Blaxploitation, Critical Race Theory, and Tarantino: Unchained

Jose Duran

DRAMH 2366

Professor Garcia

December 13, 2021

Literature Review

Over the last century, the film industry has grown exponentially. The advances in

technology have made films easily accessible to everyone wherever there is the internet.

Companies like Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and Disney have made websites and apps with hundreds

of films readily available at the touch of a finger. The majority of the population believes that

films are just entertainment, but there is much more to them than meets the eye. The accessibility

to films has made people overlook the impact they have on culture. Films have power and

influence on the audience. The effects of film hide in the viewer’s subconscious; only until time

has passed can the full effects be noticed. This significant effect is a handy tool that could and

has been used to help advocate for social issues. However, they have also been utilized to

manipulate and sway the opinion of their audiences for the worst. This literature review explores

several articles that can be used to examine blaxploitation as a genre and its implications in film.

The subgenre of Blaxploitation was created in the 1970s to appeal to the African

American communities. The films created during this time were attempting to be progressive by

creating for the first time in cinema, movies that included African Americans as the main

characters with the freedom to choose their own “destiny”(Blaxploitation Movies | Definition,

History, Examples, & Facts | Britannica, n.d.). However, after noticing the popularity of the

films with not just the African American community filmmakers began to exploit the trend and

created an insane amount of low-budget films that were all considered part of the blaxploitation

genre to simply profit. In addition, the genre was incredibly damaging and disrespectful to the

African American community as it propagated and reinforced racist stereotypes.

 A film can be used as a way to make people spring into action and the blaxploitation

genre managed to incite the inclusion of African Americans in Hollywood. Spigelman explores

the theory that movies are a vital component to the start of social change. Blaxploitation films

introduced African American culture in Hollywood and by doing so they exposed the lack of

representation of African Americans in film (Spigelman, 1969). Paula Dressel argues that movies

could be utilized to facilitate the understanding of complex social issues and introduce a different

perspective. Blaxploitation is a genre that has the potential to help raise awareness or introduce a

different way of thinking about race relations in the United States. The idea of a black male or

female protagonist is at the core of blaxploitation but the majority of the films do not develop the

characters and often avoid speaking about social or political issues. If blaxploitation films

allowed for a more complex plot there would have been films that dealt with the social and

political issues that America is dealing with (Dressel, 1990).

As time passed, the blaxploitation genre faded and the trend died off, but the cultural

impact stayed and films began to progress. Typically in films, there is a clear villain and hero of

the story and we can see this in older films within the blaxploitation genre. The audience had a

clear idea of who was in the right and who was in the wrong but as society changed there was

also a change in movies. Gans’ explores the “Problem-Film” and he defines them as films that

deal with “social, sexual, political problems and their solution” (Gans, 2021). We can see Gans’

idea of the problem film develop in the 90s. In the 90s, there were films with black protagonists

such as Malcom X (1992), Bad Boys(1995), and Blade(1998). The low-budget films with black

actors began to decline as the complexity of the character rose. The films mentioned had more

complex characters and some more than others made comments about the current state of

society.
 The action in films was a major component of blaxploitation films and probably the

staple by which blaxploitation is known for. By associating African Americans with violence the

filmmakers of action blaxploitation films unknowingly conditioned the audience to be more

aggressive towards the community. Meyer carried out a study and found that verbal violence as

well as physical violence in film results in the audience reflecting some of the aggressive

behavior they heard or saw (Meyer, 1972). Filmmakers without knowing developed a

subconscious link between African Americans and violence in their audience. The power of

films to alter our behavior is very powerful and if used appropriately can be used as a way to

enact social change.

Blaxploitation began as a genre trend that exploited the marketability of African

American culture for a quick profit while causing significant harm to the community by

propagating harmful stereotypes and associating the community with inappropriate behavior.

Although blaxploitation was harmful at the start it allowed African Americans to be integrated

into Hollywood. Also, as films grew and progressed blaxploitation films began to develop better

characters and plots that spoke about important issues and stopped the use of harmful

stereotypes.

