Django Unchained follows the story of Django, a slave in the American South, initially freed from his bonds to aid in the bounty hunt of the Brittle Brothers, but upon completing his contract, seeks to find his lost wife, kill her captors and avenge the death of his friend. Django Unchained seamlessly blends spaghetti westerns and blaxploitation films, and although following many of the tropes of the two genres, also seeks to update the genre for modern audiences. Included in the film’s mixed gender DNA is an amalgamation of common Western tropes and plots, wrapped around historical southern culture and blaxploitation characters.
What’s in a name?
Perhaps the initial hybridization of the film is held in the title alone. Django Unchained. The character of Django has its filmic roots buried 50 years prior in the original titularly titled film, Django (1966). Leading in a spin-off of more than 30 unofficial Django films by other Italian directors, the name is practically a staple of the western genre. A cursory glance on IMDb.com yields many results, some of which I’ve included: Django (1966), Django, Prepare a Coffin (1968), Django Strikes Again (1987), Django Kill… If you Live, Shoot! (1967) Viva! Django (1971), Django the Bastard (1969), Return of Django (1967), Django Kills Softly (1967), Django Shoots First (1966), Django the Condemned (1965), and the list continues on well beyond that, with several films more which feature the name Django in an alternate title.
Over the course of 3 years following Django (1966) the character of Django was used in over 10 more films. (The original director, Sergio Corbucci, himself not directing any of these additional films.) The character became a property of anyone who wanted to make a western, each tale seeming to add to the myth or legendary nature of the character. As with other familiar franchises such as Mad Max, these films do not follow a chronological viewing order, and most films see the character following a familiar tale about righting wrongs, exacting vengeance and sometimes collecting bounties. Django can be endowed with any characteristics that the storyteller chooses. In this case, the director, Quentin Tarantino, has chosen to hybridize Django with that of a slave turned freeman bounty hunter, found in the second part of the title — Unchained.
Although IMDb.com doesn’t yield any other blaxploitation films bearing ‘unchained’ in their title, it alludes to slavery and chains, but also to the segregation that affected race relations at the time of the original blaxploitation films. Additionally, these types of films often centered on “black heroes who saved the day often by standing up to the dominant oppressor” (Watson) thereby fighting those who would dare to segregate or put them in chains.
Django Unchained.
Song of the South
The film’s use of music helps to promote the aspects of the two genres in the particular scenarios in which they are used. No Western would be complete without an accompanying orchestral score of epic proportions, nor would a blaxploitation film be without its funk, rap or otherwise afro-centric music. Therefore, the combination of the two genres of music continue to add to the hybrid nature of the film.
The film borrows tracks from western films like His Name Was King, (1971) Django (1966), Day of Anger (1967), and more. Borrowing music from previously established spaghetti westerns draws directly from the DNA of the western genre and myth of Django, not merely drawing from its sources or composers. However, the film does just that as well. Italian Composer, Ennio Morricone, famed for his work on Sergio Leone’s ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ trilogy as well as many others, composed several tracks for Django Unchained, further securing its hold in the spaghetti western realm.
The intro to Django (1966) and Django Unchained both begin with the same opening track, “Django” by Migliacci-Enriquez/Luis Bacalov. Besides just containing the same music, they both feature the titular hero walking around while bold red credits fill in the screen. The similarity isn’t uncanny, it is intentional and seeks to reference the film and the complete idea of Django as an outcast hero.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwfl1SYjX2M https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZVXgAHiHtA
The scores composed by Ennio Morricone add to the background while characters ride around sprawling mountainous landscapes, western towns and the like. Though these moments of the film add to the western genre of the film, none of these scenes are easily identifiable (if at all attempting) as replicating another western film like the Django intro does. They generally add to the emotional sense of the film.
Compare these with tracks like Unchained (The Payback / Untouchable) by James Brown & 2Pac, or Freedom by Anthony Hamilton & Elayna Boynton that provide a stark contrast of modern african-american rap and music. Specifically, the song “Unchained (The Payback / Untouchable)” begins playing during one of the particular gun fights as Django attempts to fight everyone in Candyland in a violently gory showdown. The moment highlights the black protagonist’s fight against the oppressive white slavers and henchmen as reference to blaxploitation films such as “The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973) where black militants led a revolution to overthrow the government in a violent fantasy” (Watson) but also to glorify the hero in his fight against evil.
Conversely, moments in which non-diegetic sound is completely removed from the film also add to the blaxploitation dialogue of Django Unchained. In the upper room fight club where men pit their mandingo’s against each other, the scene is purposefully void of music — there is no music to glorify the violence seen in this moment. The violence is seen as brutal, unnecessary, and is meant to highlight the ways in which the white oppressor forces the african-americans to fight against one another instead of rising up against their oppressors.
Combining the Two
The two film genres already mesh together with many similarities, so marrying the two together wasn’t a big feat for Tarantino. Western films deal with injustices out in the prairie with marginalized people (farmers and ranchers or even townspeople) who have little recourse of action. Blaxploitation films tackle marginalized people (african-americans) within urban environments who still have little ability to fight back their oppressors. Both feature a character who is able to navigate the difference between the two sides and defend the rights of the marginalized group, or exact revenge for injustices done against them.
In several popular westerns, such as The Searchers, a specific group is targeted by the white cowboys — in this case, Indians (specifically Comanche) are seen as the lesser group. Django Unchained shifts the focus from race relations between Whites and Indians to Whites and African-americans, and in doing so, it also finds its place within the realm of typical 1970s blaxploitation films.
The end result of the combination of these two genres provides both an enjoyable action flick, but also an insight to the continuous dialogue of race relations that started long ago before our country was founded.
Sources:
Watson, Christopher, et al. Reflections on Blaxploitation : Actors and Directors Speak. Scarecrow Press, 2009. EBSCOhost, lib.byu.edu/remoteauth/?url=http://search.ebscohost.com.erl.lib.byu.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=267373&site=eds-live&scope=site.
Corbucci, Sergio, Franco Nero. Django. Italy. Distributed by] Euro International Film, 1966
Tarantino, Quentin, Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Jamie Foxx, Kerry Washington, Christoph Waltz, and Walton Goggins. Django Unchained. Canada: Distributed by] Entertainment One, 2013.