Introduction
Modern
cinema is a growing art form as well as an industry loaded with talent. Today’s
directors and screenwriters are pushing the envelope in film art, fulfilling a
legacy of ninety years of accomplished films. In 1977, Star Wars: A New Hope, and Close Encounters of the Third Kind represented landmark advances in visual effects, and
technology incorporated into the art genre of film. In 1993, Jurassic Park opened, revealing the computer revolution had finally
hit Hollywood. CGI became a household word.
Today,
computer generated images are not simply the eye candy dinosaurs of Jurassic
Park, they represent key characters
that include Jar-Jar Binks, Gollum and Dobby the House Elf. They are used in
the creation of entire sets where the acting is set in front of a green screen.
They are used to create entire worlds and even entire movies, as in the case of
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within,
Shrek and Toy Story. Though technology has quickly overrun Hollywood as
the effects driven style pervades, the new era of artists is still at work in
the industry, and still endeavors to create stories by focusing on the script,
and not relying on visual effects.
In
1993, the same year Jurassic Park
opened in over two thousand theaters nationwide, Quentin Tarantino’s first
film, Reservoir Dogs, opened in 26
theaters. He had already won major acclaim on the festival circuit, claiming
the Cannes, Catalonian, Avignon, Toronto, and Stockholm Film Festivals’ most
coveted awards. The release of Reservoir Dogs that year signaled both a brand new trend in movie
making and a renaissance of reinventing classical styles of film. While other
directors, such as Woody Allen, are well known for borrowing in homeage to the
ancient beginnings of the film industry, Tarantino brought it into the
mainstream. His critical acclaim over the independent Reservoir Dogs allowed him the privilege of crafting his tour de
force on studio money. In 1994, Pulp Fiction was released to astounding reviews, and made a run at
the Academy’s Best Picture, while it came away with Best Screenplay.
Tarantino
creates movies by writing them. His focus in the art of film is not on the
concepts of technology or innovation. His focus is on the character, the plot
and the dialogue. It is in this paper that we will see the style and boldness
of Tarantino, a man who took Hollywood by storm. My goal is to observe both the
man and his works, and to describe and assess his particular worldview.
A Short Biography
Quentin Tarantino was the product
of a teenage mother from Tennessee who made the move to Southern California
when he was two years old. A very intelligent and academic girl, Connie
finished college at age eighteen and became a nurse while remarrying at the
same time[1].
Being very independent and having an alcoholic mother, Connie had sought
autonomy as soon as she had graduated high school and lived in an arranged
marriage to avoid her parents claim to custody. Getting pregnant was not part
of the plan as she began school, but she was quite pleased with baby Quentin.
He was fittingly named after both Quint from television’s Gunsmoke, as well as both Quentins from William Faulkner’s
The Sound and The Fury.[2]
After moving and becoming a
registered nurse, Connie married Curt Zastoupil. Quentin never knew his birth
father but during his formative years he was surrounded by male influences.
Curt’s job as a musician and poet allowed plenty of free time during the day,
and uncles from both sides were always stepping in to baby sit, or just spend
time with young Quentin.[3]
While his mother was a life time
academic, eventually becoming a doctor and residing as a president of an HMO
firm[4],
Quentin fell far from the tree. Though he dropped out in the 10th
grade, he was ready as early as the 1st. After a few weeks of class,
Connie was called in by Quentin’s first grade teacher and told that he should
be prescribed Ritalin[5].
Needless to say, the next nine years of school were truly hated by Quentin, who
dreamed of movies and acting. Though he and Connie polarized on issues such as
academics, she allowed her son free reign as a growing boy, and tried to censor
him in as few ways as possible. When he began swearing as a four year old, try
as she might, she couldn’t break him of the habit, and she didn’t really mind.
Though professing religious affiliation, there was no true religion to speak of
around Quentin. He mother enrolled him in a Christian elementary school, and
encouraged him to find a church he liked, but, no pursuit of truth or God ever
arose inside Quentin[6].
He was allowed to watch anything he desired, and quickly grew to love media
more than anything.
