Using the Master’s Tools: The Role of Signifyin(g) in Django Unchained

Double consciousness and Signifyin(g) work within the realm of language, the symbolic, and with the very tools that structure racist and sexist discourse to disrupt and destabilize that discourse. As multi-layered as is this theoretical framework, each layer is illustrated beautifully by Tarantino’s Django Unchained. This Academy Award-winning film serves to solidify the abstract theoretical framework with concrete examples that help us explore the implications of the layering I suggest.