I went and saw Django Unchained on 12/25. What I've found out since then is everyone I've heard from or talked to - from Spike Lee to my homies/comrades - has criticized the film in every way imaginable. I of course agree wholeheartedly with their criticisms and then some, but the only way to have a qualified opinion is to do the research, which is why I went to see the movie in the first place. You see, I'm certainly not confused about one very important and critical fact. The true story about the chattel enslavement of African people will never be told by the commercial movie/television industry. In fact, every commercial attempt to address slavery - from "Roots" in 1977 to "Django Unchained" in 2012/13 - has been nothing except a watered down, palatable to white society, version of the brutal suffering African people have endured. Why do I say this? Well, the first thing you have to remember is that African chattel slavery provided the initial seed money for the banking system in this society and the entire capitalist world. If you don't believe me just study the history of the oldest banks and insurance companies. I'm talking about institutions such as Lloyd's of London, Barclays Bank, Wachovia Bank, and Aetna. Walter Rodney's landmark book "How Europe Underdeveloped Africa" provides the historical blueprint for how the theft of Africans from Africa and their trade for products supplied the initial capital for Europe and North America to industrialize and develop capitalism. Also, Wachovia Bank and Aetna each were forced recently to acknowledge their roles in profiting from slavery as a part of the reparation movement's efforts to hold capitalist corporations accountable for their role in the exploitation of Africa. A simple google search will provide all the information needed about Wachovia, Aetna, and countless other so-called Fortune 500 companies for those who honestly want to understand how the institution of chattel slavery created the class system that keeps Africans poor and powerless today (and for how Africa is poor and the U.S. and Europe are rich).
So, if you know this about capitalism, then it should be easy for you to comprehend that these same corporations that advertise and finance the production of the motion picture industry are not going to underwrite anything that exposes their centuries old myth that they rose to the top of the financial pyramid through hard work and industriousness. To do so would be the equivalent of asking these corporations to finance their own demise in public opinion. So instead, what you get is the typical rewriting of history in a way that soothes the collective white (consumer) guilt that slavery "really wasn't that bad." Quintin Tarentino is certainly not the only person guilty of this. Steven Speilberg's movie on Lincoln is more than likely just as bad, if not worse, and there are many others. Too many to name here.
The absolute truth about chattel slavery is that it was one of the worst institutions of human suffering ever known to human existence. Conservative estimates are that at least 100 million people were killed in the most brutal ways possible before even arriving in the Western Hemisphere from Africa in the period known as the Middle Passage and the reality is those who were lost were really the lucky ones. Once here, a system was perfected that reinforced the concept that Africans were property. Man were handled as breeders the same way a male pittbull is handled today and women were treated far worse. They were viewed and treated simply as baby producers and sexual conduits for sick white rapists. And the brutality that was imposed on the people is unimaginable to uninformed people in 2013. It's important to understand that a system had to be institutionalized that made Africans believe they were inferior and meant to be property. As a result, any attempt to humanize Africans had to be swiftly - and violently - oppressed. Be perceived as speaking out against the master? Get your tongue cut out. Be viewed as someone who may resist? Have your limbed ripped out by horses, especially your genitals. And women - they routinely had hot coals forced up their genitals as punishment. Keep in mind that this type of systematic degragation was carried out as the rule of the land for over 300 of the 500 years we have been in the Western Hemisphere e.g. the majority of our time here. As a people we are of course still struggling and fighting to overcome the emotional and psychological aspects of slavery, and this is not to even mention the economic issues that were mentioned earlier.
This brief analysis of chattel slavery is important to put "Django Unchained" in perspective for those who wonder today why some Africans born in different countries don't trust one another and why some African men and women struggle so hard to relate respectfully towards one another. These are all legacies of the chattel slave system. Now that this analysis has been established we can deal with the movie. Tarantino's effort trivializes the issues addressed above in a very sad and disrespectful way. Jamie Foxx's character is shallow and severely underdeveloped. A curious aspect considering Foxx's undeniable acting capabiliies. Kerry Washington's character - continuing in the tradition of dehumanizing the African woman - is even less developed than Foxx's character. The biggest weaknesses of the movie is that the house slave/field slave class dynamic - as portrayed by the dynamic surrounding the Samuel L. Jackson character - was never developed when this is a phenomenon that is still very much alive and active in every sphere of political and social life today. Also, making an attempt to find anything even remotely funny about nightriders is a clear example of catering to the social tastes of ignorant white people as no sane African could ever find humor in anything related to that. Of course, we could go on and on criticizing this movie because there is much to criticize, but the point is the purpose of this movie is solely to entertain and make money. Not to educate people about the true history of slavery. We will never get that from the capitalist entertainment industry. This education will only come through serious efforts to obtain the necessary information in an organized fashion designed to solve the problems slavery has produced. The capitalist system and all it's institutions have a vested interest in keeping people ignorant about slavery since the system was developed and is maintained based on the same system of racist, class oppression. This is why you have multitudes of people today who will talk as if they are experts on slavery, but when you push them on their information, you discover quickly how truly ignorant they are. None of this is by accident. No, Hollywood isn't going to tell our story. They are too busy profitting from misrepresenting it. but we should already know that. Gil Scott Heron told us 40 years ago that the revolution will not be televised.
