Quentin Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood (2019) is a comedy-drama that represents the alternate history of one famous event. An alternate history narration is a subgenre of science fiction that tries to answer the question “what if,” providing an alternative view on the same historical event (Schneider-Mayerson, 2009, p. 63). The alternate history genre occurred as a marginal category and grew to a popular genre in the United States. Alternate histories aim to “tell a different story in traditional way” and to “reinforce western notions of historiographical subjectivity” (Schneider-Mayerson, 2009, p. 67). Tarantino is playing with history in a skeptic and somewhat nihilistic way, distorting the lives of real figures portrayed in his film (Heer, 2019, para. 5). Moreover, he utilizes the Great Man theory to make the movie even more meaningful and evocative.
This paper is going to reply to the following research question: Hoes does Tarantino use alternate history and the Great Man Theory in the film? The first assumption is that he uses them to criticize common Hollywood film endings and remind the audience that happy endings are possible only in motion pictures. The second assumption is that he gives a new life to his favorite actress, Sharon Tate, and creates an ode to the 60s’ Hollywood cinematography that no longer exists. The third assumption is that Tarantino uses the Great Man Theory to endow one of the characters with the qualities of a great man to contrast him to another ‘great man’, Charles Manson, and demonstrate that great leaders can be both heroes and villains. The research paper will try to discover whether these assumptions are true or wrong.
Plot Summary
Tarantino’s film describes the events of 1969 when the actor Rick Dalton (Leonardo DiCaprio) experiences the fall of his career due to his alcoholism. The actions occur in Los Angeles, and the movie’s protagonist laments to his best friend and a stuntman Cliff Booth (Brad Pitt), that his television career is over. Booth is a war veteran who tries to increase his friend’s self-confidence. At the beginning of the film, the actress Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) and her husband, Roman Polanski (Rafał Zawierucha), have moved into the neighboring house. When Rick finds this out, he wants to befriend this couple and restore his name and career with Polanski’s help.
Further scenes describe Dalton’s attempts to revive his career, casting him as a villain in one Western television series. After that, the protagonist is invited to perform a leading role in Spaghetti Western Nebraska Jim that will be filmed in Italy. Dalton takes Booth with him for six months, films three other movies, marries an Italian starlet, and informs his friend that he can no longer afford his services. At the end of the film, when Dalton and Booth are back in Los Angeles, Manson’s adherents plan to kill everyone in Tate’s house, claiming that Hollywood films have “taught them to murder” (Heyman et al., 2019). The motion picture ends with Booth injured and taken away to receive health care, while Dalton accepts Tate and Sebring’s invitation to have a drink.
Facts about Alternate History
An alternate history is a form of narration that tries to answer what the history would have been if some events had been different. The name of this concept is misguiding because alternate history is not history but fiction since it describes an alternative reality that has never existed. According to Hellekson (2001), “the alternate history relies on cause and effect” and “assumes that an event in the past caused our present” (p. 1747). In cinematography, filmmakers use alternate history to show that the present has changed because past events did not occur the way people know it (Hellekson, 2001, p. 1747). The alternate history helps filmmakers rewrite historical events and make viewers reconsider past actions and understand how the universe has turned out to be what it is.
Tarantino’s Alternate History
In Tarantino’s film, Tate’s tragic story is represented as a fairy tale with a happy ending. In reality, Sharon Tate, Jay Sebring, Wojciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, and Steven Parent were killed by Tex Watson, Susan Atkins, Linda Kasabian, and Patricia Krenwinkel under the impact of Charles Manson, the leader of the Manson Family (Williams, 2019, para. 5). However, the movie changes these events, avenging and averting the murderers. The filmmaker punishes Manson Family members, depicting them as gullible fools who fail to complete their mission and are mocked afterward.
One more interesting detail in the film is that Sharon Tate is a secondary personage, although the film is about the story of her murder. The woman is shown from a historically insignificant perspective. She has an ordinary life and is not doing many things in the movie. For example, in one scene, Tate meets with her friends, while in another set, she attends the screening of The Wrecking Crew, in which she was an actress and enjoys the viewers’ response (Heyman et al., 2019). Instead of depicting the character as a protagonist and focusing on the events that might have led to the murder, Tarantino decides to show the lives of Dalton and Booth in more detail. This decision can be explained by the director’s desire to give Tate a second life in his film and change her reality. In such a way, he reminds the audience about such a persona without focusing on her death.
