Black Mamba: The Female Badass

1535 Words4 Pages

What defines a real “Badass?” Most will agree that this label applies to a tough and rebellious individual who follows his own path. However, this term is inherently masculine as it involves rough qualities associated with a powerful male. In Jack Katz’s analysis in “Ways of the Badass,” he refers only to males when he deconstructs the persona of this strong character. Despite this imbedded conception, can a female be considered a badass if she possesses the associated qualities? In Quentin Tarantino’s action film Kill Bill Volume 1, the main character seeking revenge through many brutal murders is not a man, but a strong and dominant female. Using Katz’s three levels of the ways of a badass, this female badass persona can be proven through the toughness, detachment and aggression portrayed by her character.

As suggested by the title, the main plotline of Tarantino’s film revolves around killing Bill; despite the bluntness of the title, the movie goes beyond merely focusing on this one event. The nameless main character, given the titles of “the bride” and “Black Mamba,” narrates the story, guiding the audience from her past experiences and background knowledge, through her present actions. The plot begins with the murder of the main character at her most important time of her life: her wedding day. Her previous ties with the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad and its leader, Bill, catch up with her when she decides to escape her past and start a new life. However, on that bloody wedding, she is the only one to survive, remaining in a coma for four years. After waking up and realizing the brutal events on her wedding day, she later realizes that something more important than her structured life was taken from her: her unborn baby...

... middle of paper ...

...such thing as a real female badass? The answer to this once-debatable question is “yes,” as the once stereotypical vulnerable female character of the Bride transforms to represent the epitome of the badass through her alternate persona, Black Mamba. She overturns the assumption that real badasses are male by depicting all aspects of Katz’s tiers of being a badass. Black Mamba shows her toughness through her physical appearance and through her knowledge in offensive fighting and martial arts, generally male dominated sports. The process of becoming independent and detached develops from her broken past, which portrays her alien persona. With both of these qualities, she becomes mean and displays little sympathy for her victims. From her breaking point in the hospital to the end, she retains these badass qualities, proving that she, as a female, is a genuine badass.

Show More
Related

  • Analysis: The Initiation Of A Maasai Warrior

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Maasai society, genital cutting is a rite of passage from childhood to adulthood, and both men and women go through the process of circumcision. As society ages, opinions on cultural norms change. This is true for the Maasai society, where the views on female circumcision have and are changing. Female circumcision is classified into three categories, and defined by the World Health Organization, Type I is the removal of the foreskin on the vagina, Type II is the removal of the clitoris, and Type III is the removal of all external genitalia with the stitching or narrowing of the vaginal opening (“New Study”). Traditionally in the Maasai society, women underwent Type II or Type III circumcision. Written in 1988, “The Initiation of a Maasai Warrior,” by Tepilit Ole Saitoi, and is an autobiographical story of Saitoti’s circumcision in his initiation to a warrior. Though his story mainly focuses on the male circumcision part of the Maasai society, women’s circumcision and other basic traditions are discussed. Throughout the short story, the topic of circumcision and the rite of passage, both long- standing traditions in the Maasai society, are central themes.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Tough Guise 2

    707 Words  | 2 Pages

    Jackson Katz is the founder of Mentors in Violence Prevention which is an education program that has been focused on military and sporting organizations in attempts to put a halt on gender violence. Other than being an educator, Katz is also an author and filmmaker. In 2013, he produced the film Tough Guise 2. In this film, Katz reviews the normalization of male jurisdiction in America. The film looks at the messages of gun violence, sexism, and bullying that are sent to men throughout their entire life. Tough Guise 2 argues the statement that male brutality is a rooted back to our cultural standards of manhood. A pivotal point of the film is that a male’s masculinity is not just handed to them, it must be earned. During the course of the film, this point is supported by examples such as gun violence, homophobic messages and mass shootings.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of The Movie 'The Terminator'

