By Guadalupe Carmona—
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the movie Django Unchained directed by Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is no stranger to controversy; his films are brash and violent. That is why his fans see them. In this film, the heart of controversy is a complaint that there is an overuse of the “N” word.
As soon as this film was released many prominent figures in the African-American community began speaking up against the use of the “N” word. Director Spike Lee called the film “disrespectful.” Quentin Tarantino has been criticized for insensitivity before; his portfolio includes many films that pay homage to 1970’s Blaxploitation movies. These films were geared to urban African-Americans and usually contain many racial slurs towards white people. Tarantino is known for personally liking Blaxploitation films. He created Django Unchained, not as a racist movie, but as a film in which the protagonist is an escaped African slave. Once freed he is capable of being a hero and get revenge on the evil men who put him in chains, and rage against the system that gave them the power to do so.
While many people might argue that it wasn’t necessary to use the “N” word, Tarantino is known for just this kind of raw cinema. The actors of this film had to get used to this ugly word but the word represents an ugly time.
“There were no African-Americans, negroes, people of color or colored people,” said Samuel L. Jackson in an Access Hollywood interview. Jackson advised co-star Leonardo DiCaprio to just “man up,” because that was what these people were called during that time.
To deny that this ugly time didn’t happen, by changing its language, is also to deny how far we have progressed in America. This film is meant to entertain, to allow the audience to cheer for an underdog hero who overcomes the overwhelming history slavery. To see ugliness in this film is to pay homage to all those who sacrificed to end slavery.
If those people, who are so offended, by the perceived overuse of the “N” word in this movie, do not recognize that it is used and even glorified by popular music, then they are hypocrites. The question is then, who gets to say this word and who does not? It is disgraceful and disrespectful that it is used so loosely and commonly in any circumstance.
Therefore, this should be asked, which is worse, the portrayal of a period of history with all of its attributes and language, not intended to be racist? Or is it worse that the music industry has popularized the usage of the same word, no matter how it is spelled? I would much rather hear this word in the context of a film set in an ugly time, and cheer the hero that rages against it, than hear people use it loosely in casual conversation or in a song.
