Pick one of the following two quotes from Tarantino's interview with Tomohiro Machiyama, and expand on it within the context of the reading and your experience watching Kill Bill, vol. 1"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
OR
"This isn't an art film meditation on these movies. This is the genuine article. The real deal."
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Tarantino says that he is a big believer in creating your own universe. He further tells us that yes he does know the answers and could tell you but he does not. He wants you to know how large the world is and let you figure out the rest. He is saying that he wants the viewer to use their own imagination to fill in the missing pieces. His example is that he knows why Okinawa did not make swords for 30 years, but he does not tell us why. It is for us to figure out and for us to imagine why. This allows the viewer to answer their own questions by filling in the blanks with their own imagination. It allows all of the different viewers to come up with their own interpretation and impression of the film. Every different viewer will have leave with their own ideas about what took place. In Kill Bill Volume 1 he does not tell us why they kill the bride. She was obviously one of the assassins, so what happened. Did she betray Bill or break some code of ethics? Did she give up some of their secrets? He does not tell us and leaves the answers to those questions up to the individual viewer. There is no limit to their imagination and thousands of different answers could all be correct. He also does not tell us much about whom her husband is or why they choose to kill him and everyone else including the priest. Were they just trying to prove a point or leave no witness behind? It is for you to decide.
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
Tarantino's films seem to exist in a very strange universe. They seem contemporary, yet there is nothing really to clue us into what time period we are in. It is somewhere between the 1960's (music referenced in Reservoir Dogs) and now; yet the fact that we don't know doesn't matter. That is because we have accepted the rules of Tarantino's universe as he has given them to us.
Part of the strangeness of Tarantino's world is that he is referencing films from very different places, from (as Machiyama points out in his interview) Russ Meyer's Faster, Pussycat Kill! Kill! (US 1966) to Fukasaku's Battle Royale (Japan 2000). The result is that Kill Bill exits in a world where people still fight with samurai swords as much as guns. This is not strange to us, why The Bride must go to Hanzo and convince him to forge a sword for her when she could just get a machine gun easier and quicker, because we believe Tarantino. He does not, as he mentions above, give us the answers to everything, but he presents his information with such authority, that we believe his world is real, and therefore accept what we normally would not.
One of the reasons why Tarantino’s screenplays are so, to me, eccentric, is that he writes his characters so convincingly. They talk in language that is harsh, but realistic. They include pop-culture references into their conversations. Most importantly, however, their dialogue contains many subtle, unexplained nuances. My favorite example in “Kill Bill Vol. 1” is an allusion to Trix Cereal commercials. The bride and O-Ren exchange the catch phrase “Silly rabbit, Trix are for kids.” While I found the expression amusing, it never fully made sense to me in the situation. In “The Film Geek Files”, Tarantino explains: “In my thought, that was something O-Ren and the Bride used to say to each other when they were Deadly Vipers on a job. It was a private joke between the two of them.” (Woods, 178).
This is a great instance of just how massive the universes are in Tarantino’s stories. He could have unveiled the mystery of this line, but instead he leaves it unsolved. He wants the viewer to trust that the questions have explanations, despite their concealment. Tarantino asserts: “You need to know how large this world is.” (Woods, 176). He makes this evident overtly at times. The viewer is hurled into a setting where samurai swords are not only preferable to guns, they are encouraged. Planes even have special holders for swords on the backs of all of their seats. The movie, in its entirety, never touches on this fact. However, in the interview with Tomohiro Machiyama, Tarantino reveals that this evidence can be covert as well. He explains unknown facts about the Crazy 88s, an assassin group with a half-Chinese, half-Japanese leader: “…there’s 44 Chinese people and 44 Japanese people! But that’s part of the mythology I would only go into if I wrote a book.” (Woods, 175).
This is the mark of a genius screenplay author. Tarantino would, without a doubt, be able to turn “Kill Bill” into a novel. Only someone who leaves nothing unanswered in his universe could achieve this. The fact that we may not know some of these answers makes his movies adventurous and effective.
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
--- Taranino is sort of the God of his films domain. He creates it, directs it, it is his. His film is his planet Earth, his reality.
