Recce Report

Casting Considerations

Synopsis

My film is centred around the protagonist, Sapphire and her relationship with the drug dealer, Zi. 

Sapphire is a young woman who is affected by seeing her parents murder. In the present, Sapphire is 20 years old and is out to seek the man who caused her parent's death. Her parents were involved in a drug war and were murdered by the drug dealer Zi, when Sapphire was 16.
We, the audience do not know any of this background information until Zi has been killed, therefore the film does not have a linear structure.
When Sapphire and Zi meet in the diner, Sapphire is in control of their irrelevant conversation, whilst holding a gun to his crotch underneath the table.
Sapphire shoots Zi (switching of stereotypical gender roles). She walks off to the bathroom, where she applies red lipstick.
The flashbacks of Sapphire's parents being murdered is similar to Tarantino's backstories of women, which makes the audience sympathise with these characters.

Throughout the present scenes in the film, Sapphire is portrayed as a strong, dominating woman who definitely has control over Zi in the diner scene. (Relating to Tarantino's representation of macho women and the idea of switching male/female roles) however we see this was not always the case when we are shown her backstory. Sapphire's name also relates to Tarantino's representation of macho women and the switching of male/female roles. (The name Sapphire was a commonly used name for black caricatures during the 1920-1960s. Who's characteristics were stubborn and overbearing. This also relates to the theme of Blaxpoitation)
The symbolism of the red lipstick also relates to Sapphire's name and the symbolism of the colour red.

Naming my characters

Throughout planning I have been naming the protagonist Black woman. However, I did not want this to be her name throughout the actual film.

In my film I shall use a lot of symbolism, for example the red lipstick that the protagonist applies. I used this idea to think of the name for my protagonist; Sapphire. I wanted the name of my protagonist to have an actual meaning behind it. Not only does the Sapphire gemstone come in shades of red, the name also has a racial background. I thought that this would tie in Tarantino's use of Blaxploitation perfectly, but subtly. 

"The Sapphire Caricature portrays black women as rude, loud, malicious, stubborn, and overbearing" By using this name for my film, it will subtly link in with my research question; Does Quentin Tarantino portray women as Macho? 

"It was not until the Amos 'n' Andy radio show that the characterisation of African American women as domineering, aggressive, and emasculating shrews became popularly associated with the name Sapphire. The show was conceived by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, two white actors who portrayed the characters Amos Jones and Andy Brown by mimicking and mocking black behaviour and dialect. At its best, Amos 'n' Andy was a situational comedy; at its worse, it was an auditory minstrel show.² The show, with a mostly-white cast, aired on the radio from 1928 to 1960, with intermittent interruptions. The television version of the show, with network television's first all-black cast, aired on CBS from 1951-53, with syndicated reruns from 1954 to 1966. It was removed, in large part, through the efforts of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People and the civil rights movement. Both as a radio show3 and television show, Amos 'n' Andy was extremely popular, and this was unfortunate for African Americans because it popularised racial caricatures of blacks. Americans learned that blacks were comical, not as actors but as a race." 

http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/sapphire/

I have decided to call the drug dealer/man who gets shot Zi. I decided to call him this as I thought it was a tacky, drug dealer nickname that Tarantino may use.

The other characters, such as the parents in the memory scene and the women in the background of the bathroom scene, shall be nameless has they will not have dialog or be the main focus of the film.

Brief Outline

Scene One

The scene begins with the set of a living room, the main focus of the shot being a sofa. The black woman walks across in front of the scene, sits down on the sofa; she picks up the rolled joint which is sitting on the coffee table and lights the joint. She inhales, twists around on the sofa, stretches out her legs and crosses them at the ankles. The song, Jeepster, Trex is playing in the background of the radio.

As she inhales, she stretches her legs. She exhales, tilting her head and blowing the smoke upward. 

