Grind to Shine

Wednesday, May 22, 2013



Django

            The second watch always brings a comfortable feeling.  Before sitting down and even starting the movie I always think, “I’m wasting and money.  I’ve already seen this movie what’s the use of watching it again if it’s not free?”  About twenty minutes later though I couldn’t be in a farther state of mind.  Good movies have that effect.  That feeling you get when you know you’ve seen something before and you know everything that’s going to happen, all the twists and turns, but it’s okay, because the essence of the movie itself allows your knowledge to lie asleep for the next 2 hours.  Almost all well made movies are deserving of a second watch.  My most recent encounter with this phenomenon is Tarantino’s Django Unchained.
            Movies like Django, those centered around slavery and the hatred of blacks, always makes me think.  While inspiring a powerful hatred for the southern folk of that age, it always makes me wonder what I may have done back then.  Would I have even had slaves, or helped in the fights against it.  Every single time I’ve asked myself this question, without a doubt I envision myself as a man fighting against slavery.  Tarantino captures the evil and horror of the 1800’s southern men perfectly.  I know that there truthfully never was a sport like Mandingo Fighting, but sometimes seeing things like this makes a white person like me wonder what our ancestors were thinking.  By this time, most parts of Europe had abandoned the use of slaves, and it slightly shames me to think of how we took so long to catch on. 
            In the same frame of mind is Dr. Schultz.  To me, Schultz stands for the American spirit today, the one which looks down on our dark history of slavery.  He is Tarantino’s own way of dealing with the idea that a practice so horrendous existed.  Placed back in the time of Django, I believe I would fit right in as a Schultz-type character.  I wouldn’t be as violent or as smooth, but stopping bad guys and aiding slaves in unfair situations seems as if it be a very cool career.


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