To what does the title of Reservoir Dogs refer?
It's explained in the first line of the movie, and in this thread.
A reservoir is a lake, a special kind of lake because it is not natural. It has been walled up my man. A dog is the opposite of a cat, sometimes referred to as a pussy cat.
In the opening scene, Mr Brown, not coincidentally played by Quentin Tarantino, talks about how the song Like a Virgin was basically a metaphor for big dicks. Morning, noon, and night, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick, dick.
How many dicks is that?
Of course, we all laugh. But if you count, you realize, that's eight dicks. Joe, Eddie, Mr. White, Mr. Pink, Mr. Blonde, Mr. Orange, Mr Blue and Mr Brown. How many dicks is that?
Now, Madonna told Quentin he was wrong. Quentin knew he was wrong, which is why he had Joe finish his Chinese name search with a confident "Wong", immediately after Brown finished his speech on Like a Virgin.
Madonna's song is about love, or more specifically, a woman experiencing sex for the first time on the emotional level. In society, a person loses their virginity when they experience sex on the purely physical level. Of course, in humans, there is a huge emotional level, that mainly relates towards women, but is important in men to.
Madonna said that she was "Like a Virgin" because while her pussy was no longer naturally blocked, it was now metaphorically blocked. These guys were Reservoir Dogs because their emotions were damned up so far inside them, and it was a man-made damn. They were dogs because that is the opposite of cats.
The whole movie is a metaphor for big dicks, basically. Or more accurately, an example of a world where women are treated solely as base objects. (BTW, I am a straight man). Maybe it was a metaphor for homosexuality, but I don't think so.
They talk about "The Night the Lights went out in Georgia" next, I don't know that song well enough to analyze it, but I do know that the only prominent woman in this movie was the one who shot Mr. Orange, thus ruining the whole caper. Then they get into the whole waitress/tipping thing. In short, the best way to show you appreciate a woman? Give her money. And the best way she can be nice to you? Take you in the back and blow you.
Their names were all chosen carefully. Mr. Pink and Mr. Brown were the most obvious. Mr. Pink was a pussy, doing what he did solely for himself. Mr. Brown was the color of shit. His explanation of Like A Virgin was so off, so anti-woman, that's it's no wonder that when he died, he said he was blind, but Mr. Orange corrected him. "You're not blind, you just have blood in your eyes." And what is the most common reason blood can't reach the brain in men?
Mr. Blonde. Fancy way of dressing up something terrible. Blonde is seen as an attractive color for women, but all it really is is yellow, a color so despicable for a man that Joe had to remind Mr. Pink to be thankful that he wasn't Mr. Yellow. And, Mr. Blonde was a coward. His attack on Marvin Nash (gnashing ones teeth is a sign of sexual frustration) was a metaphor for a rape scene, which is why the camera turned away when he cut off the ear. We turn our head away from these things. No wonder Eddie said he did his time 'like a man' at the end, even though he had earlier made fun of him for taking it up the ass.
Mr. White and Mr. Orange. Mr. White is kind of the combination of every color. The explanation of Like a Virgin is really the explanation of the White/Orange relationship. White is feeling something he hasn't felt in years. Notice he has been shot and just killed two of his oldest friends, but the cry he let out when Orange told him he was a cop was one of pure anguish.
Undecided on the Orange meaning, though. Maybe a mix of red (anger) and yellow (cowardice)? Don't know. Mr. Blue, of course, was a sad, old man.
'Nice Guy' Eddie. Typical nice guy. Yells at the guys for beating on the cop, then kills the same cop later when the need serves him.
Joe. Something to do with the Thing, I think. Still researching RD. |
