Gender and Sexuality in the "Dogs"

Media has always been a step short when it comes to the way it represents gender and sexuality.  Modern media is still struggling when it comes to the female presence.  Many movies fail to have any female characters, and when they do have a female on screen, they typically lack any plot crucial dialogue/monologue.  And in many cases, the female appearance is purely used in a sexual connotation in order to control the attention of the male audience and draw them into the media in question.  Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs is a perfect example of this; however, there maybe more to this example than what first meets the eye.

So this movie starts off with a scene introducing the eight important male characters while they converse about Madonna.  More specifically, they are talking about the meaning to her song Like a Virgin.  Essentially, the end of the conversation is Mr. Brown’s very sexual explanation or meaning to the song.  So right off the bat, you have eight men talking about a woman who’s having sex.  One would argue that Quentin Tarantino is using femininity and sex to draw in the male audience at the beginning of the movie.  In other words, Tarantino would be using the topic of sex to hook his male audience.  No matter how true that statement may be, I think Tarantino has a different meaning hiding in the dialogue.

When Tarantino writes a story, he tries his darnedest to make it as realistic as possible.  He wants his script to mirror the way he sees society, especially all of the bad society has to offer.  This is apparent with his dialogue the most.  Anyone who is familiar with Tarantino’s work would remember that his films are littered with F-bombs and N-bombs.  This is especially apparent with Reservoir Dogs.  He wanted to make these eight men as real and lifelike as they can be, and that includes having them talk how he thinks people talk.

Having that said I can now get onto my point.  I think Tarantino was writing in a way to reflect how sexual or feminine media affects the average everyday men.  He wasn’t trying to lure his audience in through sex, but rather, write about men who have already bought into questionably sexual media such as Madonna’s song Like a Virgin.  This scene is about eight “average” men who are having breakfast at a local diner.  One of them brings up Madonna’s new song, Like a Virgin, and begins to explain the meaning to the lyrics.  If you follow his explanation to the finish, you can conclude that the song is very sexual, instead of the man who is describing the song.  It is as if Tarantino demonstrating how media represents women or sexuality.  Even if the overwhelming majority of his film lacks any female presence, his goal is to accurately depict the realistic events of these male characters leading up to the Heist and to their tragic deaths.  In this scene of Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino writes about eight very real men having a very real conversation at a very real diner. 

Character Identity & Audience Belonging

Most media encourages certain public values, identities, or themes.  This media helps nurture a sense of belonging and community identity. However, Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dog’s does this is in a fairly unique way. Even though there are some of the main characters that an audience member would overall dislike, Tarantino wrote the events that each of the main characters go through in such a way that you would like each of them at least once throughout the movie.

Mr. White

Many people who like Mr. White like him for a number of reasons.  Mr. White seems to be the most serious and most controlled member of the group.  Unlike how Mr. Pink is always talking about being professional, Mr. White is, in fact, the professional.  Mr. White knows both how to kick arse and deal with obstacles while carrying out the job.  Also, he at first seems to be the most loyal of the group, and follows orders putting the other members first.  He is definitely the wisest member of the group.  Overall, he is the perfect criminal that the audience would want to be if they were in the world of crime.

Mr. Pink

There were those moments when any audience member has to admit Mr. Pink was kind of annoying.  Such moments were when he is whining about being professional, complaining about his alias, or cowardly hiding while Mr. White, Joe and Nice Guy Eddie have their standoff.  Many people like his character because of his big mouth and comic relief.  Everyone wants to be funny.  But even more so, you would never expect this kind of character to be the only one who left the warehouse alive and with the diamonds.

Mr. Orange

He seems to be the most normal member of the group, and it can be easier for audience members to relate to him.  Not to say that his character was bland or not unique, but he is more relatable.  Aside from the scene where Mr. Orange is bleeding out in the car, Mr. Orange remains calm and collected throughout the rest of the movie.  Also he is the undercover cop, and through the eyes of society, cops are the good guys and undercover cops are cool.  So everyone wants to be the cool good guy.  Mr. Orange is also the one to gun down the crazy Mr. Blonde and save the life of the other cop.  His monologues are also very crafty and brilliant, making Mr. Orange seem very clever or intelligent.

Mr. Blonde

Even though he is the craziest member of the group that began shooting random civilians during the heist and the scene where he hacks a cop’s ear off, many people still like the heck out of Mr. Blonde.  Many people on the Internet like him because he is the “coolest” or because he is a “badass”.  I don’t agree with the Internet’s opinion on this.  I originally thought that he was a sick, coldhearted, emotionless person, but his most redeeming factors of his character was the thing you didn’t see him do in the movie.  After Mr. Orange guns Mr. Blonde down, he tells the others that Mr. Blonde was going to stab the group in the back and make off with the diamonds alone.  But this is his redeeming factor: Nice Guy Eddie tells them how when Mr. Blonde got caught in another job for them, instead of selling out his group for freedom, he took the bullet and went to prison for four years.  While Mr. Blonde seemed to be a crazy, self-indulgent character, he was probably the toughest of the group; he was ironically the only person to be selfless enough to take the fall for the best of the group.

"Be Sure To Tip Your Waitress"

One of the most common norms in modern culture is the tipping of your waitresses and/or waiters.  In the very first scene of Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino challenges this ideology that we must tip our waitresses and waiters.

