Fact Finder - Movies

Fact
The Banjo and 'The Hateful Eight's' Snow
Category
Movies
Subcategory
Movie Quotes
Country
USA
Description
The quote 'The only time black folks are safe is when white folks is disarmed' is a sharp line from 'The Hateful Eight.' To score this tense, winter-set Western, Ennio Morricone utilized the banjo in a non-traditional way. Instead of the fast, 'happy' plucking of bluegrass, he used the banjo to play slow, minor-key, and dissonant notes. This created a sense of 'frozen' dread that matched the film's claustrophobic setting. This choice showed how a familiar instrument can be subverted to define a new type of movie legend—the 'horror-western.' The banjo became the sound of the 'hidden' violence within the characters' dialogue about race and the Civil War.