Anyone Seen Django?

[phillycavsfan]

Here's a Huffington Post article where QT debates a movie critic about Schultz's "harebrained scheme" to get Broomhilda. He REALLY does a great job of explaining Schultz's mindset and the reason why he does the things he does:

Quentin Tarantino, 'Django Unchained' Director, Challenged Us To A Debate On A 'Harebrained' Plot Point

Spoiler

OK, Quentin did a great job explaining why Schultz didn't just shake Candie's hand, and shot him instead.

 

[Prodigital]

100

and it also touch on the self-hatred that was birth in the slavery era between blacks. You saw how the slaves looked at Django when they though he was a slaver, what DJANGOS own impression of black slavers were, Stevens entire character, the fact that Brumhilda was valuable simply because she spoke german and no other intrinsic reason. How you had a black mistress who doesn't bat an eye and 2 black men being FORCED to kill one another....its so vile and its a psychological batter we have within yourself as black people still to this day (#teamlightskin, ect.)

And to all the whit people who may not understand why Steven acted the way he did its evident in this one line "There gon always be Candyland". If you think slavery is never going to end then eff it, a person like him is gonna say "fukk everybody, ima try to survive if i gotta and if that mean i gotta shuck and jive to do it i will, but i'll be alive and i'll be fed."

Another thing i think people missed. When Candie was giving his speech on phrenology, notice he said "the three dimples are in the sector of the brain that control CIVILITY"

notice he didn't say weakness, or submissiveness or even critical thinking. He said Civility. Black people dealt with slavery in stride and that was better than chaos, and if it got too bad they ran and risked death because even that was better than chaos. The fact that slaves could come from so many african countries and be scattered across the south like that and still set up communities and have social structures is profound and i think its something QT alluded too that people AREN'T going to get.

I couldn't tell, but i thought he said servility, but it can be expanded to the same as civilians are just servants of society... He posed a good argument (from a slave owners POV).

Also someone said that the movie hinted at candie being gay.. i took it differently. I thought the dude who was about to de-testicle django was kind of gay, but not candie. I mean, when he said switch positions to the mandingo fighters is was weird, and that statue he had.... but i think it just goes back to justification for their actions. It eluded to a greek/roman esque view of how fighting, brutality, and carnage were regarded highly in their world of entertainment. And candies whole outburst about how he owns the slaves and can do what he wants to his property shows it perfectly.

And that blood tho the gawd

 

[dora_da_destroyer]

Some people don't believe that

heres a link

Leonardo DiCaprio's 'Django Unchained' Role Led To Hand Injury

How Kerry let Leo smear real blood on her is I woulda spazzed out

1. The use of the word "******". I read before watching that the word was used a lot in the movie. It was and that's not what was offensive/too much. What was offensive was the word being used as bait for laughs. For example, QT having one character say something to the effect of "No, not Hercules, ******cles!"....

2. The graphic, amistad-like scenes. If you're going to put graphic, Amistad-like imagery in your movie, the principal message of your movie should be about the sobering, brutal nature of slavery. There are a few moments where it seems like QT's fishing for laughs when the reality of the situation just isn't funny.

Example: White guy on horseback chasing 3 black dudes off into the field for comedic relief in a scene.

3. Sam Jackson's character...possibly the GOAT film c00n and voice for some of the most questionable lines. I don't know if it's worse if QT wrote them or Sam Jackson improvised them.

Spoiler

On another level, why is Sam Jackson the last "villain" to die in the movie? QT spends more time on his sendoff than Candie's.

4. The entire dinner scene @ Candie land.... An entire book could be written deconstructing Candie's speech.

Racial critiques aside, the movie was just poorly paced and fell off in the last half. Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and Inglorious Basterds are still my top 3 QT flicks.

Completely disagree on point two, I don't think the men chasing the slaves off was meant to be comedic relief, no one in the theater I was in aughed at that. It reinforced the treatment at Candie land

I thought the same during the movie.
That would be my ONLY con about the movie is that it never felt "serious" to me but its a Quentin Tarantino flick, kinda to be expected

why is it expected that the film had to be "so serious" I don't think it made light of slavery but at the same time, it wasn't some exposition of the day to day lives of slaves like "Sankofa" or "Amistad" it's an action flick

 

[phillycavsfan]

1. I don't give a shyt about people saying the word ****** if its in the proper context. I hated it when they took the word ****** out of new editions of Tom Sawyer. That's whitewashing history.