Now think of our REAL reality. The earth, the world. We have an unspoken law of society of people that face the door of the elevator when entering and traveling in them for no spoken reason. Love makes us hurt and cry. Light bulbs are packaged in thin cardboard practically begging to be crushed and broken while stealthy as hell batteries are packaged in the toughest of all plastics on this earth, and honestly what could possibly happen to batteries?? This is our world with no answers and really no sense sometimes. And I think that it is brilliant that tarantino makes a world of his own in his movies where people can carry samari swords onto planes. The fact that there need be no answer is refreshing. It is his world by his design. He takes total advantage of the world of movies, of make believe. A movie gives permission to do honestly whatever the hell you want to now, to show an audience ANYTHING that you can imagine and that is so so true now especially with the way special effects and technology have evolved. I think it is great that he takes full advantage of his medium.
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
I love this statement from Tarantino because it combines his film-history geekdom with a very concrete and classical technique for bringing meaningful depth to movie characters. Back-story defines our characters, explains their motivations, and creates an overlay of reality that can turn the flat and artificial into a more complete and complex world of the imagination. In his own unique way, Tarantino is using one of the tricks of Hollywood to manipulate an audience into feeling a movie.
John Wayne’s over-analyzed character, Ethan Edwards, in John Ford’s “The Searchers,” is a classic example of this technique at its best. We are given hints about Ethan’s past that might explain his less-than-heroic nature as he chases angrily after his missing niece and the Indian’s who stole her. We can see that Ethan had some kind of relationship with his sister-in-law, Martha, but the truth is never explained. We know he had a bad experience in the Civil War, but the details are never fleshed-out. We know he may have stolen money from his cache of gold coins, but he stops any questions into that missing part of his life.
These examples and many more make Ethan Edwards a more interesting character for the audience. We wonder about him more and maintain a greater interest because Ford refuses to explain everyone’s motivations and desires with soliloquies or stultifying flashbacks. Despite his secrets, the unexplained Ethan Edwards is a more fleshed-out and fascinating character. Tarantino understands this, and also understands why an actual back-story remains important to the strength and meaning of a film.
I believe this works in two domains in the “Kill Bill” double feature. His inside knowledge of the movies of both west and east provide additional layers of subtext for this innovative outgrowth of the revenge and martial arts genres. The Machiyama article’s references to elements from dozens of films we’ve never heard of point to the technique’s utility. The scenes resonate with eastern audiences that get the references, and they help create an emotional layering for the uninitiated. Even if we don’t know prior fight scenes like the one in the restaurant, we can feel an echo of something from a kind of mass consciousness. It has a familiarity and a past, even if we can’t quite put our fingers on why – and this makes it more effective, and more powerful.
The technique also works in “Kill Bill” in the more traditional way cited in “The Searchers” example above. Little comments, like “Silly Rabbit, Trix are for kids,” speak to a common history for our characters. People that have a past, as Tarantino references in the interview, have little code words without a key for outsiders. To explain the reference would diminish its power and its strength as an intimate tie between the characters. The Trix reference is also a classic pop culture Tarantino detail that resonates with all of us who grew up watching those commercials on Saturday morning TV. We get the picture and feel the picture on a number of conscious and subconscious levels that create a better film-viewing experience.
The movie experience would simply not be as good if the personal back-stories were blank and the pop references were all imaginary. But even when those references are imaginary, like Red Apple Cigarettes or Big Kahuna Burger, it is merely a setup for them to become legitimate back-story with appearances in later Tarantino films. As he explained to the ever-arrogant Warren Beatty, “Kill Bill” is a world of Tarantino’s creation. The rules are not the same as the rules in the “real” world, but the histories of the characters, the genres, the actors, and many more little details are important as key building blocks to a movie that moves and entertains. We may not understand everything, but we feel their presence and the moviemaking and characters feel more complete in the process.
While watching Kill Bill, there really is a sense of the characters living their own realities and together they have developed a universe of their own. For example, “Black Mamba” awakens after four years of lying comatose due to a brutal beating by her Deadly Viper sisters. She pays no attention to what exists outside of this assassin life that she lives and only determined to seek out revenge. There are no questions asked, yet there is only one answer: KILL BILL. Oren Ishii is another great example of developing her own universe and trusting others to believe in her. She has many followers and when someone questions her authority, she makes sure she uses them as a good example for others to learn from.
