Analysis Of The Movie Django Unchained - 1275 Words

Using the language of the moving image, which includes cinematography, editing, sound, music and mise-en-scene, this essay will investigate the ideology of Racism in film. OxfordDictionaries.com describes racism as â€Å"Prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one’s own race is superior.† When we, the audience think of racism in film, we traditionally think of movies for adults and often overlook the sinister aspect of racism in children’s films. I have chosen to contrast a recent R-rated film with a G-rated Disney movie from the 1990s. Disney films, even up until the 1990s have persistently reinforced the image of blacks or latino and asian races as being below whites. The†¦show more content†¦When comparing the two films you can delve deep below the surface and begin to question how much of what we perceive as racism is actually racist or just general bigotry and self-importance. An d how much of what we perceive as innocent is in fact insidious by nature. Tarantino switches things around and makes Django, a black male; the main protagonist of the film. By the end of the film he is the sole male survivor and therefore superior to the white characters. While Aladdin, a film about Arabs, has white American voices cast for all of the characters. The villain is the only Arab looking main character, while the hero and heroine are drawn with more Western features or skin colour, â€Å"Aladdin looks and sounds like a fresh-faced American boy.† (Brunette et. al. 2006, p. 2). In the Django Unchained sequence comparison, Big Daddy compares Django to Jerry. The description of Jerry as a peckerwood indicates that he is a white man of low status, as a peckerwood is â€Å"a often derogatory† term for â€Å"A white person, especially a poor one† (OxfordDictionaries.com, 2015). This brings up the issue of class instead of race. This issue comes up again later in the film with the introduction of Stephen. He has privileges and a certain amount of influence over his master that gives him some power. And while Stephen might be a slave still, he has more freedom at Candie Land then Django, a freeman. In the Aladdin sequence, it is difficult to believe