The Role Of Violence In Fanon Django, Unchained

1075 Words3 Pages

Django, Unchained receives a lot of criticism for being “excessively violent”. But a lot of the critics apparently don’t comprehend that the movie is about the very institution that is violence through and through—violence against the black body, the black mind, the black skin. In Wretched of the Earth, Fanon asserts that decolonization is a violent process because it’s also the process of creating a new self. In order to feel independence, the oppressed must destroy of the image that the colonizers have made for them. One of Fanon’s central ideas is the role of violence in the struggle for freedom. Django, once “free”, takes up a job as a bounty hunter in order to be able to travel and try to find his wife: “Dr. King Schultz: How do …show more content…

This is an example of psychological degradation that Fanon is talking about earlier on in his piece. He asserts that the inequality of colonialism is what causes the enslaved to want to overthrow the enslaver. It is natural to want to throw off their inferior status. The psychological violence against the enslaved helps keep colonialism in its place. This very humiliation is why there is the need for violent revolution. Fanon stresses the need for a national culture and national consciousness. With this sense of nationality and identity, the oppressed will be able to overthrow the …show more content…

It’s an American novel that counteracts the “All-American” point of view. It opens the eyes that America is not, in fact, open for all. Racism and prejudice is violence in the worst way. It shames people for who they are—their skin, their beliefs, their being. This stealing of self has to be dealt with using fire, according to Fanon. In order to gain back ones self, one must bear arms and fight back. Nonwhite Americans are not savages and are not in need of saving. White does not equal the definition of civilization. In Joaquin Murieta, Joaquin is forced to fight back, literally. As Frantz Fanon says in The Wretched of the Earth, violence is the only way for the colonized to reconstruct what it is to being human. The oppressed and enslaved have been hated and dehumanized too many times that they lose the sense of community, of culture. Fanon says to regain that, one should use violence. Joaquin uses this philosophy and fights back against the injustice and racism he has experienced by the white men of California. His violence is his way to attack and fight the prejudice and racism he has faced. There are examples in modern media too, such as Django, Unchained. Both Joaquin and Django take their previous, personal experiences of racism and prejudice to fuel their

Open Document