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Django: “Only A White Director Can Get Praise For A Movie About A Slave Killing Whites” [Graphic]

Dec 30, 2012 Posted by In Film, Rants Comments 8
Django Unchained - Jamie Foxx

Is ‘Django’ only successful because its director is White?

Over the past year, Django Unchained — Quentin Tarantino’s Pre-Civil War era Western film, has sparked controversy from every side imaginable.

As the film is now being lauded for exceeding ticket sale estimates, premiering at #2, and breaking a record for R-Rated Christmas Day debuts, one heated, on-going conversation attributes the film’s success to the director being White:

“If a black man had made Django, white folks would be rioting in the streets. I guarantee it. (That’s only if a black man could get a movie like that in a theater in the first place…)”

After seeing the film, I think one of Django‘s strongest themes is being overlooked: the incessant, unapologetic mocking of Whites in the Southern U.S and their sickening mentality (then and now).

Django Unchained Behind The Scenes, Dogs Killing A Slave

Behind the scenes of one of the most brutal ‘Django Unchained’ moments

“No matter what you do in telling a slave story, you can’t get worse than what they did,” said Tarantino in a recent TVOne Special.

Any White Southerner who is still clinging to their confederate flag, attending Civil War re-enactments (that never include the stories of the Blacks who fought for their freedom), and who stocked up on guns the day after the election to prepare for the impending “race war” is probably going to be rubbed the wrong way by Django.

Granted, many of these people may not even realize they are indeed the butt of the joke. But more likely than not, this film will tick off White Americans who feel any bit of shame for their country’s horrific past. Affirming this, one person (who just deleted their Tumblr blog) replied:

“i’m a proud white southerner with a distaste for my past, and i WILL NOT HAVE IT HELD AGAINST ME NOW. those people were hardly even my ancestors. black sentiments about this exclusionary racism are simply whining. THERE ARE MORE DIRECT WAYS YOU CAN ADDRESS BLATANT RACISM IN THE US!!!!!!!!!”

As far as “only a White guy could get away with this,” that is undeniable. The “White establishment” may be losing ground elsewhere, but its hold in Hollywood has yet to be broken.

White male Hollywood directors far outnumber Blacks or women, and even when they are criticized, there is little media hype.

However, for a moment, entertain a few other factors in the success-story of Django. Tarantino has a style that has earned him accolades from around the world, with its own mass, even cult-like appeal.

'Django Unchained' Bloody Behind The Scenes, After Candyland Shootout

A Bloody ‘Django Unchained’ Behind The Scenes Look, After “Candyland Plantation” Shootout

His screenplays, fondly called “Tarantino scripts,” are well-known in the industry and by fans for their epic monologues and long, leisurely-paced scenes.

This, in addition to popular, high-grossing, talented actors (Jaime Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington, Christophe Waltz) cannot be excluded in assessing the success of Django.

George Lucas for instance, as much as he may plead and try to guilt viewers into seeing a “Black” film — e.g. Red Tails, he would not get the same reception. Even with the advantage of his whiteness, people didn’t want to see the unnecessary remake… a shitty one, at that.

Though Lucas would probably never make this genre of a film in the first place – a bloody “spaghetti Western” set in the deep south that mocks those who perpetuated slavery… and blows them up.

It’s just not his style, nor is it the style of top Black directors Lee Daniels (Precious/Paper Boy), Antoine Fuqua (Training Day/Exit Strategy), The Hughes Brothers (Menace II Society/Book of Eli), Tyler Perry (Diary of A Mad Black Woman/The Marriage Counselor) or John Singleton (Boyz n The Hood/2 Fast 2 Furious), or Spike Lee (Do The Right Thing/Red Hook Summer) — who has snubbed Django without actually seeing it. Shock…

With that said, I agree that if Singleton were to take on a project with a plot similar to Django’s and apply his style, it’d probably go the route of Danny Glover’s Haitian Revolution film, Toussaint, which we may never actually see for lack of the necessary White hero.

Saying “only a white guy” can get away with a movie that makes fun of White Americans and their shameful history by shoving their face in it, making them chew it and swallow is true.

