Sunday, January 13, 2013

Blinded by Their Racism: Breitbart Says that "Django UnChained" is the Most "Pro-Freedom" Movie of 2012...His Readers Still Hate It Anyway

Nate Silver was half-right it would seem. I am glad that he was correct about the New England Patriots beating Houston. With victory comes a cost: Gronk is out again, re-breaking his arm.

[An impolitic question. At what point does a player with amazing talents become a liability because he is too injury prone?]

Here I suggested that Django Unchained is a very racially "conservative" film. Consequently, it a perfect fit for the myth that is post racial America. I also observed how Tarantino's great film should be embraced by the Right because it is a nice fit for the public face which they use to 1) insincerely argue for "colorblind politics" and 2) how they fetishize guns. Populist Tea Party GOP conservatives are unable to understand those basic facts. Why? Because the White Right's deep racism and hostility to people of color compromises their thought processes and reason.

There are some conservatives who are more "principled" than others. For example, while he throws in the obligatory right-wing talking points about "god" and "liberals," Ezra Dulis' essay on Django Unchained over at Breitbart is both substantive and critical. As such, it should be seriously reflected upon:
"Django" is about liberalism and tyranny, and the era of American slavery was a perfect illustration of it. There was no law from the government directly limiting the freedom of slaves; it was on a human level—one man telling another, "I own you," and that becoming the established social order...
For those worried by Django's line in the trailer, "Kill white folks and they pay you for it? What's not to like?", this is no racial revenge fantasy. Django's revenge against the men who owned him comes at the end of the film's first act. What follows is a chivalrous rescue mission; his own freedom secured, Django fights through hellfire to liberate his wife when he could have just started fresh.
However, Breitbart's readers would seem to disagree with Dulis' reading of Django Unchained. All these conservatives can see is a black man killing white people in a movie made by their archenemy evil Big Socialist Hollywood. Django may be an African-American slave fighting for the freedom of his wife and to restore their family against the tyranny of America's Slaveocracy. But, he is still killing white people who just happen to be slavers.

It would seem that for the White Right, their allegiance to the principles of human freedom and liberty are bounded and limited by the color of the agents involved. Once more, in post civil rights America conservatism and racism are shown to be one and the same.

Racism, white racial resentment, and conservatism are conjoined twins quite literally attached to each other at the head and heart while also somehow managing to have a three-way orgy of political coitus. The histrionics of the Right in the Age of Obama are the premiere example of this social and political phenomena.

Apparently, as demonstrated by their response to Breitbart's endorsement of Django Unchained, the Right's mix of white victimology, conspiranoid fantasies, and embrace of a fact-free world even trickles down to their dislike of Django Unchained and its supposed  "anti-white" agenda.  

5 comments:

The Sanity Inspector said...

Mr. de Vega:

Did you see Clint Eastwood's biopic of Charlie Parker, Bird? If so, do you mind giving your opinion of it?

chaunceydevega said...

@SI. Haven't thought about it in a while. Loved it, but don't know enough about Parker's life to assess its veracity.

Forrest was awesome too. I am not to hot on Clint right now given his mess during the election, but I can't help but to watch Play Misty for Me everytime it is on.

For the performances and the music--I am going to make my son, if I have one, watch that movie when he begins dating and having sex with girls/young women. Real life wisdom there.

What do you think of the Parker biopic?

The Sanity Inspector said...

What do you think of the Parker biopic?

This was my opinion of it, years back. I wish more such films could be made, as there are so many intriguing stories like his that would make good movies, in the right hands.

Anonymous said...

But his initial premise is wrong is it not? THIS "There was no law from the government directly limiting the freedom of slaves" is not true.

The government did limit the freedom of slaves at the time hence the shock and awe of Django being on a horse. I don't read Breitbart since his estate still hasn't settled the Shirley Sherrod debacle but I'm not surprised commenters there didn't like the movie. They still won't admit all the videos put out were edited.

chaunceydevega said...

@anon. please pick a name so we can keep track of folks. if said piece had the bit of verbage, then yes, it is grossly inaccurate even if the claim about rights and liberties are reasonable as an interpretation.

again, with such a mistake one would think that the conservative colorblind racist crowd would be even more happy given their love of a fact free universe.