Episode #14: Is Django Unchained "Working Class" and 12 Years a Slave "Middle Class"? [Part 2 of 3]

In part 2 of their conversation about slavery films Django Unchained (2012) and 12 Years a Slave (2013), G & O continue by comparing the politics of Black working-class political demands versus Black middle-class political demands in the two films. O describes his concerns about Django's individualism serving as a fantasy of resistance to slavery. "Whose fantasies," O asks, "is Django responsible to?... We have to be critical both of the film and of our enjoyment of the film." G argues that finally having this kind of heroic action fantasy in the genre of slavery films, while problematic, is "useful" to the Black political imagination of freedom as well as to our individual Black lives. O and G also talk about the difference between a film like Django that fetishizes the violence of slavery versus one like 12 Years a Slave that handles it a manner that is more "responsible to Black suffering"-- but also deeply disturbing and heavy. TO BE CONTINUED... 

PART 1 OF THE CONVERSATION IS HERE

PART 3 OF THE CONVERSATION IS HERE

CLICK HERE to listen to this episode!