He grew up in the South Bay; near
but not in South Central. He made frequent trips to a somewhat ‘ghetto’
neighborhood, Carson, in order to go to the movie theater there. His nearness
to the inner city, including enrollment in inner city junior high and high school
proved to become sort of fascination for him, dreaming of adventures and rough
times. In high school he began shoplifting hanging out with the wrong crowd,
and getting in fights. At sixteen he had it with school, and dropped out. To
appease his mother, he got a job, though she was unaware his employment was at
a porn theater[7]. In addition
to getting a risqué job and dropping school, he began acting and taking acting
lessons, he changed his last name back to the original Tarantino, and he got
arrested for shoplifting[8]. The season of rebellion had come upon
him.
The next phase of his life lasted
about 10 years, began writing, and through friends in acting class, he met
kindred spirits, and eventually went to work at a video store where all the
employees shared the passions he had and had been instilled in him. His second
stepfather was described as a movie maniac, and he and Quentin spent a good
deal of time watching movies. He began going to the video store and renting up
to a dozen movies a week, as well as getting to know the clerks and owners.
Eventually he began to work at the video store, and had several stories,
including fights with customers.[9]
The people he worked with he also wrote and made amateur films with[10].
Finally, through a series of connections he was able to get funding for the
production of Reservoir Dogs, his ticket
to Hollywood renown[11].
Philosophical Background
Tarantino
has a mixture of different thought patterns running around in his head, and he
is hard to pin down in interviews. Many facets and key statements give us a
clue to his worldview and what views he brings to his creative talents display.
He is first and foremost an existentialist. He writes characters that are
archetypal, and larger than life and puts them in normal real life situations,
a style referred to as ultra-realism. “I think ultra realism is absurd, real life is absurd…my characters define themselves through pop
culture.”[12]
When criticized for his offensive
material, the overuse of violence, the use of profanity, and particularly the
use of the word “nigger”, Tarantino responded, “If violence is part of your
palette, you have to be free to go where your heart takes you…it’s supposed to
be terrible.”[13] And
elsewhere “As an artist, violence is part of my talent.” He elaborated “To me,
violence is a completely aesthetic subject. Saying you don’t like violence in
movies is like saying you don’t like dance sequences in movies.”[14]
Tarantino’s customary reply to the language problem goes something like “[this
is] the fight I’m trying to do in my movies…words are words. To give any word
too much power, whether the word f––k or nigger, is to give a word too much
power.”[15]
On similar matters of expression, Tarantino simply bows to Socrates/Shakespeare
and replies, “To thine own self be true.”[16]
“I didn’t accept any of the
prescribed things of right or wrong. I wanted to find a right or wrong in my
own heart.”[17] Though
Quentin professed somewhat relative standards and is very much a postmodern, he
did go on to add that “I’m not trying to preach any kind of morals or get any
kind of message across, but for all the wildness that happens in my movies, I
think that they usually lead to a moral conclusion.”[18]
Finally we see Tarantino’s
consideration of cause and effect in the way he writes. An analogy from years
past is God is the author and we are the characters in the great novel of the
world. Tarantino offers “I don’t play God and mess with it…I’m like a court
reporter writing it down….I’m like the eternal audience.”[19]
Clearly he has a fatalistic streak, and nods his head to random chance and
human choice, or in this case the choices of his own characters.
The Movies
The
movies I have chosen to study were both written and directed by Quentin
Tarantino. While he is known for rather lurid material, and profane, fast-paced
dialogue, combined with larger-than-life characters an incredibly well designed
plot where all the ends meet, and telling the story in a confused, non-linear
way. The four of his movies I watched were Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction,
Jackie Brown, and Kill Bill.
Before
getting into the individual movies, there are many overarching themes that
occur collectively. The first major theme of the works of Tarantino is Pop
Culture. Tarantino is a complete pop culture freak, and inserts it into all of
his movies. The references are almost limitless in his characters interests and
dialogue. The references to musicians, movies, comic books, and the like are
endless. In this Tarantino derives value. Mr. Oranges obsession with comic
books in Reservoir Dogs, as well as the
ever present camp radio station playing “K-Billy’s sounds of the 70’s”. The
incredibly camp 50’s Diner in Jack Rabbit Slim, where all the stars of the 50’s
are alive and serving food, is a pop culture icon in Pulp Fiction. Jackie Brown’s music collection featuring the
Delfonics, and Bill’s reference to Superman in Kill Bill are further examples.
This theme extends beyond the
material characters, as each movie piece in itself is a parody on pop culture.