2. Have you read Uncle Tom's Cabin, Reality? The slaves looked at folks like Stephen with the same, if not, more contempt than the slavemaster. They were traitors to their race.

3. I had no problem with QT changing events of the Holocaust for dramatic effect. QT didn't even take that extra step with slavery. He even had Schultz admit he was using slavery to get what he wanted?

 

[Black Magisterialness]

3. I had no problem with QT changing events of the Holocaust for dramatic effect. QT didn't even take that extra step with slavery. He even had Schultz admit he was using slavery to get what he wanted?

one of the most potent lines came early....a white man who freely admitted that while he is ideologically opposed to slavery, he will not hesitate to use it to his advantage....classic social commentary.

Everybody in the theater was like when he said "I feel gulity"...he that might be QT speaking for the liberal white man right there...

Also someone said that the movie hinted at candie being gay.. i took it differently. I thought the dude who was about to de-testicle django was kind of gay, but not candie

Wasn't no kinda dude was full on sissy breh...but Candie nah...he was smashin ole girl on the side Sheba i think her name was...lol @ that name as well.

 

[Reality]

1. I don't give a shyt about people saying the word ****** if its in the proper context. I hated it when they took the word ****** out of new editions of Tom Sawyer. That's whitewashing history.

2. Have you read Uncle Tom's Cabin, Reality? The slaves looked at folks like Stephen with the same, if not, more contempt than the slavemaster. They were traitors to their race.

3. I had no problem with QT changing events of the Holocaust for dramatic effect. QT didn't even take that extra step with slavery. He even had Schultz admit he was using slavery to get what he wanted?

Sorry, but this reads as you trying to make excuses. Stephen had to say "******cles"? Characters had to throw around the phrase "The right ******" tongue-in-cheek for 20 minutes? A black man as the chief antagonist in a revenge flick set in the antebellum south? Number 3 is something I didn't bring up so maybe you're talking to someone else??? The film is complex, and yes, I caught the commentary in Schultz' lines. You completely ignored some of my latter points though...

 

[SoulController]

the '******s run at Candieland' was def not taken with humor in my theater, that was one of the somber moments. it wasnt said in a joking way i dont know how that part could be taken for humor.

 

[Polofresh4]

Great movie. I'd say Sam Jackson had the best acting in the movie but everyone killed it.

I was surprised that, for QT's "spaghetti western", this felt like less of a Leone movie than IB or even Kill Bill. A lot more comedy than I expected and less stylistic nods to Leone than IB at least.


Tarantino treated this with more sensitivity than Inglorious Basterds imo.

In IB the villain was smart and witty and could be seen as cool, a lot of Tarantino villains are like this. Candie, especially with the line about "soft frenchie's" when he loves french culture, and having to be told by Stephen that he's being conned, comes off as neither smart nor a badass. He also is implied to be gay, in that his enjoyment Mandingo fighting is symbolized to be gay through the sculpture that the camera lingers on for a while at dinner and when Candie's introduced on the couch he's telling these slaves wrestling to change positions.


Schultz gives Django 1/3rd of their take even though they're supposedly partners

"Though I despise slavery, I'm going to make it work for my advantage. Having said that, I feel guilty"- Best line of the movie, change slavery to social inequality for black people and you have the mindset of a lot of "good" whites in America.

With those two things I think Tarantino was trying to point out that even supposedly "not racist", "good" white people still accept the benefits of racism.

He said on the foxxhole, that this was the first villian he truely hated.

I find it interesting you thought candee to be gay.....i just thought it was on that southern incest tip

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

Sorry, but this reads as you trying to make excuses. Stephen had to say "******cles"? Characters had to throw around the phrase "The right ******" tongue-in-cheek for 20 minutes? A black man as the chief antagonist in a revenge flick set in the antebellum south? Number 3 is something I didn't bring up so maybe you're talking to someone else??? The film is complex, and yes, I caught the commentary in Schultz' lines. You completely ignored some of my latter points though...

I looked at it no different than how Aaron McGruder uses Ruckus. Yes he'll get laughs, but it's a little deeper than that. You actually had brothas like that and still do.

