Gallafent uses a Josef von Sternberg quote (a film director from the 1920s-1940s) to structure his discussion of the Kill Bill films. In the quote, von Sternberg refers to his own film, The Scarlett Empress as a "relentless excursion into style which...is considered unpardonable in this medium." Why do you think that Gallafent chose this quote to discuss Kill Bill, and what connection does he suggest it has to Tarantino's work?
7.05.2008
Excursion into Style?
Gallafent uses a Josef von Sternberg quote (a film director from the 1920s-1940s) to structure his discussion of the Kill Bill films. In the quote, von Sternberg refers to his own film, The Scarlett Empress as a "relentless excursion into style which...is considered unpardonable in this medium." Why do you think that Gallafent chose this quote to discuss Kill Bill, and what connection does he suggest it has to Tarantino's work?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
25 comments:
"The Scarlet Empress," by Josef von Sternberg, may have been “a relentless excursion into style,” but the same could easily be said about "Kill Bill." It tells the tale of an assassin stripped of her womanhood (a wedding and child) who goes on a revenge killing spree. It is shot in vibrant color and delicious black and white and, as Gallafent points out, dances between worlds of reality and fantasy comparable to "The Wizard of Oz."
In a more detailed comparison between "The Scarlet Empress" and "Kill Bill" Gallafent notes Tarantino’s use of Uma Thurman as the overbearing face of the films and von Sternberg’s use of Marlene Dietrich in "Empress." Gallafent explains that in both films the directors took every opportunity to show the stoic faces of their monstrous leading ladies. He gives the example of the fight between Elle and Beatrix in Buddy’s trailer. Tarantino cuts frequently to close ups of the women’s faces and Gallafent suggests that Tarantino likes shooting combat because of the opportunity it gives him to “photograph the warrior’s face.”
Also, both "Empress" and "Kill Bill" are incredibly stylized and shot to give power in strength and sexuality to the dominant females. "The Scarlet Empress" is about Katherine the Great, one of the most powerful rulers in Russian history. "Kill Bill" is about Beatrix Kiddo, one of the most deadly assassins in American history (according to Tarantino’s world). Gallafent discloses that Tarantino sees "Kill Bill" as his version of "The Scarlet Empress." It is not hard to see why.
Although both films may be seen as “a relentless excursion into style” this, as seen first with the success of "The Matrix" (1999), is no longer “considered unpardonable in this medium."
Gallafent talks about how Tarantino has reordered the events of the film and how he was able to do this without confusing the viewer. This would be considered a work of art and a relentless excursion into style. He also talks about how the characters are torn between two worlds. In the first world you have extraordinary powers and are invincible. In the other world you are more domestic and have a family to worry about. The question is if you are able to survive in this second world. Von Sternberg talks about his film as being a work of art that should not be taken for granted. This is a pretty egotistical statement. Tarantino also states that Kill Bill could be read as his version of The Scarlet Empress a modern relentless excursion into style. He uses this statement as his introduction because Tarantino uses this statement to compare his film to Von Sternberg’s film The Scarlet Empress. They both feel their film is a work of art that should not be taken for granted and both seem to have big egos. He also talks about how Kill Bill ends with the face of the bride the single face that dominated Volume 1 and 2. It was a celebration of a single female star. Sternberg also devotes time to the image of his star Marlene Dietrich. As he states Tarantino was using the camera to display the individuality of one person to bring it home to us.
The definition of excursion is to journey, a short trip or outing to some place, usually for a special purpose and with the intention of a prompt return (derived from Dictionary.com under excursion).
Gallafent discussed about Kill Bill and its locations throughout the film. He split the chapter into sections which refers to locations that Tarantino subtitled for the viewers such as suburb in Pasadena, CA or a wedding chapel outside of El Paso, etc. Kill Bill took a journey to locations and took advantage of the location's style incorporating it into the film. For example, the tradition of martial art or samurai swords, or the genre of anime or flying warriors. This is a reference to Sternberg's style.
The excursion style that Tarantino used was with the woman as the main character, Uma Thurman, goes on her journey of revenge. In his previous films, it mainly focuses on masculinity with some female characters, which is interesting because it completely changes from man to woman. In Vol. 2, the viewers learned that Uma tries to escape to become a wife and a mother. Bill decided to rob her of that woman's role. Bill shows that there are still some man powers over the woman, but ironically Uma turned things around and went against Bill and killed whoever got in the way, even Bill's brother. This is similar to Sternberg and how he created his film with woman's power/ woman as main character and going on a killing spree/ revenge.