    345 Words  | 1 Pages

    The 1980’s brought about a change to movies after Americas’ loss in the Vietnam War. In the light of this, America felt that their masculinity was in question. In result, Hollywood responded to these feelings by making movies that had strong male characters, known as “hard bodies” (Sklar 346). Furthermore, according to Movie Made America, the characteristics of a hard body are “heroic, aggressive, and determined” (Sklar 346). One such movie that exhibits this is the Terminator, directed by James Cameron and released in 1984. The movie is about Sarah Conner, a teenager, who is being hunted by the Terminator, a robot sent from the future to kill her. In the first and the last scene featuring the Terminator, two hard body characteristics, aggression

    Read More

  • Miss Representation Summary

    1350 Words  | 3 Pages

    portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time

    Read More

  • The Role Of The Mammy In Gone With The Wind

    1820 Words  | 4 Pages

    The submissive and sacrificial role, that the only canonical non-white character inhabits, paints a clear picture on how the writers view the role of black female

    Read More

  • Film Noir Analysis

    1737 Words  | 4 Pages

    A female in film noir is typically portrayed in one of two ways; she’s either a dependable, trustworthy, devoted, and loving woman, or she’s a manipulative, predatory, double crossing, and unloving temptress. Noir labels the cold hearted and ruthless woman archetype as a Femme Fatale. A femme fatale is walking trouble, and she’s aware of it. This woman is gorgeous, refined, eloquent, and commands the attention of any room she’s in. When the femme fatale desires something, she pursues it. If there’s an obstacle in her way, she overcomes it. If she can’t handle it herself, all she needs to do it bat her eyelashes and the nearest man is all too willing to take care of it for her. In essence, the most dangerous thing about the femme fatale is her

    Read More

  • Alien (1979): Alien: Feminism In The Film Alien

    1901 Words  | 4 Pages

    Susan Jeffords’ journal entry “The Battle of the Big Mamas” does agree that the film contains feminist themes throughout; however she feels as if it doesn’t give off the message the producers were originally going for. Jeffords criticizes the film for presenting a “feminism that can succeed only by making women ‘alien’ to themselves” (Jeffords 75). Jeffords argues that women “accept the point of view of a corporate masculinity at the expense of relations between women” (76). This point can see be seen throughout the decades as women purposely drop their feminine touch in order to gain the respect as an equal that women feel they deserve. Jeffords emphasizes that the film encourages women to leave behind all feminist qualities and to act like a man in order to be equal with man. This gives a very different point of view from the other sources, which highly support that the film praises feminism and its true qualities

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Quentin Tarantino's Films

    1421 Words  | 3 Pages

    Quentin Tarantino has proven time and time again to be one of the most confusing directors to understand when attempting to unravel the personal ideologies in his films. Each of his films deals with race, sexuality, and gender to some extent, and it is often difficult to know whether or not Tarantino is making a commentary on these things or if he truly believes much of the problematic discourse found in his films. Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2 are a testament to this understanding of Tarantino’s films, as they appear to be extremely feminist films at surface level yet, upon deeper inspection, have some very problematic qualities. Looking at Kill Bill Vol.’s 1 and 2 through both a feminist and anti feminist lens can allow the audience to better

    Read More

  • Kingston's Ideal Life

    1063 Words  | 3 Pages

    The woman warrior in the first section of "White Tigers" appears as a perfect woman who manages to balance her life, acting in a multitude of roles including a fighter and a mother. Kingston's version of the legendary Fa Mu Lan valiantly leads and "inspired my army, and I fed them...Then people would want to join the ranks. My army did not rape, only taking food where there was an abundance. We brought order wherever we went" (17). The reader admires this warrior who has the power to "inspire" the men in her army, despite the fact that she is a female. She acts with great integrity as she refuses to allow her army to commit such atrocities as rape and also proceeds conscientiously as she never takes food from the hungry, only accepting such nourishment from an "abundance." Furthermore, she clearly has magnetic power as a leader as she finds others who "want" to become a soldier in her army. Because she has the power to install order "wherever" she and her army go, the w...

