More on Django Unchained

In my last post about Django Unchained, I neglected to mention how much I enjoyed hearing Jim Croce sing "I've Got a Name."

For one thing, it's a good song.

Secondly, I realized how rarely I've heard Jim Croce songs lately. Jeff was unfamiliar with him. After the movie, I went to youtube to play "I've Got a Name," "Operator,"  and  "Time in a Bottle" for him.

Then I got thinking about the idea of name and identity. How owners imposed their own names on slaves to control their identities. I remember the horrible scene from Roots. (Don't read the comments.)

In Django Unchained, the name Django is a homage to this spaghetti western. I'm not much of a spaghetti western fan, so the allusion was lost on me. I thought the film could be a bio of musician Django Reinhardt.

Schultz was surprised to hear that Django's wife's name was Broomhilda. While her name did not determine Schultz' decision to help Django, it did intrigue him and gave him the idea of how he could approach her owner.

Then there's Calvin Candie, owner of the plantation Candyland. What a lovely name--what could be wrong with that? Pretty much everything, as we soon learn.