Tarantino has been accused many times of “stealing” or “paying homeage” to all
the well-known, and not so well known directors of the past. Jackie Brown is a tribute to the Blaxploitation, Pulp
Fiction a tribute to noir crime stories,
and classic premises, such as the boxer who is supposed to take a dive and
doesn’t, or the guy who has to take his boss’s wife out and gets caught up on
her. Reservoir Dogs pays it’s
dues to the classic caper film, and Kill Bill is Tarantino’s epic tribute to the entire Samurai
Genre. He is using pop culture to make pop culture, and his obsession with it
becomes almost hedonistic. “True Artists steal, they don’t do homeages.”[20]
Some even accuse Tarantino of ripping off more than 50% of Reservoir
Dogs from the Eastern film City
on Fire[21]. It also bears remarkable similarity to The
Taking of Pelham 123. The use of music by
far stands out, as his soundtracks are loaded with pop culture icon songs, as
well as the terribly obscure. I want to note here, that he seems to use two
styles of music, one extensively while the other sparingly, in opposition to
one another. Tarantino’s staple is the music of the late 70’s. The Radio in Reservoir
Dogs is constantly playing K-Billy’s sounds
of the 70’s, “The station where the 70’s survive”[22].
The opposite extreme is Country Music. Butch, Mr. Orange, Budd, and Max Cherry
are all characterized by their taste for Country Music. Cherry even experiences a revelation
when Jackie introduces him to the Delfonics. Pop culture provides a bridge for
the absurd.
A second overarching theme is
chance. The characters over and over decry their fate of luck. While Mr. White
considers himself jinxed, and Mr. Pink declares that “Some fellas are lucky,
some ain’t”[23] when he
learns that Mr. Blue and Mr. Brown are dead. Joe and Nice Guy Eddie consider
Mr. Blonde to be “nothing but good luck” for the business. In Pulp Fiction chance shows up everywhere. Particularly as Vincent
happens to go to the bathroom[24]:
three times he retires to the water closet, and upon his return he is greeted
each time with a chance turn of events, whether it be the diner being held up,
his boss’ wife overdosing on his heroin, or Butch holding him at gunpoint with
his very own gun. Marcellus is chosen at random to be taken into the backroom
while Butch is allowed time to escape the pawn shop. Jackie Brown is much more subdued, but Ordell is seemingly the
victim of constant bad luck, his money is blocked off in Mexico, and by chance,
all his accomplices are arrested and turn states evidence. In Kill
Bill, destiny is more the idea than chance,
but it is still apparent in the flow of the narrative. Kiddo is unstoppable,
and has destiny and justice on her side. When she awakes from the coma, it just
happens to be at the moment when she is about to be raped by Buck’s friend. This
facilitates her escape and the Taoist karma is revisited to Buck.
Another trend we see is the
idealized “suit of armor” representation of characters. The character is
presented in a suit of armor, something that defines them[25].
In Reservoir Dogs, the men are in
ordinary clothes when being interviewed and informed by Joe, but when they are
in the midst of the crime, they are wearing the plane black suit with a thin
black tie. Mr. Orange is gutshot, and we see his uniform erode as he slowly
dies in a pool of blood. In Pulp Fiction, the same device is used (one of many similarities between Tarantino’s
first two films). In the beginning, Jules and Vincent are in their suits, and
they are in control, literally bullet proof. By the time the Bonnie situation
is resolved, they’re suits have slowly eroded out, and they are left in
Tarantino’s own “dork” suits[26].
In Jackie Brown, Ordell, the
villain, is arrayed in trendy Kangle ware, always matching, always with his
hair done up. In the end, he is wearing plane clothes, and his hair is arrayed
and unkempt. He has become uncool, and is consumed with rage. Finally, The suit
of armor in Kill Bill consists of
the the many modes of assault used by Kiddo. The Yellow Jump Suit, the Leather
Jacket, the Ninja Garb, but in the end she is left barren and helpless when she
discovers her daughter, and Bill toys with her before the final battle. Her
suit of armor is really only lost when children are involved, as in the final
confrontation and in Vernita’s house.
A fourth theme is the ubiquitous
search for and assignment of a father figure. This is not surprising since
Tarantino never knew his birth father. Joe serves as a father figure to both
Nice Guy Eddie, his true son, and to Vic, his henchman. The interaction and
bond between Mr. Orange and Mr. White is extremely telling and White is clearly
a father figure there. The humanness of their interaction is extremely well
done, as Orange asks White to hold him as he lies dying of a gunshot. In Pulp
Fiction Marsellus is the effective father
figure, and there is a hint of the Oedipus myth in Vincent’s temptation with
Mia, the father figure’s wife (though Mia is far from the nurturing mother
image). Jackie Brown presents a
very warm and experienced, Max Cherry as a father figure, who represents all
the Jackie’s Inner city ghetto upbringing lacked. Finally, we see Bill is the
clear father figure, as he is even at one point masquerading as Kiddo’s father.
