Hi Meltingpot Readers,
I have a confession to make. I am so excited to see Quentin Tarantino’s upcoming film, Django Unchained, starring Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington and Leonardo DiCaprio. Have you heard about it? The film is about a slave named Django (Foxx) who is hired to kill a bunch of evil White slave owners. That’s not really all it’s about, but that gets at the core of why this movie is already causing controversy, excitement and a whole lot of buzz. Why don’t you take a moment to view the official trailer and then come back and read some more.
I will definitely be lining up to see the film as soon as it hits theaters. I love Jamie Foxx and Kerry Washington, but that’s not why I’m so excited. I am freely admitting right here that I want to see a movie where the slave gets to wield the whip and unleash his fury upon the master. I know this is the worst part of me talking, but I imagine every Black person in America yearns for some kind of opportunity for retribution — even if it is on the silver screen — against the brutal slave master. Let me be clear, this thirst for revenge is not about White people, it’s against that evil Master. And I suppose there is no other way to go back in history and settle the score, except via fiction and film.
Quentin Tarantino clearly has tapped into this historical revenge fantasy genre, because he did the same with Inglorious Basterds, where a rag-tag group of American Jewish soldiers went around butchering Nazis and eventually killed Hitler. Interestingly, Tarantino is neither Jewish, nor Black, so I wonder if he’s just coming at this as a filmmaker always on the lookout for a really good story, or if he knowingly is trying to push some socio-political racial buttons. Does he have an agenda, I wonder? What do you think?
Are you planning on seeing Django Unchained? Why or why not? Did you see Inglorious Basterds? Did you like that movie? I did. What do you think the fall out will be after Django comes out, if any? And finally, do you think Tarantino gets a free pass to make this type of movie because he’s not Black? Could Spike Lee have helmed this movie? You know I’m listening.
Peace!
