How would a black spectator react to Django Unchained?
Django Unchained is a spaghetti western film set in Texas during the slave trade. It is directed by Quentin Tarantino and features Jamie Foxx as the eponymous Django, a former slave who now works as a bounty hunter, who is also looking to free his wife Broomhilda who is a slave. In terms of spectatorship, the film is set in a stylised post modern past which combines the horrors of slavery with the fantasy like nature of spaghetti western genre in a black comedy style. The film has been criticised for its treatment of racism and slavery.
In terms of how a black male spectator would react to the film, the film has been criticised for its depiction of slavery. Spike Lee, a black male film maker criticised the film saying it was 'disrespectful' and that ''american slavery was a holocaust, not a Sergio Leone spaghetti western'' In Django Unchained, the most prominent black character is Django. However since Django is playing the main character of a western, he is a character motivated by vengeance and the want to free Broomhilda, he doesn't care for the other slaves. There is no type of brotherhood or companionship, especially in the scene where Django pretends to be a black slaver where he treats them even worse than the other white slavers. It could be argued that Django is playing a white person's role in the film since he lacks any sympathy for the slaves. Django's only intention is to free his wife and he does this by killing dozens of white men and slavers. Django's actions are not intentional but symbolic of freedom over slavery. Another main black character in the film is Stephen, the house slave, which is an even more exaggerated example of a white villain character played by a slave. Stephen antagonises Django the instant they meet indicating the lack of brotherhood or familiarity despite the racism occurring in the film. In terms of representation, if the role of black men in the film is played by white character roles from a spaghetti western, there is little for the black male to identify with themselves in the film. They can't identify with Django because he has no sympathy for the slaves, as is the same with Stephen.
Bell hooks oppositional gaze of films when it comes to black male spectator is that as a rebellious gaze, the black male would watch a film so they can look at white women with a imaginary phallocentric power over the cinema, similar to Mulvey's male gaze. By applying this to Django, there is almost no sexual content in the film so bell hook's theory doesn't apply. However considering that bell hooks theory of a rebellious gaze stems from the idea of black being punished for gazing at white women, the films theme of revenge against white men with dozens of white men killed by Django, this could be the rebellious action that appeals to the black male spectator as part of bell hooks's theory about the gaze.
In terms of how a black female spectator would react to the film, the main female character film is Broomhilda, Django's wife. Broomhilda plays essentially the damsel in distress, as a character role. Her purpose in the film is to be rescued by Django and she seems weak and vulnerable. When she sees Django for the first time, she faints. She is unable to lie to Stephen as she is nervous and she is locked away by the slavers after Django shoots up Candieland. Broomhilda is playing the stereotypical damsel in distress, and also shows signs of her playing a white character role in the typical spaghetti western type role, for example, speaking german.
Applying bell hook's theory to Django in terms of black female spectator is that bell hook's believes that black women are not represented and that black women are aware of a lack of black womanhood in film. She writes that black women are used to enhance and maintain white women as object of the phallocentric gaze and that cinema is not a pleasurable experience for the black women . Bell hooks states that in order for a black female spectator to enjoy a film, black females must view films with a oppositional and critical gaze. This is how black female spectators have a rebellious gaze by an almost interrogation like attitude towards the film. Applying this to Django and the character of Broomhilda, the black female will probably not identify with Broomhilda who is largely unseen for the majority of the film and is shown as a weak, vulnerable damsel in distress. However, Broomhilda is seen in the film
as the only desirable woman in the film by Django and Dr King Schultz, who literally slams the door in
the face of Calvin Candie's white sister mid conversation with him. This means that Broomhilda is not
represented to enhance and maintain white woman, it is instead the opposite. Another scene that indicates Broomhilda is the only desirable women in Django's eyes is that he keeps fantasising about her during the film, where she appears behind trees or in the water when Django is washing. This type of critical and analytical view of the film is demonstrative of bell hook's theory about the black female spectator and how they enjoy the film.
In conclusion, a black spectator would find Django Unchained a difficult film to initially identify with. The film's genre is a western and all the black characters in the film are playing the white character roles of a western. There is nothing in these characters specifically aimed at the black spectator to align with. Instead if the film is read from a symbolic level, with Django killing dozens of white slavers and Broomhilda the only desirable women in the film rather than any of the white women, it allows the black spectator to identify with them.
