tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post328804691950087348..comments2024-02-27T10:53:43.331-05:00Comments on Big Media Vandalism: Unchained Melody: Two Troublemakin' Bruvas Take on Tarantino's Django UnchainedSteven Boonehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10533736956366847765noreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-67832066326611673992013-08-07T06:16:37.556-04:002013-08-07T06:16:37.556-04:00i read this blog, very nice article and content..i...i read this blog, very nice article and content..i like this page.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ratemovieshere.com/" rel="nofollow">all time bollywood movies</a> - Rate and review movies you have seen and more! Find out what friends and others think of the latest Bollywood movies. Expert ratings for more than 2,000 movies listed at RateMoviesHere.com.<br />Harikesh Chauhanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14491335750627084719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-59312290534371898872013-01-24T23:20:27.076-05:002013-01-24T23:20:27.076-05:00Excellent piece as usual, guys.
My own take on Dj...Excellent piece as usual, guys.<br /><br />My own take on <i>Django</i> is that, despite Tarantino's undeniable skill for remixing old genres and putting his own spin on them, what we have here is another self-flattering Hollywood look at a mythically selfless White Hero who comes down from his perch of privilege to make a difference in the life of some Poor Knee-grow. And I don't see how anyone who's taking a really hard, objective look at the film can disagree.<br /><br />Tarantino exhibits no interest in the actual lives of his black characters. There's not one hint of a sense of the culture that existed among slaves, not one hint of any kind of internal life to Django. He exists as pure spaghetti western archetype, a blank slate who's given agency and on-the-job training by a kindhearted white soul who takes mercy on the "poor devil." It's white-liberal wish fulfillment and it's a bit shocking to see a writer-director who supposedly has such facility for black characters and black culture show almost zero ability to give any life to his black characters outside of their interaction with whites.<br /><br />DiCaprio and Sam Jackson stole the show for me, however. I see you guys loved the "keep fightin', niggers" bit as well. Both of them made me laugh so loud during my initial viewing of the film that I think I caught a dirty look from some Obama bumper sticker-sporting type who must have automatically assumed that I was an insensitive prick laughing at the institution of slavery itself. (Humorless bastard. I pity his girlfriend.)<br /><br />In case anyone's interested, I've got my own take on the film here:<br />http://scottisnotaprofessional.blogspot.com/2013/01/django-unchained-2012.html<br /><br />Keep breakin' off the funk, gentlemen.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-2739711301158690872013-01-18T17:16:10.419-05:002013-01-18T17:16:10.419-05:00I love how you both lost me 62.5 times in your nar...I love how you both lost me 62.5 times in your narration. I thought there were 3 'P's in suppposition. GREAT read men.. <br />peas.<br />mikehttp://www.sysdisrupt.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-68332118175213484222013-01-13T13:38:19.424-05:002013-01-13T13:38:19.424-05:00ive already seen those movies via internet for fre...ive already seen those movies via internet for free! thanks for giving them a tribute blog post!<br /><br /> Andre<br />________________<br /><a href="http://partyman.co.uk/pack-of-25-black-velvet-dinner-napkins" rel="nofollow"><b>25 black napkins</b></a>Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17257276323663993173noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-42363700508216758072013-01-13T07:04:39.411-05:002013-01-13T07:04:39.411-05:00Tarantino says that Alex Haley the author of "...Tarantino says that Alex Haley the author of "ROOTS" let the "WHITE MAN" off the hook, because when the slave has a chance to kill his slave master he decides not too. Now mind you Tarantino is white, and he has yet to forgive his own father but Tarantino also let's his white audience off the hook and that includes himself by creating the white bountyhunter. The white dentist helps Django to assimilate into cultured society, basically making him more white and therefore more civilized. This is basically the old myth that the Dark Continent of Africa needed to be illuminated by the European. This plot point made his white audience feel good about themselves because here was this poor helpless defenseless negroe who needed to be liberated. But it was because of the civilizing and whitening of Django that made it possible for him to turn into the black "SUPERMAN". Without the Dr. character in the movie, Tarantino would have been forced to face the shame of slavery as they walked out of the theater.lynelhttp://www.sonnyliston.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-6966962395302327302013-01-13T06:33:31.102-05:002013-01-13T06:33:31.102-05:00Django is basically the story of "KING KONG&q...Django is basically the story of "KING KONG"getting pulled out of the jungle by his white safari hunter and coming to New York and becoming Unchained and wreaking havoc on the populace in order to get the white woman played by the "OREO" actress Kerry Washington.lynelhttp://www.sonnyliston.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-55715443819806886672013-01-13T06:23:48.356-05:002013-01-13T06:23:48.356-05:00Tarantino is akin to a drug dealer, his movies sel...Tarantino is akin to a drug dealer, his movies sell like crack cocaine, to crack heads who can't get enough.lynelhttp://www.sonnyliston.