How can Django Unchained be viewed as a postmodern text?

Postmodernism is a movement concerning art forms; film, music, architecture, literature etc, whereby genre distinctions are blurred through the saturation of intertextual references. Due to this, the 'essence' of postmodernism is infamously difficult to define - and often postmodernists themselves do not know what it is.

Django Unchained is Quentin Tarantino's postmodern mashup film which depicts the story of an ex-slave in southern America during the late 50's whom, alongside a German bounty hunter, partakes in the securing of criminals 'wanted' by the US government and then later in rescuing his slave-wife. It is a hybrid of genres: a spaghetti western (a low budget Italian made western), a western (set in late 19th century in the American Old West), and a blaxploitation (where black characters represent stereotypes of black culture). However, the film is also a bricolage of other texts of which Tarantino is influenced from. The title of the film and lead protagonist, Django, is an obvious allusion to Sergio Carbucci's 1966 spaghetti western, Django.

Tarantino's film is postmodern due to the inclusion of intertextuality and combination of genres. In order for a postmodern text to be effective it must be interacted with by the audience - and their understanding of references is key. Django Unchained contains allusions to both popular and obscure artwork from many eras. The first and most obvious is the use of Carbucci's title soundtrack, alongside the styling of his opening credits. As a homage to the original Django film, Tarantino even had Franco Nero star as a cameo in his 2014 version. During the 

Critics jumped upon Django Unchained, and many made complaints of its racial insensitivity. An example of a criticism was the controversial over-use of word ‘nigger’. Prior to this film, Tarantino has also been criticised for the inclusion of 'nigger' in Jackie Brown (1997) and Pulp Fiction (1994). In texts referring to 1850s America, nigger is often used as a historical representation of the verbal names given to black people, often by white people.

However, this word is still used in contemporary society as a derogatory term. It could be argued that slavery is somewhat sidelined in the film, and a notable example of this is when Django, Schultz and Candie et al watch a slave being torn apart by dogs as part of punishment for attempted escape. Although Schultz offers to purchase the slave's freedom, Django denies him this request and instead watches the slave die. No regret or guilt is apparent, until later in the film when Schultz has 'flashbacks' to this scene. The neglect of a slave's freedom and life by Django, only recently a free man himself, shows a degree of lack of respect to slave culture and African American history.

Historical deafness is a secondary criticism of Django Unchained. Linking to my previous point, the inclusion of the term 'nigger' is often speculated due to the uncertainty of its historical accurateness. The film is set in the late 1850s and it is unclear as to whether language such as 'nigger' and 'motherfucker' would have been used. The use of such terms taints the historical accurateness and undermines the topic of slavery - some could go as far to say that it parodies such events in history.