On the other hand, Tarantino is expected to be this way in concern to his film, screen writing, and directing. In each of his films, he uses many stylistic techniques, camera angles, and even dialogue that are taken from other films or conversations; he is able to produce a universe of his own. In this universe that he creates, there are open areas of ambiguity—where the viewer is left to fill in the blank. Although there are speculations and some of the things he borrows are obvious, Tarantino expects the viewers to use some of their imagination.
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
Tarantino is a master of not letting the audience know what he is doing in his movies. Every movie of his has parts where the audience is clueless. In Reservoir Dogs, the audience never sees the robbery. They can’t relate to how crazy Mr. Blonde is because we never see the scene where he kills everyone. Yet we believe that he is crazy anyways. Until we see him cut off the cop’s ear, we have no proof of his madness. But we believe it anyway. In Pulp Fiction, the audience never sees what is in the briefcase. We know that it is something very valuable but that’s all. We don’t see it, but we believe it.
Tarantino takes the audience on a ride through his imagination. Tarantino always knows what is going on because it is his imagination. We don’t always understand because it isn’t our mind. But that’s okay, because we know that Tarantino knows. That’s good enough for most audiences. Some of the best movies don’t tell you what’s going on until the end. That’s what makes it so good. You finally get all the pieces and everything clicks. Kill Bill is like this. You don’t get all the pieces until the second part of the movies. But once you get them all, everything clicks. A movie doesn’t have to be told in chronological order or have everything laid out in front of the audience. A good director keeps some secret and surprises to him/herself.
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
Tarantino is most definitely an artist and his movies are his canvas. He “paints” a masterpiece that technically really only has to make complete sense to him. He creates his own world, his own laws, and his own cultures in his work and like all artists leaves no unanswered questions; well to him at least. We the audience must use our imagination to put the pieces together that seem to not fit in the puzzle. I think this quote is brilliant. I can apply this quote to my experience with watching Kill Bill volume 1. There are many loose ends with little or no explanation within the film like why the bride was beaten, shot and left for dead or why the bride is allowed to take a sword on an airplane (which is quite comical). These loose ends however have answers to the maker of the film, Tarantino and according to him, that’s all that matters. It proves the point that he really does create his own world(s) within his work. Tarantino puts in it his own words when he says, “Well, this whole movie takes place in this special universe. This isn’t the real world” (Woods 178).
Any work of fiction, by the fact that it is fiction, can have an answer to any question someone brings to it. This is a fact of the “make it up” principle, which is the founding principle of fiction. Where did these crystal skulls come from? Answer, aliens. How did all these old people turn young? Aliens. Why isn’t my solenoid working? Aliens. The answer turns out to be aliens a lot. Except for in Contact, in which the aliens turn out to be her dad. The difference between these fictions and the fictional universe of Kill Bill is that while these other films use the real world as their basis for society, Kill Bill is a comprehensive world with it’s own rules, and it’s answers are derived from it’s own sense of truth. For Tarantino, truth, or as he puts it, “the truth of the art, the truth of the creator, the truth of the maker” is the most important guiding force in his work. There are many cues in Kill Bill that help to shape this truth, and help the audience understand its departure from the world we live in. One way is the understanding of this universe among the characters. The way they interact implies a history outside the plot, for example, the contempt Beatrix and Elle have for each other is caused by more than just a professional rivalry. The dialogue about Hanzo swords also implies a cultural phenomenon known throughout the Kill Bill universe about its superiority to other swords. There are also a number of mise-en-scene elements that distinguish Kill Bill’s universe. Tarantino uses rich, bold primary colors. From the hyper-suburbia home of the Bell’s to the zen garden of the House of Blue Leaves, his set’s are exaggerated and other-worldly. The Bride’s superhuman skills and her victims’ projectile bleeding defy natural physics. These all help to define its universe, and the truth within which it operates.
“I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
I took a screenwriting class this last spring and this is what I learned: When a screen writer, or any other writer for that matter, begins to compose a story, her or she must know everything that happens in their world, whether it be the back ground and betrayal that brings two fighters together, or that a leaf falls in a light autumn breeze and most importantly, why these things are significant. When I was a full on film student, watching as many films as I could and reading as much about theory as I could handle, I understood that QT was, by some standards, a thief and that his style of appropriating elements in other films was frowned upon. As a writer, however, one thing is evident, the man in no hack.