Scene Two: Diner

Black woman and man sitting in a booth in a diner. The Black woman again, is the main focus of the shot. Although she is not centred, we see by her body language that she is dominating the man. Throughout the scene however, blocking is used (although the characters do not move, the camera does.) The man is sitting further back in the corner of the diner sofa, almost slumped.
Their conversation is irrelevant, however she is in control of it.
The camera will then pan to underneath the table, where she is holding a gun to his crotch. The irrelevant conversation continues
Gun is shot.

Scene Three: Bathroom
Rumble, Link Wray is playing in the background in the diner.
Black woman walks off, leaving the man dead.
Black woman walks into the bathroom, walks up to the front of the mirror, pushing her way through other women. She looks in her bag and takes out red lipstick and reapplies it. She is the centre of the shot, which is a shallow shot. The women in the background are slightly blurred. This portrays their insignificance in relation to Black woman. She pulls her head back slowly to look at her reflection better. Extreme close up of her eyes.

Scene Four : A memory
Extreme close up of Black woman's young self's eyes, zooms out. She squeezes her eyes shut, which in turn creates a blackout.
The shot reopens blurred, portraying in a point of view shot, her parents being murdered. She is hiding. Close up : Black woman's young self looks down then strongly into the camera.

Scene Five : Bathroom x2
Rumble, Link Wray continues from the previous bathroom scene, fading in.
Fades into Black woman looking strongly into the camera/mirror. The women still in the background blurred, like how her parents were in the previous scene. She takes out a joint that she keeps in a gold metal tin. She lights it.
She inhales, smiles slyly and blows smoke into the screen.

Brief overview/breakdown of key texts

How how hav previous films influenced contemporary films? Pan geria and foxy brown, shaft b movies made to reach a black audience 

Death proof- vanishing point 

Is Tarantino responsible for switching the stereotypical gender roles around in his films?

How far do you agree that Tarantino portrays women as 'Macho'?

How accurate is Laura Muvley's Male Gaze theory in relation to my Tarantino key texts?

In Tarantino's films, he often provides a backstory for the characters in which he wants the audience to connect with. This, arguably is mainly women. For example; Shosanna in Inglorious Basterds, the first set of women in Death Proof, and Bearrix (The Bride) and O-ren in Kill Bill. It is not often that Tarantino will provide a backstory for the male characters, as their actions should be deemed as unfair and unjust, making them the butt of the joke or the 'bad guy' with no cause. Tarantino imitates a females point of view by providing a backstory scene, this in my opinion, makes it so he is not being sexually biased and contributing to the Male Gaze theory. However, it is important to remember that Tarantino is a white male, and therefore will contribute to the Male Gaze to some extent. 

Pulp Fiction: non linear structure

-focuses mainly around Marcellus, although he is rarely in the scenes

-2 hit men working for Marcellus, go to get the money from a few men living in an apartment, who owe money to Marcellus, this ends up in a mass killing. 

- one of the hit men, John Travolta ( Vincet Vega) is told by Marcellus to take his wife, Mia out for dinner whilst he is away. 

- Mia is clearly a strong, powerful woman who dominates the conversation and night between herself and Vincent Sucking on cherry, asking if he wants a sip of her milkshake, making him dance in the competition. 

-Mia overdoses on the 'cociane' that Vincent has in his jacket pocket (going through his private possessions) however, this is heroine and she does not realise that she ODs. 

-she is then taken to Vincent's friend's house where they revive her; there is no 'hero' in this scene, neither of the two males portray stereotypical masculinity 

-skipping forward to another powerful woman... We are met with Butch and his girlfriend Fabienne. 

-although Fabienne is not deemed as powerful and in control in the same way as Mia Wallace, Fabienne uses her stereotypical feminity. She portrays herself as weak and powerless however this characteristic reverses to Butch and therefore emasculated him, he is in her power. 

-at the beginning and end we are met with HunnyBunny and Pumpkin.  HunnyBunny clearly controls the the relationship, and we can see this through her body language. She also takes the centre of the shot and uses blocking when holding the gun. 

