Quentin Tarantino Telling His Critics to 'Suck a Dick' Should Be Music to Everyone's Ears
Joe Rogan: "Another thing that got controversial about Once Upon a Time in Hollywood was the Bruce Lee scene. A lot of people felt like you made Bruce Lee into an asshole."
Quentin Tarantino: “Yeah, OK. I'm a little hesitant to talk about this because I don't want this to be the only thing people pull from this show. ... Where I’m coming from is, I can understand his daughter having a problem with it, it’s her fucking father! I get that. But anybody else? Go suck a dick.”
My apologies to Tarantino for contributing to this being the only thing people talk about from his appearance on Rogan's show. So urge everyone to catch the rest of the podcast and talk about other things. But this? This answer needs to be chiseled in granite or written on parchment and kept in hermetically sealed glass and put on display in the Smithsonian and taught to school children. (OK, maybe older school children.) The point being, the sentiment expressed here is important. More important now than probably at any point in our nation's history.
Just so we can define what we're talking about here, this is the scene they're referring to. Just in case you lived a sad, wasted life where you don't see Tarantino films:
(Just as a personal aside, I saw OUATIH at the theater in it's opening weekend. On a date night. Roger Ebert said that you shouldn't marry someone who doesn't love the same movies you do, because eventually that person will stop loving you, too. My discerning Irish Rose loves Tarantino movies and has never seen The Notebook. No brags, just facts. I'm one of the lucky ones. Now back to the blog.)
Does this portrayal of Bruce Lee make him seem like kind of an asshole? Sure. Should his daughter object to it? Of course. Why not? Should anyone who doesn't have his name on their birth certificate who's also outraged about it be told to "suck a dick" by the man who wrote and directed the scene? Abso-damn-lutely.
First of all, like he goes on to further explain, Tarantino did his homework. He's been obsessing about movies since he was a kid, saw all the Bruce Lee films and read the books. His takeaway was that real Lee was arrogant and full of himself. Which, in my humble opinion, he had every right to be. The guy was the best there ever was in an entire film genre. His work in movies like Enter the Dragon is still legendary 50 years later. He kicked infinite amounts of fictional ass, one henchman at a time, and looked amazing doing it.
Secondly, and more importantly, Tarantino is telling a story. The way he wants to tell it. He's not holding a gun at anyone, strapping them to a theater seat A Clockwork Orange-style and forcing them to watch. And in exchange, you don't get to demand an apology when you don't like the story he's telling or the way he's telling it.
That's how this has to go in order for the whole thing to work. People who express themselves creatively need to say, "Here. I made this thing. React to it however you will, but it's still mine. And this is what I wanted to say." The One responsible for the most famous book of all time did it that way. The book is called "Genesis." God created heaven and Earth and he said it was good. He created the land and the sea, and he said it was good. He didn't check the comments section or look for the scores from the Yelp reviewers. And for sure He didn't apologize for making the oceans all salty and filling them full of things that will eat us.
At the risk of putting too fine a point on this or getting political, this sentiment is something to keep in mind as we head into Independence Day. The whole idea of being free to say what you want shouldn't just be limited to a king, an elected official or a government employee. It has to apply to the mob as well. We have to give each other space to do say what they want, including telling the public to "suck a dick," figuratively and literally.
Granted, one of the things that make Rogan and Tarantino so good at what they do is that they've got something more valuable than even Fuck You money. They've gotten to the point where they have Fuck You cache. Loyal audiences that appreciate their candor and want them to have all the latitude they need to keep doing what they do. And who don't want to see them apologize for anything just to please unpleasable people who won't be satisfied no matter what they do.
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As yet another 4th of July approaches - and I think for me it's my 16th or 17th since I started at Barstool - I'm proud as hell to say I work for a company that's on the leading edge of that. We'll own up to our mistakes, for sure. And we have. But when the Professional Outrage Lobby demands we bend the knee for entertaining the public in ways they don't care for, they too will be told to "suck a dick." Or words to that effect. And if that right doesn't exist for all of us, it exists for none of us. So thank you for your service, QT.