Film Analysis Background

There are multiple methods utilized to analyze films, similar to a massive repertory of

cinema. The main four types of analysis are semiotic, contextual, narrative structure, and mise en

scene analysis. Each type of analysis is helpful and can be used at once to analyze one film.

However, to produce a thorough research paper, it is best to focus on one type of analysis to
analyze any movie thoroughly. In my research project, I will be utilizing contextual analysis

because its concept of analysis and its applications in films will benefit my film analysis.

In its application to film, contextual analysis aims to view film as “part of a broader

context” (Long et al., 2020). The contextual effect is the idea that the environment around

individuals can affect their behavior and attitude. The contextual effect can be applied to films as

external factors can influence them. External factors considered in contextual analysis are

political climate, social movements, or the individuals essential to the film’s production

(Contextual Effect | The Dictionary of Human Geography - Credo Reference, n.d.). The political

climate may influence the politics discussed in the film and their portrayal. Similarly, major

social movements can control how the world-building in a film is constructed and how the

society in the film is depicted. Directors and producers can also affect the films they create as

their personal beliefs and experiences can bleed onto the film consciously or subconsciously.

Burget and Shrage both used contextual analysis in addition to textual, psychoanalytic,

and semiotic analysis. However, the focus will be on contextual analysis and its utilization in

Burget’s and Shrage’s respective papers. Burget analyzes the film 2001: A Space Odyssey(1968)

by exploring the life and other works of the film director, Stanley Kubrick (Burget, pg. 7-11).

Burget also gives a brief overview of the science fiction genre by explaining the history until the

film’s production but then demonstrates the film’s innovation within the genre (Burget, pg.

12-21). The film Shrage chose to analyze is Christopher Strong (1933), and she decided to

explore the movie by focusing on the social and cultural factors surrounding the film (Shrage,

1990). Shrage explains how “contextual criticism” should be investigated concerning the various

individualities of people, such as race or gender (Shrage, 1990). Both authors took different

approaches to contextual analysis; nonetheless, the investigations were successful.

 In Burget’s analysis of 2001: A Space Odyssey, Burget firstly provides context for the

film’s director. In Burget’s overview of Stanley Kubrick, Burget describes Kubrick’s early life

and devotion to cinematography. Burget then proceeds to dive into Kubrick’s first films and

some of Kubrick’s practices. Burget finishes the rest of this section by going over some of

Kubrick’s most notable films that were either praised or criticized harshly. Following this

section, Burget explores the film as part of the science fiction genre and mentions Kubrick’s

decisions and his reasoning behind his decisions. Kubrick’s decisions and philosophies were

used as context to analyze the film later in his three-part analysis. In Burget’s three-part study of

2001: A Space Odyssey, Burget connects the movie’s visual and audio effects to the director’s

philosophy about human evolution and nature. Without the context of the director’s life or

beliefs, Burget would not have made that connection just based on the film.

In Shrage’s film analysis of Christopher Strong, Shrage explores society’s social and

cultural context at the time. Shrage’s abstract explains how her paper overlooks the standard

textual analysis and diverges from semiotic approaches in her investigation to focus on

contextual analysis (Shrage, 1990). Shrage begins her introduction by explaining the

disadvantages of focusing on textual, semiotic, and psychoanalytic studies in film analysis.

Shrage presents the following:

Contextual film criticism should explore the interaction of film texts with socially

ingrained principles of cinematic viewing, principles which, unlike the psychological

structures identified by psychoanalytic criticism, are historically and culturally specific.

Moreover, these principles may not carry the same authority for persons differently

positioned by gender, race, class, and so on, but nonetheless, like the rules of standard

English, they inform and render meaningful our symbolic exchanges. Contextual
 criticism should explore how the authority of these principles varies in accordance with

gender, race, sexual orientation, and so forth. (Shrage, 1990)

Shrage proceeds to analyze the film using the social context of women’s gender roles in society

at the release of the movie. Shrage connects the film’s characters and plot to the patriarchal

marriage in the society of the movie’s era. Shrage’s use of contextual analysis allowed her to find

that “Christopher Strong contributes to a liberatory cultural politics”(Shrage, 1990).