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-58939451758672061912013-01-13T06:16:54.484-05:002013-01-13T06:16:54.484-05:00Tarantino uses the institution of Slavery as a bac...Tarantino uses the institution of Slavery as a backdrop so that he does not have to make excuses for the violence and brutality in his movies, unfortunately at the expense of the African American community. Slavery is used as product placement to push foreword his revenge narrative, for his "Noble Savage" character Django.Coldbloodedhttp://www.sonnyliston.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-89243879640564869762013-01-13T05:09:07.416-05:002013-01-13T05:09:07.416-05:00Or u can cut shenequa's hair and stitch anothe...Or u can cut shenequa's hair and stitch another horses mane on hers.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-55826868315356073292013-01-11T12:16:18.509-05:002013-01-11T12:16:18.509-05:00Hey, Anon, we will get around to an Odie-Boone pod...Hey, Anon, we will get around to an Odie-Boone podcast one day, but in the meantime, there are some great Odie podcasts out there. <a href="http://unclecrizzle.podomatic.com/entry/2012-10-23T06_00_00-07_00" rel="nofollow">Here is the most recent one</a>, a must-listen with our Southern bruva, Uncle Crizzle.Steven Boonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10533736956366847765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-36726777589773779522013-01-10T12:22:28.884-05:002013-01-10T12:22:28.884-05:00You guys should do a podcast!You guys should do a podcast!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-42307103810435389752013-01-09T21:28:53.340-05:002013-01-09T21:28:53.340-05:00Anonymous said: My question is, why does the audie...Anonymous said: <i>My question is, why does the audience enjoy seeing miss Laura get blown away like that? As a minor character, she was only complicit in her brother's immorality insofar as she occupied the same household. Of course this is not to excuse her or anyone else's complicity in slavery, but we have to ask ourselves, is killing everyone who participated in it the real answer?</i><br /><br />The audience laughs at the swift and unreal way Miss Laura is dispatched. "She flies back like a rag, as weightless as her convictions" is how I put it in my Press Play essay. I think we laugh at the Looney Tunes unreality of it but also cringe at the fact that she wasn't as demonstrably evil as her brother. But don't forget that she played an active role in Candie's slave trading business. Remember that he got her to leave the dining room when he wanted to threaten Django and Schultz in private by sending her off to do some slaver P.R. Still, she showed something like humanity by covering up Broomhilda's scars at the dinner table, so we are torn when she gets killed. I think this is no accident. As in Inglourious Basterds, I think Tarantino is getting us to wonder about who deserves to die, who deserves to suffer. The Basterds and Django are as relentless as Apaches resisting U.S. slaughter or Mau Maus fighting colonialists. They are giving as good as they get, with a smile. <br /><br />We are Miss Laura. We're creeping backward out of a ten year war waged upon lies and costing thousands of innocent civilian lives. Do we deserve to live anymore than the people who were wiped out just to settle our stomachs (and, of course, stuff defense contractor coffers) after 9/11? More relevantly, many of our longstanding, thriving financial institutions, like JP Morgan Chase and Wachovia, participated in the slave trade. Does the relative tranquility of our lives in the West mark us as civilized, any more than the harp music in Candie's parlor made him a gentleman?<br /><br />It's as if eternally juvenile Tarantino was wondering about these things as he wrote Basterds and Django in his Ho'wood mansion, like some kind of exploitation flick Siddhartha discovering the world beyond his palace.Steven Boonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10533736956366847765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-84198829584668773172013-01-09T01:38:58.214-05:002013-01-09T01:38:58.214-05:00While googling the actress I came across an interv...While googling the actress I came across an interview in Ebony(naturally) where she says, "I play Sheba Candie, the de facto wife of Calvin Candie in the film, and it was important to Quentin that this girl be dark-skinned, which I thought was just beautiful." So there is that.<br />http://www.ebony.com/entertainment-culture/django-unchained-nichole-galicia-495Jason McGensyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06642280227698493182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-16640593317839584622013-01-08T22:17:48.517-05:002013-01-08T22:17:48.517-05:00Damn, this comments section is a feast. I know not...Damn, this comments section is a feast. I know not where to begin. So I'll start by working backward.<br /><br />Jason, you got us. Sheba was a powerful statement in a slinky dress. How could we let her slo-mo sashay pass unremarked?<br /><br />Sheba is basically a black beauty whose sexuality buys her a certain kind of illusory freedom, a roomier cage. In QT's mind maybe she wields real power, but we know better. Her influence has an expiration date, and her future is not bright.<br /><br />She's part of a gallery of characters in this film who were comfortable with a horrible status quo only because their cup was full presently. Django let her and the heavyset female house slave live because maybe they'd learned something from his actions. There was no saving Stephen, for whom white supremacy was a religion.