A theme that accompanies this
search for a father figure is the adolescence of Tarantino’s characters, and
they’re wanton desire for the coming of age, the ascent into manhood. The
entire affair in Reservoir Dogs features
grown men waving guns around and playing robbers. In Pulp Fiction, the character of Butch is essentially a boy in a
man’s body[27]. He clings
desperately to the symbol of his expired father, and the legacy that he is to
pass on: The gold watch. He is still the little boy that Capt. Koons addresses
in the beginning of his story, and his lack of a father figure has left him
angry. He is a raging bully. Jackie Brown shows both Ordell and Lewis as the adolescents, watching programs like
“Chicks With Guns” and smoking marijuana. The cops also seem young, and want to
“get the bad guy”, still living out their cowboy fantasies. In Kill Bill, there is surprisingly little in the way of direct
corollary to the adolescent, youth image. The characters are all amazingly
mature in the tradition of Samurai Romanticism.
This brings up a vital point, in
that Tarantino may initially bring up a theme of great importance, and even
embellish, but here we see the adolescent theme phased out by the turn of the
fourth movie. In the same way we see
themes that are non-existent in Reservoir Dogs come to full fruition in Kill Bill. The best example of this is Tarantino’s development
of the female persona. In Reservoir Dogs, there is no female character at all, just a bunch of guys in a
warehouse. In Pulp Fiction, Mia
Wallace emerges as the fem fatale, but is hardly a feature role, and elaborates
no more than two dimensions. In Jackie Brown and Kill Bill, the strong female role emerges, and reflects greatly on Tarantino’s
strong mother figure. Jackie and Kiddo are extremely strong women in very
different ways. While Jackie is mentally tough and stacks the deck and plays
the whole cast of guys, Kiddo is very much the brute strength force, and the
complete picture of the dominant feminist icon. Particularly the ending of Kill
Bill, where the utter force of femininity
as she dispatched every member of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad is
contrasted by the conclusion of the film: Weeping over the recovery of her
child, and the caption reading “The Lioness is reunited with her cub. All is
right in the Jungle”[28]
gives perfect definition to Tarantino’s view of women and femininity and
motherhood, and shows how this view’s expression gradually developed over time.
A final common theme I wish to
bring out of these films is the contriving of moral rules and boundaries which
are completely arbitrary and defined within a context of immorality. The entire
roster of Reservoir Dogs, Pulp
Fiction, Kill Bill, and Jackie Brown are criminals, lowlifes, and cops. The complete lack
of a moral protagonist is a common occurrence in Hollywood in general, however,
it is a Tarantino cornerstone. Tarantino draws new lines of morality and ethics
as he presents each of his stories, and much of the content must be judged in
and by these new definitions. Tarantino attributes some this to 60’s and 70’s
biker films, where the heroes were gang members[29].
In Reservoir Dogs, as Mr. Blonde and Mr. White are about to bash
heads, Mr. Pink interjects, “Would you guys start acting like professionals; we
gotta figure out who the bad guy is.”[30]
Earlier after his entrance he inquires of Mr. White whether he killed any “real
people” or “just cops”. Clearly, a group of heinous criminals who have murdered
several police officers, carjacked two women, lived a life of crime previous to
that have an entirely different concept of who “the bad guy” is. In Pulp
Fiction, there are no cops, and the entire
set are misfit criminals. Yet clearly there is right and wrong, loyalty and
disloyalty, an entirely new set of ethics appears in the context. Tony
Rockyhorror “should have known better”[31]
than to transgress the wife of Marcellus Wallace. We will look much more at the
ethics of this movie in individual review. In Jackie Brown, once again, are all lowlifes, or cops, with the
exception of Max Cherry, who turns out to be a low life by helping Jackie dupe
the cops. In Kill Bill, once
again, we see an ensemble of filth, parading around and falsely asserting
justice, and revenge as moralistic pursuits, much in keeping with Samurai
tradition, but still grossly slanted in the moral sense. Inevitably, in these
worlds populated by bad guys, the ending is always the same, where the bad guys
turn on themselves. The showdown in the warehouse Reservoir Dogs, the showdown in the diner in Pulp Fiction, the confrontations of Ordell and his final demise
in Jackie Brown, and the entire
structure of Kill Bill is based
around the conflict of showdown and combat.