Semiotic, narrative structure and mise en scene focus on what the movie presents first

and its significance without considering external factors. Contextual analysis is different as it

begins by associating the film being analyzed within a greater context. Investigating external

factors and looking at the film as part of a bigger picture allows you to observe and find things

you would not have noticed. I believe contextual analysis would be beneficial for that exact

reason as it will allow me to make connections that the other types of research would not.

Context is vital to understanding most things in life, and this would apply to films as well.

Theory and Film Analysis

Quentin Tarantino’s Django: Unchained is a spaghetti-western that portrays the horrors

of slavery through a story of love and revenge. Tarantino’s use of strong dialogue, graphic

violence, and subtle comedic relief create a film that addresses the cruel history of the United

States and sparks conversation about the issues of racism occurring to this day. Tarantino told a

story that highlights the brutality of slavery, exposes the flawed ideology of racists, and

empowers the African American community.

The following paper will apply critical race theory and contextual analysis to examine

Quentin Tarantino’s Django: Unchained. Critical race theory is a theoretical framework

developed in the 1960s by African-American scholars to explain the prevalence of racism in

society (Critical Race Theory | Definition, Principles, & Facts | Britannica, n.d.). The theory

claims racism is not unique to individuals but is embedded in our social constructs and hidden

within our political and social structures (Critical Race Theory | Definition, Principles, & Facts |

Britannica, n.d.). Critical race theory can be applied to films in a similar fashion. Racism can be

described to be on a spectrum of explicit to implicit racism. Explicit racism is assumed to be

outright racist comments and assaults towards a group of people solely based on the color of

their skin. Implicit racism, also known as covert racism, is where individuals are subconsciously

racist. Although they do not mean to be racist, their comments and behaviors convey hostile and

derogatory insults towards a particular group (Cappiccie et al., 2012).

Contextual analysis will be the primary tool that will aid in analyzing Django:

Unchained. This type of analysis requires a context of some sort that relates to the subject

studied. For the following analysis of Django: Unchained, the director, actors, and historical

events that the film is based on will be used as context to help explore the movie. The director’s

biography and actors’ experiences while filming will be taken into consideration. Critical race

theory will complement contextual analysis as it will provide a theoretical framework that could

explain the implications of the context within the film. Movie directors construct and guide a

movie’s execution and therefore their own personal beliefs or circumstances sometimes bleed

into their work (Contextual Effect | The Dictionary of Human Geography - Credo Reference,

n.d.).

Quentin Tarantino is a director, writer, producer, and actor who has created some of the

most recognized films in pop culture. Tarantino is mostly recognized from Pulp Fiction(1994)

and Kill Bill(2003). Tarantino is notably known for his unique style for films. A majority of
Tarantino’s films have extreme violence, racial slurs, and dark humor. Tarantino’s films usually

spark controversy from social critics. The majority of the critics mention Tarantino’s excessive

use of violence in all his films. The critics have gotten so repetitive that Tarantino is annoyed by

the consecutive question regarding his stance on violence in his films. In an interview by

Channel 4 News in 2013, a reporter asked Tarantino, “ But why are you so sure there’s no link

between enjoying movie violence and enjoying real violence?”(Channel 4 News, 2013).

Tarantino responds mildly annoyed and refuses to answer the question because he has already

commented on his opinion about the relationship between fantasy violence and real violence for

many years. Tarantino says, “I have explained this many times in the last twenty years.”(Channel

4 News, 2013). Tarantino believes that violence in films does not influence or provoke violence

in real life. Tarantino’s use of violence in his films serves the purpose to entertain and provide a

sequence that keeps his audience at the edge of their seat. However, Tarantino mentions in an

interview with BlackTree TV that for his movie Django: Unchained he uses two types of

violence, one that is “somber” and one that is “cathartic”(BlackTree TV, 2012). Tarantino argues

that it was his duty to properly display to the best of his ability the brutality of slavery and that it

was his “job to tell the truth”(ABC News, 2013).