<br /><br />Interesting that Sheba is brown-skinned and not high yellow. Odie or Jason, do you think that was a deliberate choice, and, if so, how would a redbone Sheba code her presence in the film differently?Steven Boonehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10533736956366847765noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-76526561383754628492013-01-08T20:53:22.571-05:002013-01-08T20:53:22.571-05:00Ya'll negroes went 6 rounds and not one word a...Ya'll negroes went 6 rounds and not one word about Candie's girl Sheba? I am disappoint.Jason McGensyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06642280227698493182noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-14845770014064541232013-01-08T20:11:14.029-05:002013-01-08T20:11:14.029-05:00I was really conflicted after I saw DU - it provid...I was really conflicted after I saw DU - it provided a lot of food for thought but at the same time left me wondering if it actually had any deep meaning beyond the gory violence and the fulfillment of a revenge fantasy. After brooding on it for a while and reading some reviews of it, I'm convinced it's a movie worth seeing, but I'm really troubled by many of the reactions to it.<br /><br />I think that tpapp and Desiree's comments provide a different insight ignored by a lot of people who saw this movie. The explicit violence, the fantastic nature of the plot and settings, and especially the effect it produces on the audience - these are points well worth considering. I'm not sure if Tarantino had the exact goal in mind that tpapp was hinting at (i.e. inciting a kind of blood-lust in the audience against the slave-owners and other antagonists, in the hope of getting people to think about their own reactions) but if he is then that makes QT even more brilliant than people give him credit for. My hunch is that QT is concerned, above all, with aesthetics, as commentators have pointed out. He's paying homage to many of his favorite old films and he's doing it in great style. There's no denying that his cinematography, his storytelling, and especially the tension he creates in his movies are all masterful. But when it comes to substance, I'm not sure if QT is prepared to deal properly with the moral themes he evokes. <br /><br />The legacy of slavery and racism in the US is a horrific and ugly one, and there's no denying that many people retain vestiges of a deep-rooted racism that they need to re-examine in themselves. But I don't think revenge fantasies like this are the way to overcome that. Even if QT wanted people to question their thirst for violence and revenge, the fact remains that many people enjoyed the movie precisely because it allowed them to indulge in that tendency. I didn't see a whole lot of self-questioning going on as the audience cheered for one of the movie's most provocative scenes: <br />"Tell miss Laura goodbye"<br />"Bye miss Laura" <br />and BOOM, she's blown away.<br /><br />My question is, why does the audience enjoy seeing miss Laura get blown away like that? As a minor character, she was only complicit in her brother's immorality insofar as she occupied the same household. Of course this is not to excuse her or anyone else's complicity in slavery, but we have to ask ourselves, is killing everyone who participated in it the real answer? Do we simply want to reduce the whole thing to "kill whitey" and pretend that's not problematic? I think tpapp is dead right when he says:<br /><br />"At best this places Django on par morally with the people he's fighting but we cheer him on and applaud his motives even though he does the exact same things for the exact same reasons as all the 'bad guys' in the film"<br /><br />I think it would be better to deal with the ugly past and the ongoing ignorance of racists from a more mature, moral point of view, not just to indulge in the movie's aesthetic pleasures. I completely appreciate Odie and Steve's interesting discussion, but it would be great to see you guys respond to this challenge, which is one of the movie's more serious points.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-87777643990014298202013-01-07T23:12:59.985-05:002013-01-07T23:12:59.985-05:00@odie
Heh, if life weren't so hilarious in al...@odie<br /><br />Heh, if life weren't so hilarious in all its absurdity and sometimes even in its atrocity, my ass would've been out a *long* time ago. <br /><br />I can't say thanks enough; so many other spaces I frequent seem to think I should feel guilty for having loved DU that it feels great to have someone articulate so many of the same unformed points swirling around in my brain-ether. Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02264246774960686625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-30395407527313602422013-01-07T22:13:07.961-05:002013-01-07T22:13:07.961-05:00^^stimulated, I meant!^^stimulated, I meant!odienatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10926978706604468636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-76238548664049028172013-01-07T22:12:24.378-05:002013-01-07T22:12:24.378-05:00Frances, dear God! Had I known that 15 year olds w...Frances, dear God! Had I known that 15 year olds would be reading this piece out loud to their Moms, I would have cussed less! Most of the places I write for won't let me cuss, so Big Media Vandalism is my "cussin' place." That sounds a little too much like Uncle Remus' "laughing place." Well, Zip-a-dee-effin-doo-dah!!<br /><br />Seriously, though: Thank you for sharing your commment and I'm glad our piece stimulatd conversation. odienatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10926978706604468636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-84991230811316496052013-01-07T22:09:16.788-05:002013-01-07T22:09:16.788-05:00The movie posits that he's a superhero now, an...<i>The movie posits that he's a superhero now, and will have no trouble taking care of them.</i><br /><br />I dunno about that. I like Boone's take on the ending, though I disagree as well with it. I want to keep my momentary bliss at the film's end. I'm not completely sure there's a happily ever after for these two, but I like your thinking.odienatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10926978706604468636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-68871079046070048712013-01-07T22:07:39.413-05:002013-01-07T22:07:39.413-05:00Alex, thanks for your comment.
