History is all and well, but it needs some interpreting

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It seems this year’s blockbusting directors are flush with history. Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained (2012) was released as a tutting reminder of America’s taint of slavery, while its violence-splashed stylistics became a bone of contention. The movie succeeded a massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, where 26 were killed by a lone 20-year-old gunman. America’s growing sensitivity to portrayals of violence rammed straight into Tarantino’s --- and Hollywood’s --- entertainment value of putting into celluloid what the society fears most.


It could be the other way around, where reality is spun into a remake. Kathryn Bigelow, for whom the success of The Hurt Locker (2008) might have propelled her into militant filmmaking, archived her depth as a director in fact-consuming Zero Dark Thirty. Locker was a brilliant slice of war during W. Bush’s march into Iraq, the door jamb on the war on terror.

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Zero is the spluttering follow-up: bin Laden had already been assassinated by American elite forces, and the movie’s attempt to play it all out was a work of wavering loyalty to the material. It has been implied that the plot was sourced from special access to classified sources belonging to the CIA. Film critics huddled into fact-checking committees and waterboarded the film for its glaring inaccuracies.


It is widely accepted that history ends with the director’s cut, so it is still a wonder that directors are being given a hard time defending their material for authenticity, and the degree to which they might influence reality. Tarantino was spared when Inglourious Basterds (2009) cheekily killed off Hitler. He couldn’t get away with much in Django, unchained and all. The film’s light hand with violence, a real tour de force of brutal excess, made critics wonder whether history was Tarantino’s point at all.

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This point seemed belabored in his surprising tantrum against a TV reporter who pushed Hollywood’s tension with reality where it could have fetched a mob assault. “This is a commercial for the movie --- make no mistake,” the director glowered, referring to the interview.



Edward Bass is a Golden Globe-winning producer of films. This Facebook page offers insights on his body of work.

REPOST: Django Unchained Action Figures: Boycotted, Bagged, Now Selling For Thousands

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Author: Lily Rothman

Reposted from: time.com

The Weinstein Company decided to stop distributing the action figures following a slew of controversy and rampage by concerned citizens. This article discusses the surprising impact of this move to the film's marketing strengths.

Action figures promoting an action movie are a pretty basic merchandizing technique, particularly when you’re Quentin Tarantino. The director has had such collectible tie-ins made for each of his films, according to the Associated Press. But recent uproar over Tarantino’s Django Unchained toys shows that the basics don’t always work.

The Django edition of those toys may have been intended somewhat ironically—yes, Django has action-movie qualities, but the bloody take on slavery is no Transformers—but if the people behind the toys had thought things through a little more, the irony might have taken on another level: it’s not hard to see why somebody might be offended that eight-inch versions of the movie’s enslaved characters are available for purchase for $39.99. (Non-slave characters are also available as action figures.) Those offended people included Rev. Al Sharpton, who called for a boycott of the set of character dolls, according to the New York Daily News.

So, on Jan. 18, The Weinstein Company, the studio behind the film, changed course and told the public that the toys would no longer be distributed. “In light of the reaction to the Django Unchained action figures we are removing them from distribution. We have tremendous respect for the audience and it was never our intent to offend anyone,” said the studio in a statement, according to Deadline.

The move, unsurprisingly, has only served to boost the value of the now-rare items. As of the afternoon of Jan. 22, a collectible 10-piece set of the figures was available on eBay with an asking price of $8,000, which is actually a pretty good deal. The same set was available on Amazon.com for $19,999.99—a whopping 500 times more than the MSRP, leading to a different brand of outrage. Quips one collector: ”I’m offended…by the PRICE.”

The Weinstein Company is also the studio behind Edward Bass' award-winning film Bobby. If you're a Quentin Tarantino fan, this website wants your thoughts.