This convention of perception
being skewed comes out in many other ways reflecting further on the content.
The cinematography style is known as forced perspective[32],
where the audience often feels like a bystander, and there is many times
something obscuring part of the frame. Sometimes dialogue is overheard from the
opposite end of a hall. Another tweaked perspective in Tarantino’s work is the
use of text. He is an avid and creative shaper of story and concept by textual
devices in film. Reservoir Dogs has the
chapter like feel introducing each character. Pulp Fiction begins each story with a title, as well as the movie
beginning with the text definition of “pulp”. Jackie Brown tracks location via textual captions, and refers
back to time sequences. Kill Bill
is the ultimate use of text, where Tarantino literally creates a novelesque
feeling in the movie by naming off each chapter[33].
This Novelesque feeling validates his use of non-linear editing even more.
Reservoir Dogs
In
Reservoir Dogs, the most prominent theme
is professionalism. Over and over, Mr. Pink asserts the importance of being
professionals. When Mr. Blonde snaps and kills customers, Mr. Pink and Mr.
White assert he was unprofessional, and that there is an ethical line that
separates a professional from a psychopath. Blonde’s reply: “If they hadn’t
done what I told them not to do, they’d still be alive”[34].
He responds to there subjective ethics with a very logical appeal to his integrity,
if you will. Another aspect of the movie is the complete lack of a central
event. Everything that occurs is the planning of the robbery or the aftermath
of the botched heist. The hype, and the action are missing, and the entire
story depends on our interest in the fate of a bunch of lowlifes.
Another
key occurrence in the movie is the Commode Story[35].
As Mr. Orange’s partner explains, the key to being undercover—a professional
liar—is to be a great naturalistic actor, like Marlon Brando. He goes on to
explain how the details of a story are what make it particularly good. To tell
a good story is to take all the details and make them your own. And the most
important thing is to remember that “This story is about you and the way you
perceived the events.”[36]
This is Tarantino’s thesis on story telling. These principles are what make his
movies so acclaimed. He takes the details, the little bits of pop culture and
inserts them everywhere, the music, the dialogue; it’s all hand crafted by him.
He creates characters that are themselves storytellers, and thus he allows his
characters to tell the story, and tell it the way they perceived it. The style
of the event out does the substance.
Pulp Fiction
While
Reservoir Dogs is a classic spin on a
heist movie—without the actual heist—Pulp Fiction takes three other classic premises: ‘The guy who
takes his bosses wife out and is tempted’, ‘The boxer who has to take a dive
and doesn’t’ and ‘The underworld goons have serious problems after completing a
job’[37].
These are classic stories lines, and in this movie, Tarantino tailors them
specifically to a constructed world of his where there are no good guys and
ethical lines have been completely redrawn. Then he proceeds to take these
story lines to the extreme in each of their settings.
The
first and foremost theme in Pulp Fiction
is the theme of the shepherd. He uses the first story of Jules the Bible
quoting hit man dispensing underworld justice, The Bonnie Situation, to frame the other two stories, Vincent Vega and
Marcellus Wallace’s Wife and The Gold Watch, by showing the first
part before and the second part after. The verse Jules quotes, though a far cry
from the Bibles version, discusses the blessed state of one who acts as a
shepherd, and the treatment of the weak, and the tyranny of evil men. While the
conclusion of The Bonnie Situation is revealed in the end of the film,
chronologically it fits before the other two stories and is a foreshadowing
thematic definition of the fate of the main characters. Jules is elated when
the magnum bullets do not kill them. “This was divine intervention…This was a
miracle and I demand you acknowledge it” and so on. In the car he continues “If
you wanna play blind man, go ahead, but my eyes are wide open.”[38]
After the actual Bonnie situation
is resolved, he resumes his position: “It could be God stopped the bullets, he
changed Coke to Pepsi, or he found my car keys You don’t judge [stuff] like
this based on merit. Whether or not what we experienced was an actual
‘according to Hoyle’ miracle is insignificant. What is significant is I felt
the touch of God…God got involved.”[39]
Shortly after this they are held up and Jules takes hostage one of the crooks
trying to take the briefcase they acquired from Brett. As he holds him at
gunpoint, he quips “Normally you two would be deader than fried chicken, but
you happened to pull this while I'm in a transitional period. I don't wanna
kill yah, I want to help yah. But I'm afraid I can't give you the case. It
doesn’t belong to me. Besides, I went through too much this morning on account
of this case to just hand it over to you.”[40]
He then proceeds to give them $1500 and claims he is buying Pumpkin’s life.
