The classic western film genre arrived in Hollywood as a response to World War II; a time when the United States of America needed to feel empowered after the atrocities witnessed during the war. It was the first uniquely American film genre and as such relied on classical narrative structures while also incorporating certain ideologies, social values, and concepts of nation or national identity of the time. In the classical era, the Hollywood Western dominated much of the Hollywood landscape and was greatly shaped by the state of social values ​​of the time. Due to the colonial perspective of post-World War II Hollywood cinema, the classic Western was very problematic compared to the social other. Furthermore, as in most films of the classic Hollywood era, the white protagonists were portrayed as the living embodiment of order on the Western frontier, while all non-white characters were the embodiment of chaos on the frontier, or in some cases relegated to background characters. this served no immediate purpose for the film. Order versus chaos, or lawman versus savage, was a very important theme running through the classic western, and the idea of ​​order triumphing over chaos stemmed from the American mentality of being optimistic in the land of opportunity in a post-World War II world World. Many years after the classic and revisionist western, a new form of western subgenre arrived, with a completely new social context; one that empowers the social other while simultaneously reminding audiences of America's violent history. Enter, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained. Through the use of specific narrative structures, careful attention to historical fact, and a soundtrack that highlights and celebrates African-American creativity and artistry, Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained is able to create a new form of western Hollywood film that pays homage to a classic genre. reinventing it also for a contemporary cultural context. We say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay The film follows the story of Django Freeman, a freed African-American slave turned bounty hunter, who with the help of a German bounty hunter named Schultz, embarks on a mission to rescue his slave wife Broomhilda from the clutches of a sadistic plantation owner, Calvin Candie. On a completely narrative and structural level, Quentin Tarantino is able to immediately bring the social other to the foreground. With the character of Django and the film as a whole, Tarantino parodies and pays homage to spaghetti westerns and the western genre. Django is the valiant hero of the film, but he is not exactly a carbon copy of the protagonists of the classic western genre. Where many of the protagonists of traditional Westerns are clean-shaven, law-abiding (or law-enforcing in most cases) frontiersmen, Django is completely different. Django is a tough African-American man with a long beard and a gray moral compass, much more in line with Clint Eastwood's "The Man With No Name" from Sergio Leone's spaghetti western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. What sets him apart most from traditional Western protagonists, however, is the fact that Django begins the film as a slave and is then freed some time later. He is the literal representation of the oppressed social other, and Tarantino intended Django to be exactly that, as a sort of tribute to the unconventional hero of the spaghetti western. Tarantino frames the film's narrative around slavery to directly address issues surrounding race within the genrewestern and, above all, today's current socio-political climate. According to her essay titled History Unchained, University of Chicago professor Yarimar Bonilla stated that “Tarantino's film attempts to be a mindful meditation on the links between past and present. His film is part of a larger debate, not just about what happened then, but about what's happening now, what the past means today. What relationships it empowers, what words can and cannot be used to describe it, what accumulated meaning these words carry, and what wounds they perpetuate in the present. Tarantino was clearly playing on the idea of ​​social change in the United States, as the country's first African-American president was elected to a second term. From a purely narrative standpoint, Tarantino specifically writes the film's script to not only serve as a historical western tale, but also to spark a conversation about racial issues among his audience. His idea for the film seems to be to show America's brutal history of violence against African Americans with the intention of reflecting on the social lessons that can be learned from the past, so that the story, in a contemporary context, is not repeat. As far as historical facts go, Tarantino garnered considerable controversy over his use of the "N-word" in the film. In an interview with critic Henry Louis Gates Jr, Tarantino defends the film's use of racial slurs by stating: "Well, you know if you're going to make a movie about slavery and you take a 21st century viewer and put them in that period, you're going to hear some things that are going to be bad and you're going to see some things that are going to be bad. […] I don't want it to be easy to swallow. I want it to be a big, giant boulder, a jagged pill and you have no water reason for the excessive use of the “N-word” in his film is a matter of historical accuracy of the time period in which the film is set. His idea of ​​placing modern audiences in the time period of the film and not holding anyone back of the brutal atrocities that African Americans were subjected to, truly shows his attention to the film-audience relationship, as well as historical facts, however, Yarimar Bonilla also posits that as much as Tarantino created the film inspired by today's political present , is also directly interested in challenging the Western genre as a whole: “He is more interested in questioning the genres, traditions and thematic canons of cinematic practice than in discussing the history of slavery.” And this rings true, if you take into account both the similarities and differences between Tarantino's westerns and classic, revisionist westerns. It brings Django Unchained into its own subgenre, one that exists in a contemporary world while maintaining the core aspects and aesthetics of more traditional westerns. While the film serves in some respects as a horrifying reminder of America's violent past towards African-American slaves, however, it is also a showcase of African-American creativity and art. Specifically, through the film's use of a soundtrack composed of songs written and performed by contemporary African-American hip hop artists. The film embraces hip hop culture and serves as a celebration of black identity. The film features the original song 100 Black Coffins by Rick Ross and several others by RZA, John Legend and Anthony Hamilton; great figures in the world of hip-hop music. Django actor Jaime Foxx also features in the former's song. Having the actor play the main character within the soundtrack demonstrates Tarantino's commitment to celebrating black expression. Kendra N. Bryant Ph.D from the University of South Florida.