In Django: Unchained Quentin Tarantino conveys the horrific acts of violence against

slaves in America before the Civil War. In the scene where Broomhilda is about to be whipped,

Tarantino chooses to change the color in the shot. The color shift was from normal bright colors

to a blue/cool filter that gave a blue tint to the entire shot. The shift in color is meant to inform

the audience the following sequence is a flashback but the specific selection of blue color is

meant to convey sorrow and anguish. This emotion evoked in the audience is complemented by

the proxemics of the shot as well as the volume of Broomhilda’s screams. In the shots in which
Broomhilda is being whipped, her face is directly in front of the camera and her face takes up the

majority of the frame. In addition to the rise in volume as she shrieks in pain, the sound effects of

the whip are also noticeably loud. In this shot, Tarantino displayed “somber” violence by

choosing to change the color of the scene, purposefully enlarging the subjects in the frame, and

raising the volume of the subject and specific sound effects. The combination of all the audio and

visual changes moves the audience to an uncomfortable state. Tarantino’s purpose was to

“traumatize” his audience and demonstrate what was America during that time so that his

audience can know, “ what slavery means per se to some people”(Dan Rather, 2015).

Tarantino demonstrates the corrupt ideologies of racism in Django: Unchained and

explores the myths that many people believed at that time in America. In the scene where Calvin

confronts Dr. King and Django about their true intentions, the camera angle and proxemics are

peculiar in respect to the ratio between each different subject. As Calvin directs himself to

Django the camera is focused on his face and his face takes up the entire center of the frame.

Meanwhile, when the camera’s point of view changes to Django, his upper torso is in the frame

and does not take up the entirety of the frame. Calvin in this specific scene talks about the

science of phrenology which is a pseudoscience that was created to justify the enslavement of

blacks. The idea of phrenology was that skull’s shape, size, or texture can describe the

individual’s behavior and life(Phrenology and “Scientific Racism” in the 19th Century | Real

Archaeology, n.d.). Calvin believes in this ideology and since it was on false scientific claims,

Tarantino chooses to deliberately make Calvin’s head look bigger in the frame in comparison to

Django’s. Tarantino wants to convey that Calvin had gone over his head to the point of believing

a “scientific” claim that would justify his cruel actions and corrupt mindset. Calvin in the context
of American history would represent the many slave owners who justified their practices with

phrenology.

In the final act of Django: Unchained Tarantino gives Django a final act of retribution to

empower the black community. After Django finally eliminates the rest of the Calvin family, he

blows the house up with dynamite, and the placement of the subject, as well as the lighting of the

shot, creates a heroic theme. Following the shot of the house blowing up the camera’s

perspective shifts to Django at the center of the frame, then Broomhilda, then Django again but

this time the camera is positioned behind him. The shot has Django in the center of the frame in a

power stance. In the background, the soundtrack begins playing, and the position of the camera

once again as Django turns around. The following shot is a tracking shot and it follows Django

slowly as the epic soundtrack in the background is playing. Tarantino uses “cathartic” violence to

uplift the audience and provide them with a sense of resolve after the horrifying scenes they had

previously witnessed. Tarantino’s purpose in this hero-like sequence was to provide a black

superhero for people of the black community to look up to and feel empowered by his

perseverance and attitude to get what he wants.

Findings

The world has committed atrocious acts against one another that are unjustifiable and

cruel. Quentin Tarantino is a talented director that has created two amazing films that deal with

horrifying time periods in humanity. Inglorious Basterds (Tarantino, 2009) and Django:

Unchained (Tarantino, 2012) were both movies that took place during the suffering of many

people. Quentin Tarantino wanted to tell stories where the oppressed come out victorious and as
heroes all while showing the graphic and violent events that took place during those time

periods. Through my research, I have found that Quentin Tarantino wants to show the harsh truth

to his audience, the blaxploitation genre of film has empowered the African American

community, and critical race theory can sometimes exaggerate subtle details in its application.