Boone and I had a ...Alex, thanks for your comment.<br /><br />Boone and I had a prior conversation before we decided to do this, and he said something about how our ancestors had to have one hell of a sense of humor. How else could one survive all this without it? Hell, I havne't suffered one iota as much as my great-great-grandfather, yet I feel compelled to channel my depression and aggravation at the world into a dark sense of humor. One laughs to keep from crying. I'll bet my enslaved kin had a killer sense of humor despite their lot in life. Like Missy says in <i>Purlie Victorious</i> "being colored can be so much fun when ain't nobody lookin'." odienatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10926978706604468636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-65775200934470814632013-01-07T22:02:52.099-05:002013-01-07T22:02:52.099-05:00Wsrren, I've seen Goodbye, Uncle Tom. Boone ha...Wsrren, I've seen <i>Goodbye, Uncle Tom</i>. Boone has been trying to get me to cover it for my Black History Mumf series, but I can't sit through it again.<br /><br />Interesting observation about who rides the horses in the Lone Star State. I don't like horses at all, except at the racetrack, so more power to 'em. If I ever hit the lottery, I'm going to buy a few horses just to piss people off. I'm going to name one Shenequa and give its hair a jHeri Curl too.odienatorhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10926978706604468636noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-76426212348042439592013-01-07T21:01:24.133-05:002013-01-07T21:01:24.133-05:00Brothers Odie and Boone:
Your insights and comm...Brothers Odie and Boone: <br /> Your insights and comments are, as always, enlightening and entertaining. As a 46 year old black man that's lived in Texas for the last 20 years, it's been my casual observation that the only time I see white folks on horses is during rodeo season. Otherwise it's the blacks and Mexicans that do the majority of the raising, training, breeding, etc. of our equestrian friends. The business of buying and selling them, well, the good ol boys still got a corner on that market. By the way, if you need a movie to truly inflame you over the subject of slavery, I suggest you get a copy of "Goodbye Uncle Tom" if you can stand it.Warren Peacehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15542263312531884330noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-17122374721349059772013-01-07T11:20:48.558-05:002013-01-07T11:20:48.558-05:00I love films that give us more than just "big...I love films that give us more than just "big picture stuff" on touchy areas like slavery; ones that don't make Blacks all one meek and homogeneous victim class, uniformly all sympathetic so as to avoid even the slightest hint of victim-blaming, or causing the audience to feel as if they somehow deserved their fates. Although I, too, would have loved a more compassionate bent to Django, one needn't have that active an imagination to suppose why he didn't; it really made me wonder about the raw, everyday reality of relationships outside of family during the slavery era -- if the nature of a slave's existence was so transitory that forming friendships was a liability (if he or his friend were apt to be resold or moved around; if one were to attempt to flee; or if, heaven forbid, one was killed), or feeling sorry for his plight and that of his brothers around him ran the risk of courting insurmountable despair (you essentially said that very thing when you said, "that anger is both stoked and tempered by a sad familiarity, a "been there, seen that" stoicism stitched into our DNA by the experiences of both our ancestors and our contemporaries"). <br /><br />DU truly exhausted my brain by giving me so much to want to talk about, and this conversation both relieved much of that pressure, and yet filled my brain back up again. I LOVE IT.Alexhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02264246774960686625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14169925.post-54113338889314221702013-01-07T10:33:14.906-05:002013-01-07T10:33:14.906-05:00Great article. I'd disagree with the point ab...Great article. I'd disagree with the point about Taxi Driver though, I only ever hear the "it was all a dream" malarkey on the internet. There's nothing in the text of that film to support that theory, it's just smart people overthinking things, trying to make a serious movie more serious by having a downbeat ending. But the ending in Taxi Driver is incredibly cynical.<br /><br />As for Django, it doesn't matter if he's pursued by ten thousand bounty hunters after that ending. The movie posits that he's a superhero now, and will have no trouble taking care of them.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com