If there are actually 9 main characters, what exactly is the point of excluding Jody from the bunch? It couldn't have been titled something like The Spiteful Nine?
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3Does this answer your question? Even though the question isn't an exact duplicate of this one, I think the answer to it contains your answers also. Why isn't it called "The Hateful Nine"?– Todd WilcoxCommented Aug 31, 2022 at 21:13
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3Also, since there are nine "main characters", maybe the number in the title isn't based on how many main characters there are.– Todd WilcoxCommented Aug 31, 2022 at 21:14
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2It's also possible Jody is included and one of the others is not. It seems like a potentially controversial assumption to state that Jody is not being included.– TomCommented Sep 1, 2022 at 1:01
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2in an official promo to the movie the 8 are counted out– Nach RothCommented Sep 1, 2022 at 9:40
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1 Answer
First, I think your count is off. Here's my list of "major" characters, in the order mentioned by the Wikipedia plot summary, numbered for easy counting:
- Major Marquis Warren (Sam Jackson)
- O.B. (James Parks)
- John Ruth (Kurt Russel)
- Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh)
- Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins)
- Bob (Demián Bichir)
- Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth)
- Joe Gage (Michael Madsen)
- Sandord Smithers (Bruce Dern)
- Jody Domergue (Channing Tatum)
So, which 8 are "hateful?" What does "hateful" even mean?
hateful (adjective)
arousing, deserving of, or filled with hatred
-- Oxford Dictionary
Reasonable people are bound to disagree about which specific selection of eight characters is "hateful." The internet has at least a couple of (non-authoritative) pages that purport to rank the characters by "hatefulness."
But I think we can say this without having to get into controversy:
- Some of these characters are despicable people who deservedly arouse feelings of hate in (ahem) right-minded people.
- Some of these characters are filled with hate -- perhaps righteous, perhaps not.
- Some characters are both of the above.
I would not be surprised if Tarantino was deliberately ambiguous about which characters are "the" hateful eight, to force viewers to make up their own minds. I am certain it is not a coincidence that several of the most prominent characters seem to have big marks on both sides of their score cards. The movie is intentionally, brazenly, provocative. Pick any one character, and I bet you can have a real fight about whether they are overall on "the right side" and also whether their heart is "filled" with hate.
It is noteworthy that the story is set 138 years before it was written, but the issues that give the characters so much trouble are still topics of hot debate today.
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