Smolker Letter No. 14 “Ten Criteria for Selection of Best Movie Derived by Me While Pondering Whether Quentin Tarantino Should Be Damned for Making His Newest Movie “Django Unchained” and Steven Spielberg Should Be Praised for Making His Newest Movie “Lincoln.” (Updated January 29, 2013)

Smolker Letter No. 14

“Ten Criteria for Selection of Best Movie Derived by Me While Pondering Whether Quentin Tarantino Should Be Damned for Making His Newest Movie Django Unchained and Steven Spielberg Should Be Praised for Making His Newest Movie Lincoln”

Am I knowledgeable and intelligent or only opinionated?

by Gary S. Smolker

(Updated January 29, 2013)

Introduction

While trying to figure out whether Quentin Tarantino Should Be Damned for Making His Newest Movie Django Unchained and Steven Spielberg Should Be Praised for Making His Newest Move Lincoln”, I developed the following ten criteria for me to use to tell the difference between a good movie, a great movie, and a greater movie, and the greatest movie.

The Ten Criteria I Use for Selection of Best Movie

1. Does the movie hold hundreds of the most varied audiences spellbound?  The best movie should keep the movie goers’ curiosity alive without faltering.  The viewer should feel there is no time to go to the bathroom or to buy popcorn while that movie is being shown.  The best movies move forward unfailingly at all times, the underlying rhythm of the whole is masterly. Thematic unity is preserved throughout the film.

2. Does the movie cause viewers to relate to characters in the movie, to understand the characters, to like or dislike the characters, to care about what happens next to the characters and what the characters do next?  In the best movies, all the characters are “real”; all the characters are believable; viewers know where the characters are coming from, know the characters’ motivations and intentions, who the characters are is not a mystery.

3. The best movie will provoke self-aware contemplation — will make a viewer think about who the viewer is, what the viewer’s values are, and where the viewer stands on important issues.  The best movies spark a daily and efficient public discussion of an important issue.

4. The best movie will teach unforgettably.  The best movies have take home value.  The best movies teach the viewer something useful.  The best movies cause excitement.

5. The best movies show a conflict about a real issue with complete clarity through words and images which illuminate the core issues presented in the story told in the movie.  The best movies show you how an event, issue, or impulse or vision took shape. The viewer is shown and finds the deep source of a conflict.

6. The best movies convey a moral lesson with complete clarity.

7. At the end of the best movies, the audience has learned something new.  The best movies are full of facts and density of thought which transport the viewer into another reality.

8. The best movies prompt the viewer’s curiosity, make the viewer want to learn more about something or someone.

9. The main character in the best movies has a philosophy of life and aesthetic sensibilities.  Wit, eloquence and density of thought is portrayed by the main character as the main character acutely, passionately and intensely lives his or her life.

10. In the best movie the story is presented through images and dialog in a coherent way with such an abundance of feeling, thought, imagination, and unbounded spirit that the thickest mind and slowest eye is aroused to think and see what the film maker perceives.

Knowing the Cultural Bearings of Society and the Temper of the Times

It is important to understand the public’s mind set.

People today live in turmoil and anxiety.

That being said, it is my opinion that it is critical to know the cultural bearings of society and the temper of the times if you want to win a political election or if you want to be a successful movie maker or to be successful in any other endeavor.

It is essential to understand public opinion, the power of public opinion and the mindset of the public.  You must know where the public mind is, what the public’s values are and how the public sees things.

In short, you must understand the world you live in.

In my opinion Mitt Romney never had a chance to win his bid to become President of the United States because of the cultural bearings of American society, the voting public’s mindset and the temper of the times.

In my opinion Quentin Tarantino understands the cultural bearings of society, how people think, how people see things, what people’s values are, where the public mind is and the temper of the times.

That is why Quentin Tarantino and his movie Django Unchained are successful.

We live in a brutal violent world where people do disgusting things.

People do more disgusting things in the real world than they do in the make believe world of Django Unchained.

The brutality portrayed in Django Unchained teaches a lesson in morality, a lesson in history and a lesson in government.

Because the moral and historical lessons are so powerfully portrayed in Django Unchained is the reason why Django Unchained is a box office runaway money making success that has been well received by both by the public at large who bought tickets to watch it and by professional movie critics who have reviewed it.

The powerful message (and moral lessons to be derived from that message) portrayed by the images and scenes in Django Unchained is why famous successful movie stars who played different parts in Django Unchained were thrilled to act in that movie and is the reason they were able to deliver such powerful performances.

The actors in Django Unchained want to deliver the message that Django Unchained delivers.  They are happy that Django Unchained has raised public consciousness and discussion about the brutal nation-state portrayed in that Django Unchained.