So, if you know this about capitalism, then it should be easy for you to comprehend that these same corporations that advertise and finance the production of the motion picture industry are not going to underwrite anything that exposes their centuries old myth that they rose to the top of the financial pyramid through hard work and industriousness. To do so would be the equivalent of asking these corporations to finance their own demise in public opinion. So instead, what you get is the typical rewriting of history in a way that soothes the collective white (consumer) guilt that slavery "really wasn't that bad." Quintin Tarentino is certainly not the only person guilty of this. Steven Speilberg's movie on Lincoln is more than likely just as bad, if not worse, and there are many others. Too many to name here.
The absolute truth about chattel slavery is that it was one of the worst institutions of human suffering ever known to human existence. Conservative estimates are that at least 100 million people were killed in the most brutal ways possible before even arriving in the Western Hemisphere from Africa in the period known as the Middle Passage and the reality is those who were lost were really the lucky ones. Once here, a system was perfected that reinforced the concept that Africans were property. Man were handled as breeders the same way a male pittbull is handled today and women were treated far worse. They were viewed and treated simply as baby producers and sexual conduits for sick white rapists. And the brutality that was imposed on the people is unimaginable to uninformed people in 2013. It's important to understand that a system had to be institutionalized that made Africans believe they were inferior and meant to be property. As a result, any attempt to humanize Africans had to be swiftly - and violently - oppressed. Be perceived as speaking out against the master? Get your tongue cut out. Be viewed as someone who may resist? Have your limbed ripped out by horses, especially your genitals. And women - they routinely had hot coals forced up their genitals as punishment. Keep in mind that this type of systematic degragation was carried out as the rule of the land for over 300 of the 500 years we have been in the Western Hemisphere e.g. the majority of our time here. As a people we are of course still struggling and fighting to overcome the emotional and psychological aspects of slavery, and this is not to even mention the economic issues that were mentioned earlier.
This brief analysis of chattel slavery is important to put "Django Unchained" in perspective for those who wonder today why some Africans born in different countries don't trust one another and why some African men and women struggle so hard to relate respectfully towards one another. These are all legacies of the chattel slave system. Now that this analysis has been established we can deal with the movie. Tarantino's effort trivializes the issues addressed above in a very sad and disrespectful way. Jamie Foxx's character is shallow and severely underdeveloped. A curious aspect considering Foxx's undeniable acting capabiliies. Kerry Washington's character - continuing in the tradition of dehumanizing the African woman - is even less developed than Foxx's character. The biggest weaknesses of the movie is that the house slave/field slave class dynamic - as portrayed by the dynamic surrounding the Samuel L. Jackson character - was never developed when this is a phenomenon that is still very much alive and active in every sphere of political and social life today. Also, making an attempt to find anything even remotely funny about nightriders is a clear example of catering to the social tastes of ignorant white people as no sane African could ever find humor in anything related to that. Of course, we could go on and on criticizing this movie because there is much to criticize, but the point is the purpose of this movie is solely to entertain and make money. Not to educate people about the true history of slavery. We will never get that from the capitalist entertainment industry. This education will only come through serious efforts to obtain the necessary information in an organized fashion designed to solve the problems slavery has produced. The capitalist system and all it's institutions have a vested interest in keeping people ignorant about slavery since the system was developed and is maintained based on the same system of racist, class oppression. This is why you have multitudes of people today who will talk as if they are experts on slavery, but when you push them on their information, you discover quickly how truly ignorant they are. None of this is by accident. No, Hollywood isn't going to tell our story. They are too busy profitting from misrepresenting it. but we should already know that. Gil Scott Heron told us 40 years ago that the revolution will not be televised.
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