Magazine Film Cover Analysis: Django Unchained

Django unchained stood as one of the major pictures to be released in 2012, directed by one of the most appreciated and respected directors in the filming industry. The film stands as an important representation of what slavery was like in the 1800's, which is where the film is set in, 1858.

This is shown within this magazine cover, as an appreciated film as it stands as the entire cover for the magazines "oscar special", making the receiving audience become interested within the film due to it being critically acclaimed.

The spaghetti western that hit cinemas in 2012, depicted a new type of slavery film, with our hero, Django, who in an effort to try and save his wife from a malicious plantation owner, teams up with a german bounty hunter on a bloody mission. The violent nature of the film is also shown effectively through the cover, with the tag line "the good the bad and the bloody, something Tarantino is famous for is his cartoon like blood effects, and this tag line proves that this film will be of no exception.
Also the bold white film title towards the bottom of the page shows a smeared blood stain across it.

The actual imagery of the cover shows three male characters from the film, whose mise en scene presents the old fashioned western accurately, with a black character holding a large pistol as he holds a strong pose appearing very serious, as well as the other two white males behind him, but due to the black male being front and centre, this shows the audience that this is the main character in the film.

There is also another tag line written below the films title, saying " how Tarantino reinvented the west", again showing the receiving audience that this isn't going to be like every other western film out there, and that Tarantino's oscar nominated efforts into this genre is worth seeing.