In Kill Bill Tarantino does take us on a relentless excursion into style. He presents a film that shows us to distinct spheres (that of reality, of domestic responsibilities and 9-5 jobs; and of fantasy, where women can fight without being seriously wounded, where gravity can be suspended, and where assassins become superheroes) that can blur into one another at times. His fights are exquisitely choreographed, and feel like, as Gallafent writes, dances. He relishes in opportunities to show us the powerful faces of his "warriors"(that feel similar in ways to old photographs of Native American "warriors"). He even has his own version of war paint (Uma's mud stains during her fight with Elle).
Contrasting sharply with the film’s “real” settings (like Bud’s trailer, and the strip joint where he works, and Vernita’s home) which are very mundane and ordinary, he gives us stunning surreal locales: such as the attic filled with swords, the snow field where Oren and The Bride fight, and Pai Mei’s home. Yet all of the locations in Kill Bill are very stylized. They are created to look a certain way, with all the details down to a T; much like a set painter might have approached an elaborate set painting of old Hollywood. To top it all off, the film is shot in rich color tones (which probably can be attributed to the 50 ASA stock Tarantino likes to shoot on), and stark high-con. All these components make up a film that is exquisitely stylized and at times hyper real.
Kill Bill is a “modern relentless excursion into style.” Tarantino takes us on an interesting journey through the movie. The movies take turns between two areas, reality and fiction. Fights takes place in both areas, and every move in each fight is completely choreographed. Tarantino also mixes old style (the black and white scenes, beginning credits when it says our feature presentation, and sound in beginning credits) and new style (women fighting without getting hurt, and defying gravity) together. He is showing us what the camera could always do and what it can do now.
Tarantino also took the time to create a master action movie as well. He used many close ups on faces to create the look of a warrior. Not to mention, the choreographed fights. He also mixes up the order of the story as well. This is something Tarantino likes to do. As in Pulp Fiction, he mixes up order to confuse he audience a little bit. It makes the movie more interesting.
Tarantino also used many different locations in this movie. Instead of only taking place in L.A. like his other movies, Kill Bill takes place all over the world. This allows for the use of samurai swords and martial arts to be heavily included in the movie. Tarantino also used a woman as his main character. Kiddo was robbed of her life and went on a rampage to make everyone involved pay. This is similar to Sternberg’s movie and unlike a movie Tarantino has made before.
Kill Bill is a movie loaded with style. From the precise choreography to the bold colors, Kill Bill is nothing anyone has seen before. But at the same time, it is exactly something people have seen before. As mentioned above, Tarantino did a great job of mixing old and new styles in this movie.
While watching Kill Bill, the viewer is placed on a “relentless excursion into style”. Scene after scene, Tarantino introduces a new aspect of this film that contributes to its entirety. But each scene is unique in its style. For example, as Gallafent explains, Tarantino’s use of locations in Kill Bill that interact directly with which genre he is taking from. In Tarantino’s interview with Fred Topel, Tarantino explains that his style is a mixture of different genres and was strictly developed around what was set “emotion-wise”(Woods, 182). As this course has progressed thus far, working with many genres in one film is apart of who Tarantino is. His style is “Tarantino-esque” and is overwhelming in all senses. Tarantino puts it best when he says, “I want you to laugh, laugh, laugh, and then stop you laughing and show you something else. Maybe start you crying, and then get you laughing again. I want to just constantly keep moving. For me, if I’m watching a movie and I’m going from laughing to crying…I’m being jerked around emotionally and that’s great”(Woods, 177). With this said, it is very similar to his own films that he incorporates this idea of “relentless excursion into style” which in turn keeps his films movie moving, suspense, unexpected, and successful.
I'm not quite sure how Gallafant determined that the Kill Bill movies are in a a "medium" of which Tarantino's "excursion" is considered "unpardonable". I believe the "medium" that tarantino's working in is film... i believe the style is hollywood-martial arts, and the excursion he refers to then must be his directing attempts and decision, the expedition of his movie-making. Translated into standard English I believe this quote would then mean that Gallafant thinks that "tarantino made a hollywood-martial arts film (Kill Bill Vol. 1 &2) and it is unpardonable. Does this make sense? Maybe to film snobs but no so much to normal every day folk as myself.
