Django Unchained and Postmodernity

In order to understand why Django is postmodern you need to appreciate all the films component parts. Knowing WHAT something is is not the same as knowing WHY something is. For example, an intertextual reference only works if the audience recognises the reference, critic Vera Dika rightly argues “the final completion of the work comes through the audience’s active reading and interaction with the film” (103).

Examples:

Examples:



“American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them”. Spike Lee

In order to understand WHY Spike Lee refused to watch Django Unchained we need to understand WHAT his complaint was.

You have one lesson to research the following and present your answers on your new POMO blog

• What is a western?
• What is a spaghetti western?
• What is a blaxploitation film?
• Which THREE films does Django Unchained take its name from?
• Why does Franco Nero appear in the film and what is the significance of his dialogue with Jamie Foxx?
• What song plays over the final credits and how does this film connect to the original film Django?
• Which other song from Django features in Django Unchained?
• Who or what is Mr Ed?
• What is the significance of the red mask worn by Zoe Bell as Django murders the killers of d’Artagnan?
• The name of the saloon in which Schultz and Django drink is called Minnesota Clay, why?
• Who is Ennio Morricone?
• What connects him to both Django Unchained and director Sergio Corbucci?
• What sequence has made the 1903 film "The Great Train Robbery" so iconic?
• What is the significance of the name Von Shaft?
• What TV western does Django's western style outfit pay homage to?

Watch and embed sequences from Boss Nigger, Buck and the Preacher, Charley One-Eye and Legend of Nigger Charley.

BRICOLAGE - Create a TIMELINE for the film's soundtrack. Research the music used in Django and group them by decade, then group them by genre and finally group them (if applicable) by film score.

'A' grade suggested wider reading:

Django Unchained and the pleasures of postmodern history (this explores the films references)

Django Unchained and the postmodern question (this explores the 'problem' with postmodern films)