List of controlling and powerful women & how the act/what they do to emasculate men:

-Mia Wallace : in tune with her sexuality, sucking on a red cherry and looking sexually in the diner, invading Vincent's privacy when they met ( can see Vincent through cameras. Voyeurism; although this is usually viewed through the male perspective.), she also goes through Vincent's jacket and uses the heroine that she finds. 

-Fabienne : in tune with her feminity, she uses this to persuade Butch and control him into forgiving her and getting her own way. Portrays herself as weak, however this in turn emasculates Butch. Curling up in the corner when being shouted at. 

-HunnyBunny : strong body language, always  in the centre of the shot, blocking Pumpkin. She emasculates Pumpkin by controlling the conversation, interrupting him, sitting up straight to portray looking down on him. 

List of male characters and their development to emasculation: 

Marcellus : at the beginning we only see the back of Marcellus's head we get the idea that he is a powerful man, due to the scar located on the back of his head, and the gossip about what he did to the man who gave his wife a foot rub. However, we see Marcellus's character emasculate throughout the film as he eventually gets raped and called racist names, this portrays his character downfall 

Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield : at the beginning their hierarchy is clear, the shot of them looking the the boot of the car is filmed as a low angle shot to portray their importance and control. However, at the end of the 

film they are presented in 'goofy' looking t-shirts and shorts, this portrays their emasculation in comparison to the beginning scene where they are in sharp looking black suits. 

List of controlling and powerful women & how the act/what they do to emasculate men:

List of male characters and their development to emasculation: 

Hans : at the beginning of the film, Hans has a huge amount of power and control, so much that he can act calmly in this situation.  Hans kills all of Shosanna's family with his power and control, and completely emasculates the French farm owner with his presence. However, Hans is emasculated at the end of the film as the deal between him and Aldo is twisted. Aldo results in branding him with the Nazi logo on his forehead. It is not a woman who emasculates Hans but Aldo himself, however one could argue that this only occurs because of Shosanna / Bridget's plan and success to kill the nazis in the cinema. 

Death Proof: The film is almost split into two parts, the first half we are met with 3 women, including their back stories.

- the first half the of the film we are met with 3 very sexualised women; Jungle Julia, Shanna, Arlene and also Pam. 

-these women have been 'Stalked' by Stuntman Mike 

- all of these women play on their sexuality to tease Mike

- this however does not end well for them 

In the second half...

- Stuntman Mike messes with the wrong women 

-although they are too sexual, they are also strong and powerful and do not let Stuntman Mike defeat them 

- Zoe, Kim, Abernathy and Lee 

List of controlling and powerful women & how the act/what they do to emasculate men:

Synopsis Draft

Basic ideas for my film:  

Black woman in drug war:

-sexually aware 

-dominating and powerful control over men 

 Summary: 

Black woman sitting on sofa, legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles; bare feet, smoking a joint

Black woman and man in a diner; she has the control of the conversation/ situation; sitting upright etc, he is slumped in the corner. 

Holding a gun to his crotch underneath the table ; phallic imagery, power and control ... Irrelevant conversation before he realises the gun and is shot

Black woman walks off like nothing has happened, goes to toilet to reapply lipstick, showing her control and not caring, his death an insignificance. 

Extreme close up shot of her eyes; fades into her eyes as a little girl; scene of her parents being killed by the man in the diner she is irreverent; curled up in the corner; flicks to her standing in the centre of the screen, the other people in the background blurred and behind her insignificantly (shallow shot). Lights up joint and smokes it, blowing smoke onto the screen. 

A strong woman who is strong due to her past. Based on the psycho analysis of Inglorious Basterds.

No linear structure

Characters: 

Black woman 

Man in diner

Parents : mother and father 

Black woman younger self 

Extras : women in background of mirror in diner 

.....................................................

