by Rebekah Canfield
Beloved by Toni Morrison and Django Unchained,
directed by Quentin Tarantino, are very different in terms of their tone and approach
to the topic of slavery. While the former is very literal and truth-based, the
latter relies heavily on hyperbole to carry its plot.
Each time Paul D or Sethe or any former slave character in Beloved
recounts an experience pre-freedom, the raw honesty of the dialogue is what
makes the reader cringe in the realization that these things happened. That our country was once this place which Sethe and the other
characters describe. Beloved does an incredible job of bringing to light the nonfiction
parts of its plot though it is a work of fiction.
On the contrary, Quentin Tarantino approaches the still very
delicate and sensitive subject of slavery not with tact but instead by slamming
it with hyperbole after hyperbole. Without regard to timeline or historic
accuracy, Tarantino creates Django’s heroism as the central focus of the film
because that is what Americans want
in a film about slavery. The KKK are a bunch of blinded idiots who are quick
tempered and easily fooled, the central plantation is quite literally a palace-
filled to the brim with velvet and gold, the amount of blood that appears in
the film is blown wildly out of proportion, and Django is immediately (and
impossibly) an expert marksman seeing as he had never been handed a gun in his
life before he became freed. Each of these details aids Tarantino in his end goal
with the film which is clearly to depict Django’s final annihilation of the
inhabitants of Candyland in as grand and heroic a light as possible.
While these two sources are vastly contrasted in their tone
as well as their purpose, they share the topic of slavery, so inarguably they
are tied. In his article Tarantino
Unchained for The New Yorker, Jelani Cobb points out that “Oppression,
almost by definition, is a set of circumstances that bring out the worst in
most people”. This is a truth that Jelani notices in Django Unchained
and is also true for the characters of Beloved. The oppression of
slavery is exemplified countless times in the novel by Morrison- when Halle
witnesses the unthinkable act his wife endured (a product of slavery), he loses
his sanity. When Sixo is caught and is being negotiated for a price, the
strong, level-headed man gives up in the form of incessant song and laughter.
When Paul D is at his lowest point of humiliation, he realizes that he has been
completely dehumanized and is in a sense no longer a person but an animal.
Lower, even. Baby Suggs years and years of oppression catch up with her at the
end of her life and all she can manage is to long for color and await death. In
the most horrifying example, Sethe’s worst quality shows itself in the face of
oppression when she turns into a murderess- and of her own child. The same
truth is evidenced in Django Unchained, as claimed by Jelani Cobb. The
author points out that “Here, as in “Lincoln,” black people—with the exception
of the protagonist and his love interest—are ciphers passively awaiting
freedom.” Oppression has caused these slaves to become (regardless of accuracy)
ragdolls. They are essentially lifeless, as they have no hope for the future
nor any saving grace to cling to. On the other end of the spectrum, Django, who
has been freed, uses his memories of oppression to channel into a massive aggression
which results in his turning into a mass murderer.
So it goes.
