Today we’re running five essays on Tarantino’s latest film, Django Unchained. The intention of running so many was not to give Django a disproportionate amount of coverage, but to reflect the controversy and conversation the film has sparked: I’ve overheard 80-year-old men in Speedos talking about it at my swim club, and a thread on my own Facebook page got so heated that I almost quit social media entirely. The scope of these essays spans love, hate, and ambivalence, and I hope they give a kaleidoscopic view of a film whose controversy exhibits just how much more thinking and talking and writing needs to be done.
Take #1 –Larry Fahey can’t wait for Quentin Tarantino to grow up.
Take #3 – Nicholas Rombes touches on Sontag, Cornel West, and George Fitzhugh in his multi-lensed review.
Take #4 – Ade Adeniji reviews Django, tying in the 1975 film Mandingo, Malcolm X, Spike Lee and more.
Take #5 – My review of Tarantino’s good intentions, and the responsibility of the artist.
One response
I’ll be interested to read this round up. My spouse and I went to a screening of Django on Friday (and, apparently living under a rock, we were unaware of the controversy). We watched about 10 minutes and then walked out, as we found the constant use of the N-word too discomfitting.
I flinched the first time and thought it would be used to establish a baseline: “This is the time, and this was common then.” and assumed that it wouldn’t be used again.
But then…
So, we left.
(The manager was kind enough to give us a refund after I asked her to post a warning to people as clueless as we.)
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