Django Unchained, American Slavery and The Dual Nature of Violence as a Tool for Oppression and Liberation

Abstract

[Abstract] This end-of-degree thesis will examine as its main subject of analysis the media representation of North American slavery in the Antebellum Period and the history of structural violence in the United States using the film Django Unchained (Quentin Tarantino, 2012). Slavery, its presence in the United States and its role in shaping American history and cultural identity has been present thoroughly in media. From Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939) to 12 Years a Slave (Steve McQueen, 2013) the representations of slavery in film are varied in points of view and tone. Inevitably, such films must also tackle violence; be it as the Civil War brought about by this practice or, more commonly in recent decades, by portraying the perspective of the enslaved and the violence inflicted upon them. Media developed through this lens, however, can sometimes depict liberation as something achieved through non-violent self-actualization or the intervention of sympathetic white men, as is the case of 12 Years a Slave. In this aspect, Django Unchained is a rarity worth examining, where freedom is presented as something earned with the same violence that is used to oppress, bringing back the figure of the righteous gunslinger present in Westerns like the original Django (Sergio Corbucci, 1966). By analysing information present in other academic works related to the topic of this dissertation and examining other related media, this end-of-degree thesis will prove that previous media representations of slavery lacked the multi-faceted examination of violence as a tool of both liberation and oppression that Django Unchained presents.