Tarantino is an Advocate for Postmodern Feminism

A couple nights ago, I saw the long-awaited Inglourious Basterds. I'll cut right to it and say that I was expecting... more: more of the classic Tarantino soul-soothing. I know you may wonder what on earth I mean by saying Tarantino is at all soul-soothing, what with all the violence and tense 8-hour long dialogue scenes. Above all else, Tarantino is a master of giving the audience what they really want. In each of his films, at some point I guarantee the first time you saw it, you were figuratively or literally at the edge of your seat, heart-racing, afraid to blink; at the end, you sighed a figurative or literal sigh of relief because exactly what you wanted to happen happened, and every other director in Hollywood is too afraid to do that. This film is perfect in its own way and I won't knock Tarantino for deviating from his habits.

I will, of course, discuss what I discuss best and which Tarantino presents best (besides violence), and that is feminism. Inglourious Basterds was reminiscent of Jackie Brown in that Tarantino managed to create a feminist film without the prevalence of female characters. The ratio of female to male characters in this film is about 1:1,000, but the same is true for Jackie Brown. In fact, I'd say that Inglourious Basterds is a perfect mix of Resevoir Dogs and Jackie Brown, and that makes for an interesting mix.

What makes Inglourious Basterds a feminist film is the attitude of each of the female characters. Both of them were strong, feminine, and had distinct voices and actions in the film. Their actions helped guide the plot to its resolution, and although that may seem like an insignificant detail, it's amazing how few films have female characters who do that. In comparison to Tarantino's other films, this is not his most feminist work, but compared to every other film that came out this summer, Inglourious Basterds helps make gender matter, even if it's nuanced. What I enjoy so much about Tarantino is that his films can be cinematic fluff if you want them to be. You can walk out of the theater without thinking anything but, "Whoa, awesome movie." Or you can walk out of the film taking out of it the subtleties Tarantino put in it, such as his reverence for women, his commentary on masculinity, or his discussion of morality.

For me, the most marked point of feminism in this film is when one of the female leads is called a slut. I know this deviates from most perceptions of feminism, but in any other film, a woman being called a slut would not have stood out to me, which saddens me greatly. This female character, however, was so well-respected by all of the men that at a climactic point in the film, she is called a slut by one of them, and everyone is all, "That was too far, man." In similar scenes of other films, I honestly would have expected a character like her to have been abused, maybe even raped, and called every name in the book within the first ten minutes. I'm so used to such occurrences that I was actually expecting her to be mistreated more than she actually is in the film.

I believe that this movie was more set to make the audience ponder about justice and morality, or to make us think, "YEAH KILL THEM NAZIS." Probably a mix of both. I cannot, however, walk away from a discussion of Tarantino without mentioning his other films and the postmodern feminism therein.

A couple years ago, I wrote a very long paper on postmodern feminism in Tarantino films entitled, "Bang Bang, My Baby Shot Me Down." Since I'm sure nobody wants to listen to me rant formally for 12 pages about Tarantino, I won't post it. I essentially claimed that by deconstructing gendered language, Tarantino is successful in slowly changing our concepts of restrictive gender roles by having feminine but respected and deadly heroines. For example, more often than not, a heroine will have to sacrifice her femininity in other films in order to do a task, or her femininity will be a weakness to her task at hand. Tarantino films, however, such as Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, and Death Proof make being a woman a strength. He ensures that violence is no longer a strictly masculine characteristic, and in his films, women even have conversations with other women that don't involve men, sex, or looks. Such things are unheard of in this world and surely do not occur in real life.

In conclusion, on my mental Tarantino shelf, Inglourious Basterds belongs above Resevoir Dogs but below Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, Death Proof, and Kill Bill. It's worth seeing once in theaters and buying on DVD when it comes out, just so that you can watch it two years from now with your only friend who hasn't seen it.

Now, more importantly, I'm trying to think of a cute name for this blog and have thus far been unsuccessful. Ideas?