DJANGO UNCHAINED: REDISCOURSING RACIAL RELATIONS DURING THE SLAVE TRADE

The proliferation of major Hollywood productions on the topic of slavery has surprised fans, critics, and scholars alike. Whilst previous productions have portrayed black people as a docile, primitive and an amenable race, Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012), through its portrayal of Django and Stephen, refutes previous stereotypes. This paper examines the relationship between blacks and whites as portrayed in the film. Through the theory of anthropophagy, it argues that Django and Stephen redefine the struggle against slavery by learning and adapting the ‘enemy’s’ means for survival. The film offers one sensational sequence after another, all set around these two intriguing characters (Django and Stephen), who seem to be opposites, but share pragmatic, financial and personal issues