore they ride oE" once again

reerring to him as a clown rather than the powerul man that has just overruled Calvin

Candie

#s postmodernism develops ; believe there will remain an endless loop o intertexual

reerences as this is one o the most common eatures o this style o flm However" there

will be issues regarding the reerences chosen as i the same ones are used over and overit will mean flms then have to rely on the bricolage created by a postmodern flm to use

as the source o a new flm ; flms are carried on to be made this way there will be a lac1

o original ideas as all postmodern flms are a bricolage o other postmodern" bricolage

flms 8ot only will this lead to disjointed storylines as a result o the dependency on

selected intertexual reerences but it will also mean they are reliant on 2sel,reerential

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