In his interview with Machiyama, Tarantino mentions (on page 176) that he knows the origins of Hattori Hanzo, and the Bride’s future, and so forth. These stories are all part of the larger whole that he shows us in Kill Bill. What QT leaves us then, when he discusses these origins and futures, is an opening to another story, one that we may have to think on ourselves.
When Tarantino said that, "I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer." To me it means that it is philosophy in life that he follows by or it just the way he thinks about his movie. For example the word universe means cosmos, creation, or life, the way Tarantino described that way he what to create a place in everybody minds that it can be different, but it can be so real in life. A good prime example is the Kill Bill vol. 1, in the beginning of the movie it tell a story of very angry woman, what had happen to her, then four years later she has mission or in movie would said “We have unfinished business to take care of.” It means that she would do everything in her power to complete her mission.
In other point of view the way he makes his movie, like in Kill Bill vol. 1, when The Bride tells the origin of Lucy Liu character O-Ren. Instead using just regular shot of people to tell the origin, he used Japanese animation called anime. By using the anime part of the story, he shows more of graph violence in the movie and by showing over or too much of the characters emotion of express in the situation. The same point of view is way he use some of the phases, like when The Bride confronted O-Ren by both of them saying “Silly rabbit, Trix’s is for Kids!” basically it tell me that you tried to get something or someone, when you came close to it, you still have a long way to go. Also it is pretty funny thing to say during the movie. So that what my point of view when Tarantino said "I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer." Further more I am a very heavy believer in my own universe and my own mythology, sometime you have to create your own destiny.
-Tony-
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
Tarantino makes a remark that sums up the unwritten rule about creating a new world, your own world within a film. The fact that he states “you can have no question unanswered” tell you that everything happens for a reason and Tarantino (the creator, similar to a God like figure) is the only one who knows these reasons, history, and future in great detail. For Kill Bill there are a plethora of instances in which you can see this universe that Tarantino created differ from what the audience knows as reality. We see fountains of blood come from severed body parts, the defining of gravity, laws broken, and unreal survival from the fittest. But the close representation of what we would call the real world, such as the surroundings, locations, technology, and dialect give the scene of half sci-fi half action/adventure, and the settling between reality and Tarantino’s universe has the audience relating but still asking for more. But Tarantino knows it’s not essential to tell everyone what he knows about this world he has created, he just tells the story of a woman who is out for vengeance of a dangerous group of surreal people in surreal situations. The whole magic of cinema is be able to create something unrealistic and at the same time make to look and feel as if it was reality.
"This isn't an art film meditation on these movies. This is the genuine article. The real deal." What does Tarantino mean by this statement? I strongly believe that Tarantino is making effort to try and step out of the stereotypical mold that everyone sees him in. By this quote he’s saying Kill Bill isn’t homage to previous movies, it’s a real and true genre movie. In an interview by Henry Cabot Beck Tarantino says “What Kill Bill is, it’s me taking films I love – kung fu movies, samurai films, Italian spaghetti Westerns and some Japanese anime – and doing them my way, doing what I always wanted to see done with the material.” Kill Bill isn’t him borrowing and paying homage, Tarantino is shedding that notorious skin, this movie actually is a “Kung Fu flick”, it is a “Samurai Flick”, etc. It’s the real deal. He goes on to say “I see the picture as very similar to the Star Wars and Indian Jones movies that Spielberg and Lucas made, when they reached back into the past to all those old serials and adventure and science fiction movies, the movies they had so much affection for”. Here I would have to agree with him. Who would dare argue that Indian Jones is merely just homage to the action adventure genre? The same can be applied to Stars Wars as well, is anyone willing to stand and say Lucas is just borrowing from other sci fi films? With Kill Bill what have is separate chapters which are all different genres within themselves. O’ren’s story of her past is an anime. The bride taking on Vernita is a kung Fu movie. The showdown at the restaurant is a Samurai film. Kill Bill belongs to all these genres, and it is all of these genres, it isn’t just an homage, it’s the real deal.
