NOTES ON QUENTIN TARANTINO'S RESERVOIR DOGS

In Reservoir Dogs (1992), the viewer is offered the Pieta-like image of Larry, Mr. White, comforting a badly wounded Mr. Orange, serenity in distress. But the director's cynicism eventually has Mr. White sacrifice Mr. Orange with a shot to the head as he finally believes the betrayal story. Initially, Mr. White suggests that Mr. Blonde jeopardizes the heist since his psychotic behavior caused him to shoot a jewelry store employee. On the other hand, this is Mr. Blonde's bite to Mr. White's bark: "Are you gonna bark all day, little doggy, or are you gonna bite?" By extension Tarantino uses the sadistic torture of Marvin, the uniformed officer, to resolve among the various versions of the story. By taking on an alias, each character admits to his role as a reservoir dog; they all have the same bite.

In the opening restaurant scene, Quentin Tarantino, playing Mr. Brown a participant in jewelry store holdup, interprets Madonna's "Like a Virgin" as the story "of this cooze [...] [who] meets this John Holmes motherfucker. Subject to a phallic regime, she confuses the symbolic with the actual elements of her experience. Thus she appears to validate the dominance of that regime. Her sexuality is characterized with the image of Bubble Yum where she simply takes the imprint of the "dick". "I'm talking morning, day, night, afternoon [...]"; Mr. Brown further describes her as a machine. A bemused Mr Blue (Eddie Bunker) asks, "How many dicks is that? MR. WHITE: A lot." Literally, this is more than a lot. It indicates where individual experience shows the mark of the social order. By the vulgar appellation, her John Holmes eviscerates her through their his interaction. But Madonna notes how she is "touched for the very first time." She accepts the physical intensity as a mark of an emotional intimacy. In the context of the film, this is the reservoir dog in attack mode; he has his gun drawn. Under such conditions he is so convinced of his own point of view that he is barely able to entertain an alternative. The reservoir dog's desperation comes from a feeling of being threatened. As long as he feels attack is imminent, he is vigilant to observe his fellow's weakness. His awareness reaches a clarity at the point that he barks.

The bark clues the audience in to the character's intuition. Joe, Mr. Pink, Mr. Blonde, Eddie, and Mr. White pinpoint elements of their experience that make a realization kick in. Like in the case of the Madonna song, the part speaks for the whole. When Mr. Orange takes a bullet, Mr. White's natural camaraderie for him becomes focused on his conviction that Mr. Orange is totally committed to the group. He even contradicts Mr. Pink's notion that there is an informer in the group. His attachment for Mr. Orange coincides with his suspicions about Mr. Blonde's psychotic behavior. It is a natural identification that he offers to the audience. Mr. White's attitude seems confirmed with the depiction of Marvin's torture. His scenes with Mr. Orange thus counterbalance the images of Mr. Blonde wielding his knife. Mr. Orange's performance further lulls the viewer into the identification. But Eddie confidently shoots three bullets into Marvin as a way of challenging Mr. Orange's version of events. His bark has engendered a bite that abruptly captures the intensity of Mr. Blonde's sadism. He discredits Mr. White's sympathy.

In telling the "commode story", Freddie Newandyke assumes the role of Mr. Orange for Joe, Larry (Mr. White), and Eddie; he is accepted as a fellow in the group. The story recounts Mr. Orange's dilemma in running marijuana.

German shepherd starts barking. He's barking at me. I mean, it's obvious. He's barking at me. Every nerve-ending, all my senses, blood in my veins, everything I have is screaming, "Take off, man! Just bail, just get the fuck out of there!" Panic hits me like a bucket of water. First there's the shock of it...-BAM!...-right in the face. I'm standing there drenched in panic.

The police dog barks because he smells a scared reservoir dog. In desperation, he has agreed to be a part of this deal. The continued barking involves the listener to the story. He attacks his hearer. Joe, Eddie, and Larry all become part of the story. He is on the spot. Not only must he elude the police in the washroom, his life depends on convincing his audience. Gesture follows extremes of panic. "The shock" explodes in "BAM!" "They can smell it. Sure as that fucking dog can, they can smell it on me." The smell exaggerates his point of view. Of course, the sheriffs cannot smell the weed. Nevertheless, Freddie is so convinced of the threat of the dogs that he transfers his fear to the officers. He is among a pack of dogs. His conviction in telling becomes a belief on Joe's part. Mr. Orange has passed his test; they do not bark at him.

In creating this fiction, Mr. Orange has entirely displaced the points of view of the other conspirators.

Once the conspirators attain their severity of conviction, they feel the need to impress their vision on their surroundings. Mr. Pink reacts rather harshly to Mr. White's plea for servers in a restaurant. "And as for this non-college bullshit I got two words for that: learn to fuckin' type, 'cause if you're expecting me to help out with the rent you're in for a big fuckin' surprise." Like Madonna's character, he accepts the pain as the source of his pleasure. He legitimizes the desperation by belittling those around him. Mr. Blonde develops this perspective with his intimidation of Marvin. His behavior reflects a view of the social order that he sees entirely from the outside. The audience is brought into this perspective by its initial view towards Mr. Blonde's torture of Marvin. The officer swears that he knows nothing. His head turns around to reflect his pain. This further suggests that he cannot focus on the revelation that Mr. Blonde needs. The audience's disgust becomes coincident with their belief that Marvin is ignorant about the informer. The camera turns away at the extreme moment of the ear severing. This makes the experience entirely part of the audience's belief. When Marvin's tells Mr. Orange that he already knows him as Freddie Newandyke, this adds to the a sense of comfort that accompanies relief at Freddie's rescue. Nevertheless, his avowal discredits the former chain of belief. His denial to Vic was inaccurate. Eddie's shooting of Marvin demonstrates an additional level how an audience can dismiss the immediate condemnation of Mr. Blonde. Mr. Blonde's prison house logic emphasizes the degree to which a threatened group symbolically acts out its law. This is the fate of those who betray the reservoir dogs. Like the confusion depicted in "Like a Virgin", the extremes of the symbolic make it seems all the more real.

"Like a Virgin" and Reservoir Dogs provide us with the flip sides of the same portrayal of civil society. The lover's "touch" is part and parcel with the initial attack by John Holmes, the reservoir dog. To not appear intimidated by the attack, the hero accepts the wounds. Similarly, the Bubble Yum shapes itself to the situation; it celebrates it. Since the assertive, wordy Reservoir Dog seems like such an appealing macho image it cuts across the civility that condemns the sadistic. Tarantino speaks with the mind's eye of the convict and his series of eviscerating encounters. When truly challenged, the so-called civil society has a sadistic streak that pales the depravity of Mr. Blonde.