tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post80842551565639739..comments2024-03-22T20:34:13.792-05:00Comments on Indomitable | The online home of Chauncey DeVega: Lest You Misunderstand: Django Unchained is a Movie by A White Filmmaker That Fulfills the Fantasies of White People in the Age of ObamaLady Zora, Chauncey DeVega, and Gordon Gartrellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09138154899923808806noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-73038612808944925952013-01-19T13:43:13.377-06:002013-01-19T13:43:13.377-06:00"Django is the epitome of Eurocentric individ..."Django is the epitome of Eurocentric individualism—the individual hero on an individual quest. He is the ultimate exceptional Negro, thus Tarantino is essentially channeling Thomas Jefferson:"<br /><br /><br />I am going to have to meditate on that great observation! Lots is going to be written about this movie; any serious article/chapter will have to contend with your observation.chauncey devegahttp://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-85936369415645630362013-01-19T12:05:25.707-06:002013-01-19T12:05:25.707-06:00Django also fulfills the fantasies of a few Black ...Django also fulfills the fantasies of a few Black people. Most of these people don’t have a thimble of the courage of Robert F. Williams, Fannie Lou Hamer, Fred Hampton, and Geronimo ji Jaga.<br /><br />Dick Gregory sees a connection between Django and Dangerfield Newby. <br /><br />www.youtube.com/watch?v=CS34OiuNmG0<br /><br />I’m not buying the Newby connection. Perhaps he said something, but I can’t remember Django making a single liberating statement like John Brown’s warriors. Django is on a personal quest to free a hostage—his wife who just happens to be held on a slave plantation in Mississippi. He does not give a flying flip about any other enslaved Afrikans. Newby may have been driven by the desire to free his wife also, but he joined an army whose objective was to start a rebellion against slavery. Sheridan Leary left his wife and child in Ohio to join Brown’s rebellion. He was killed at Harper’s Ferry. Osborne Anderson escaped from Harper’s Ferry; joined the Union Army and fought in the Civil War and presumably had an opportunity to kill the defenders of slavery. <br /><br />Newby, Leary, Anderson, John A. Copeland and Shields Green all sacrificed their “personal freedom” to end the enslavement of their brethren. Only Anderson survived to fight another day. <br /><br />Django is the epitome of Eurocentric individualism—the individual hero on an individual quest. He is the ultimate exceptional Negro, thus Tarantino is essentially channeling Thomas Jefferson:<br /><br /> “Comparing them by their faculties of memory, reason, and imagination, it appears to me, that in memory they are equal to the whites; in reason much inferior, as I think one could scarcely be found capable of tracing and comprehending the investigations of Euclid; and that in imagination they are dull, tasteless, and anomalous. But never yet could I find that a black had uttered a thought above the level of plain narration; never see even an elementary trait of painting or sculpture. In music they are more generally gifted than the whites with accurate ears for tune and time, and they have been found capable of imagining a small catch. The improvement of the blacks in body and mind, in the first instance of their mixture with the whites, has been observed by everyone, and proves that their inferiority is not the effect merely of their condition of life."<br /><br />Nevertheless, I would guess that most Afrikan Americans like the film.<br /> <br />[Opening on Christmas Day, 42 percent of the film's initial audience was black," according to exit polling data as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. "The Weinstein Company estimated that the percentage now is holding steady at about 30 percent."]makheru bradleynoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-90224536812408541982013-01-14T15:39:12.433-06:002013-01-14T15:39:12.433-06:00@Anon. Do pick a name. I didn't know that. Mon...@Anon. Do pick a name. I didn't know that. Money makes predictable bedfellows.chaunceydevegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09652406326490873337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-6208500135685313332013-01-14T13:26:23.517-06:002013-01-14T13:26:23.517-06:00The owner of "your Patriots" had Rush Li...The owner of "your Patriots" had Rush Limbaugh as his guest of honor last year in the Super Bowl.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-91613282823829414262013-01-13T16:56:06.321-06:002013-01-13T16:56:06.321-06:00"So if Tarantino's movies are reducible t... "So if Tarantino's movies are reducible to political messages, they're not what a genius filmmaker would be creating. And if they're not (and I don't believe for a minute that they are)..." <br /><br />MPGoldenberg<br /><br />The risk you run in playing ignorant when its convenient for you to do so, is that I get address you as if you actually are a mental dullard and if your lack of wit is not a facade then no love is lost/feelings remain intact unscathed.That being said.. <br /><br />Do you not think for one second there may be a singular political message or implied political stance in any of Tarantino's films ? Have you not seen Reservoir Dogs ? - given the imagery and dialogue in Pulp Fiction do you not think for a moment there could possibly be a personal and possibly political implication by what you see/hear? <br /><br />I would much rather not assume but given your surname, I would hope you should/would be keenly aware of Inglorious Basterds and its possible messages. A motley crew of Americans and Jewish persons in post WW2 revenge hunting former Nazis could not possibly have any political implications behind it right? The very fact that an African American would not have been green lighted to make a movie like D'Jango Unchained speaks volumes- the fact that Tarantino DID says a hell of a lot more.