Should Quentin Tarantino Be Damned for Making His Newest Movie Django Unchained?

Some people say that Quentin Tarantino has a disgusting manner of story telling, that he has a sick mind; that Quentin Tarantino is a person who considers violence and depravity the norm.

Some people claim that hard studies directly associate screen violence – such as the screen violence portrayed in Django Unchained – with overall violence in society.

Some people claim that violence in media gives fuel to potential young killers, who don’t know what they are doing or why they are doing it when they commit acts of violence.

Some people protest that Django Unchained is exploitative.

Some people claim that Django Unchained is a revenge fantasy.

Some people claim that watching Django Unchained will encourage and fuel more violence than being familiar with the biblical injunction of “an eye for an eye” and/or will fuel more violence than being familiar with the legal concept of “self-defense” and/or than from being familiar with current events or from being familiar with modern history and/or than from watching broadcast news reports and/or from reading general print media.

Some people claim that Quentin Tarantino is responsible for the current state of violence in society along with all other film makers making films of the same genre.

I don’t agree with that assessment that Quentin Tarantino is responsible for the current state of violence in society or with the prediction that the film Django Unchained will be responsible for noticeably more “unsanctioned” violence in society.

On Screen Violence in the World at Large

Nobody blames Tarantino for the recent violence in Libya, the killing of the American Ambassador in Libya, the recent violence in Egypt, riots going on in Egypt, Egyptian police killing protestors in the street, or for the on-going violence in Syria, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, in India, in Algeria, in Mali or in Yemen.

We live in a brutal violent world where people do disgusting things.  Quentin Tarantino did not invent that world, cause that world to come into existence, or cause violence and disgusting conduct to flourish.

The world was violent and brutal before Tarantino started making movies and before Tarantino was born

The media and YouTube regularly broadcast violent pictures which depict violence and daily killing going on in many countries in the world.

The print media and broadcast media constantly report on armed rebellions that are taking place in various parts of the world, bombings of government facilities, bombings of public facilities, people bullying each other, rapes, wrongful sexual conduct, and every other kind of disgusting human conduct.

The public is provided by the media with a daily diet of detailed graphic reports on all kinds of disgusting acts (including acts of violence) in many countries.

Nobody in America claims that the print and broadcast media and YouTube should not be doing so, or that local people who are witness to such horrible events should not take videos of what they see, upload their videos and then send them out over the Internet.

Being in Touch with Reality, in Touch with the New Normal

Do the many people who are upset by Quentin Tarantino’s depiction of violence in Django Unchained believe the news media should not report the following RECENT OR CURRENT ONGOING EVENTS:

1. a young woman going to college is raped at a bus stop on her way to school in India,
2. a child is shot while she was riding on a bus by members of the Taliban because that child is known for leading a campaign to educate women in her country,
3. a suicide bomber blows himself or herself up while riding a bus, or walking or driving on a public street in Israel, Iraq, India, Afghanistan, or in any other country or nation,
4. missiles being shot into Israel,
5. the kidnapping and forceful taking of civilian hostages,
6. people not able to escape a raging fire in a nightclub because security guards block there way out of the only door through which they could exist,
7. torture of prisoners,
8. U.S. military turning over captured enemy combatants to Afghanistan detention facilities where the prisoners are tortured and abused,
9. beheading of hostages,
10. monks setting themselves on fire and burning themselves to death in protest,
11. U.S. drones killing innocent citizens in foreign countries,
12. Afghan soldiers and policemen killing their American soldier allies and compatriots,
13. the latest actions of Lindsey Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and/or the Kadashians,
14. sexual molestation of boys by Catholic priests and the cover up by leaders of the Catholic Church,
15. sexual molestation of boys by a football coach at a prominent university and the subsequent cover up of child molestation by the head coach and by the President of the University
16. sexual molestation of boys by their adult leaders in the Boy Scouts,
17. women being stoned to death after they have been gang raped,
18. the Enron scandal or
19. the fraudulent actions of Bernie Madoff ?

We are regularly (perhaps daily) bombarded with stories by news media of violence, disgusting conduct, depravity and irresponsible conduct.

The Character of the Society In Which We Live and Temper of the The Times We Are Living In:

People Are Fed Up with Being Powerless, with Being Exploited, and On Top of That People Are Disgusted by the Conduct of the Rich and Powerful

In my opinion it is very important to understand the character of the society in which you live.

It is also important to understand people’s rational and irrational impulses.

It is a cherished American value to allow free debate, the free flow of information and the free flow of ideas.