Quentin Tarantino has built a reputation for using exaggerated violent action sequences

that are extremely graphic. In Django: Unchained (Tarantino, 2012) Tarantino unsurprisingly

uses violence and incredible gruesome scenes but he uses the violence in a different manner from

his typical style. Tarantino uses two types of violence in his film, cathartic and somber violence

(BlackTree TV, 2012). Tarantino describes the somber violence in his film as violence that is

meant to be traumatizing and cause an emotional response from the audience. Tarantino explains

that this violence was necessary for the film’s authenticity and accuracy to the events that did

occur during slavery (Dan Rather, 2015). Django: Unchained tells a story about a slave in the

south trying to fight against all odds to save his love interest and Tarantino delivers this

incredible film with style. Tarantino created a film with the ability to make you squirm at the

harsh scenes that depicted slavery and then feel joy as Django achieves his goal despite the odds

against him. Tarantino wanted his audience to learn and experience the harsh history that the

United States of America often steers away from by being sincere and courageous to display

some of the vilest acts against humanity on screen.

As I dove into my research I came upon the genre of film known as blaxploitation.

Blaxploitation is a genre of film that came about in the 1960s as films that were dedicated to the

African American audience. The genre usually involved stereotypical black characters that were

involved in illegal activities (Wright, 2014). However, the genre was successful and soon it

expanded to other communities, not just the African American community. Its rise in popularity
is not surprising as the majority of the films that were created had flashy action sequences with

violence and drama as well. The genre of film has been criticized for its use of harmful

stereotypes against the African American community. However, it can also be argued that it

helped empower African Americans as the majority of the films under the blaxploitation genre

had black protagonists that were portrayed as heroes and were idolized (Wright, 2014). Despite

the harmful stereotypes that were spread by the films the genre was able to spread to other

communities and they were successful. People were eager to watch new movies with African

American leads at a time when race relations in the states were still tense. The age of

blaxploitation films created a segway for African Americans into Hollywood and the film

industry while leaving an impact on its expanding audiences.

Critical race theory is a fairly new theoretical framework that argues that the racial

disparity between races is not unique to an individual’s personal opinions, but there is a system

in place that by default creates inequality between races(Critical Race Theory | Definition,

Principles, & Facts | Britannica, n.d.). Critical race theory can be applied to a variety of subjects

and topics but when it comes to film it focuses on the subconscious motives of the film. In some

of my research that applied race theory to Tarantino’s Django: Unchained (2012) they claimed

that Tarantino used the suffering of slavery for his financial success and that it was disrespectful

for him to direct a movie considering his race. However, what critics and analysts fail to realize

was that Tarantino grew up around African Americans and he has constantly been supporting

African American actors for a long time. In an interview with Samuel L. Jackson who plays

Stephen in Django: Unchained defends Tarantino by arguing that Tarantino has written

characters that are intelligent and the greatest characters for him and that “for him [Tarantino] to

write characters like that for me [Samuel L. Jackson] would be impossible for your racist to do”
(Charlie Rose, 2016). Although it is possible for Tarantino to have subconscious motives

regarding race his record and reputation say otherwise. This leads me to the conclusion that

critical race theory can sometimes look “too deep” into something and develop implications that

are not there. Critical race theory is still an important theoretical framework but if used

incorrectly it could damage someone’s image over an educated guess.

My research has developed over the course of the semester and has exposed me to

cinema and I have learned that there is more to movies than just sitting staring at a screen for

pure entertainment. Films can create, stop, or boost movements. Film analysis has allowed me to

think critically and see between the frames of a movie and look beyond as well. I have learned to

appreciate the world of film.

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