Quentin Tarantino has made it quite clear that movies are not real life. He has said in many interviews that real violence is terrible but seeing it in a movie is cool. He has thus set up the worlds of his movies on these principles: movies are not real. This is how he can justify an airline that has holsters for samurai swords in every seat and a woman not only surviving being shot in the head but waking up from a four year coma and willing her limbs back to life.
In an interview with Tomohiro Machiyama, Tarantino stated, "I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer." It is obvious that Tarantino knows the rules to his universe and that is why “Kill Bill” works as a movie. Because everything is so well structured within its own world we do not question why there are sword holsters on a plane or why people still use swords in combat, we just accept it. If something were not explained the audience would question the story and the filmmakers legitimacy. We can see an example of this with the 2002 movie “Signs” by M. Night Shyamalan. Shyamalan has created a universe where aliens exist and can travel across galaxies to other worlds. However, the aliens have chosen to attack a planet that is made up of 80% water, the one substance that can kill them. This kind of poor planning does not exist in the world of “Kill Bill.” What little information we do know all fits. Things may be wild like the fight between The Bride and Copperhead but they do not feel out of place.
I suppose Tarantino is saying that even though it would be nice for the audience to be clued in to EVERYTHING that is happening, before and after things take place, that's not a priority for him. His job is to tell the story the best way he feels how, and if it (by some chance) doesn't make sense after you leave the movie theater (or turn off your television), then that's fine. That's not the point. You wanted a story, you got the story, the end. Tarantino, like every other artist, creates worlds within his movies, complete with believable (and slightly unbelievable) characters that have developed in this world without us (the audience). The audience place is partially objective: we are voyeurs looking in. So having a limited understanding of what's going on is the price we pay for our voyeurism. You also have to understand that Tarantino's directing style usually consists of the audience advancing through the film as though reading a book, where happenings are not necessarily in chronological order and you might just have to get to the end before you figure things out (or in some cases, watch it again). Not knowing all that has happened in the characters' lives adds part of the sensation for audience who is essentially coming in to the story and whose job is to partly figure out what's going on.
In an interview with Tomohiro Machiyama, Quentin Tarantino says, “I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered.” Every one of Tarantino’s movies are very meticulously planned and well thought out works. He draws from so many influences within every movie, which is what he is largely known for, and puts a very specific spin on these genre specific influences. This is evident in his interview with Machinyama in discussing Kill Bill. There are countless movies from Asian cinema referenced in the interview, all relating to very specific aspects of Kill Bill. Tarantino goes on to say, “But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer.” This sounds arrogant, and probably is a little bit, but he is just telling us that he knows specifically what he is drawing from in his films and that it is not as important to the audience as the film maker to know all the details. For me personally, it is more rewarding finding out the influences, references, and subtleties made in films, rather than knowing them in advance.
-Alex Sokovich
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
Tarantino builds worlds in his films that are completely unique and his own. While his films reference 10’s sometimes hundreds of cinema of the past, his revisions are new ideas that make his realms new and fresh even after knowing specific references from his influences. In the reading, Machiyama asks Tarantino about the fine line between the violence and the comedy in Kill Bill Vol. 1. Tarantino responds that his worlds are completely and utterly ruled under his guiding hand so that things that may seem unrealistic or over-the-top are more acceptable because we know Tarantino bills it as his own creation. Only Tarantino knows when we are supposed to laugh or supposed to cry but he has enough sense to leave that up to the viewer’s interpretation. When justifying why Bill would get passed security in order to wield a samurai sword on an airplane, he says that in his world, everyone has a samurai sword, and he can do that because his mythology is justified by his own creative mind.
There are parts of this film that could seem convoluted in its treatment of the distinction between style and parody but Tarantino knows the truth to these references and in his mind, the audience shouldn’t have to know the how’s and why’s of his creations. Similarly, we are left wondering where Uma Thurman’s character will be at the end of this epic and Tarantino loves that wonder. He says that the true beauty of watching films is being tugged back and forth by the emotional content. The mystery of Bill’s fate lends great depths to this film because it kept viewers needing to know more and thinking about the film right up until Volume 2’s release date.