In my opinion, one of the several reasons Mitt Romney did not win his bid for the Presidency of the United States is that a good portion of the people who voted for president are of the opinion and sincerely thought and believe that Mitt Romney is a disgusting person because Mitt Romney has no remorse about his involvement in and profit from the firing of American workers whose jobs were exported to China and those jobs in America were replaced by workers in China, instead Mitt Romney is proud of the fact that he (Mitt Romney) was responsible for firing of American workers and then exporting those fired Americans’ jobs to China.

People who were disgusted at Mitt Romney’s behavior in connection with the exporting of American jobs to China had the opinion and believed that as President, citizen Mitt Romney would do what is “legal” but what would be immoral in their opinion for his (Mitt Romney’s) own financial gain and for the financial gain of his friends and his supporters.

Those voters believed that Mitt Romney as President would be a threat to working men and women in America, a threat to the financial and emotional health and security of the common people in America.  In my opinion, that is why they did not vote for Mitt Romney for President.

Additionally, those voters believed it would be morally irresponsible to give him (Mitt Romney) Presidential Power to do to do “legal” but what in their opinion are “immoral” acts.

Put another way, although it was and still is legal to fire American workers in order to transfer their jobs from America to China, many Americans did not want their President to be a person who relentlessly did so without any remorse, did so solely for his own personal financial gain and personal financial profit and is proud of doing so.

People who don’t understand why Mitt Romney lost his bid to become President of the United States do not understand that the majority of the voting public in the United States are fed up with what they consider in their personal opinion to be disgusting immoral conduct by rich and powerful people in society.

Quentin Tarantino understands that a majority of the people in the United States, and a  majority of people worldwide, are fed up with being powerless, are fed up with what they consider to be immoral conduct by the powerful in their society and will cheer on a person who stands up to that and will not back off.

Before making Django Unchained Quentin Tarantino understood, in his heart, that a majority of people in the world would cheer on a black bounty hunter like the character Django in Quentin Tarantino’s newest movie Django Unchained.

Tarantino’s movie  Django Unchained reflects Quentin Tarantino’s genius at assessment of the intellectual and emotional mindset of our times: that people are fed up with misuse of power by the powerful and therefore he would be able to create a box-office hit of a movie by making a movie where the “little” guy wins against a powerful guy in a classic battle against all odds.

Tarantino knew that people would react strongly to the sadistic, brutal and exploitative conduct of the plantation owner Calvin Candi in the film Django Unchained — that is the reason Quentin Tarantino created the sadistic, brutal arrogant character Calvin Candi.

One of the many intellectual, emotional and moral points made by Quentin Tarantino in Django Unchained is that although whipping and beating slaves and ordering one slave bash in the head of another slave was legal in the South before the Civil War, because doing so was “legal” did not make Calvin Candi any less repulsive or immoral.

That just because something is “legal” does not make doing it “moral” is an idea to reflect upon and the degree to which Mitt Romney’s failure to win the recent Presidential election can be attributed to such a mindset is something to be reflected upon.

We know that things do not happen “over night.”  Change does not come about “over night.” Society changes slowly, even when inspired to change by an effective transformative leader.

In that regard, on November 18, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln traveled to the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, to make some remarks at the dedication of a national cemetery.  The next day, on November 19, 1863, in President Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln defined the great task lying before the American people by proclaiming that we are “…dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

In the Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln set out a vision of government that continues to play a great role in the American consciousness — that the purpose of the founders of the United States in breaking away from Great Britain, that their purpose in declaring independence, in obtaining “freedom” from the tyrannical rule of the British King and their purpose in dissolving all political connections with the State of Great Britain and any allegiance to the British Crown, in the minds of the founders of the United States, was to break away from British rule in order to create an independent nation that would be ruled by a government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Masterful Story Telling

Django Unchained demonstrates that Quentin Tarantino has a genius for imagery, for the use of imagery to tell a story, for the use of imagery to make a point, for the use of imagery to make an argument, for the use of imagery to rile us up.

The images of white men whipping black slaves, of white men setting a pack of attack dogs loose to tear apart a runaway black slave who has been caught after running away, of an owner ordering his slave to bash in the head of another slave all  strike an emotional and intellectual cord in a great number of viewers.

Those images repulse a large segment of modern day audiences.

The images of slaves being whipped, etc. in Django Unchained, because they portray violent and disgusting conduct, are supposed to repulse viewers.  The fact that such conduct was “legal” is supposed to make such conduct doubly disgusting.

The actions of characters portrayed in the images created by Quentin Tarantino express Tarantino’s idea and make Tarantino’s argument that slavery is horrible, that no man (a slave owner or any other man) should have that kind of sanctioned and legal power over another man.  Tarantino wants to make the point, and successfully makes the point, that people should treat each other with care for each others dignity as human beings.

