re: Just got back from seeing Django Unchained

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The point which was aptly conveyed in several scenes that apparently went over your head, is that the slaves were attuned to the inner lives of the other slaves as well as to the lives of whites, especially if they lived in the big house. Whites were not attuned to the slaves. They were too busy assuming their own superiority (the long scene about the dimples at the back of the skull).. They thought they knew but they didnt. The other part of it was that some slaves were able to fool and manipuate their owners by using their feelings of superiority against them. Since blacks were so dumb and stupid it wouldn't occur to the whites they were actually being played.

They discussed their business right in front of the slaves. The slaves acted and revealed only that which whites expected and the minimum of what they needed to know. The uncle tom character of Sam (who was depicted as being trusted enough and literate enough to tend the books) showed that some blacks learned to curry favor with their owners and therefore make an easier life for themseleves. A lot of things he did was to get over. The laughing at every joke, negative statements about the other slaves, seemingly subjegating himself to the masters. He even got away with insulting them right their faces with a laugh. His contempt for whites and his boss was conveyed when he came to tell DJango what fate lay awaitiing him. He basically said the whites were too stupid to figure out what to do with him. He interjected several times suggestions which they ignored because what would some dumb slave know, until the sister came up with the exact idea he had fed the whites.

The other scene which conveyed his feelings of superiority over his masters was when he threw down his cane, stood up straight, walked straight and started talking with less of an "ignorant" way of speaking during the last scenes when Django returned for revenge. In other words he had played up his age and fragilities to his bosses to get away with a lot and make a better life for himself. Some of his (and others like him) comtempt for the other slaves was real because he felt they were stupid to keep trying to escape only to be brought back and be beaten over and over. He felt he had figured out how best to cope and make the best of a bad deal as the other slaves had not. He got to live in the big house, eat the better food, hear all the gossip and what whites folks were up to, and in time even get to insult the whites, and feel superior to them.

For me, the reveal was a major scene and many scenes had been played to build that scene up and to reflect back on that scene. He could actually tell his white boss to meet him in the library. Sit there and sip the same liquor has his owner as and equal and his boss didn't even notice it. And, yes, he was willing to do what he needed (including throwing his own people under the bus) to keep his position. No different than a corporate raider or any captain of industry in this day and age. In other words he was ruthless.

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