Gallafant is right that his movies are indeed unrelenting. Tarantino copied and pasted certain scenes and ideas from early martial arts films that inspired him relentlessly, and he does everything that he does with intense fashion. Ex. The blood absolutely ridiculously pouring out of the victims in the fights leading to O-ren. There is a curious inconsistency however, because there are characteristic values of Tarantinos work that involve purposely leaving out intense visual effects, though the tone is intense enough in itself to bring the violence to the audience without seeing it first hand. Gallafant's quote, however, in kill bill he is over-exaggerating the violence to the fullest...
In his conclusion, Gallafent argues that Kill Bill may be a “relentless excursion into style,” in a similar manner to von Sternberg’s “The Scarlett Empress.” Von Sternberg and Tarantino both utilize the tools of cinema to spotlight a particular female star -- Marlene Dietrich for von Sternberg and Uma Thurman for Tarantino. Quoting Gallafent, “Here as there, a film seems to be given over to opportunities to photograph one face, its masks and its moods: innocent, guilty, shocked, bloodied, soiled, unspotted, in colour, in black and white.”
Gallafent’s closing note is certainly thought provoking, although it does seem to undermine his earlier extensive analysis of the film’s narrative and thematic structure. Tarantino certainly does use this film as an opportunity to explore every aspect of Uma Thurman in motion, and he has repeatedly professed that she is the inspiration for the Kill Bill series. Nevertheless, the film is more than a mere “relentless excursion into style,” and I assume that Gallafent actually feels the same way.
Tarantino’s cinematic fetishization of Uma Thurman is part of Kill Bill, but far from the only part. Just as Tarantino takes traditional genres to new and startling places, he seems to have taken this pursuit of cinematic and worshipful style to an entirely fresh place. This pursuit of a fantastical new version of the familiar may be one of the fundamental keys to Tarantino’s success as a filmmaker. In “Kill Bill,” Tarantino performs this feat on multiple fronts.
Tarantino used many different styles in making the Kill Bill films and I believe that is why Gallafent chose the quote, "relentless excursion into style". This film uses a combination of old and new, real and fiction, and exotic and local settings within it, that make it a several hour excursion into different ways and styles in which a film can be shot. Tarantino starts the movie using black and white and then moves to color, showing the old and new ways of making films. He also jumps back and forth from the real to the "made-up". He makes his lead character a mother and vulnerable, but then puts her in impossible fight scenes, doing things that defy the laws of nature. Tarantino takes us on a journey around the world and shows us the styles of different regions from the deserts of the southwest, to suburbia, and Japan. This creates a culture clash, a blending of American and Japanese styles, knife fights and guns to sword fights. There are even different styles within the cultures. Gallafent points out the difference between Okinawa, with its white robes, quiet and peaceful, and Tokyo with its black robes, modern technology, and powerful gangsters. Tarantino also reaches back to his previous films and uses his classic style of rearranging the order of the film that we have become so used to. In one of the scenes we don't even know that the scene is out of order until it is over and we see the checklist of people she has to kill and there are names already crossed off. Kill Bill is a several hour excursion of styles.
Gallafant’s use of Josef von Sternberg’s quote “ relentless excursion into style,” really does describe Tarantino’s film Kill Bill. What comes to my mind referring to an excursion into style is when someone dives into an idea and portrays it with great precision and respect to both time and space. Kill Bill, I believe achieves both a necessary stylistic approach with the fighting scenes and presents a non-linear plot that ties together in the end. Kill Bill is new ground for Tarantino from previous films.
Tarantino’s Kill Bill is a change of scene from Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, and Jackie Brown. Unlike those films with are set in familiar Los Angeles or American settings, Kill Bill, moves from the familiar to the unfamiliar. In vol. 1 of Kill Bill, Tarantino starts the film out in an American town fighting Vernita Green even though on the list she is number two to be killed. This could have been a possible transition approach by Tarantino to move from American lifestyle to Japanese, and even Hispanic lifestyle when she visits Bill’s “father.” There are many stylistic approaches that Tarantino presented in Kill Bill, especially in Japan.