Quentin Tarantino fans will rightfully and self-righteously tell you Django Unchained is an attempt by Quentin Tarantino, through the art of movie making, to re humanize mankind by showing the horrors of inhumane conduct.

One can’t help but note the improvement of the state of civilization in the United States  today compared to the state of civilization in the United States portrayed in Django Unchained.

That being said, one can argue that Tarantino is teaching us in Django Unchained that civilization and members of society might become more humane.

Roadrunner Cartoons and Tweetie Bird Cartoons

I was born before in 1945.

I grew up, went to college and lived through the Viet Nam war before Quentin Tarantino made Django Unchained or made any other [popular] movie.

During the war in Viet Nam innocent people in Viet Nam were massacred, innocent people were burned to death by napalm bombs dropped on them by Americans; bombs containing Agent Orange were dropped on Viet Nam and Cambodia to kill forests and other vegetation and American soldiers got horribly sick by handling Agent Orange.  All of this was reported in the news media without any protesting or claiming that the dissemination of such information that the violence and/or disgusting conduct broadcast and publicized gives fuel to potential young killers, who don’t know what they are doing or why they are doing it when they commit acts of violence.

As I was growing up, I was constantly exposed to violence in Roadrunner cartoons and in Tweetie Bird Cartoons.

In those Roadrunner cartoons a bird (a roadrunner) was always running away from a coyote (Wiley coyote).  The coyote wanted to catch the roadrunner in order to eat the roadrunner.  Inevitably, while chasing the roadrunner a misfortune would befall the coyote (such as a rock or anvil falling on his head, or falling off a cliff) as the coyote was chasing the roadrunner.  During each cartoon the coyote would suffer grievous injuries. In Tweetie Bird cartoons Tweetie Bird was always in mortal danger of being eaten alive by Sylvester the cat.  I also watched Tom and Jerry cartoons.  It Tom and Jerry cartoons a cat always tried to catch and eat a cute little mouse.

The point of the above recital is Quentin Tarantino is not the first person to portray violence and disgusting conduct for public consumption.

Should Steven Spielberg Be Praised for Making His Newest Film Lincoln?

Steven Spielberg’s newest movie Lincoln takes place while the Civil War is raging and the Congress of the United States is debating whether to adopt the 13th Amendment of the Constitution.  The 13th Amendment is the amendment which abolished slavery in the United States.

Prior to release of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, people who thought of Abraham Lincoln thought of Abraham Lincoln as having been a self-taught boy who learned by reading by candlelight, as a young man who earned money by being a rail splitter, and as a man who later became a shrewd country lawyer, and later yet became the President of the United States, and as a president of the United States who during his term in office wrote the Emancipation Proclamation which freed the slaves, wrote the Gettysburg Address and saved the Union during the Civil War.

Before release of Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln the general public thought of President Lincoln as “Honest Abe.”

The President Lincoln portrayed in Steven Spielberg’s newest film Lincoln is in one scene fantastically funny humorous and fun to be and in other scenes is a self-assertive yet detached person with the singular determination to get the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution adopted by the Congress of the United States.

In those later scenes, Lincoln is portrayed as being ruthless in using others’ help and influence to get the 13th Amendment adopted.

In many scenes it is brought out that President Lincoln had Congressmen bribed in order to secure their vote for passage of the 13th Amendment.

President Lincoln was not portrayed in Spielberg’s film as ever being a clumsy lawyer.

The images shown in scene after scene in the movie Lincoln show that President Lincoln was not a modest man, that he subconsciously assumed power, that he had a disconcerting power to see into questions, events and persons and that he projected superior intellectual power.

Throughout the movie Lincoln it is made clear that as President, Abraham Lincoln towered in mind and will over everyone.

Throughout this movie, President Lincoln is portrayed as being a supremely conscious genius who with a clear mind and great common sense was always scheming to secure passage of the 13th Amendment.

This is not the President Lincoln the general public knew before release of this movie.

CONCLUSION

Both Tarantino’s movie Django Unchained and Spielberg’s movie Lincoln are about efforts taken to secure the freedom of slaves.

In both movies the main character’s goal was to free slaves.

In both movies the main character accomplished his goal.

President Lincoln in Lincoln, Django and Django’s helper Dr. Schultz in Django Unchained were engaged in a battle for freedom.

Django was in a more desperate situation than President Lincoln because Django’s goal was to secure the freedom of the women he loved, his wife.

At the beginning of the movie Django Unchained, Django was a poor black man who couldn’t read or write or ride a horse or shoot a gun.

