Django Film Analysis

In Django, the film displays the law enforcement’s failure to enforce any moral or lawful act early in the film and this scene sets the tone for the rest of the film. The scene begins right after Shultz rescues Django and they arrive in Daughterly, Texas. Shultz kills the sheriff of the county in the street. Afterwards, the marshal and the militia of the town come to the bar in order to arrest and/or kill Shultz and Django if they resist. Instead, Shultz proves that he is beyond the law and instead of arresting Shultz for murder, Shultz informs the marshal that he now owes him money for his service. Interestingly, the film portrays this violence as abnormal as it throws the whole town into chaos. Additionally, this scene illustrates a theme …show more content…
The marshal responses with, “Much as we’d all like to see [you get shoot in the street] ain’t no one going to cheat the hangman in my town” the marshal explicitly states, that people would enjoy seeing the violence. While there is usually an audience present for the violence in the film, this is the only time we have confirmation that it is because people enjoy seeing it. When the law is enforced (here that entails not killing people who have surrendered) they stop further violence. The law is able to go beyond their humanly instincts and instead do what is right, despite their admission that they would like to kill Shultz. However, the law is still inept because Shultz not only murders a sheriff in the middle of the street and was not punished, but he is rewarded for his action. The opening scene in Django, much like Lone Star, is also a scene dominated by a cold open and …show more content…
This argument has looked at one example from each work of how the law is unable to do its job as well as the first and last instances of violence. Looking at the beginning and end was a decision in order to gain an overview of how the works depict violence and the factors that create violence. Overall, in the works there is a consensus that the law is unable to do its job, in Lone Star, the rangers must go to Duane in order to infiltrate and defeat Chesledine’s gang, and Shultz is a similar outside agent bringing outlaws to justice. What is different in the works is how they depict violence, when the good gun is performing the violence in Lone Star; the narrator describes it as clean and does not mention any blood or gore. However, when Duane Poggin shoots Duane down in end of the novel, the narrator describes it in a visceral manner. While in the two scenes this essay analyzed from Django, both are a form of lawlessness and are the antithesis of Lone Star’s violence, it is bloody and messy. The result is the same in each, when the law is unable to do its job violence