Set in a diner but flashes back to scenes set in a child's bedroom 

Main character: Ida

Ida's partner: Levi

Ida's Father: Hugo

• Set in a diner at beginning
• Irrelevant conversation between a couple; the woman holding the power of the conversation, the man sitting further back and slumped, portraying his weakness and insignificance
• Extreme close up into female's eyes into another scene
• Zooms out of the females eyes, tear rolling down cheek
• Scene in child's bedroom
• She is in the corner, curled up hiding her face (signifying her lack of power and control) 
• Level framing showing mans clenched hand holding a belt, the girl in the background, blurred. 

Coursework planning

Synopsis; brief overview of the film

Screenplay; 5-10 pages of script (script buddy)
   Influenced by genre etc
   Divided into scenes
   When you change location or time period, a new scene must be started
   A new scene must include a slug line; telling us whether it's inside or outside, where it is, and                   time of day.
  Always written in present tense
  Name of the character who speaks must always be capitalised and centred above the speech
  Actor's direction in brackets under the character's name, used to describe the way something is said
  Camera angles are never mentioned in the screenplay

Recce Report (location report)
   Write about the location, why you have chosen this etc
    Link to thematic study
    Where it's found
    Why it's relevant/it's practicalities

Casting considerations
    Photography of the person being considered
    Include annotations as to why you would consider to use this person

Treatment 
   Talking/walking the person through the scene; this will happen then this
   Include camera shots
   Lighting etc
   Written in present tense

Layout for Key Frames
   Location
   Character behaviour
   Camera Angle/shot
   Lighting
   Mise-en-scene
   Links to research
   Rough Shot
   Include references or links to key texts

Essay Plan

Introduction explaining the focus of the essay

• I shall be looking at 6 primary texts directed by Quentin Tarantino; Pulp Fiction, Death Proof, Kill Bill vo1&2, Jackie Brown and Inglorious Basterds. 
• Does Quentin Tarantino represent women as macho and males as the feminine (the switching of stereotypical roles) 
• How accurate is Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' in relation to Tarantino's representation of women?
• Is Marjorie Ferguson and Trevor Millum's facial expression theory relevant to how Tarantino represents women?

As Jonathan Schroeder notes, 'Film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representations of women, the good life, and sexual fantasy from a male point of view' (Schroeder 1998, 208). http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/gaze/gaze09.html accessed on 17th September 2014. 


Description of key texts 

1. Pulp Fiction, 1994, Tarantino 

• The narrative begins with a couple in a diner (Honey Bunny and Pumpkin) In a matter of seconds the couple take over the diner in order to rob it for money. Instantly Tarantino has portray the first male/female relationship in the film with a dominant female. In the above shot, 'Honey Bunny' seems to be portrayed as the dominant in the relationship; not only does she have control of the conversation, but also control of the scene. She is nearest to the camera, sitting upright with good posture (this could indicate that she feels that she has the most power) where as 'Pumpkin' is 'slumped' in the corner of the booth, one may argue that this shot portrays the dominance and power that the female has over the submissive 'Pumpkin'. Again, in the second picture, she still has the power in the relationship/situation; she is in the centre of the shot, as well as the larger (blocking) this is portraying her dominance and female power.

          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jomr9SAjcyw accessed 17th September 2014.

• The narrative is not structured in a linear form, but jumps through time, this unwinds the plot of the text in a more complex route. 

• 2 hit men; Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfeld both work from Marsellus Wallace. Who has asked Vincent to take his wife out for a meal whilst he is out of town. 
• Butch is an ageing boxer who is paid by Marsellus to lose his next fight (however we later find out that this does not happen)
• Once we are introduced to Mia, we see Vincent's power deteriorate, as Mia's sexuality and confidence intimidates his masculinity. Mia is completely in control with the situation; she sucks on the straw of her milkshake as well as a red glaze cherry which seems to be symbolically seductive. Link these facial expressions to 'invitational' by Marjorie Ferguson

• After Mia Wallace 'OD's, none of the men are particularly 'heroic'. It is almost as if Tarantino has emasculated these men.
• Butch's partner Fabienne, arguably is not particularly strong, however she uses her 'innocent' sexuality to entice Butch into getting her own way, therefore one could argue that she does succeed in emasculating him. When Butch loses his temper with Fabienne for forgetting the watch (the one thing he asked for in particular) she weakens and becomes more 'feminine' and powerless. Fabienne uses this well as he quickly apologises to her and continues to be emasculated and under her control.  