In order to find out where his wife was, Django needed Dr. Schultz to read the slave sale ledger at a slave market for him, in order to determine who had bought his wife.

These men relentlessly creatively and intelligently pursued their goal with great energy stamina and exertion.

On the issue of killing and violence:

1. More people were killed and maimed and more property was destroyed as a result of President Lincoln pursuing his goal in Spielberg’s Lincoln than as a result of Django and Dr. Schultz pursuing their goal in Django Unchained.
2. There is a much higher dead body count — more people are killed — in Lincoln than in Django Unchained.
3. Lincoln is contains a more morbid scene than Django Unchained.
4. The movie Lincoln contains a morbid scene in which body parts are being carried in a wheel barrel leaking blood from a hospital and then dumped in a pit.
5. The movie Lincoln contains scenes of President Lincoln riding through fields strewn with dead bodies.

These are both great movies because the viewer’s attention is at all times riveted to the story unfolding on the screen, the movie maker portrays each main character is each movie living a clearly defined life style, the movies portray their main characters’ aesthetic sensibilities, all of the characters in both movies are very real (very believable) and the story in each movie teaches the audience important real life useful lessons.

Copyright (c) 2013 by Gary S. Smolker

“Django Unchained and Quentin Tarantino Interview in December 2012 PLAYBOY” — a movie review with social commentary by Gary S. Smolker

“Django Unchained and Quentin Tarantino Interview in December 2012 PLAYBOY” 

-A Movie Review with Social Commentary by Gary S. Smolker –

(January 2, 2013)

QUENTIN TARANTINO’S AGENDA

Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed the recently released movie Django Unchained.

In his PLAYBOY interview, published in the December 2012 issue of PLAYBOY, Tarantino said he has an agenda about history that he wanted to get across in this movie.  He was interested in the business aspect of slavery (the use and approval of the use of humans as chattel, humans who could be bought and sold) and he wanted to get across how horrible slavery is.

Tarantino’s movie is a sociological psychodrama that compels viewers to think about sociological, economic and political issues.

Tarantino may have set out to get across how terrible slavery was, but what Tarantino actually does in Django Unchained is to make a movie which tells a story about the mind set of people in the deep South before the Civil War.

The story Tarantino tells will compel many viewers to reflect upon and explore the validity of their racial and economic stereotypes, as well as to think about their opinion on the pros and cons of the workings of an unregulated purely market based economic system, their opinion of the value of human life, their concept of property and human rights, and the sociological, economic and political quagmire the United States finds itself in today as well as the role and the impact of the rule of law in society and how social strata and entrepreneurship work in real life today.

To the acute observer, Tarantino’s movie will (a) explain why Barack Obama was re-elected President of the United States, (b) why Mitt Rommney  sincerely believes he is entitled to be President of the United States, (c) why the NAACP is challenging New York City’s exclusive use of an applicant’s test score on a standard test as the sole basis to gain admission to New York City’s academically elite selective high schools and (d) why the Mayor of New York City, Richard Bloomberg, adamantly refuses to change  use of the applicant’s test score as the only admission criteria to those schools.

The way Tarantino tells the story told in Django Unchained is an excellent example of how to make an argument with powerful impact.

I predict that Tarantino’s film will have significant effect on judicial decisions, jury decisions,the votes on delicate issues that politicians will make in the future,  and on politician’s political careers and the voting public’s political decisions going forward.

TARANTINO’S IMPACTFULL POWERFULLY TOLD STORY

Tarantino’s movie Django Unchained tells a very compelling story.

In the first scene of Django Unchained, Django (played by Jammie Foxx) is in chains.  It is winter.  Django is tied to other slaves, all of whom are walking along inadequately clothed for the winter weather, being herded by two slave traders.

The line is stopped by a bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz played by Christopher Waltz.

Dr. Schultz asks Django if Django can identify two men.  Django replies: “Yes.”

Dr. Schultz tries to purchase Django from the slave traders.

The slave traders refuse to sell Django and unsuccessfully try to kill bounty hunter Schultz.

Dr. Schultz kills one of the slave traders and fatally wounds the other who is trapped under his fallen horse who has been shot by Dr. Schultz in a “shoot-out” in self-defense.

Instantaneously, Dr. Schultz enlists Django to help Schultz hunt and kill the two men Django tells Schultz he can identify.

Django tells Dr. Schultz he will assist Dr. Schultz in his quest to kill those two men for the reward (bounty) offered to bring them “in dead or alive” whereupon Dr. Schultz unchains Django after Django.

Dr. Schultz and Django make a “deal” — Django agrees to identify the two men being hunted by bounty hunter Schultz and to be Schultz’s partner in the bounty hunting business throughout the winter.

