The name Tarantino when uttered in the realm of discussing movies spark many images: violence, gore. And, overall, just flat-out wonderful film making.
Clear throughout his filmography, Tarantino also shows us time and time again that women are badass, complex, and deserve respect. And typically, these women have complex backstories that the audience is shown that can inspire both men and women.
*Some spoilers below for Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, and Hateful Eight.
This is seen in both titular characters and side characters. Jackie Brown of Jackie Brown is immediately portrayed as a strong, independent woman working a steady job as a flight attendant. Throughout the film, Jackie is shown as the one in charge of everything going on. She has everything under her thumb, and she knows it and flaunts it. She manipulates everyone involved in the situation, ultimately turning herself from a position of being a victim to being the immaculate driving force behind the story. She is working for one person and one person only – herself. And, to add to that, her wardrobe stays chic and sensible throughout – no outfits that don’t make sense for someone like Jackie to wear.
The moment that it was no longer useful to Jackie to serve and work for Ordell, she made choices that would help her live her life in the best way she can rather than giving everything up for a man who is shown killing people that are no longer useful to him.
Pam Grier brings power to this role by acting like a real woman would. Ordell points out that she is a 44-year old black woman and not a criminal- and while she is this run-of-the-mill woman, she is just a 44-year old black woman. That is the magic in this character; while she is thrown into this extraordinary experience, she reminds the audience of someone they might know. Tarantino doesn’t make Jackie too large for us to fully believe that she is just a character. Instead, much like Max, the audience is allowed to fall in love with a “real” woman, just for her to leave us behind once the film is over to go back to her life (also like Max).
We see this same thought and care that was put in creating this character channeled in the same manner in our side characters. Kill Bill’s O-Ren Ishii has lived through hell in her life. Tarantino takes care to tell the audience O-Ren’s backstory in such detail to fully display why her anger is so fully deserved (and giving us a scene so beautifully crafted that it honors her). By giving O-Ren a backstory, the fight that follows is not just powerful because of the images of the Bride fighting for her life, but we also know why O-Ren is so respected in this field of combat and why she is fighting so hard.
And, to top that, O-Ren is a warrior woman who can both control her weaker counterpoints (I mean, who hasn’t wanted to samurai sword chop that annoying coworkers head off when they’ve asked an additional question in an already excruciating meeting?) and demand respect from her peers. The most respectable battle throughout the Kill Bill movies is with O-Ren. That isn’t coincidental (and also fully has to do with how great Lucy Liu look in that last scene. Beautiful and scary? Wow).
But perhaps the greatest gift that Tarantino blesses his audience with is the creation of the character Daisy Domergue. Domergue (from Tarantino’s Hateful Eight) is a mystery to the audience, biding her time and building her character with quippy remarks and confident statements of power that, frankly, piss all the men around her off. The power in the fact that Domergue is, ultimately, luring her captors into a situation that was most beneficial to her. However, the best aspect of Domergue is that no one minimizes how dangerous she can be.
Tarantino gave us a gift as an audience when presenting us with the character of Daisy Domergue. She is captivating and haunting – warning her captors of her plans in the most subtle way. Watching Jennifer Jason Leigh in this role is like being hypnotized.
The scene where we most clearly see this mastery, however, is early in the film. After being elbowed in the face, Domergue revels in the taste of her own blood that was brought forth because of her own sharp mouth, all to the tune of “Apple Blossom.” It is easily the first and clearest point where we can get an inside view of who this woman might be.
Perhaps though, the best part of all of this is that Tarantino is not hurting for powerful female characters. Instead, he continues to bring more forth (albeit at the price of seeing maybe one too many feet) more women for people to look to.