Classic Westerns and Django Unchained
The film Django Unchained released in 2012 and directed by Quentin Tarantino is a spaghetti western film set in the deep south, following the adventures of Django, a recently freed black slave trying to find his wife Broomhilda , also a slave during the slave trade period of America. The films also acts as a tribute to the 1966 western, Django starring Franco Nero. The research I will look into will be exploring the other classic westerns that influence Django Unchained and how these films are homaged by Tarantino in his own film.
The first film and most important classic western that influences Tarantino and Django Unchained is the original Django starring Franco Nero and directed by Sergio Corbucci. The original Django was released in 1966 in Italy and was well recieved by critics as one of the great spaghetti westerns however it was banned in the United Kingdom for its violent content and at the time of it's production was considered one of the most violent films. Django follows the exploits of the eponymous white drifter played by Franco Nero seeking revenge for the murder of his wife. The violent content is something that is nearly always used in a Tarantino film, with stylised violence being prominent in Unchained. However whilst the original Django is a spaghetti western film designed to entertain its audience, Unchained incorporates the themes of racism into it's narrative providing a different and more relatable drive to motivate Django. Tarantino has incorporated films from his favourite spaghetti westerns from directors like the aforementioned Corbucci and Sergio Leone. [1] . The incorporation of racism into a spaghetti western is typical of Tarantino and his postmodern style of combining different genre's to create something new and organic, with combining spaghetti western and blaxpoitation cinema. [2] Another concept that Tarantino constructs is how Corbucci's Django is different to popular classic westerns like Sergio Leone's like A Fistful Of Dollars and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in that Django has a much darker atmosphere and mood to the film, with it's extreme violence and characters setting it apart from the rest of the spaghetti western genre. Tarantino instead uses the backdrop of racism in Unchained to recreate the darker atmosphere and mood in his own film as a homage. [3] Unchained also features a cameo appearance from Franco Nero in one of its scenes who speaks directly to Django in a reference to the original film.
The aims of my research and what I am trying to find out is how the characteristics of the classic western genre and why they are relatable to a contemporary audience. For example, what are the concepts or ideas in westerns that appeal to audiences. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is considered one of the greatest films of all time but what does the film do to entertain audiences. More specifically, what is the difference between US classic westerns and spaghetti westerns, an italian subgenre of the traditional western film. Why are italian westerns more highly recieved than other westerns? Another aim I will try to find out is why did these spaghetti westerns appeal to Quentin Tarantino and inspire him to homage and create a narrative about racism and the slave trade with the spaghetti westerns of his own personal preference. Is there any parallels between Unchained's narrative, characters and settings and other classic spaghetti westerns? Is there an immediate continuation between the films or any links that can be made between them and Unchained. Finally, is Unchained a successful continuation of the themes and characteristics of the spaghetti westerns and does it's postmodern film structure change the effectiveness of the combination between western and race narrative.
