Justin Simien calls out Quentin Tarantino and breaks down what makes a Black film

OPINION: In this clip from “Masters of the Game,” the “Dear White People” director explains what makes a film “Black” and questions whether Tarantino truly loves Black culture and Black people.

Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.

Justin Simien recently directed a loving look at the history of Black cinema called “Hollywood Black.” so when he sat down for “Masters of the Game,” it gave us a chance to talk through various aspects of cinema. “Hollywood Black” takes us from Oscar Micheaux and Dorothy Dandridge to Denzel Washington and Issa Rae, but I know what he thinks about all of them. Simien is a “rooting for everybody Black” kind of guy. He loves us. But when Black folks talk about the modern history of cinema, there’s one name that will always lead to an argument: Quentin Tarantino.

I know Tarantino isn’t Black — obviously, I know that — but he’s a filmmaker who loves Black history, Black cinema and Black actors. Where most major modern directors create worlds where Black people don’t exist or are only marginal characters, Tarantino makes Black people and Black history a full part of his cinematic universe. He made a Blaxploitation film with “Jackie Brown.” He made a film about slavery with “Django Unchained.” He gave Samuel L. Jackson some of his greatest roles ever, launched Ving Rhames into the stratosphere and revived the career of Pam Grier. But, to many Black people, he’s an interloper with a strange fixation on Black culture who has his characters say the n-word way too much. No matter what Tarantino does, for many of us, he will never be forgiven for saying the n-word — with a hard R — in “Pulp Fiction.”

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I knew that discussing Tarantino would get Simien’s blood going. Tarantino inspires defensiveness in most Black people. And I knew it would be a fun argument because I love Tarantino’s work, and I appreciate that he thinks that African-American history is also part of his legacy as a filmmaker and it’s available to him to make films about. Sometimes as an interviewer, you have to bring up subjects that will lead to fun arguments. It’s so much fun to argue with a film savant like Justin Simien about a topic as rich and complex and divisive as the films of Quentin Tarantino. 

Watch Justin Simien on “Masters of the Game,” now streaming on theGrio.

Toure is a host and writer at TheGrio. He hosts the TheGrio TV show “Masters of the Game,” and he created the award-winning podcast “Being Black: The ’80s” and its upcoming sequel “Being Black: The ’70s.” He is also the creator of “Star Stories” and the author of eight books, including “Nothing Compares 2 U an oral history of Prince.” He also hosts a podcast called “Toure Show.” He is also a husband and a father of two.

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