For those who are not aware, Django follows the tale of a freed slave, one Django (played by Jaime Fox) and a German bounty hunter, Dr. King Schulz (played by Christoph Waltz). The story follows these two characters around the pre- Civil War American South as Schulz trains Django in the ways of bounty hunting. Of course, there is much more to be said about the plot of the movie, but I usually try not to spoil anything without a warning. That being said:
There, I think that takes care of that issue. I felt the need to place the spoiler warning because there are a few things about Django that I want to discuss that need reference from the film. The first thing that I wanted to mention is the proto- Ku Klux Klan scene that takes place about a 1/3rd of the way through the film. The scene is meant mostly as comic relief, as we see the proto-clansmen rallying together with white hoods on their heads. However, through the course of this scene, things start to break down as varying characters express disdain in how the hoods are made. Eventually the bickering and hollering leads the group to vote by committee to determine just how they are going to go about the lynching. The group eventually settles on riding without the masks, and thus they commence the attack. Predictably, the attack is unsuccessful and the riders are routed and humiliated.
This scene might not warrant mention. In fact, as I type this, I find myself questioning if perhaps even I am reading too much into the scene. I don't mean to suggest anything about Mr. Tarantino or his persuasion, but this scene appears in very bad taste. In my last post I said that I try not to pass judgement on the way popular culture portrays history, but in this case I find that it just was not possible for me to avoid. For one, the movie is already of sufficient length that this scene was not needed as filler. Also, this scene serves no purpose but to portray a bitter southern "gentlemen's" petty attempts at revenge. The film would have been just as good had this scene hit the cutting room floor.
Now that I have ranted and raved a bit I feel a bit better... But with that being said, there was one other thing that I wanted to address about the film, this time in a more positive light. This one requires a bit more of an abstract look at the film, so stick with me on this as it is just a theory of mine. In regards to the character that Leonardo DiCaprio plays, I have a bit of a pet theory. DiCaprio's character is supposed to be the representation of a Southern Gentleman during the 19th century. Sure he is a bit eccentric, but that is perhaps to be expected. However, as the movie progress, hist character gets more and more over the top, culminating in his death as a result of a small dispute of honor. For the most part I enjoyed his character, but I couldn't help but wonder about it. As I thought about it, I pondered whether his character was more of a caricature of a Southern gentleman. You have to take into account who the protagonists of the film are: a German and a freed slave. Both of these men have their own unique cultures and ideas, and thus a different lens through which they see things. This means that what the viewer is getting is not the actual representation of a Southern plantation owner, rather just what either Django or Schulz is seeing of him. I don't know, just a theory of mine. I tend to find in regards to the Civil War, American's tend to only remember what they want to and see what they want to. So I thought perhaps maybe seeing the era through the eyes of an outsider might give it a different perspective. Just my two cents.
No comments:
Post a Comment