<br />Aadonis219noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-35125241203109937062013-01-13T13:46:28.514-06:002013-01-13T13:46:28.514-06:00@mpg. What I said stung a little bit. And yes, I d...@mpg. What I said stung a little bit. And yes, I do know more about film and cultural studies than you likely do. Just a fact. I have written about, published, given talks, get paid to teach about this stuff, etc. etc. etc. So I should know more about it than you do.<br /><br />Am I always right? Of course not. Are there folks who know more about this stuff than I do? Damn right! That is part of the fun.<br /><br />Given your superficial engagement with any of my claims, or with the film more generally, your ability to qualify if someone is a "genius" filmmaker is very much in doubt. <br /><br />But, you are not even willing to be able engage the basic question here--what are the racial politics of the film? Film studies 101--remember that movies are not about the past or whatever time period they are depicting; they are about the present. Meditate on that basic fact. <br /><br />Then ask yourself about the post racial moment and the politics of colorblind racism. How do those political frameworks influence the reception of Django. What are audiences, themselves, embedded in this society and reproducing its values, communicating with and from the film? You do not have to go and read Jameson or even Bakhtin to figure this stuff out. Ask yourself some hard questions and critically engage Django as a work of mass culture. This is all ephemeral. It also "matters."<br /><br />I will make it even easier for you. Go watch the movie The Help, what is one of the most perniciously racist movies in recent memory.<br /><br />Then think about Django. Could the audiences, especially white audiences, be responding to similar cues?chaunceydevegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09652406326490873337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-1107308244686279002013-01-13T13:29:54.783-06:002013-01-13T13:29:54.783-06:00Let me be sure I get it.
1) Tarantino is a genius...Let me be sure I get it.<br /><br />1) Tarantino is a genius.<br /><br />2) Tarantino's movie fits a certain white vision of slavery that is apt for the current, allegedly post-racial America in the age of Obama.<br /><br />3) The white Americans who SHOULD love the movie hate it because they can't grasp #2 due to their hatred of black folks and general racism.<br /><br />4) The white folks (like me) who think the movie is brilliant and stands on its own merits are probably very gratified by #2, regardless of their actual views, politics, actions, etc., but they're not smart enough to see what the real message is or why they're gratified.<br /><br />5) Chauncey de Vega DOES see the real message.<br /><br />ergo<br /><br />6) Chauncey de Vega is a genius. <br /><br />Does that pretty much get at the heart of things, CDV? <br /><br />Suggestion: get over yourself a bit. You're not quite as brilliant as you seem to believe. And if Tarantino is an artistic genius, then his art will likely have a good deal more layers than can be reduced to what it appears you're doing. Nor will it have a simplistic, didactic, political message. Art, other than perhaps in the hands of teenagers and socialist realists working under the likes of Stalin, Mao, or even Hitler, is so much better than that kind of nit-wit stuff. <br /><br />I may not be the smartest person in the room, but I'm smart enough to know that there likely ISN'T a smartest person in the room when it comes to brilliant art. So if Tarantino's movies are reducible to political messages, they're not what a genius filmmaker would be creating. And if they're not (and I don't believe for a minute that they are), then your analysis thus far leaves a great deal to be desired, and the hints you've offered as to what's to come don't sound insightful or useful. <br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18420674456589471004noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-38089377417312171902013-01-13T13:05:48.711-06:002013-01-13T13:05:48.711-06:00@buddy. got to love the silas marner quote too. gr...@buddy. got to love the silas marner quote too. great cartoon!chaunceydevegahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09652406326490873337noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57113078446695664.post-91841584847195050962013-01-13T11:53:26.465-06:002013-01-13T11:53:26.465-06:00Here is a link to the superhero white suburban man...Here is a link to the superhero white suburban man, complete with his caucasian fantasies:<br /><br />http://derfcity.com/newstuff/newtoon.html<br /><br />Notice how he frightens the "minority youths" and "socialists."<br /><br />- Buddy H.<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com