Perhaps the essential element of a great story is the characters, just as complexity is the mark of a great character. What is interesting about a pure, likeable character where life always goes their way? Not much when the audience relates and learns from someone that deals with the woes of life just as they do. Filled with quite a few memorable deep characters, Django Unchained (2012)—directed by Quentin Tarantino—features the title hero, Django, a slave in Antebellum Texas two years prior to the start of the Civil War who suddenly finds himself a freeman after he is purchased by the former dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, who needs Django to identify his former slavers–the Brittle Brothers. Django’s talent inspires Schultz
…show more content…
Following the letter of the law, as seen when penning a bill of sale for Django while one Speck brother lay dead (and the other about to be killed by the other slaves), Schultz justifies his work as bounty hunter by condemning the illegal actions of others done in the pursuit of money, as seen with his encouragement for Django to shoot Smitty Bacall. Schultz said about Bacall, "... Smitty Bacall wanted to rob stagecoaches, and he didn 't mind killing people to do it…I kill people and sell their corpses for cash. This corpse is worth seven thousand dollars. Now, quit your pussyfooting and shoot him." The irony of this quote seems lost on Schultz, as he himself wanted to make money and “didn’t mind killing people to do it.” The quick delivery of the final line demonstrates his down to business attitude, while his language (specifically ‘corpse’) suggests emotional detachment. Furthermore, the bounty hunter says that he would receive the reward upon handing over the targets dead or alive, but the audience is not show any attempt to capture his targets …show more content…
Why, then, in a movie meant to draw the line clearly between heroes and villians, would Tarantino show a character that steps across that line? Although the movie is not meant to be a serious recount of slavery and all its atrocities—what with its exaggerated violent effects and situational humor—Schultz at the very least serves as a reminder to the audience that the world was not cleanly divided between good and bad just as he believed it to be. ‘Justice’ does not have to be delivered by a Shining Knight on a horse, it could come from anyone: a former slave wearing an outfit reminiscent of Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy or even a hypocritical bounty hunting
Following the letter of the law, as seen when penning a bill of sale for Django while one Speck brother lay dead (and the other about to be killed by the other slaves), Schultz justifies his work as bounty hunter by condemning the illegal actions of others done in the pursuit of money, as seen with his encouragement for Django to shoot Smitty Bacall. Schultz said about Bacall, "... Smitty Bacall wanted to rob stagecoaches, and he didn 't mind killing people to do it…I kill people and sell their corpses for cash. This corpse is worth seven thousand dollars. Now, quit your pussyfooting and shoot him." The irony of this quote seems lost on Schultz, as he himself wanted to make money and “didn’t mind killing people to do it.” The quick delivery of the final line demonstrates his down to business attitude, while his language (specifically ‘corpse’) suggests emotional detachment. Furthermore, the bounty hunter says that he would receive the reward upon handing over the targets dead or alive, but the audience is not show any attempt to capture his targets …show more content…
Why, then, in a movie meant to draw the line clearly between heroes and villians, would Tarantino show a character that steps across that line? Although the movie is not meant to be a serious recount of slavery and all its atrocities—what with its exaggerated violent effects and situational humor—Schultz at the very least serves as a reminder to the audience that the world was not cleanly divided between good and bad just as he believed it to be. ‘Justice’ does not have to be delivered by a Shining Knight on a horse, it could come from anyone: a former slave wearing an outfit reminiscent of Gainsborough’s The Blue Boy or even a hypocritical bounty hunting