At the beginning of the film the audience sees the special presentation reel that gives the viewer an old feel to the film but the introducing song is played in high quality that gives a sense of new. Tarantino could be hinting to his cinematography in the movie, where he presents new images in an old setting. He creates beautiful landscapes for the fights and strangely focuses on the fights excessively. The viewer feels a connection between a world of killing and revenge to a world of elegance and grace in kung fu by showing gravity defying jumps and skillful swordsmanship.
I believe that it is extremely fitting to consider the “Kill Bill” volumes an “excursion into style”. As with his previous works, Tarantino has conglomerated all of his favorite movies, from a diverse web of genres, into one fantastic mix that somehow seems to gel in the end. “Kill Bill” vol. 1 and 2, however, seem to expand the borders or this technique to almost “unpardonable” territories. Tarantino reveals his main influences on the two volumes in “The Film Geek Files”: “…Volume 1 is, for lack of a better term, my Eastern with a Western influence, a spaghetti western influence. Volume 2 is my spaghetti Western with an Eastern influence.” The two films also incorporate black and white cinematography with color (reminiscent of “The Wizard of Oz”), Japanimation, and fight scenes heavily influenced by old Kung Fu and Yakuza flicks. Stylistically, Tarantino has explored the entire world over in terms of influence.
Tarantino, using the aforementioned stylistic techniques, blurs the line between fantasy and reality. Gallafent discusses this haze, as scenes transition from completely ordinary domestic domains where a child comes home from school and interrupts action, to a world where samurai swords are the weapons of choice and a woman warrior can single-handedly take out an entire Yakuza squad. This blur of reality is especially evident in a schoolroom scene where Beatrix Kiddo’s name is called, but the audience faces an unexpected answer: “…the image of that child is not directly available. Occupying the seat is not the child but the figure of the adult that she will become.” (Gallafent, 104).
Tarantino uses setting especially well in the “Kill Bill” volumes to push the film into stylistically innovative territories. The audience is thrown into tiny settings all over the world, a technique particularly new to the L.A. obsessed director. Hanzo’s attic, the garden where Beatrix kills O-Ren, and the hospital room where she awakes from her coma are great examples of this. Drawing from all of his favorite movies, and using his signature chronological scramble, Tarantino creates a world, which abstractly could exist, but is on the brink of fantasy. Critics may even perceive this world as “unpardonable”, but in the eyes of many is not only forgivable, but captivating.
Kill Bill is most definitely an excursion in style. Every borrowed genre is replicated to the extreme. The sound effects for the punches and sword swings sharply punctuate the brutal and wonderfully choreographed fight scenes. The color of the sets and costumes are rich, bold, and saturated. The violence and blood is excessive, the dialog speaks of deserved revenge, and, as discussed last week, the plot takes place in a universe of its own. Less is not more in Kill Bill. When it comes to style, Tarantino adopts the "more is better" philosophy, and this is where he runs into similarity with Josef von Sternberg's quote describing The Scarlett Empress, specifically when he refers to what is "considered unpardonable in this medium". The debate over what determines film as art has existed since the birth of the medium. The introspective indy drama will always be considered higher art than the big-budget "roaring rampage of revenge" action movie. Even in Tarantino's own body of work, Pulp Fiction's Palme d'Or garners much more critical acclaim than Kill Bill's Taurus awards for it's stunts. But is that value rightfully placed? Gallafent suggests that it isn't. He goes on in his article to discuss the importance of capturing Beatrix/Uma's beaten, dirty, and bloody face. He argues that showing her like this, in all her extremes, truly brings out the individuality of her character. Tarantino's excursion into style is able to conjure a rawness that, especially for female characters, is rarely portrayed. This film has real artistic merit, but expresses it in the most outrageous way.
