Film's Political Economy and <em>Django Unchained</em>

Abstract

Never before has a film earned blockbuster status while presenting a formerly enslaved African as a heroic lead, as in Django Unchained . Using a political economy analysis, this commentary addresses Django Unchained ’s complex counterhegemonic media representations and production and distribution system. For the first time, box office revenues indicate the global market appeal of a defiant Black hero with appropriate production and distribution budgets and strategies. Django Unchained ’s 425 percent return on a $100 million investment suggests that audiences are ready to explore high-quality counterhegemonic narratives that challenge conventional media representations of cultural minorities. Such staggering popularity warrants a historical reception study of this film and its context; for analyzing media industries’ texts within their political economy calls attention to the fact that the production, distribution, and reception of culture take place within a specific economic and political system, constituted by relations between the state, the economy, social institutions and practices, culture, and the media.