• After a chase between Butch and Marcellus (because Butch did not lose the fight like Marcellus paid him to).  Butch runs into a gun shop (phallic imagery) who is later followed by Marcellus. This results into a 'kidnapping' and rape scene of the two men. Both Butch and Marcellus are extremely 'macho' characters, however this scene degrades and emasculates the men completely. The 'policeman' chooses who is to go first by singing 'eenie meenie minie moo, catch a nigger' by choosing who is to go first degrade them even more as it almost portrays them as being picked off the shelf. He also says 'nigger' which degrades the most powerful man in the hierarchy of the film. This could show Marcellus's loss of power and control in this scene, as it is most likely that he would not let this man get away with calling him that, previously  (refer back to pushing the man off of the building for giving his wife a foot rub.) relating back to the question; does Tarantino portray men as the feminine and women as the macho? In this scene Tarantino plays around with gender stereotypes. Usually it is the weak female who is raped, it is very very rare to see a male being raped in a film, especially as Tarantino has included two of the most masculine in the film, not only have they been raped and degraded, but it was done in a very grotesque 'masculine' way involving  a gimp and bondage items. 
• Butch soon escapes however he contemplates and goes back to get Marcellus. He holds a large Samuari sword to the policeman's neck, one could argue this is an extremely obvious portrayal of phallic imagery, especially when combined with Butch 'teasing' or tempting the policeman to pick up the gun near to him, (a gun is also a symbol of phallic imagery) however this emasculates the policeman as he knows if he touches this gun he will be killed. 
• We see Marcellus gain power within next shot as he rises in the background. He is holding a large, long gun and shoots the policeman. Marcellus is the one who was raped, as the two men chose him first, Marcellus shots the man in the low stomach which does not kill him. Marcellus speaks which emasculates the man as he has now lost all of his dominance, power and control. He speaks in 'medieval' / caveman terms about his revenge to this man, which helps Marcellus gain back his position in the hierarchy. He is also shot in the centre of the frame, the audience can clearly see the positioning of the phallic gun, which also helps to contribute to his regaining of power. The frame seems to have been shot as a point of view shot, as it looks up from underneath Marcellus; also highlighting the regaining of power. This is the point of view from the policeman who is crouched on the floor, his position is extremely weakened as the point of view shot portrays. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWkN3akP3cU accessed 17th September 2014

2. Death Proof, 2007, Tarantino

"If he likes the way you move. He decides the way you die." Spoken during the trailer, 'you' is directed at the audience which the marjority would be women so they connect with the main female characters. 

The film is almost split into two. The first half the women are all victims and killed; they tease and entice with their sexuality which eventually leads to their death. 

The second half, stuntman Mike messes with the wrong women. Although these women do not act much differently when portraying their sexuality, the are strong and the powerful, dominant women. They eventually kill stuntman Mike in reverse. One could argue that this is a portrayal of Tarantino switching the stereotypical roles of males and females. In the first half Tarantino portrays the stereotypical weak female; because they flaunt their sexuality this results in their downfall/harmatia; in this case it is their death. Stuntman Mike gets away with this being the stereotypical caveman. In he second half stuntman Mike meets with the new type of liberated woman they use their sexuality to the same extent as the previous trio, however they are not defeated by stuntman Mike; his death and their restrain results in his emasculation. The previous women did not fight back in comparison to the last threesome. 