    Read More

  • What Is Michelle Obama Essay

    1436 Words  | 3 Pages

    A female belonging to a particular category defines a woman and being black is a member of a dark-skinned people, especially one of African or Australian Aboriginal ancestry. A black woman is just a category belonging to a community of color that is the “opposite white”. White the symbol of purity meaning no harm determining that a white woman is a pure female, the opposite of a black woman. There is not a fine line between white and black women. They are both a part of the same “category”, but so different described in dictionaries, media, and society. Black women are angry, fierce, erotic, and curvy. They are the Welfare Queens of human civilization. White woman can be best described as Starbucks lovers, housewives, consisting of a dumb

    Read More

  • Misrepresentation Of Women Essay

    1007 Words  | 3 Pages

    Tough women are always attractive, scantily dressed, with plunging necklines, and extremely tight leather and spandex. Such is shown in marvel’s Avengers, Black widow is among all male counterparts, she is a russian assassin with a troubled past. She wears a black skin-tight jumpsuit with a low neckline, her physical capabilities and prowess isn’t enough she has to appeal to the male view. Black Widows strength and performance as a strong fearless woman, cannot be seen as progress. Such performance portrays a deep doubt towards female struggle for equality. “The tough woman is testament to a still male-dominant society’s own contradictory responses to women’s demands for equal treatment, equal pay, and equal status. The tough girl is nearly always stripped down (often literally) to what lies at her core, her essential, biological womanliness, her essential subordinate position to man.” (Byerly, Carolyn, Ross

    Read More

  • The Analysis of Quentin Tarantino as a Director

    973 Words  | 2 Pages

    middle of paper ... ... truth. ****************EXTRACT: Kill Bill 2 scene 16-17 The scene where Beatrix kills Bill **************** I think Tarantinos style changes slightly as he uses more special effects and dramatic settings. The gore is much more extravigant and he can afford some special appearences like the 5,6,7,8s playing in kill bill vol.1.

    Read More

  • Being An African American Woman

    893 Words  | 2 Pages

    As stated in Webster's II Dictionary, a woman is defined to be an adult female human. In today's society being an African American woman is a rigid task to live up to. It means to reside to what their ancestors have left behind, which means to be stronger than ever. Rosa Parks was strong, Harriet Tubman was also strong, and Jezebel was even stronger. So what exactly does it mean to be a woman? It means to stand up for what is right, even if that means sacrifice, it means to be strong whether it be physically, emotionally, or mentally. African American women are perceived to be the backbone of the family, meaning that even though the male may support the family financially, that the women have the emotional and mental part in the bag.

    Read More

  • A Feminist Reading of Buffy the Vampire Slayer

    2985 Words  | 6 Pages

    Slasher films have attracted feminist academic attention in recent years, most notably from theorist Carol J. Clover. Clover's groundbreaking article, "Her Body, Himself: Gender in the Slasher Film," was first published in 1987 and continues to influence feminist film critics today. With some success, these critical inquiries have recuperated the genre as one that might actually indicate shifting ideas about gender roles and female agency. Whedon nods both to the "slasher" as a subgenre and to feminist film theory in the Season 3 episode, "Helpless." In "Helpless," Whedon grafts the slasher scenario onto the Buffyverse but makes significant changes, based, I think, both on feminist responses to the genre and also on his own understanding of the show's audience demographics. Though Whedon puts his title character on a continuum with the slasher's female but "boyish" victim-heroes, Buffy b...

    Read More

  • ' The Accidental Supermom: Superheroines And Maternal Performativity?

    1588 Words  | 4 Pages

    The article expounds upon the characters: Harley Quinn, Catwoman, and Poison Ivy. The author discusses how these female fatales were seen as a threat because of their power and authority. They are objectified because they used their sexuality in order to achieve their goals. For example, Batman recounts to Albert, his butler how Harley Quinn used her sexuality in order to advance her goals to become a psychiatrist during graduate school. In the franchise, the characters exhibit a defiance of societal norms. As a result, the women are portrayed as dangerous and monstrous. However in order to survive in society, they each rely on their displays of sexuality and seduction to advance their motives. For example, Poison Ivy uses her feminine symbols such as kisses and flowers for destructive purposes. The author adds how there are differences between male and female villains, especially when it comes to verbal connotations of labeling. They are often underestimated, especially when fighting men, who are hindrances in the women’s path. However, they are also punished when they are seen as “too powerful”. For example, the Joker punishes Harley Quinn when she comes closer than hi to defeating Batman. These female fatales exemplify what

    Read More

More about Black Mamba: The Female Badass

Open Document