The role of Dalton is also important in this alternate history. In the film, he symbolizes a fading Hollywood cinematography that will end soon and never be the same. Tarantino gives the character a chance to revive his career when he settles Tate and Polanski in the neighborhood. Although Dalton does not fulfill his dream to befriend Polanski during the film, he manages to do it in the final scene. After the terrible events in Dalton’s house, he finally gets to know Sharon Tate, talking to her over the intercom on the street. Her voice invites Dalton to her house to meet her friends and relax after a crazy night. This moment denotes that Dalton’s dream will come true, and his career will continue to prosper, while the Hollywood 60s’ cinematography will never die.
On the one hand, Tarantino’s alternate reality may be associated with a refusal to face history. He does not want to accept that Tate and other people were killed, and he avoids depicting the real terror in which Manson and his team were engaged. On the other hand, this alternate history is an attempt to reveal the power of cinematography to influence and change human lives. Although the director cannot save one’s life and change history, he allows those who are dead to live again and those who are alive to watch and think of an alternative reality.
The Great Man Theory
Tarantino’s film can be analyzed from the perspective of the Great Man theory. According to Spector (2016), the Great Man theory is “an assertion that certain individuals, certain men, are gifts from God placed on earth to provide the lightening needed to uplift human existence” (p. 250). The founder of this theory was the historian Thomas Carlyle who believed that such features as “attractiveness, commandants, credibility, high initiative, reasoning ability, courage and action” distinguished great men from other people (Uslu, 2019, p. 163). Having applied this theory to Tarantino’s motion picture, one can suggest that Cliff Booth can be regarded as a great man.
The role of a stuntman is often underestimated in films and real life. The characters of Cliff Booth and Rick Dalton were inspired by the stuntman Hal Needham and actor Burt Reynolds (Langmann, 2019, para. 2). Not much is known about Hal Needham’s life despite his remarkable personality. Thus, Tarantino decided that his character was worthy of viewers’ attention. In reality, Hal Needham was known for his “fast and furious-level stunts”: he jumped “from a rock, 30 feet in the air, onto a moving stagecoach – without any padding” (Langmann, 2019, para. 6). Moreover, the man broke 56 bones throughout his career and continued to perform stunts even after it (Langmann, 2019, para. 5). In the movie, however, Tarantino does not focus on Booth’s stunts. Instead, the filmmaker portrays the stuntman as a great man, a true hero, and a fearless leader.
Booth can be considered a great man because he possesses nuance, confidence, charisma, strength, and hilarity. Unlike Dalton, who abuses alcohol and complains of his purposelessness and worthlessness, Booth is always calm and self-confident. He is a good and supportive friend to Dalton, and the last one admits it: “Hey! You’re a good friend, Cliff. – I try” (Heyman et al., 2019). To remind Dalton that he is a famous actor, Booth uses his charisma, saying, “Hey! You’re Rick fucking Dalton. Don’t you forget it” (Heyman et al., 2019). He is a leader who guides his friend and makes him perform his roles better. Despite his criminal past (the film mentions that Booth has killed his wife), the stuntman seems to regret this act and behaves as a courageous and loyal man.
One more example of Booth’s decency and nobility can be seen in the scene with a hippie hitchhiker girl. When the girl asks him to give her a lift home, he agrees and invites her to the car. On their way, the girl demonstrates indecent behavior and offers “to suck [his] […] while driving” (Heyman et al., 2019). In this scene, Booth demonstrates his adult behavior and an ability to control his instincts. He is not charmed by the girl’s silliness and immature sexual appetite. On the contrary, Booth remains in possession of himself under any circumstances. Moreover, the man does not simply reject her offer but provides her with a reason for such a decision. He says that he does not want to spend his life in prison because of the defilement of the girl. In such a way, Booth does not hurt her feelings and lets her down as an adult decent and noble man.
What is more, Tarantino uses alternate history to emphasize the role of Booth as a great man. As a stuntman, Booth is dependent on Dalton because he has a job only when Dalton has it. However, he does not give up even when Dalton laments over his fate. Instead, Booth maintains optimism and tries to joke in any situation. For example, in the final scenes, where Booth encounters three members of the Manson Family, he makes fun of Tex’s name: “[Tex]: – I’m the Devil. And I’m here to do the Devil’s business. [Cliff Booth]: – …Nah, it was dumber than that. Something like Rex” (Heyman et al., 2019). The man is not confused at the unexpected guests with weapons. On the contrary, he is assured of his power and behaves like a hero. In this episode, Booth proves his friendship and loyalty to Dalton, defending the homestead brutally and hilariously. After the final fight scene, Booth obtains the title of a hero and can be considered the great man worth worshipping.
