Django, the story of a hero : A discourse analysis of postcolonial and gender theoretical power conditions in Quentin Tarantino’s movie Django Unchained.

The following study aims to analyze expressions of postcolonial and gender theoretical conditions of power in Quentin Tarantino’s film Django Unchained. The method of analysis is the one of discourse analysis. The analysis is used as a means to distinguish the expressions of value which will aim to depict the gender theoretical- and postcolonial structures of power the film mediates. Furthermore, the results given by the analysis will be discussed in relation to creation of prosthetic memory. Considering the prosthetic memory’s impact on the viewers subjectivity, and outlook on both present and future values, the theory will adequately be discussed in relation to the representation this pop-cultural medium mediate. This study does not aim to analyze the historical authenticity of the film but rather to identify which postcolonial and gender theoretical values that are projected through the historical narrative. However, Django’s hero status will be discussed in relation with the mid-19th century American setting. As for the results of the analysis they were both in line with, and contradictive to, what the previous studies has shown. In correlation with the preceding studies the film did not seem to address the psychological issue of the different positions of power a slave could have. However, the position of Django was in fact a subject of problematization. The configuration of gender was less nuanced, which gave rise to a one-sided function and power stature for the depicted women of the film. In contrast to this, the power hieratical position for men were highly fluid and dependent on several factors