In the opening scene, Tarantino uses an extreme close up shot of one of the first three girls holding her crotch because she needs the toilet. This is almost a form of exploitation as this is not commonly seen or known that women do. The extreme close up could portray her confidence with her sexuality 

One may also say that this shot seems to capture a more sexual, almost pornographic view rather than 'needing the toilet'. This is the first portrayal of the females sexuality 

Jackie Brown, 1997 

Interview with Tarantino, Jackie Brown DVD, 1997 'looking back on Jackie Brown' 

The aims of the research: details of what you are seeking to find out / subject question 



Bibliography / Filmography
http://www.slideshare.net/fleckneymike/the-male-gaze-laura-mulvey accessed 17th September 2014. 
http://www.slideshare.net/KatiebethjessTrotter/presentation1-26943740?next_slideshow=1 accessed 17th September 2014.

Essay Structure

2500-300 words

• Introduction explaining the focus of the essay (max. 300 words)

• Description of the key texts, primary and secondary (max. 200 words)

         Excellent analysis of primary texts/films

         Excellent ability to construct and communicate

• The aims of the research: details of what you are seeking to find out in the form of a hypothesis or a series of research question. -the representation of women in Tarantino films/ the representation of men in Tarantino films/ Does Tarantino switch the roles between males and females; women as the macho and males as feminine. 3-4 subject questions.  (paragraphs separated into research question sub headings (600-800 words per sub heading) Smaller conclusion per research question)

          Excellent analysis of primary texts/films 

          Excellent background knowledge of investigation in terms secondary terms 

          Excellent understanding of ideas and theories established by critics. 

          Excellent conclusion of findings 

          Very few errors 

          Excellent presentation of findings and form of presentation demonstrates creativity through         structure, quotes, fonts and stills

• A bibliography (references from sources) filmography (primary texts/films that have been looked at)

          Excellent referencing of sources; with correct publications 

Student Friendly Mark Scheme

Level 4 32-40 marks:

• Excellent analysis of primary sources/films
• Excellent background knowledge of investigation in terms of secondary research sources
• Excellent understanding of ideas and theories established by critics. (Analysis of the films will be connected to the theories, ideas and films)
• Excellent presentation of of findings and form of presentation demonstrates creativity; use of stills/screenshots, quotes, fonts and structure. 
• Excellent conclusions/evaluation of findings
• Very few errors
• Excellent ability to communicate and construct
• Excellent referencing of sources; with detailed publishing information
• Excellent use of terminology, applied with confidence. 

Footnote: Microsoft word; footnote numbering 

Intial and Surname, book's name, (year of publication; who published) OR website url; accessed dated 

Is Tarantino's portrayal of women supporting feminism or portrayingthem as macho?/How does the representation of gender vary throughoutQuentin Tarantino's films?

1. Pulp Fiction
http://www.btchflcks.com/2012/12/the-gender-situation-in-pulp-fiction.html#.VA74KkrXjH0
"Vincent tells Jules that Marcellus asked him to take his wife Mia out, and it’s clear that this woman invokes intimidation in men. Vincent goes to Lance’s house (his drug dealer) to purchase some heroin. He self-medicates before going to pick up Mia. She’s left a note on the door to come in, and she watched Vincent enter the house on security camera footage and speaks to him over an intercom. She is god-like in this scene (and while it fits the narrative, we know that Uma Thurman is also a god/muse to Tarantino)."
"“Truth is, nobody knows why Marsellus threw Tony out of that fourth-story window except Marsellus and Tony. When you little scamps get together, you’re worse than a sewing circle.”

Here, the men are gossiping and being “silly,” which are most often the stereotyped flaws of female characters."

When he’s back at the hotel room with his girlfriend Fabienne, the two share intimate moments and comedic dialogue. Fabienne seems silly and child-like, but Butch is sweet and respectful to her (although he erupts when he realizes she’s forgotten the watch, he quickly apologizes and says he was to blame). As she’s lying on the bed wishing for a pot belly, she says:

Jules and Vincent have been scrubbed clean and left to look like “dorks,” somehow emasculated without their black suits.

“I don’t give a damn what men find attractive. It’s unfortunate what we find pleasing to the touch and pleasing to the eye is seldom the same.”