Then he recites the passage from the Bible again and continues philosophically,
“I never really questioned what it meant…Now I'm thinkin', it could mean you're
the evil man. And I'm the righteous man. And Mr. .9 Millimeter here, he's the
shepherd protecting my righteous [self] in the valley of darkness. Or it could
by you're the righteous man and I'm the shepherd and it's the world that's evil
and selfish. I'd like that. But that ain't the truth. The truth is you're the
weak. And I'm the tyranny of evil men. But I'm tryin'. I'm tryin' real hard to
be a shepherd.”[41] This is the
final soliloquy of the movie, and encapsulates one of the main points of the
entire film. The change in Jules from Bible-quoting hitman to Bible-quoting
shepherd is the fundamental redemption and transformation of the film.
When the two hitmen return to the
club Jules retires, while Vincent has an awkward verbal altercation with Butch.
This sets up the contrasting of Vincent and Butch in the two remaining stories.
Both are oppressive bullies, selfish to the last dime, and quite colorful, if
not insufferable characters. The difference in their fates is their conduct.
While one is faithful to Marcellus, there is no change in his life, no
redemption of any sort. He covers up the incident with Mia, in all situations
he rejects any fault of his own, and he is always ready to explode in self-righteous
anger, never assuming the role of the shepherd. In the end his own adversary,
Butch, kills him. Almost directly after this, Butch gets away from the
hillbillies, and as he leaves Marcellus to a fate worse than death, something
happens in him. By every right, he could leave Marcellus to his fate with the
hillbillies, but as he walks to the door of the pawnshop, there is a change in
him. He turns back and he knows he must save the man who he betrayed. The most
powerful shot in The Gold Watch is when Butch turns back into the
pawnshop and returns to be the shepherd to Marcellus. This is Butch’s
redemption. After dispatching Maynerd and Zed, he rides off on a chopper named
“Grace”. Although Tarantino’s girlfriend at the time was named Grace, I find it
at the very least an extremely fitting coincidence that immediately after
finding redemption, “Grace” is his mode of deliverance from Los Angeles.
Another strong theme in Pulp
Fiction is that of character, or
personality. Just before bursting in on Brett and Flock-of-Seagulls, Jules says
“Let’s get into character”[42].
This is another main point of what Pulp Fiction is all about, is fitting
character. “Just because you are a character doesn’t mean you have character,”[43]
quips the Wolf as they leave Monster Joe’s. This is surely true of Vincent, who
was a remarkably crafted character, but had no mode of redemption and thus no
character. And so Butch gunned him down. “Personality goes a long way,”[44]
says Jules over breakfast. In keeping with the Commode story idea, here
Tarantino reveals something he thinks about humanity, that it is character and
personality that make you who you are, and that perception is relative. In much
the same way a story is told the way it was perceived–even a fraudulent
story–so ones persona is contrived or genuine, and in ones genuine personality
one is redeemed by character like that of the shepherd. When put to the test,
Vincent was a self-serving ingrate, while Jules and Butch both find their
redemption. In the bathroom as Vincent psyches himself up, he speaks of a moral
test of loyalty. We never see what Vincent might have done had Mia not
overdosed on heroin.
Jackie Brown
While
much is established in terms of the strong feminine character, not much of the
thematic material of Jackie Brown stands
out. It is a modern day blaxploitation flick with a much more clever plot. The
villain Ordell is probably the strongest character, and the entire time, he is
right to want his money, he worked hard for it, and he goes from a menacing and
strange dirtbag to an absolute monster. Normally clad in Kangle with a
ponytail, he is a mess at the end and he is seathing with hatred. This is also
by far the most human of Tarantino’s films. He actually gets away from the
absurd ultrarealism, and creates a very realistic plot with very genuine
characters.