I, like everyone else in the theater, hated Stephen and cheered when he finally got what was coming to him. That dude was worse than Candie

I'm the last one to co-sign whites using the n-word in any fashion, however I didn't feel it was misused in this movie and it did show the brutality of what blacks suffered during those times. Besides Schultz, every white person were racist shyts that deserved to get

 

[phillycavsfan]

Sorry, but this reads as you trying to make excuses. Stephen had to say "******cles"? Characters had to throw around the phrase "The right ******" tongue-in-cheek for 20 minutes? A black man as the chief antagonist in a revenge flick set in the antebellum south? Number 3 is something I didn't bring up so maybe you're talking to someone else??? The film is complex, and yes, I caught the commentary in Schultz' lines. You completely ignored some of my latter points though...

I was typing on my phone, so I couldn't type a long response

Look, it seems you got a problem with people saying the n-word, and that's fine. Me, I watch the Boondocks. I hear Uncle Ruckus say shyt like that all the time, and it's hilarious. If you don't like hearing it, cover your ears.

Concerning Stephen and Candie....

Spoiler

Stephen wasn't the chief antagonist. Candie is. He owns Brumhilda, he owns the mandingo fighters, and he's the one who pays all of those gunmen to protect his "property". Stephen is just his despicable right-hand man. QT knew Stephen would get more heat from audiences though because not only does he condone his master's actions, but he helps him discover he's being tricked.

Candie's phrenology wasn't supposed to be steeped in truth. It's no different than the villain presenting his twisted version of the world in a Bond movie, and why bankrupting the world's richest companies will make the planet a better place for all. You're not supposed to take it seriously; it's just the foundation of Candie's deluded worldview. Are we supposed to take it seriously when Don Johnson goes at the notion of a black man being treated like a white man (a moment, BTW, that made the mostly black crowd in my theater laugh)?

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

I was typing on my phone, so I couldn't type a long response

Look, it seems you got a problem with people saying the n-word, and that's fine. Me, I watch the Boondocks. I hear Uncle Ruckus say shyt like that all the time, and it's hilarious. If you don't like hearing it, cover your ears.

Concerning Stephen and Candie....

Spoiler

Stephen wasn't the chief antagonist. Candie is. He owns Brumhilda, he owns the mandingo fighters, and he's the one who pays all of those gunmen to protect his "property". Stephen is just his despicable right-hand man. QT knew Stephen would get more heat from audiences though because not only does he condone his master's actions, but he helps him discover he's being tricked.

Candie's phrenology wasn't supposed to be steeped in truth. It's no different than the villain presenting his twisted version of the world in a Bond movie, and why bankrupting the world's richest companies will make the planet a better place for all. You're not supposed to take it seriously; it's just the foundation of Candie's deluded worldview. Are we supposed to take it seriously when Don Johnson goes at the notion of a black man being treated like a white man (a moment, BTW, that made the mostly black crowd in my theater laugh)?

I saw Candie and Stephen as Hilter and Hans Landa from Inglorious Basterds. Where the secondary antagonist was really the one you hated most and wanted to see die the most.

Candie's pseudo science wasn't very far from what was being taught back in those days. Check out the book The N Word: Who Can Say It, Who Shouldn't, And Why by Jabari Asim. He goes into detail about the origin and use of the word as well as the general thought throughout the centuries since the trans Atlantic slave trade

 

[RickyGQ]

Oh, one more thing. The music was generally on point, except for the use of that Rick Ross song and another song I can't think of. But when that John Legend song hits, goddamn was that shyt over-the-top.

son, i laughed hard as fukk when that ross track came on...

 

[2 Up 2 Down]

about the music
Django Unchained (2012) - FAQ

 

[RickyGQ]

1. The use of the word "******". I read before watching that the word was used a lot in the movie. It was and that's not what was offensive/too much. What was offensive was the word being used as bait for laughs. For example, QT having one character say something to the effect of "No, not Hercules, ******cles!"....

WHY OH WHY as a people do we insist on keeping power in that word? I can't for the life of me understand, its so ass backwards... it was such a hateful word that cut deep but we INSIST on keep it that way, in order to on hurt ourselves further? we SHOULD be laughing at the word, we should make it wack, we should make the word a joke, not fukking strengthening it...

 

[Gus Money]

as a white guy, oif youre black and take offense to this movie, youre an over sensitive fakkit. jamie got it in. everyone got got. white people are being white people. lets be real. shyt was good. but ill say this may be QTs worst movie overall (NOT counting deathproof)

As a white guy, you should probably shut the fukk up when it comes to how black people feel.