When they drop the cleaned-out car to Monster Joe’s Truck and Tow, Joe’s daughter Racquel comes to meet them. The Wolf says, “Someday, all this will be hers.” This is a nod to the next generation of gender roles–whether it be women running junk yards, crime rings or killing sprees, Tarantino’s women are not shut in dainty boxes.

2. Death Proof


Molly Haskell, From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in Movies (1974) "she suggested that film reflects society and vice versa and in so doing reflects the ideological and social construction of women who are either to be revered (as the Virgin) or reviled (as the whore)" The women are sexualised in Death Proof and are murdered due to this.
Like the previous women, they are also targeted by Stuntman Mike, and subsequently chased and attacked. But this time, the women are on par with their aggressor—they can drive just as fast, and they’re just dangerous as him. The car chase between Stuntman Mike and the women is incredibly exciting, because now the roles have been reversed—the women are the ones chasing Stuntman Mike, creeping up on him the same way he stalked and crept up on the previous women, and when they catch up they’re not forgiving. As much criticism this movie has received, when you watch the women exulting at the end, there’s no doubt that this is a movie for women, and not against them.
http://www.btchflcks.com/2013/11/revenge-of-the-pussycats-an-ode-to-tarantino-and-his-women.html#.VA8Lq0rXjH0





 3.Kill Bill Vo1/2
the lead character, and many other characters are females, which is unusual for an action-based film. The protagonist of the film is ‘The Bride’, played by Uma Thurman.
http://www.studiohem.com/richardhemery/essay-femalerepresentationincinema.htm

 5.Jackie Brown

Rough ideas for coursework titles

1. Quentin Tarantino's influences of films portrayed throughout his own
    -Django: inspired by the 1966 'Django', Franco Nero/spaghetti westerns
    -Kill Bill: Japanese samurai

http://whatculture.com/film/quentin-tarantino-definitive-guide.php/164

2. The portrayal of female stereotypes in Tarantino films/Is Tarantino's portrayal of women supporting feminism or portraying them as macho?
    -Kill Bill
    -Death Proof
    -Pulp Fiction
    - Jackie Brown

    - inglorious bastards 

Jonathan Schroeder 'film has been called an instrument of the male gaze, producing representing women, the good life and sexual fantasy from a male point of view ' aber.ac.uk

According to Mulvey 'the male gaze occurs when the audience is put into the perspective of a heterosexual man' - does this link to the question etc 

http://www.btchflcks.com/2013/11/revenge-of-the-pussycats-an-ode-to-tarantino-and-his-women.html#.VAcuoo2wKsY
http://www.heroinecontent.net/archives/2007/12/kill_bill_vol_1_and_kill_bill.html

3. The stereotypical portrayal of the disabled in films/ does the era/period effect the stereotype of the disabled?
     -What's eating Gilbert Grape, Lasse Hallstrom, 1993
     -Freaks, Tod Browning, 1932
     -Rain Main, Barry Levinson, 1988
     -The Elephant Man, David Lynch, 1980
     -The Black Swan, Darren Aronofsky, 2010

http://tabithars.wordpress.com/2010/05/04/portrayal-of-people-with-disabilities-in-film-the-evolution-and-the-stereotypes/


4. Compare the sexualised portrayal of women in Sam Mendes' 'American Beauty' to the portrayal of Orson Welles' 'Lady from Shanghai'
      -Does the period effect the portrayal?

http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/10/orson-welles-london-film-festival-lady-shanghai
http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/essays/progressive.asp
http://sbccfilmreviews.org/?p=12163


5. Controversial films: what is it that makes this controversial; the period/era, age, or topic etc?/ Compare Stanley Kubrick's contribution to controversial films in comparison to .. 
    -Lolita, Stanley Kubrick, 1962
    -Rocky Horror Picture Show, Jim Sharman, 1975
    -Clockwork Orange, Stanley Kubrick

http://richflaherty.com/clockwork/controversy.html