Kill Bill
The
outstanding theme of this is Justice, which Tarantino considers synonymous with
Revenge. As he presents the sword to her, Hatori Hanzo explains a fundamental
principle of Revenge: “Revenge is not a straight line, it is a forest. And like
a forest it is easy to lose your way…to forget where you came in.” Along with
the opening caption “Revenge is a dish best served cold – Old Klingon Proverb”[45]
set the tone for the entire film. The most powerful scene in the film occurs in
the end of Chapter 6, when Bill warns Budd of his impending doom. Budd
retorts to this harbinger, “I don't dodge guilt. And I don't Jew outta payin’
my comeuppance. That woman deserves her revenge. And we deserve to die. But then
again, so does she…So, I guess…we’ll just see.”[46]
Here Budd has encapsulated four monstrous themes, Chance, Revenge, Applied
Ethics and Redemption. Of all the characters who die in the film, Budd (and Pai
Mei) is the only one who dies unjustly at the hands of Elle. Strangely enough,
as he is burying Kiddo alive, he comes off as strangely compassionate, by not
burning her eyes out with mace and supplying her with a flashlight. After he is
killed, Kiddo comes flying back from virtual death and blinds Elle. In a sense
she is avenging not only herself, but Budd and Pai Mei as well.
Another
peculiar aspect of the film includes its bizarre and wide reaching style. While
Reservoir Dogs is a heist movie, and Pulp
Fiction is a crime noir movie, and Jackie
Brown is an updated blaxploitation movie, Kill
Bill is part Western, part Samurai movie,
part Japanese anime, part dialogue-driven crime noir, and part campy 70’s TV
show. The mixture of styles is bizarre in it’s outcome, but the strengths of
Tarantino’s ability to write characters and plot with realistic dialogue shines
through all the more, making this and Pulp Fiction his most complete films.
Approaching a Christian World View
A
brief note in closing, there is much in the above interpretations that can be
seen no matter who you are, and much of which Tarantino intended either
consciously or unconsciously. However, on approaching these films from a
Christian Worldview, there is much to be deciphered. As I mentioned before, the
tails of redemption in Pulp Fiction can
very easily reflect on the fundamental story of Christ as their foundation.
There is a distinct Theism about Wallace, the Crime Father is in a sense the
earthly God figure. His face is unseen throughout most of the movie. When
seeking help from Lance, Vincent simply invokes the name of Marcellus Wallace,
and Lance succumbs. The altercation between Brett and Jules gives the feeling
of avenging Angels representing God’s Law, performing righteous judgment. It is no until The Gold Watch do
we see his face for the first time, as he’s performing the simplest task of
fetching donuts and coffee. Here we see God take on an all too familiar
humanity, and in vulnerability he is struck down. He is then condemned to a
literal hell on earth; being sodomized by two hillbillies. Butch’s attitude
toward this God-figure-brought-low changes, and he saves him from this fate.
Butch is then delivered by Grace and forgiven of his transgression against God.
This coupled with the theme of the shepherd is a Christian Worldview interpretation
of the movie.
Not to say that Tarantino
intended this in anyway, or that there are not contrary themes purposefully
running throughout the movie, but as a Christian, this is how I see this movie.
Likewise, in Reservoir Dogs, Joe is a
distinct father and God figure, he begins the planning of the caper by choosing
who will be a part of it, and then telling them their names.
In Jackie Brown and Kill Bill, the allusions are much less prevalent, but we can see the idea of
divine Justice sustaining both the strong female characters as they enact
improbable outcomes against tremendous odds. Just when you think everything has
gone wrong and you are totally lost in Jackie Brown, she pulls the entire $500,000 out of the mess, and
emerges victorious, redeemed from her life of spoiled potential. In Kill
Bill, the most obvious allusion is at the
end of Chapter 8 when Kiddo miraculously rises from the dead, quite
literally.
Conclusion
All of these examples are strong
evidence of the elements of redemption in the works of Tarantino. While his
worldview is quite common, he illustrates it in such diverse ways that his
films are truly remarkable. It is clear that particularly in Pulp Fiction the
elements of truth are present but hidden deep inside by a very fallen mind. The
application of this information is quite a confusing topic, but I know that
when engaging movies with the mind, these are some of the most mind bending
features in the popular cinema. Their thematic material is quite impressive and
truly worth consideration and genuine discernment.
Bibliography
Bernard, Jami. Quentin
Tarantino: The Man and His Movies. New York: Siegel and Siegel, 1995.
