Craven 1 Braden Craven Mr.

Newman English 101: Rhetoric 10 October 2013 Slavery, Blood and Endless Dialogue The movie Django Unchained, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, revolves around the revenge story of a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) who has been purchased by an ex-dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz). His intent being to train Django to be his deputy bounty hunter and track down three of his bounties, in exchange for his freedom and supplies to live. The path of the bounty hunter leads Django to his wife, whom he was separated from in a slave auction years prior, at a plantation owned by slave mogul Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). In true western fashion, Django and Dr. King trick and maneuver their way into earning Candies trust to save Djangos wife. Movie critics David Thomson and Lisa Kennedy both describe Django Unchained as a worthy tribute to classic spaghetti western flicks, Kennedy praises the movie for its representation of slavery and the choice of actors in the movie, while Thomson is adamant in the fact that its another of Tarantinos uninteresting, dialogue heavy movies that is comparable to a shot to the head. Thomson and Kennedy have staggeringly different views on many different aspects of the film ranging from Tarantinos choice of genre, to past attempts at historical fiction (his 2009 holocaust revenge film Inglorious Basterds is referenced by both critics), to even Tarantinos choice of actors. To clarify, Kennedy goes as far to say that Christoph Waltz should be headed to his second Oscar nomination with his portrayal of Dr. King and believes that Jamie Foxx is near-perfect in his role as Django. Alternatively, Thomson doesnt express his opinion on

Craven 2 Foxxs role but rather focuses instead on Waltzs performance, claiming that in earlier productions, Waltz completely made and perfected his scenes, but in Django he seems entirely dependent on his author. Thomson also makes his opinion on Samuel L. Jacksons role as Candies elderly butler, stating that his role was Iago crossed with Othello, which is the closest to a compliment that Thomson will give. Both critics views were very black and white when it came to the actor choice and their individual performances, offering no middle ground or mutual acceptance between both opinions. A different topic with varying opinions is Tarantinos is his conveyance of the harsh event that was slavery in North America. Kennedy feels that Tarantino flawlessly portrayed slavery as a whole, showing the rough and painful life led by a slave like Django. Kennedy herself describes the era as the bedeviling, nasty chapter in Americas story and that Tarantinos exposition of Calvin Candie will make the viewer not only like dislike him, but to be able to make excuses for his motivations. Ultimately Kennedy believes that the story achieves an elegant if disturbing symmetry in its depiction of the abolitionists Django and Schultz versus the slave mogul Candie. Thomsons observation was much different, however, and he himself references movie director Spike Lee and how he felt Django Unchained was so disrespectful of slavery that he opted out of seeing the film altogether. Both critics call back to one of Tarantinos earlier films Inglorious Basterds in how it tries to tell a fictionalized story in an immediately recognizable time frame, Inglorious Basterds taking place in Holocaust-era France. Kennedy describes Tarantinos ability to sharpen a scene within an inch of its life in reference to a high-intensity scene in Inglorious Basterds involving a Nazi officer and a French farmer keeping his Jewish neighbors in hiding. Kennedy ends her point by saying that Django does not disappoint and provides many of such scenes, providing Django and Dr. Schultzs

Craven 3 initial meeting in the woods as a perfect example. Thomson however, feels that the blatant ignorance of the era marred Inglorious Basterds, explaining that the way the Holocaust, Jews and Nazis themselves were depicted were completely inaccurate, boiling it down to a Jewish revenge fantasy. Perhaps the one and only thing that the critics can both agree on is that Django is an attempt at paying homage to classic 1960s Spaghetti Western films. Thomson cynically states that only Quentin [Tarantino] says that Django is a tribute to the sub-genre in the school of Sergio Leone or Sergio Corbucci. Thomson then goes on to go on about Tarantinos overbearing need to overuse dialogue in every scene, as Thomson does for a majority of his review. Kennedy backs this up by explaining the copious amounts of pay-back fantasies and a large number of intense shoot-outs. Unfortunately, the agreements end there, as the critics view on the movie drastically skew into the black and white opinion as stated before. Throughout both reviews, both critics stay on their side of their respective spectrums, Kennedy keeping to her positive and Thomson to his negative, the overall point being to accentuate the overblown way Tarantino mainlines talk. As intense as Tarantinos movie go, Thomson insists that the ignorance displayed in both dialogue and overall presentation of the slave-era is contradicted by Kennedys overwhelming praise and sincerity towards her admiration of Tarantinos work. The final decision of the movies quality however, is incredibly subjective and cannot be left to two critics, but the incredibly varies views of two talented critics is a great way to look upon the subtleties of film itself.

Craven 4 Works Cited

Kennedy, Lisa. "Movie review: Is 'Django Unchained' Tarantino's Great American Movie?" The Denver Post. Denver Post, 25 Dec. 2012. Web. 16 Oct. 2013. Thomson, David. "Django Unchained Is All Talk with Nothing to Say." New Republic. New Republic, 5 Jan. 2013. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

Purpose (25): Successful (A+ thru B):

Demonstrates a superior understanding of two critics reviews of the same film and shows how they agree and differ about various aspects of said film Utilizes point-by-point or block format effectively in the analysis

Genre (25): Successful (A+ thru B): Contains a thesis in the last sentence of the intro that effectively captures the areas that are being compared and contrasted. Demonstrates a sophisticated evaluation of the films regarding the aspects chosen for analysis

Design/Layout (25): Successful (A+ thru B): Uses a 12-point, Times New Roman font with a double-spaced page Includes a creative title, appropriately placed and formatted headers, heading, and page numbers A Works Cited list is included on its own page at the end that includes both reviews and possibly the film

Audience (25): Successful (A+ thru B): Uses vocabulary, grammar, spelling, and usage appropriate for a college audience Assumes a level of intelligence and sophistication for the audience Offers an intriguing mix of comparisons and contrasts in an intellectual way

Stance (25):

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Successful (A+ thru B): Demonstrates an understanding of each critics stance through textual support Includes a consistent tone that presents the critics reviews fairly