I think that Tarantino is very much involved in creating his own universe within his films and even going as far as creating separate universes for each of his characters. I think it is evident that there are things going on in his movies that we just don’t quite understand and these are parts of his own little universe that we are just left to guess about. When Black Mamba and O-Rhen exchange the pop culture phase, “silly rabbit tricks are for kids” Tarantino is letting us, the viewers, know that there is more to the story then we have been let to know. There may be some kind of history behind those two characters that he is not willing to let us know about. This shows us Tarantino is creating stories behind the story, in the characters own universes. The fact that he doesn’t come out and tell us what the meanings behind some of these things are keeps us wondering and making up the missing pieces in our own heads. The fact that we don’t know the answers to some of these questions doesn’t seem to bother us, but may in fact enhance the pleasure of watching the movie, which may, in the end, be Tarantino’s reasoning behind his decisions.
-Robert Mueller
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
Tarantino has a sense of what his universe that he works through is, but he leaves interpretation to the audience. Kill Bill is an excellent example of Tarantino leaving the plot to our imagination, with inside jokes and a supposed understanding of certain plot details. Although he leaves us guessing, he gives us the bare plot needed to understand the film. Instances in the film allow for our imagination to explore, for instance the reason why the bride was attacked by her crew and how long she was in a coma.
Tarantino includes inside jokes in Kill Bill, such as the quote "silly rabbit tricks are for kids," and certain part of the conversation with Vernita Green. This not only shows the viewer some past relationship with the characters but in a sense a knowledge of the others' strengths and weaknesses.
And finally Tarantino puts us in this parallel universe where everyone carries a sword freely especially in the airport and on the plane. He creates a place where the characters fight with swords and can roam the earth with out repercussions for their actions.
From the article, Tarantino boasted about how he know how he makes his films with everything he stole from other films. He believed that if he could create this universe in his film that is not real, he have done something huge. He has purposes and reasons why he did that but it is up to the viewers to figure it out. Kill Bill is obviously not a real world, but still has lots of connections to Realism. His purpose of this is to create an atmosphere where things can be imagined and fits with the characters and script well. Tarantino wanted to create a world where everyone has samurai swords, even with Uma and sword on the plane. It is a possible reference where in America, people are allowed to have guns. Right now with all of the security at the airport, that will never happen but something we can dreaming/fanasty about. Tarantino created his universe through his films and his answers comes from himself but we do not understand the answers unless we explore throughout Tarantino.
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
An auteur in the most modern sense, Tarantino knows fully well that what is chosen to be revealed throughout the course of a film, and a novel for that matter, is just as important as the elements chosen to be omitted- or questions unanswered. The lingering and open-endedness of certain details is what allows the viewer to form the film according to their interpretation. it is another way to invite active audience participation and keep them thinking about the narrative and its characters. Tarantino continues to say, "...you need to know how large the world is. This is how much I'm going to tell you now, and what I don't tell you, you can figure out. You can make up your own things." These instances have become staples in movie history: "Who shot first?" (Han for sure), "What's in the briefcase?" (a battery and a light bulb), "what does Charlotte say in his ear?" (probably something at least semi-inappropriate considering the age of Bob Harris), "Does the car ever make it out of bodega bay?" (I bet not), "What does Antoine do after the freeze frame?" (I don't know but the sea was not the answer/ freedom he thought it would be).
This notion put into play is a way of inspiring active audience participation in each film as well as revealing a self-reflexive quality of cinema that Tarantino has trademarked. The world created from a collage of film history, violence, and pop culture references is a cinematic style which is constantly reminding the spectator, in sometimes a subtle "I know more than you" sort of way, that this experience is not real life.
"I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
Tarantino creates a universe inside of a universe with Kill Bill. He creates a universe where there is a place on the airplane seat that you can stash your samurai sword in the same universe that attempts to hide violence from a four year old girl. Tarantino abides by the conventional rules while making up his own. In the process of making up his own universe, he leaves a few questions unanswered but that’s ok. We are a smart audience and we can fill in the blanks ourselves with our own imagination. Just like in the real world, we are not spoon fed every answer to every question, we have to work for the answer and I think that is what Tarantino is making us do with Kill Bill. He has all of the answers to the questions, but he does not give them to us because he likes the suspense, and likes us to make up our own answers. He likes to watch the reactions of the test audiences and see how they react differently. That is what is so great about his movies; he knows the answers but wants you to tell him what you think the answer should be.