The two men Django has been asked to identify had abused Django and Django’s wife while they were slaves working on a plantation under the control of those two.

Schultz agrees to pay one third of the bounty collected for killing men they hunt and to help Django find and rescue Django’s wife Broomhilda von Shaft (played by Kerry Washington) — who is a plantation slave desperately in need of being rescued — after the winter snow melts.

Dr. Schultz is a refined educated man, a dentist who went into the bounty hunting business because being a bounty hunter (being paid a “reward” for each person brought in dead or alive) is more lucrative then being a dentist.

When Dr. Schultz meets Django, Django is an ignorant slave, who can’t read or write.  Django is a man who never chose or owned his own clothes, and who never held a gun or rode on a horse.  That all changes after Django partners up with Dr. Schultz.

Dr. Schultz explains to Django that Broomhilda is the name of a Queen in German legend who is won by Sigfried.

Dr. Schultz teaches Django how to shoot a gun and how to ride a horse.

Dr. Schultz buys new clothes for Django which are chosen by Django for Django.

The two partners (Dr. King and Django) are a case study in relational effectiveness.  They have a very effective and efficient humane relationship.

After a winter of successful bounty hunting — consisting of killing white men then bringing them in dead for a reward (bounty) — Django and Dr. King go to the slave market in Mississippi where Broomhilda was sold to her current master in order to find out, from an inspection of sales records, where Broomhilda is now.

Dr. King determines from an inspection of sales records that Broomhilda has been sold to Calvin Candi, the owner of a cotton plantation known as Candi land.

Calvin Candi is played by Leonardo DiCaprio.

Calvin Candi is a young boy Emperor.  He owns everything in sight at Candi land.

Candi land is a self-contained money making machine, which takes care of itself.

Calvin Candi was born into this.

Calvin Candi’s father and Calvin’s father’s father before him owned Candi land.

Calvin’s passion is not raising cotton.  Calvin’s passion is Mandingo fighting — two black men fight each other to the death.

Dr. King and Django decide and hatch a plan on how to purchase Broomhilda from Calvin Candi.

They decide they will pose as being sportsmen in the Mandingo fighting business and will get to see Calvin Candi under the pretext of wanting to purchase one of Calvin Candi’s Mandingo fighters.

There are many memorable dramatic (and surprising to me) scenes in Django Unchained.

1. In one scene: Dr. King, Django and Calvin Candi are all together watching a Mandingo fight. Calvin’s Mandingo is fighting another slave owner’s Mandingo slave at a gentleman’s club.
2. At the end of the fight, Calvin orders his “victorious Mandingo slave” to “finish off” the other Mandingo slave:  Calvin’s Mandingo slave has beat up the other slave.  Calvin’s slave is given a hammer and told to hammer the other slave’s head in.  He reluctantly does so.
3. When Dr. King and Django first arrive at Candi land, they are told by Calvin Candi, when he learns that Dr. King speaks German, that he has a German speaking woman house slave.
4. Django is riding a horse when Dr. King and Django arrive at Candi land.  At Candi land no-one had ever seen a black man on a horse before.
5. Calvin Candi tells his head black slave, a man who runs the household, played by Samuel L. Jackson, to prepare a room for Django in the main house.
6. The slave who runs the house complains that they will have to burn the sheets and covers if Django sleeps in a room in the main house.
7. Calvin Candi petulantly replies that the sheets, covers and blankets that will be touched by Django belong to him (Mr. Candi) and he (Mr. Candi) can do whatever he wants with them.
8. Calvin orders his men to bring the German speaking slave (Broomhilda) to speak to Dr. King in German.
9. The men fetch Broomhilda.
10. Movie viewers are shown Broomhilda imprisoned in an partially underground metal “hot box” the size of a coffin as a punishment for trying to run away.
11. In another scene the viewers are shown the victorious Mandingo fighter up in a tree surrounded by barking dogs.  It turns out the Mandingo fighter had tried to run away and had been tracked by those dogs who are now trying to eat the Mandingo fighter. The fighter explains to Mr. Candi that he doesn’t want to fight anyone anymore.  Mr. Candi replies that he (Mr. Candi) paid $500 for the Mandingo fighter, that the fighter has fought on three fights and Mr. Candi should get at least five fights for his $500.00
12. The Mandingo fighter comes down out of the tree.  The dogs are let loose.  They grab the fighter and tear him apart and then eat him while he is still alive.
13. In another scene Mr. Candi explains to Dr. Schultz and to Django that blacks are naturally servile and a mentally inferior specie of human being.
14. Mr. Candi pulls out a skull he keeps of a deceased black man. He cuts the skull open and points to the part of the interior of the skull against which the brain would lay.
15. There are some ridges on the skull at that portion of the interior of the skull. Mr. Candi explains that the presence of those ridges prove that black people are servile have low mental capacity.
16. Prior to this demonstration, viewers have been told, several times throughout the movie, that Calvin Candi does not speak any foreign languages.
17. Shortly after that demonstration, Dr. King asks Mr. Candi how it came about that Mr. Candi gave the names Mr. Candi gave to his Mandingo fighters.
18. Mr. Candi explains that he got the names he gave his Mandingo slaves from novels written by Alexander Dumas.  He further explains that Alexander Dumas is his favorite author.
19. Dr. Schultz then asks if Mr. Candi is aware that Alexander Dumas was a black man?
20. Prior to that happening, Mr. Candi and the head of his household agree that Broomhilda is worth $300 or $350.  Immediately after that, Mr. Candi told Dr. King that Mr. Candi would crush Broomhilda’s skull if Dr. King did not pay Mr. Candi $12,000 to purchase Broomhilda.  Things get violent after that.