Some may argue that Cliff Booth is not a great man because of his criminal past and manslaughter. Unlike such historical personalities as Jesus Christ, Napoleon, Winston Churchill, or Prophet Muhammad, Booth does not guide thousands of people and does not seem to be an innate leader (Uslu, 2019, p. 163). However, he is a leading figure in this movie and possesses the characteristics of a great man. Moreover, he serves as an antithesis to the ‘great man’ Charles Manson, whose cult was strong in 1969. Manson was a murderous cult leader, but his figure is almost uncovered in the movie. He might consider himself a great man because he believed that he could impress the world with such a murder. Susan Atkins, who participated in that event, reported, “we wanted to do a crime that would shock the world, that the world would have to stand up and take notice” (Geller, 2019, para. 3). One can see that Manson Family members treated their leader as a great man. In the film, however, Booth demonstrates that he is a real great man while Manson and his followers are a failure.
The Subtext and Hidden Meaning of Tarantino’s Film
Tarantino’s film Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is not only about alternate history and the Great Man Theory. The motion picture is also about a change in Hollywood cinematography. Tarantino likes to create modest films that do not cost much but bring good money. However, in his movie, he shows that it will be impossible to produce such films in the nearest future. With the development of modern technologies and special effects, the work of actors and stunt performers is not as valuable as it was several decades ago. In the film, Cliff Booth loses his job as a stuntman and becomes Dalton’s assistant and driver. In such a way, the filmmaker tries to show that computer graphics and special effects substitute stunt performers, and modern Hollywood cinematography loses its previous charm.
Moreover, the filmmaker’s decision to revise the history of Sharon Tate and the Manson Family also has a hidden meaning. As mentioned above, Tarantino created an alternate reality for Tate in his film, saving her from death and punishing her murderers. In such a way, he commemorates “Tate and a Hollywood that no longer exists” (Gallagher, 2019, para. 8). In the movie, the filmmaker does not explain the real motivation of the Manson Family to kill Tate. Instead, he portrays this group of people as rather stupid and purposeless individuals. While in reality, Manson Family were white supremacists, and they killed Tate to incite a race war, in the film, they had a different reason for murder (Gallagher, 2019, para. 14). However, Tarantino did not touch upon Black representation and racism because he had another goal when creating this motion picture. The film’s happy ending corresponds with its title, thus indicating that it was a fairy tale in which terrible people are conquered while good people escape harm.
Another interesting moment of the film that has a hidden meaning is a misrepresentation of a fifteen-year-old ‘hippie’ girl Pussy Cat. The author portrays her as a sexually emancipated girl whose nude body and sexual history arouse ambiguous feelings. First, Tarantino may seem to judge the exploitative and self-destructive nature of hippies. However, his true intention was to depict how this girl “was abused by Charles Manson and his cult” (Luk, 2021, para. 3). Moreover, on the Spahn Ranch, the Manson girls are malnourished and beaten, crying for help in their eyes but waiting for a better future their cult leader had promised to them. One can see that the film demonstrates the flaws and immorality of Hollywood of those times. At the same time, it indulges in offensive and exploitative pomposity.
Conclusion
Alternate history in films is a subgenre of science fiction aimed to create an alternative reality for the events in the real world. Quentin Tarantino’s movie Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood is a great example of this subgenre that depicts a new reality for Sharon Tate. Having analyzed the film, one can conclude that all three assumptions made at the beginning of the paper are true. In the motion picture, the filmmaker uses alternate history to criticize common Hollywood film endings, demonstrating that happy endings can be only on a screen. In addition, leaving the actress alive and untouched, he gives a new sense to her life in the viewers’ eyes. Finally, the terrible event that changed the history of Hollywood cinematography is shown as a scornful and meaningless episode that has no impact on it.
The Great Man Theory can also be applied to the film. Tarantino has endowed Cliff Booth with the qualities of a great man: charisma, nobility, decency, leadership, confidence, and hilarity. Moreover, this character is an antithesis to the ‘great man’ Charles Manson, a cult leader in the 1960s. In the movie, the stuntman is portrayed as the main hero, a man who saves his best friend from death, rebuffing uninvited guests without embarrassment. In such a way, Booth obtains the title of a great man, dwarfing Manson’s leadership renown. In conclusion, the film serves as a second chance for Tarantino’s favorite actress to enjoy the life she had never had and remain in viewers’ hearts and memory as an always young and light person.
References
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