How can Django Unchained Be Viewed as a Postmodern Film?

How can Django Unchained be viewed as a postmodern film?

Postmodernism is a style, whether it be used in film, music, architecture, art, or anything else, it is characterized by an intentional use of earlier styles and conventions. ‘Django Unchained’ is a 2012 ‘western’ styled film, written and directed by Quentin Tarintino. The film tells the story of a freed slave who befriends a German bounty hunter in southern America. The story follows their journey from the early winter of 1858 to the following spring of 1859, two years before the outbreak of the American Civil War. With the help of his newest companion, the freed slave, Django, sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner. This film could be described as postmodern due to the references and connections it has to previous and historical media pieces.

The first, and perhaps the most obvious way, in which ‘Django Unchained’ could be seen as postmodern is through the use of intertextual references. Throughout the film Tarintino makes many clear references to films from a previous era, the most blatant being used in the title. ‘Django’ was a spaghetti western released in 1966. A spaghetti western was a specific genre of western film. These films were made cheap in European countries, such as Italy. Tarintino used the name of the 1966 film to title his own western styled movie, and also to name his main character. This intertextual reference is important as it shows homage to the original film as well as the overall genre of ‘spaghetti westerns’.  His appreciation and admiration for this film was also made clear through the use of the soundtrack. Although not the entirety of the film’s music was suitable for the film, the opening track and main song was lifted straight from the original Django film. Django, performed by Rocky Roberts, was recorded in 1966, in order to feature in the film. Tarintino decided to use this song to pay further homage to the original Django. The Django film was also made reference to towards the end of the film. A cameo was made by Franco Nero, the Italian actor who played Django in the 1966 rendition.  In this scene Nero asks Jamie Foxx (who plays Django in Django Unchained), what his name is, and continues to tell Foxx that he knows that the ‘D’ is silent at the start of his name. For western fans it is obvious that he knows how to spell his name, as he played the character in a previous role.

Although Tarintino pays homage to the genre of western films and shows he greatly admires them, in this film, he also uses a parody aspect to imitate westerns in a humorous manner. Certain scenes in ‘Django Unchained’ appear to mimic films by making certain lines or snippets of the film funny for the audience.   For example, towards the start of the film, Django and Schultz assassinate the three ‘Brittle Brothers’. In this scene the shooting by Django follows popular conventions of older western film. The camera shots are very similar and this is used to put a humorous aspect on the death of these characters. As this follows conventions of the western genre, but also makes the film humorous, this shows that the film has a postmodern ‘parody’ feature.

Another feature of postmodernism that Tarintino incorporates into this film is ‘Briolage’. Bricolage, which literally translates as ‘do it yourself’ is when any writer, director or creator of any kind uses lots of separate inspirations to create their own personal collage of work. Almost all of Tarintino’s films can be referred to as postmodern as almost all of them use this feature. Different sections and categories of the deign aspect of the film can be separated and divided into chunks that can be traced back to their original reference point. The first piece of the film I want to analyse is the clothing used. Tarintino got his inspiration for the clothing in the film from many different locations. One of the most vibrant and infamous outfits in the film is Django’s first outfit as a free man. The bright blue suit, with the white cravat styled neck piece, is well documented as being inspired by a famous painting, ‘The Blue Boy’ by Thomas Gainsborough. In this painting a young boy is depicted wearing an almost identical outfit to that of Django’s.  Although in this instance the reasoning for choosing to imitate this outfit seems abstract, other outfit decisions in the film appear to have more relevance. Later on in the film, Django’s second outfit consists of a cowboy style hate a green jacket. This entire outfit mirrors that of famous western TV programme character, Bonanza’s Little Joe. This reference and piece of bricolage is much more relevant as fits into the same genre as Django Unchained.   Although this can be labelled as homage, as Tarintino is tipping is hat at the success of the TV programme, the reference isn’t obvious and works alongside the rest of the film to complete it, meaning it can be labelled as part of the bricolage.  

Another section of the film that can be categorised into the bricolage postmodernism aspect of the film is the setting. As the genre of the film fits into a western style, then the stereotypical placement for the filming and location would be in the west of America, yet the majority of this film is not. Due to the slavery and plantation aspects to this story then it is clear that this film is in fact set in southern America. Some of the settings of the film are clearly taken from older more traditional spaghetti western films. For example, scenes from ‘The Great Silence’ (1968) are reflective of the snowy expanses seen in Django Unchained.  The use of these similar settings also add towards the collage of the overall product, or the bricolage, of the film.

I do believe that Django Unchained could be labelled as a postmodernism media product. Tarintino uses lots of references, conventions and other aspects of older and pre –existing texts to create his own. He also uses lots of different stances to do this, whether that’s paying homage and respecting the originals, or if he is using their conventions to create humour.

Critics of postmodernism are frequent, many people, such as Frederic Jameson who said that the idea of postmodernism is vacuous and full of self-referential jokes. He believes over-exposure in mass media means we can only recycle the conventions of earlier texts and never be original. I personally believe that due to the nature of the media industry, postmodernism will carry on as different genres with always cross paths. As more and more original ideas are created this gives a larger scope for them to be used as references and inspiration.