One would have to be very dense to not notice that Mr. Candi was not as intelligent as the black man in charge of Mr. Candi’s house/household staff, the black man played by Samuel L. Jackson.

At all times during the movie, Django acted in an intelligent and appropriate matter and exhibited a high degree of reasoning power as did his wife Broomhilda.

ALEXANDER DUMAS

Mr. Tarantino did not have Dr. Schultz mention to Mr. Candi anything about Alexander Dumas other than the fact that Alexander Dumas was black.

In real life, Alexander Dumas’ father Alex Dumas was born to a black slave mother and a white fugitive French nobleman in present day Haiti.

Alex Dumas was sold into bondage but made his way to Paris, where he was schooled as a sword-fighting member of the French aristocracy.

When the Revolution broke out, he joined the army at the lowest rank – yet quickly rose, through a series of legendary feats, to command more than 50,000 men.

Because of his success and unwavering principles, he ultimately became a threat to Napoleon himself.

Alex Dumas’ story is a story which took place in the modern world’s first multiracial society.

The stories in Alexander Dumas’ books The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers are based on the life led by his father Alex Dumas.

Alex Dumas fearlessly lived up to his beliefs.  Fear did not stop him from doing anything.

THE BEST ACTORS WANT TO WORK IN MR. TARANTINO’S FILMS

Some of the best actors and actresses want to work in Mr. Tarantino’s films because they agree with Mr. Tarantino’s values, respect Mr. Tarantino’s honesty, respect his bravery and want to be one of the messengers who deliver the message in his films.

In Django Unchained, the actors understood every ideological aspect of what the movie is about, agreed with the powerfully presented message that the institution of slavery in the United States was awful and wanted to join Mr. Tarantino in delivering a powerfully delivered message that blacks are not genetically stupid, that given an opportunity they have as much ability to acquire knowledge through study or experience as any other race of people.

THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION

In the Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Lincoln on January 1, 1863, 150 years ago this week, President Lincoln freed the slaves only where he had no power – inside the Confederacy where slavery was legal and protected by the Confederate Army.

Slavery existed because of state laws, and the president had no power to declare a state law unconstitutional. Nothing in the Constitution as it existed in 1863 made slavery unconstitutional.

President Lincoln based his issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation on the grant of war powers to the president in the Constitution.

President Lincoln claimed that slavery was enabling the rebels of the South to carry out their war, he maintained that abolition was “warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity” to save the government.

A key part of the Emancipation Proclamation was its invitation to freed slaves and other African American men to enlist in the Union Army.

More than 180,000 black men served in the Union Army, the great majority of them emancipated slaves.

More than one-fifth of the nation’s adult male black population younger than 45 fought for the Union, about 10% of the entire Union Army.

QUENTIN TARANTINO’S MINDSET AND AMBITION

In the interview published in the December 2012 issue of PLAYBOY, Tarantino said he is always trying to prove that he belongs in Hollywood.

He is always trying to top himself.

He is trying to make big, bold, vital movies that move his artistic journey forward.

He would like to be thought of as one of the premier directors of his time, at the height of his powers, with his talents at his fingertips, with something to say, something to prove, trying to be the best he can be.

QUENTIN TARANTINO’S ANSWER TO THE QUESTION: DO BLACK PEOPLE GENETICALLY LACK INTELLIGENCE?

If one defines intelligence as the ability to acquire knowledge through study and experience, the message unambiguously delivered in Django Unchained is that black people are highly intelligent.

The message Tarantino, and all the actors in this movie, deliver(s) is that “intelligence” is not a genetic trait.

