Django is a slave who escapes slavery with the help of a German bounty hunter, Dr. Schultz, who is looking for two brothers that Django knows from his past. Together they kill wanted men and Django masters the art of being a bounty hunter. Along the way they encounter racism and stereotypes while traveling through the south disguised as a dentist and free black man.
Race is seen from the eyes of Django, Dr. Schultz, white overseers, and slaves, which is very interesting. When Django and Dr. Schultz travel to the plantation of Calvin Candie, many of the overseers along with Mr. Candie see Django as a "Jim Crow" and a "brute" after he is addressed as a free man. They harass him and see him as a slave attempting to act white. By faking his identity as a superior black man, Django gets Mr. Candie to consider him as "one in one thousand." He is saying that finding a black man like Django is very rare. The irony in this is that Django is just like the other slaves, but placed into a higher status than others because of how he is presented.
During their visit at Mr. Candie's plantation, they come across the main house servant, Stephen, an old man that is opposed to seeing any type of privilege for a black man. When Stephen is ordered to prepare two beds for the visitors he is shocked that Mr. Candie would let a black man have a bed in the main house. He is angered and says, "your daddy rolling over in his goddamn grave right now!"
Stephen plays the role of the "Mammy" in the sense that he is overly enthusiastic and loyal to his master. He even discovers the false identity of Django and tells Mr. Candie about the two men. After he is told this, he unleashes his rage and returns to the initial stereotype he had of Django. This shows how race, especially at this time, placed people into categories without reason that most did not even fit. Overall, "Django Unchained" criticizes racism using satire which provides both an amusing and interesting film.
Good analysis. I agree and think this movie is definitely a satire in the way many of its black characters on the outside appear to be mainly black stereotypes. However, they are stereotypes because whites have molded them into these things. The mandingo fighters only kill each other because Candie forces them too. The girls are oversexualized because they are either house workers or sex slaves. Stephen has been forced into his role as a mammy, and Django is proven to be much more complex than just a brute, but plays one at parts of the movie to take revenge on the white people who have wronged him. Even in the parts where he plays a brute, he is an exaggerated play on the brute, blowing up houses and whipping men and shooting genitals in an over the top manner that proves its hyperbolic nature.
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