Margot Robbie's character Sharon Tate is objectified, but there is a reason why.

Rating: 8/10 (1 August 2019)

Margot Robbie's character Sharon Tate in Tarantino's "Once Upon A Time in Hollywood" seemed particularly one-dimensional and without a character-arc. There is a clue that Tarantino gives the audience that confirms this. At one point in the film, Margot Robbie's Sharon Tate enters a book shop and pets a black bird statue. That black bird statue looks exactly like the maltese falcon from the film "Maltese Falcon". In that classic film noir film directed by John Huston, the maltese falcon is used simply as a McGuffin, or an object to move the plot forward in the film but ultimately lacks significance. The bad guys commit crimes to try and find the maltese falcon and the detectives are after the bad guys for those crimes. When Tarantino has Tate pet that bird he is telling the audience that Sharon Tate's character is also a McGuffin, like the maltese falcon itself. Most of us know the story of how the real Sharon Tate was murdered by the Manson clan, and as an audience member we are waiting for her to be killed in this film. It provides tension and suspense but ultimately there is no payoff and no significance to her character, just like the Tarascan warrior statuette in Hitchcock's "North by Northwest", the cash in Hitchcock's "Psycho", and Tarantino's glowing briefcase in "Pulp Fiction". Margot Robbie's Sharon Tate is simply a beautiful object and a tool to help propel the story forward for the two lead multi-dimensional and well-defined male heros to shine. Sharon Tate's character is simply an object, a McGuffin without a character-arc and without any definition.