In a society where racism is no longer tolerated and overlooked, the release of the film Django Unchained shows the audience the type of treatment African Americans had to go through in the 1800’s. The film was released on December 11, 2012 and produced by Columbia Pictures. The story line took place in 1858 where a group of slaves were being transported. The group was suddenly stopped by a dentist that goes by the name of Dr. King Schultz, as he was looking to buy Django. Django, who was played by the famous Jaime Foxx, was a black guy that was sold in the slavery trade.
After a dispute with Django’s previous owner, Dr. King Schultz hired him as a bounty killer. This is where the table suddenly turns as Django is not considered a subaltern anymore. He is given power and authority to kill white folks, which was frowned upon by the white slave masters. As the film continues, Django travels from the south to the west looking for his wife.
The film written by Quentin Tarantino shows the audience what the slaves were forced to go through as they did not have any authority. The film is comparable to the story written by Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak. Gayatri Spivak wrote the story in 1988, as she explains that white men see brown men as “other”. A term that was used to describe a person that has no power to speak because they will not be heard. Just like in the film of Django Unchained where the slaves were not heard or treated well, unless they were given authority like Django himself. On the day of December 18, 1865 slavery was officially abolished with the Thirteenth Amendment being placed in the United States Constitution. This was a huge step for the United States as we having been fighting Injustice since the birth of the country.
Jamie Foxx, left, and Franco Nero star in Columbia Pictures’ “Django Unchained,” also starring Christoph Waltz.
