'Jackie Brown' (1997) is a crime thriller directed by Quentin Tarantino and Within its 154 minutes, many thriller conventions and stereotypes are referenced and subverted, particularly in relation to stereotypes of women, criminals and African Americans within Thrillers and within society. Tarantino, known for his referential style and wit, plays with and satirises many of the hallmarks of the films from genres as diverse as Film Noirs to Westerns, weaving a diverse tapestry of inter-textuality and film history. Jackie Brown is perhaps one of the best examples of Tarantino's directing at its most referential, calling back heavily to the Blaxploitation film movement of the 1970s, with its primarily black cast and funk and soul soundtrack. A diverse range of narrative and visual techniques are used to reference a wide range of conventions within the genre and film history.
With such a short time limit available to produce the piece, there was unfortunately little or no room for characterisation and back story, as attempting to flesh out the characters would distract too much from the action and leave little time for other more thrilling aspects of the piece. Also, the limited pool for acting talent restricted our options at more emotionally intense scenes. These factors limited the piece to characters who had to be immediate and simple, which was unfortunate. This made it harder for to write interesting, engaging, and unclichéd characters to set the piece apart. To counter this, we had to think about character types that were by definition, different and engaging, rather than building upon other ones, something we're not able to do. 3 character types were developed in mind of these guidelines, with many possible ideas being discussed.
The Photographer/Voyeur-Grace Weiss(Witness):
- Called Grace in reference to Grace Kelly in 'Rear Window' (1954) who plays a similar, innocent witness character. and also peaceful, calm nature of the name. Surname Weiss in reference to white, the colour of purity and innocence.
- Innocent and unknowing? stumbles upon murder accidentally, doesn't want to get involved in incident but is drawn in.
- male or female, unimportant, but vulnerable to female character, so must have feminine qualities. could be male to challenge stereotypes (man weaker than woman) but female should be used, as harder to present man as feminine to audience.
- has quality photographers equipment, devoted to photography, skilled in photography but less so in other things.
- less carefully dressed, more vulnerable and weak.
- can see the murder happening and want to pry into it, cause own fate by staying and attracting attention.
- Accidentally photographs/witnesses murder like Thomas in Blow up or Jeffries in Rear window.
- Teenage, similar age to target audience, relatable.
- Protagonist, easy for audience to relate with and fear for character.
