Django Unchained, Dr. Schultz "repairs" his actions outside the saloon

    The picture above is from a scene in the movie Django Unchained. The scene is set in an old western town somewhere in Texas. The year is 1858 which is about 3 years before the civil war. The man on the left is the main character Django Freeman. He is a freed slave that is working with the man on the right, Dr. King Schultz. Dr. Schultz is a bounty hunter who needs Django's help to find a bounty. In this scene, Dr. Schultz and Django ride into town on their respective horses. It makes the townspeople uneasy that a black man is riding a horse in their town. They then enter a saloon looking to quench their thirst. The bartender is startled when he sees that Dr. Schultz brought a black man into the bar. It doesn't show it on screen, but the viewer is left to assume that Dr. Schultz threw the bartender out of the saloon asking him to get the sheriff. When the sheriff arrives, he asks Dr. Schultz and Django to come out of the saloon and stop bothering the nice people of the town. They listen and when Dr. Schultz approaches the sheriff, he shoots him, and kills him. The whole town is present for this, and all the townspeople run away terrified. Dr. Schultz and Django then reenter the saloon. Soon, the marshal arrives and tells Dr. Schultz and Django to come out with their hands up. They listen to the marshal and walk out of the saloon with their hands up. This is the exact moment that is captured in the photo above. Dr. Schultz then goes on to explain that he is a bounty hunter, and the sheriff was his bounty. He explains who the sheriff was and why he had a bounty on his head. In the end, Dr. Schultz and Django get payed, and the town is in need of a new sheriff. 

    I will now dive into the writing of Jefferey C. Alexander, who is the author of The Civil Sphere. I will specifically be talking about chapter four and chapter eight. Before I dive into the chapter I think it is important that I define what a civil sphere is. The civil sphere is an area of social life that is separate from religion, family, economy, etc. It is separate because the norms and hierarchies of these sphere don't affect the civil sphere. It is a place where the values and norms are created through communication with one another within the sphere. All the people within a civil sphere are equal and are respected as mutuals. Diving into chapter four, Alexander talks about the communication necessary to create and maintain a civil sphere. He mentions it is through discourse that the boundaries of what is civil and uncivil are met. The public opinion is also a crucial part of the civil sphere. It is through the collective opinion of everyone in the group that democracy is created and upheld. Moving on to chapter eight, Alexander talks about civil repair and how it is a crucial part of maintaining the civil sphere. This is because when the civil sphere is damaged, it has to be "repaired" by someone taking action and bringing order back. Civil repair can take many different forms such as public apologies, norm changes, legal reform, and many more. Alexander does mention that not every civil repair is successful. There are some breaches in the civil sphere that can't be "repaired".  

    When thinking about the civil sphere in the picture shown above, we will have to take the perspective of a townsperson. The sphere in this case is the whole western town. The people in Texas during this time period still had a white supremest view of the world. When the townspeople saw a black man riding on a horse, it broke their civil sphere. Then to make that breach worse, they saw Django enter the saloon. Black people were not allowed in saloons at the time and this aggravated the townspeople. These two instances are the first breaches of the civil sphere. The townspeople collectively have their rules which were communicated and agreed upon throughout the sphere. The next act of braking the civil sphere was when Dr. Schultz killed the sheriff. In this town, the sheriff is an important part of the civil sphere. He is the person who holds up the norms, laws, and collective ideas of the sphere. He has no direct political power over anyone in the sphere, but he keeps the town in order. After Dr. Schultz kills the sheriff, the civil sphere is now broken again. I'm not sure what the laws are about murder in this town, but it is definitely agreed upon throughout the sphere that killing the sheriff is not allowed. This then brings me towards how Dr. Schultz "repairs" the civil sphere. When the marshal arrives, Dr. Schultz explains to him that he is a bounty hunter and the sheriff was his bounty. He explains who the sheriff used to be and what crimes he had committed. This repairs the sphere of the townspeople because Dr. Schultz explains that it was not cold blood murder. The sheriff was a bad man and he was just doing his job by getting rid of that bad man. If anything, he did the town a favor by making sure a criminal wasn't in any position of power. Thinking back to the first break of the civil sphere, this is something that cannot be repaired. Alexander mentions in his writing that some breaches of the civil sphere cannot be fixed. This is one of those cases. While Dr. Schultz does not agree with the white supremest ideas of the townspeople, the townspeople still have hate for black people. There is no "repairing" Django riding on a horse and entering the saloon. 

Williesha, Morris. December 27, 2012. “Review: Django Unchained.” From bigshinyrobot.com. Retrieved March 29, 2024 (https://bigshinyrobot.com/movies/review-django-unchained/).

Alexander, Jeffrey C. 2006. The Civil Sphere. New York: Oxford University Press.