In the scene above, “Nice Guy” Eddie tells everyone to pitch in some money for the group’s tip for their waitress.  Everyone digs into their wallets for cash, all except for Mr. Pink.  When Eddie verbally pushes Mr. Pink for not tipping, Mr. Pink replies with, “I don’t tip”, “I don’t believe in it”.

Eddies continues to push Mr. Pink asking if he never tips.  Mr. Pink then replies, “I don’t tip because society says I have to”.  He goes on saying he only tips if the waitress really deserves it.  He goes on saying that his refusal to tip won’t cause the waitress to starve.  Mr. Pink’s reasoning is that they work a minimum wage job, and when he had a minimum wage job, society didn’t deem his job tip worthy.  He then compares waitresses and McDonald’s employees.  He says that they are two very similar jobs, yet you only tip the one and not the other.  Mr. Pink continues his point by saying, “Society says, don’t tip these guys over here, but tip these guys over here”.

Classic Comedian Final Words

Mr. Pink and Quentin Tarantino are implying to the viewer in this scene that we don’t tip because the waitress/waiter did a good enough job or that we feel compelled to through generosity, but rather that society tells us to.  The dominant interest here is that tipping is a ruse set up by society to give a select few of individuals your money.  Right at the beginning of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino hammers the viewer with an idea that a belief repeatedly impressed upon them through out their life is nothing more than a shepherd’s cane that society is using to herd them in the direction that it wants them to go in.  In this scene, Tarantino makes the simple phrase “Be sure to tip your waitress” seem like the world's most controversial topic.

However, Tarantino writes Mr. Pink’s own downfall to his ideology through Mr. Blue and Mr. White’s argument that many waitresses depend on their tips to make a living.  Mr. Pink also says if a waitress doesn’t make enough money she can quit, but it isn’t that simple.  If a waitress is depending on her minimum wage job and her tips to provide for her life, tuition, and/or family, then she cannot risk become unemployed and search for a job that may not be available.  In other words, her only options are either employment at her crumby job or unemployment with a high chance of poverty.

Character Analysis

Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino is a crime flick about six men who know nothing about one another being contracted by a professional criminal and his son to rob a jewel store.  In one scene from Reservoir Dogs, the boss named Joe, gives the each of the six contracts their own alias.  Using this scene, we can analyze each character with semiotics.

Joe (Lawrence Tierney)

This first character you see is Joe.  In this scene, Joe gives each character their name and when Mr. Pink questions his name, Joe snaps back rudely.  When Mr. Pink asks to pick his own name, Joe says he “tried that once”.  This shows Joe is experienced in leading crime.   He also repeatedly refers to his decision being final.  He establishes his dominance over the other men and shows he is the alpha-male.  “There’s two ways you can go on this job, my way or the highway.”  As well as being adamant in his decision, he is also short tempered and is easily angered by Mr. Pink.

Mr. Brown (Quentin Tarantino)

The first character to receive his alias is Mr. Brown.  Mr. Brown isn’t one of the big characters, being in only a few scenes, but enough is gathered in the scene to show that he tries to be the funny guy of the group.  After Joe calls Mr. Pink a faggot, you can hear Mr. Brown laughing like a little kid.  He also seems like the only person in the room who would complain about being Mr. Brown for such a pathetic reason as being similar to dung.

Mr. White (Harvey Keitel)

Mr. White is the next person given an alias.  Throughout the scene, you cans see Mr. White looking at Joe respectfully as his superior.  He also attempts to establish peace in the group by telling Mr. Pink that no one care what his name is, which is again respecting Joe and his decisions.  Out of every character in the warehouse, Mr. White is the man most likely to say, “sir, yes sir” to Joe.

Mr. Blond (Michael Madsen)

When you see Mr. Blond named, you notice that his head is cocked to the side and he is slouching in his chair.  His body language is showing that he is the cocky one in the group and that he is full of himself.  He acknowledges Joe’s decisions and understands the rules, but he has his own way in doing things.  This is shown throughout the movie as he turns the heist into a blood fest and in many more scenes.

Mr. Blue (Edward Bunker)

Mr. Blue is one of the quiet ones not only in this scene but also the entire movie.  Not much is known about him and his silence adds more of the mystery to his character.

Mr. Orange (Tim Roth)

Mr. Orange also remains quiet and his slouched posture in this scene shows he is calm and collected.  It is made clear at this point in the movie that he is an undercover cop and the way he acts in this scene demonstrates how he blends into the gang in order to avoid blowing his cover.

Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi)

Mr. Pink is the last character Joe names in this scene and he is the own who puts up the most fuss about his name.  This shows he is a very whiny person.  He repeated complains in the scene and argues with Joe.  One can also conclude that Mr. Pink seeks trouble which is demonstrated in the rest of the movie.  And finally, Mr. Pink cowers away from Joe after Joe gets red in the face with anger.

"Nice Guy" Eddie (Chris Penn)

The final character in this scene is Joe’s son, “Nice Guy” Eddie.  He is another character who is silent in this scene but his silence is out of respect for his dad.  He looks up to his dad – as any son would – and he looks down towards the other characters as if he is better than them, putting himself on equal ranking and authority as his dad.

Just from some semiological analysis in this short scene, we are able to identify every main character in Reservoir Dogs and establish characteristics or personalities for each character.