Quentin Tarantino states: “I'm very much a believer that if you're creating your own universe and your own mythology, you can have no question unanswered. But here's the thing: I don't have to answer the questions to you the audience. You just need to know I know the answer."
This statement is quite interesting and I’ve never thought about this before. I used to imagine that whatever story was being told was created in almost an additive way. That one thing grew off another and certain things were added to a film to support something else. What this statement is suggesting is that there’s also a subtractive process, in that there is a larger situation (world +) and that what is shown to us in the film is only a selected part of the whole.
I’m sure that in the creation process both are present. The more I think about this, the more I can see where in Tarantino’s film this ‘non-displayed knowledge’ might be. There are certain times that we (the audience) just trust the film and accept the gaps. Most of the time it does not matter if we know the whole story, and I think that’s why we can accept it (there’s a lot in real life that we don’t understand/know in its entirety either, yet we accept it). This where the genius comes in: knowing how much can be left out before the audience is lost (plot) or the trust of the audience is lost. If this happens, then the created universe and/or mythology will not be accepted and the audience will in turn dislike/not be able to get into the film (because they wont be able to get into the created world).
I feel that Tarantino is successful in this area in that he creates these worlds and mythologies that are typically unfathomable, and somehow gets us, the audience, right in on it. This might be because he has this ‘non-displayed knowledge’ about what he has created. So whatever parts of the created world that are showed to us have this sort of credibility of existence for us. This idea of “no question unanswered” is believable, but it can only be taken so far. I’m sure that Tarantino doesn’t know everything about his universes, because once you change even the littlest thing, it affects everything else. Not to mention the depths of knowledge present in any ‘universe’ or ‘mythology’.
When Tarantino says, "This isn't an art film meditation on these movies. This is the genuine article. The real deal." I believe he is trying to say that even though Tarantino might borrow from a lot of films to make Kill Bill, it does not mean that it isn’t his own creation. Kill Bill can be related to many movies, such as Lady SnowBlood which is about a little girl whose dad was killed and mother was raped, and this little girl is raised by a Kung Fu master that trains her to avenge her parent’s murderers. Now even though this movie may have a lot of connection with O-ren Ishii’s character and even a little of Beatrice Kiddio it is still completely different from Kill Bill. So even though Tarantino may have borrowed from Lady SnowBlood and other movies like it, it is still is his own unique movie, or genuine article, not just a copy of some other films. Kill Bill and other Tarantino movie’s like Reservoir Dogs may pay homage to other movies, but they are still there own masterpiece. At least that is what I believe Tarantino means by, “This isn't an art film meditation on these movies. This is the genuine article. The real deal."
Ronnie Dhaliwal
I think that Tarantino's style of storytelling is an important part of how he creates his own universe and mythology that "leaves no question unanswered." I think that in the first quote he is saying that when he doesn't use a chronological narrative or doesn't reveal part of a story right away, it doesn't mean that he doesn't know the rest of the story or that that part doesn't matter, it just means that he is choosing how he wants to reveal it to the audience. I think he does this to keep the audience wondering and guessing at the reasons for why things are happening. In Kill Bill Volume 1, one instance where he kind of hints to the audience that there will be something more to the story is when after The Bride kills her mother, she says to Nikki that she will be waiting if she wants to avenge her mother's death. Even though Tarantino hasn't yet shown what happens, this line foreshadows for audience that this is not the end of Nikki's story. As Tarantino says, "I know what's going to happen with Nikki. She will grow up and she will seek her revenge." He leaves how and when she does this for the audience to imagine, while letting us know that he is aware of the bigger picture and what will happen, although he doesn't reveal it to us yet.
Another way in which Tarantino creates his own universe that he knows "the answer," to, or in other words, the reasons why things happened and how, is by not setting this movie in the real world. In the same interview that the first quote was taken from, when discussing how he was going to have samurai swords be allowed on planes in the original script, he explains that this can happen because it is not the real world, but his own invented universe. The universe that he creates in Kill Bill, does obey some of the conventions and laws that we see as being a part of real life, while discarding others, which makes this movie very fantasy-like. Tarantino has said that even though people think his storytelling style is very different from other movies, that it is common in novels, and I think he also uses the idea of creating a fantasy world in the way many science fiction or fantasy novels do.
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