12:06 am - 01/09/2013
Slavery-era action figures tied to Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained are raising questions about whether they’re appropriate.
A line of figures of the movie’s main characters are on sale online, manufactured by toy maker NECA in partnership with the Weinstein Co.
Najee Ali, director of the advocacy group Project Islamic Hope, plans a news conference Tuesday with other Los Angeles black community leaders calling for the removal of the toys from the market.
Ali called the action figures “a slap in the face of our ancestors.”
“We were outraged,” said Ali, upon learning of the figures. “We feel that it trivializes the horrors of slavery and what African Americans experienced.”
The action figures are collectibles recommended for people older than 17. Tarantino has had such figures made for all of his films, including his last, Inglourious Basterds. That film, too, reveled in a revenge fantasy set in history — Nazi Germany.
The Weinstein Co. and NECA didn’t immediately comment Tuesday.
We feel that it trivializes the horrors of slavery and what African Americans experienced
Ali made clear his objections were not with the film “Django Unchained,” which he said he liked and had seen twice.
Though controversial in its unusual melding of historical atrocity and movie mayhem, “Django Unchained” has proven a hit at the box office, where it has earned $106.3 million since opening Christmas. It’s also been nominated for five Golden Globes.
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i just came back from seeing django. i can't be the only person who rejoiced at the dudes getting shot in their dicks?!
and here we go again....
Slavery-era action figures tied to Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained are raising questions about whether they’re appropriate.
A line of figures of the movie’s main characters are on sale online, manufactured by toy maker NECA in partnership with the Weinstein Co.
Najee Ali, director of the advocacy group Project Islamic Hope, plans a news conference Tuesday with other Los Angeles black community leaders calling for the removal of the toys from the market.
Ali called the action figures “a slap in the face of our ancestors.”
“We were outraged,” said Ali, upon learning of the figures. “We feel that it trivializes the horrors of slavery and what African Americans experienced.”
The action figures are collectibles recommended for people older than 17. Tarantino has had such figures made for all of his films, including his last, Inglourious Basterds. That film, too, reveled in a revenge fantasy set in history — Nazi Germany.
The Weinstein Co. and NECA didn’t immediately comment Tuesday.
We feel that it trivializes the horrors of slavery and what African Americans experienced
Ali made clear his objections were not with the film “Django Unchained,” which he said he liked and had seen twice.
Though controversial in its unusual melding of historical atrocity and movie mayhem, “Django Unchained” has proven a hit at the box office, where it has earned $106.3 million since opening Christmas. It’s also been nominated for five Golden Globes.
Source
i just came back from seeing django. i can't be the only person who rejoiced at the dudes getting shot in their dicks?!
Tarantino has the right to tell any story he wants... but there's a difference between telling a story, and merchandising treating the premise as something 'fun', when the movie deals with a serious subject... It would be in poor taste to produce a set of Schindler's List action figures, and doing so for a tale like Django amounts to much the same thing.
If there's no action, then there's no point in calling them 'action figures'... As you rightly pointed out, they're not toys.
Action figures are the ones that have articulations. The "action" part is because they can be moved in "action" poses
Movie memorabilia is there to be looked at... If you can move it, then you're open to charges that they are capable of being used somehow, instead of just admired.
I guess you can call all of that "playing", but yeah they are not used for "playing" as a kid would, since they are freaking expensive and I wouldn't give these toys to a child. Specially the awesome Hot Toys one that almost look life-like.
Also, as a kid I did play with figurines that were meant to be toys, they were cheap plastic ones that didn't move at all, but I still played with them and were meant to be played with them so that made them toys.
Edited at 2013-01-09 02:39 pm (UTC)
(which is all Tarantino did with the movie in the first place, I suppose... but somehow it seems less offensive when it's one person's personal vision... as opposed to mass culture, which takes the same attitude but actively endorses it by virtue of its popularity)