The fact that Gallafent chose this quote to introduce and use throughout his article on Kill Bill conveys his convictions towards the film within that one sentence. Like Sternberg’s The Scarlett Empress Tarantino’s Kill Bill could also fit under the framework of a “relentless excursion into style” especially in the powerful medium of film. Throughout Kill Bill Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 Tarantino takes the audience on this excursion of a deadly individual that is on a mission for revenge. The relentless part of Tarantino’s style is shown through the camera in ways some would say to be reprehensible; with static shots of blood dispensing out of open wounds, real time torture scenes, the defining of gravity, and unimaginable detrimental situations. Tarantino’s constant looking back at films and taking what he wants from them, illustrates how he perceives this medium in a world of his own. . “To represent the individuality of one human being in such a way as to bring it, and the power of this medium to us.” (Gallafent 120) Kill Bill is Tarantino’s action adventure film in which the audience is continuously following Beatrix around the world as we experience a different style of genre in each different country. In Tokyo we experience the Japanimation, Pai Mei older Kung-Fu films, in Texas and California it’s the spaghetti-westerns
From viewing the movie(s) and the information presented in the readings, we see that there is a lot happening in the KILL BILL films. All aspects of it seem to be somewhat original; however we know that much of it is ‘borrowed’ techniques or homage. This helps create something that is familiar to us, while remaining an original style through the mixing of meaning, time, music, and borrowed styles in a fashion that has not been seen yet.
Tarantino continues to mix timelines here, and does so affectively. The non-order creates a sense of intrigue, and perhaps temporary confusion of certain aspects of the film. But the viewer trusts that the film will conclude everything and in the mean time challenges the viewer to hypothesis answers. I think that two levels of conclusion are met here, one level being for each film, and the second being for the entire KILL BILL series. This means that the first film does not just end and leave the audience with a sense of incompleteness.
In these films, Tarantino borrows from (or as I would like to think, “learned from and used techniques like that of…”) multiple powerful cinematic traditions. He uses them in a highly contemporary way while still respecting their historical value. He seems to have a gift of choosing certain bits of technique and using them where they best suit the film. I think this is something that helps create his style.
Through all of these elements, Tarantino surely creates a film through a “relentless excursion into style…” I think this quote is chosen to set the tone of his discussion on the KILL BILL’s because the relentless excursion makes reference to Tarantino’s dedication to the extreme of both real and unreal worlds, and the ability to fit into many cinematographic styles which can best be explained as “Tarantino-esque”.
Gallafent chooses a great quote to introduce his chapter on Kill Bill. This film is oozing with style, more so than any of Tarantino’s previous works. Joseph Von Sternberg, when talking about his film The Scarlett Empress says speaks of "relentless excursion into style which...is considered unpardonable in this medium." This fits perfectly into the line of discussion when it comes to Tarantino’s 4th film. Like Tarantino’s previous films, he is putting his own twists and unique style on a genre that has been long in existence. Borrowing from various Asian cinema, Tarantino manages to create a new style over the already very stylistic movies of the genre that have come before Kill Bill. From limbs spurting blood, to the beautifully choreographed fight scenes, this remains to be the most stylized out of any of Tarantino’s films. Gallafent compares the two main heroines of The Scarlett Empress and Kill Bill and credits the film makers with using the faces of the heroines very effectively and putting much devotion into this aspect of the film. The film makers are able to get across emotions and moods very effectively. There is one thing that Kill Bill is for sure, and that could also be said about The Scarlett Empress, is that it is a “a very unusual celebration of a single female star.” (Gallafent, 120)
-Alex Sokovich
I think Gallafent chose this quote to discuss Kill Bill because the film is more focused on how Tarantino tells the story, or his style of filmmaking, than on the story itself. The film doesn’t really have a message or a deeper meaning or something it’s trying to say to the audience, and I think this helps the audience focus on the style. I think that’s what Gallafent is saying by using the quote, that pretty much the whole film is focused on using different styles and borrowing the styles of films from the past. Revenge stories have been made into movies before, but what makes this one stick out from the many others is Tarantino's style. Tarantino gets some of his style from other artists and makes it his own by changing it into something new and combining different styles that have never been used together before along with his own ideas. I also think Gallafent uses this quote because he wants to point out that Kill Bill is mostly all about style and borrowing from films of the past without saying that that is something to be looked down on. I think he wants the reader to be reminded that art forms other than film are more focused on style than Kill Bill is. I think he wants to say that people who borrow from other artists and use their style to make a painting or a piece of music are seen as great, while filmmakers who use the style of past artists are seen as copying and unoriginal. Gallafent uses this quote as an introduction to a discussion of Tarantino’s style in Kill Bill because he thinks Kill Bill is very stylized and that its’ style is what makes it a good example of the art form of film.
