My problem with Quentin Tarantino

I am aware of how that sounds. Who cares what I think of Quentin Tarantino, right? 

Sorry-- Mr Tarantino. 

King Tarantino? 

I know a lot people really like this guy’s films, and there’s no doubt he is a good storyteller with dialogue and action chops most directors would kill for. He certainly deserves his status as a master craftsman of film. I just think he’s a bit petty, is all. Or his films are.

By that I mean his films all seem rather mean-spirited. For one thing they are almost all about revenge. For another thing, they are almost all about revenge with no mercy. For another thing they are almost all about getting said revenge by kicking someone when they’re down, even if you’re the good guy. And really that’s the thing that gets me the most. 

Isn’t mercy the thing that separates good guys from bad guys? Having the chance to kick a man when he’s down and not doing that? Punishing him according to the laws our society agrees upon? Knowing you could ‘end him’ but showing mercy because good people are always open to redemption?

Tarantino films seem to operate on the premise that good guys are really just bad guys too, only they’re not quite so bad as the really bad guys. And a lot of what makes Tarantino clever is how he makes us cheer for the good guys regardless of how petty or mean-spirited they are. And we side with them because they are violent, but never quite as mean and violent as the bad guys. Their justice is not so much eye-for-an-eye as it is teeth-skin-and-balls-for-an-eye. 

And maybe it’s just me, but I don’t laugh when someone gets hurt, even if I don’t like that person. Justice is stopping someone from doing evil, not smashing their face in while they’re being read their rights. Justice is not gloating. Gloating is not a positive human trait. It can be disturbing, it can be funny, and people do it in real life all the time - myself included - but it should never be celebrated as an asset, and it should not be the take home message of a fictional story. “It’s ok to gloat if someone hurts you bad enough.” Understanding someone’s need to gloat because they’re human and scared isn’t the same as excusing gloating as if it’s a victim’s right.

And sure, films should inspire audiences, make them feel empowered, like they can achieve things, like they can stand up to Nazis or slave traders or Bill and say “Screw you!” in a really exciting way.. But is it ok for films to make audiences cheer when the good guys fight hard, defy all the odds, and defeat the horrible monster of a bad guy all to sing “Nyeah nyeah-nyuh-nyeah-nyeah” over his corpse?

I don’t like heroes like that. Because they’re not heroes to me. Because I don’t do that. I'm not a sore winner. And a hero in a story needs to be better than me. Because they’re a hero, and I’m just a person. If the hero on screen is more pathetic and juvenile than I am, then why am I watching him? What is he teaching me? That I’ll lower my standards if I’m tortured long enough? That even heroes are ‘only human’ in that negative sort of way? That this is how ‘real life’ is? Well, sure. I can accept that perspective. But I’d argue that movies aren't about real life. Ever. They are a perspective. A representation. An opinion. They’re not about what’s real, they’re about what’s believable. They show us what can be. For better or worse. And they should teach us something. And whether they teach us something good or bad, they should make us want to be better. Otherwise what’s the point? Why do anything that makes the world worse, even just a little?

Maybe you say stories are a distraction. Just entertainment. Well I don’t have time for that. My actual life is too important to spend time away from it unless that time helps me reflect and learn something valuable to take back into the real world with me. Which is exactly what good stories do. Because that’s the point of stories. They’re cavemen explaining what happened to them at the river. They almost got eaten by a crocodile. So don’t go down to the river. That’s a life skill. Humans have flourished because of shared experience. Because of stories. So a story without something to teach us is a waste of our time. In caveman terms it’s actually kind of dangerous.

SIDE NOTE: For those of you who still think stories are ‘just for entertainment’, think of all the people generally considered to be the most influential in the world. The people ‘we all want to be’. The people we watch night after night, read about day after day, the ones who appear in the media more than anyone else. Who are these people? They’re not doctors who fight cancer, they’re not firemen who fight fires. They’re not real heroes. Most of us don't know many real heroes. It's the made up heroes we relate to. Who we feel we know. They’re actors. They’re performers. They’re storytellers. The public may call these people a distraction. But really they see them as an answer, as a relief, as a reward for getting through the parts of their lives they hate. Though they are often ashamed to admit it, the public needs these people in their lives, and you know why? Because they are symbols. Approximations of real heroes. They represent hope.  They teach us things. All by being characters in stories. How can anything that helps make people want to be better be seen as ‘just a distraction?’

Anyway,  our caveman time is precious. Does Quentin waste our time? Many would respond with a resounding no. I’d genuinely like to know why, and I don’t say that to be inflammatory. I understand that what I don’t get out of a Tarantino film, many people may very well get and then some. And I have enjoyed some parts of some of his films. He creates some fun situations, some interesting character exchanges, and some impressive action scenes. I keep watching them to try to find out why I have such an issue with him. Maybe I've missed something. Maybe I need to chill out about this whole ‘stories make us better’ thing. Sure.

But no matter what my academic brain is doing, my caveman brain just can’t get behind characters, behind a film, that ends with a ‘nyeah nyeah’ from the heroes. Unless it’s a film starring very cute children, and they don’t know what they’re saying. Because adults know that pettiness never makes things better. In movies and the real world. And adults want the world to be better. 

Right?