Django Unchained Slavery

A select few moments in film history have changed the way studios and viewing audiences think about the commercial acceptability of subjects. Django unchained (2012) is a western live action film, directed by Quentin Tarantino, which tackles the much-maligned topic of slavery at an unimaginably successful level. Slavery was a topic previously reserved for indie and documentary filmmaking, due to its serious nature and lack of commercial appeal. The movie was a gigantic commercial success despite the taboo nature of the topic. The director used many different devices and scenarios that were familiar with the general audiences in order to portray the subject matter at a broadly accepted level. The audience is comforted by the familiarity of the interracial, …show more content…
Prior to the release of Django Unchained, the topic was reserved for documentaries and indie films, both of which would not be viewed widely by most of the public. The film industry has most often avoided the topic on a commercial level; however, some films on the matter have been produced. Of approximately sixty films released since 1900 about slavery, only the ones released after Django were either commercial successful or accurately depicted slavery, not both. The recognizable films that decided to tackle the topic before 2012, such as The Birth of a Nation and Gone with the Wind, depicted African Americans as perpetrators rather than victims. The films previously mentioned represented societies views towards African Americans at the times they were produced. Many of the blockbuster films produced in the 2000s were that of fantasy and adventure, such as the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series. After the release of Django Unchained in 2012, the struggle of African Americans from the pre-civil war era up to the civil rights movement was depicted in many films accurately and to great commercial