EMOTIONAL AND INTELLECTUAL REACTIONS TO DJANGO UNCHAINED

I like Django Unchained because, whether I agree with the message/information/argument communicated by Tarantino, Django Unchained will provoke public discussion of difficult current subjects such as the value of human life, whether government regulation of social conduct and providing social welfare is a good idea and whether government regulation of our theoretically free market economy is necessary.

In its own way, Django Unchained speaks to the issue of whether affirmative action makes sense.

I like Django Unchained because watching Django Unchained will cause some people to examine their unexamined assumptions.

In that regard, Django Unchained will cause many people to think about the validity of their assumptions about ownership of property, property rights and human rights.

Django Unchained will influence people’s state of minds on social issues such as the proper role and size of government and the regulation of business and social conduct by government.

Django Unchained will provoke discussion about the existence of racial stereotypes and about what people believe about racial stereotypes.

Django Unchained will inevitably cause some people to examine their racial biases if they have any.

THE AMERICAN DREAM

The “American Dream” is a state of mind.

The “American Dream” is about freedom and opportunity, opportunity and freedom for everybody.

The “American Dream” does not demonize success or endorse the grant of special favors or special “entitlements” to special groups based on ancestry, ethnicity, race or color.

The widespread viewing of Tarantino’s Django Unchained will accelerate society’s realization of Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream that someday all children will be treated the same regardless of the color of their skin and we will someday live in a world where people will not be judged on the basis of the color of their skin but instead will be judged on the content of their character.

CONCEPTS OF THE VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE, HUMAN RIGHTS, PROPERTY, OWNERSHIP OF PROPERTY, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, WHAT IT WOULD BE LIKE TO HAVE A LAISSEZ FAIRE FREE MARKET ECONOMY, AND HOLDING PEOPLE ACCOUNTABLE AND PREPARING PEOPLE FOR THE REAL WORLD

The commonly held belief of the characters in Django Unchained is that nobody has the right to tell you what to do with your own property or to tell you what you can and cannot do with your own property.

As a result, in Django Unchained, Calvin Candi, without any compulsion, asked his Mandingo fighter to bash in the head of the other Mandingo fighter with a hammer without anyone questioning Mr. Candi’s right to do so.

Mr. Candi had a young beautiful black slave woman whipped and put in a metal box the size of a coffin as a punishment for trying to run away, without anyone questioning Mr. Candi’s right to do so because she is his property.

Mr. Candi had his dogs tear apart the flesh of a black slave and ate that slave alive, without anyone questioning Mr. Candi’s right to do so because the black slave is Mr. Candi’s property.

At the beginning of the movie, shortly after Dr. Schultz has “freed” Django, Dr. Schultz asks Django if Django would like to join Dr. Schultz in the business of bounty hunting.

Django asks Dr. Schultz to explain bounty hunting, to tell him what bounty hunting is.

Dr. Schultz tells Django that bounty hunting is like the “slave trade” — money for flesh — except in the slave trade money is paid for alive black people and in the bounty hunting trade money is paid for dead white people who have been shot and killed by bounty hunters who will collect a cash reward for having done so.

After hearing this explanation, Django replies “Being paid for killing white people, what’s not to be liked about that.”

All of the violence and inhumanity portrayed in Django Unchained makes sense in the context of the story being told because Django Unchained is a satire.

Django Unchained is a satire created by a master of the film making art in which shockingly dramatically memorable graphic scenes are employed to create a visualization of a way of life.

This visualization of a “way of life” is presented to viewers for the purpose of compelling to consider their own mind sets about the value of human life, human rights, property rights and government regulation.

After viewing Django Unchained, when, and if, people think about the value of human life, the concept of ownership of property and whether it is appropriate for government to interfere (regulate through the promulgation and enforcement of regulations) in the functioning of a so “market” economy in society they will have inscribed in their minds the graphic horrific scenes of what happens in the unfettered free market economy portrayed in Django Unchained.

In Django Unchained, Tarantino evokes raw emotions about the sense of entitlement Calvin Candi has obtained through the process of being born into wealth and privilege which allows him to take “advantage” of the existing social and economic system without any compassion and without putting any value on human life or dignity.

The emotions people have in response to the despicable conduct of Calvin Candi  explains and demonstrates how off-putting it is to many people for anyone to act as if they are better than someone else, whether they believe they are entitled to be President of the United States as a birthright because of the “stature” of their family or believe that they are entitled to be admitted to a particular high school or to be admitted to a college or university or to be given a particular job or promotion as a birthright they are entitled to because of the color of their skin.

Django Unchained highlights in it’s graphic gritty scenes the American dream that merit will be rewarded.

Copyright (c) 2013 Gary S. Smolker