10 Most Disturbing Backstories Behind Quentin Tarantino Movie Side Characters
In the words of Mr. Wolf "Because you are a character doesn't mean that you have character."
Tarantino certainly isn't everybody's cup of tea. His movies are riddled with violence, filled with offensive language and inundated with images of women's feet - yeah, Tarantino has a foot fetish. Despite all the gratuitous references to the darker sides of society, there's no denying he's one of the greats.
His dialogue is sharp and engaging, his depiction of violence is graphic but stylised and his use of music is devastatingly affective. His films have such a distinctive look and feel to them, that the term "Tarantinoesque" was added to the Oxford dictionary in 2018. This guy has a monopoly on 'cool cinema'.
Part of the guy's brilliance is the detailed thought he puts into creating his own world. He's invented his own brand of cigarettes and dropped in references to the fictional Big Kahuna Burger whenever fitting. But his world building isn't limited to product placement. Whether he includes the details or not, his characters all have rich and sordid pasts, adding that extra depth to his movies.
10. Big John Brittle
When Tarantino laid out the premise for Django Unchanged, the prospect of seeing a freed slave dole out some western style justice had serious entertainment potential. There was also a decent chance we were going to be exposed to some pretty harrowing scenes, given the subject matter, though.
As expected, Django received the same old criticism usually levelled at this director: the violence was gratuitous, the language was obscene, and the handling of the subject matter was insensitive.
We saw Leonardo DiCaprio and Samual L. Jackson portray the most reprehensible characters of their careers, but it went with the territory. Set a story in the Deep South during the height of the slave trade and you're going to run into some questionable individuals.
Big John Brittle was no exception. A sadistic slave driver, who took pleasure in whipping his charges, he stood out for exhibiting a religious fever - hinting at a much darker backstory.
One quote he's heard muttering: "and the Lord said to fear ye and the dread of ye shall be on the beasts of the earth" is taken from the story of Noah - when God gave him dominion over the animals of the world. This alluded to the wider practise used by slavers, who manipulated religious scripture to exert their dominion over the slaves they deemed like animals.