Botting, Fred & Scott
Wilson. The Tarantinian Ethics. London: SAGE Publications, 2001.
Bouzereau, Laurent. Ultraviolent
Movies: From Sam Peckinpah to Quentin Tarantino. Secaucus, NJ: Carol
Publishing,
1996.
Clarkson, Wensley. Quentin
Tarantino: Shooting From the Hip. Woodstock, Overlook Press, 1995.
Dawson, Jeff. Quentin
Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool. New York: Applause Publishing, 1995.
Howley, Kevin. “Making,
Breaking and Killing time in Pulp Fiction”. Scope. Nottingham: University of
Nottingham.
May, 2004.
Langley, Neville. Pulp
Fiction. London: York Press, 2000.
Peary, Gerald, ed. Quentin
Tarantino: Interviews. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1998.
Polan, Dana. Pulp Fiction.
London: British Film Institute, 2000.
Woods, Paul A. King Pulp:
The Wild World of Quentin Tarantino. New York: Thunder’s Mouth Press, 1996.
Woods, Paul A. ed. Quentin
Tarantino: The Film Geek Files. London: Plexus Publishing, 2000.
Viewing Selections
Reservoir Dogs. Dir.
Quentin Tarantino. Perfs. Chris Penn, Lawrence Tierney, Michael Madsen, Tim
Roth, Harvey
Keitel,
Steve Buschemi. Miramax Pictures, 1992.
Pulp Fiction. Dir.
Quentin Tarantino. Perfs. Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, Uma Thurman, Bruce
Willis, Ving
Rhames,
Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth. Miramax Pictures, 1994.
Jackie Brown. Dir.
Quentin Tarantino. Perfs. Pam Grier, Robert Forster, Samuel L. Jackson, Robert
De Niro,
Michael
Keaton, Bridget Fonda. Miramax Pictures, 1997.
Kill Bill. Dir.
Quentin Tarantino. Perfs. Uma Thurman, David Carradine, Michael Madsen, Vivica
A. Fox, Lucy
Liu,
Daryl Hannah, Sonny Chiba, Gordon Liu. Miramax Pictures, 2003.
[1] Clarkson, Quentin
Tarantino: Shoot from the Hip, p. 7
[2] Bernard, Quentin
Tarantino: The Man and His Movies, p. 8
[3] Bernard p.
10
[4] Bernard, p.
25
[5] Bernard, p.
16
[6] Bernard, p.
17
[7] Clarkson, p.
40
[8] Bernard, p.
24
[9] Bernard, p.
28
[10] Bernard, p.
35. Actually, many of Tarantino’s connections through the video store ended up
collaborating on one or more of his industry films.
[11] Clarkson,
p. 113
[12] Peary, Quentin
Tarantino: Interviews p. 31
[13] Peary, p.
29
[14] Peary, p.
33, 60
[15] Peary, p.
158
[16] Peary, p.
94
[17] Bernard, p.
20
[18] Peary, p.
60
[19] Peary, p.
30, 93
[20] Woods, King
Pulp p. 44
[21] Dawson, Quentin
Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool, p. 90
[22] Tarantino, Reservoir
Dogs, 1992
[23] Tarantino, Reservoir
Dogs, 1992
[24] Woods, Film
Geek Files: Quesntin Tarantino, p. 25
[25] Woods, King
Pulp, p. 105
[26] Pearey, p.
87
[27] Langley, p.
59
[28] Tarantino, Kill
Bill, 2003
[29] Clarkson,
p. 30
[30] Tarantino, Reservoir
Dogs, 1992
[31] Tarantino, Pulp
Fiction, 1994
[32] Peary, p.
103
[33] Peary, p.
100
[34] Tarantino, Reservoir
Dogs, 1992
[35] Botting, Tarantinian
Ethics p. 43
[36] Tarantino, Reservoir
Dogs, 1992
[37] Peary, p.
62
[38] Tarantino, Pulp
Fictions, 1994
[39] Tarantino, Pulp
Fictions, 1994
[40] Tarantino, Pulp
Fictions, 1994
[41] Tarantino, Pulp
Fictions, 1994
[42] Tarantino, Pulp
Fictions, 1994
[43] Tarantino, Pulp
Fictions, 1994
[44] Tarantino, Pulp
Fictions, 1994
[45] Tarantino, Kill
Bill, 2003
[46] Tarantino, Kill
Bill, 2003
No comments:
Post a Comment