And who better to do that?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=6G2328hCrYE

images via geektyrant.com


About the author  ⁄ theComplex

Editor-in-Chief at Sinuous Magazine, designer, and founder of NYC-based boutique design firm theComplex Media & Design. I've been designing for 13 years, writing on the internet for about the same, and I appear on radio and podcasts under the name "Lanae Mc'Levans." Photographer and overall geek who is passionate about art, music, politics, technology, fashion, and women's issues. A serial day-dreamer. Foul-mouthed. Opinionated.

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  • http://www.sheersocial.com Alice Fuller

    From one blogger to another, we raised similar points on our respective posts about Django. When WE try to sell or tell our stories in the traditional Hollywood studio system, the effort gets tossed into development hell or just straight DENIED. But attach the right White director and some other key ingredients and you’ve got a box office block buster almost 9 times out of 10. Here is my post: Django A Story Still Chained http://www.hollywoodliveandwork.com/2013/01/django-story-still-chained.html

    • http://www.sinuousmag.com/ theComplex

      Thanks so much for your input Alice, you raised some very valid points in your article.

      The killer ingredients to a film usually include a
      “white man with Hollywood clout,” a “white male A-Lister attached as lead or co-star,” well-known “black actors that mainstream audiences recognize,” and marketing the film as universal, “not as a black film.”

      Extreme violence and/or sex is also a big seller.

      I do however struggle with the “let us tell our own story” approach.

      I constantly see uproar when Blacks or Latinos are excluded from film, tv, advertising, etc — e.g. period dramas or animations like ‘Tangled,’ which caused a lot of unrest especially when Whites ignorantly claim no darker skinned people existed in the area during that time period.

      We are constantly waving the “hey, we’re here too! We’re people too! We have been here for centuries! We’ve accomplished things!” flag but we roll our eyes when anyone else decides to recognize it.

      Another example is the tv show, HBO’s ‘Girls,’ which led me to wonder why the hell Black women even wanted to be included in a story about “pitiful 20-somethings” when we could make and support our own show.

      Either we want to be apart of the story or we don’t. We cannot have it both ways. But like you pointed out, there is no collective mindset in our respective communities and we’ll never have a consensus on what we want.

      I also find it contradictory when I see these same young Black women tell Whites that they are tired of explaining the history of this country to them because Google is a click away. But when they learn the history, they aren’t allowed to talk to other White people about? Or express their disgust for it?

      How will “our story” work as racial lines blend more and more and what will be the criteria for who can tell the story?

      • http://www.sheersocial.com Alice Fuller

        You’re very right. We want our cake and eat it too like Whites have generally always had it when it comes to driving media and the images seen on all screens.

        And yeah, we want the opportunity to tell our stories our
        way, but that takes $$$$ if you’re going through the Hollywood system. Green is really the only color Hollywood recognizes or respects. Even Our Stories Films relied on Weinstein Brothers money to get that first film made, Who’s Your Caddy? Check the credits!

        Why would some Black women want to be on HBO “Girls” because it’s HBO–wider audience, more money, more opportunities seemingly for other projects. The story in this case may not be the selling point.

        Anyway, we could talk this all day. As a fellow blogger, would you leave a comment on mine concerning Django. It would be greatly appreciated it. Thanks!

        • http://www.sinuousmag.com/ theComplex

          Ahh, great point indeed on ‘Girls’ — more money + exposure. Of course that means trying to fit into their world, though we’re used to doing that anyways.

          Overall, I agree that we are confined by the lack of resources which forces partnerships with those outside of the diaspora… though I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

          I’m torn because while it’d be great to have Lee Daniels put his style on a slave rebellion-esque film, Whites are definitely more comfortable with being told about themselves by their White peers, though they are resisting that as well.

          We too, prefer to have our shit rubbed in our faces by our “own.”

  • momma bear

    Well, I loved the movie! I thought it was perfect timing.Since they ‘ve been celebrating the 200th anniversary of the civil war without any mention of how “blacks” were involved with securing their freedom, I don’t think it was meant to embarrass “white southerners” but to make them wake up and teach their children that they aren’t any better than anyone else and not “entitled” because of the color of their skin.

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