Gallafent makes a connection between Kill Bill and Sternberg’s quote by giving us examples of how Tarantino makes Kill Bill into an “excursion into style.” Gallafent gives the example of how Tarantino blends the unfamiliar with the familiar by his representation of different locations. Gallafent describes the unfamiliar versus the familiar in Tarantino’s work as, “the distinctions are slippery: for example, having to account for locations that are apparently mundane (say a restaurant or a home) but that briefly seem to be taken over as sites of a ritual, or a battle, and then presumably are allowed to return to the ordinary world again.” An example of this from Kill Bill would be how Tarantino shows the wedding chapel as just a normal solitary place, and then a massacre occurs there. Gallafent contrasts Tarantino’s representation of places as familiar or unfamiliar to that of places in The Wizard of Oz, in which he says there is a clear distinction between familiar or normal to unfamiliar or fantastical, whereas Tarantino does the opposite and makes the audience unsure of whether they are in the world of the familiar or a strange place. Tarantino accomplishes this by using his unique style of representing these places, and also by and having the ordinary happen in fantasy worlds and unusual things happen in places that are familiar to us.
Tarantino’s assemblage of Kill Bill Volumes 1 and 2 is instinctively linked to almost all cinema of the past but more inherently Sternberg’s groundbreaking, yet commercial failure (at least until appreciation was applied to its artwork in the 1960’s) The Scarlet Empress, making it easy to understand why Gallafent uses the 1934 film as a starting off point for discussing Tarantino’s “4th film”. Though the term “unpardonable” may not be completely appropriate for describing this work it is, however, undoubtedly a “relentless excursion into style.” Making use of blue matte backgrounds, fantastically fantasized locations, and stunning fight sequences which carry no repercussions of injury lest the “final blow,” Tarantino has managed to carry his filmmaking over into a realm of more abstract and non-conventional film as art with a increasingly over-the-top visual approach. This exercise of stylization by the director is in one way an instance of artistic expression and in another a statement to be delivered to the spectator on the self reflexivity inherent in all of Tarantino’s work, constantly reminding us that the subject matter and corresponding action of these films does not take place in the realm of reality, but rather uses our preconceived notions and experience within common life to accentuate the narrative and its accompanying imagery.
Compounded with the highly stylized articulation of narrative storytelling Sternberg’s influence also comes through in the portrayal of the protagonist in both films; as Gallafent remarks in reference to both volumes of Kill Bill, “they represent a remarkable and- in terms of current practice- very unusual celebration of a single female star,” continuing on to remark of The Scarlet Empress that, “Sternberg’s scrupulous depiction of his film, with its devotion to the presentation of images of Marlene Dietrich- suggestively also cast in a narrative that makes her out to be a kind of monster, the Messalina of the north- seems nicely appropriate.”
Gallafent recapitulates the similarities between- or efforts of- the two directors and their respective works commenting that the objective may be, “to represent the individuality of one human being in such a way as to bring it, and the power of this medium, home to us.”
.
I think the quote applies more to the first volume of Kill Bill rather than volume two. Simply put, Kill Bill volume one is an “excursion into style”, it’s the most stylistic of any of the previous three films Tarantino directed. It takes everything he’s done before, every genre he’s ever enjoyed, and kicks each aspect up by twenty notches. It’s fast, frantic, and stops to let us breath only in rare moments that we can later enjoy all the more upon re watching the film. It’s the most “Hollywood” of any of his films, costing the most to produce, but also bringing in a rather large sum of money. Despite it being a Hollywood film, it still seems somewhat outside the box because of it’s an extreme amount of excess. As the quote states “It’s taken for granted in any other art” and is “considered to be unpardonable in this medium”. In film, excess is rarely a good thing and Kill Bill experiments with this idea a lot, trying to push us into as much believable absurdity as possible. The opposite is true of volume two, the second half of the film. The pace is much slower, the action, while still extreme is limited between smaller one on one fights rather than bride taking on whole gangs. If volume on is an excursion into style, then volume two is excursion into restraint, but only when it’s compared to volume one.
Tarantino has a style that cannot be mistaken. With his use of crime, horror, thriller and western genres, remixing them to the relevance of modern-day cinema, he has established himself as the remix filmmaker of this generation. For Gallafent to compare von Sternberg’s quote: “relentless excursion into style”, to the way Tarantino has made Kill Bill is profound but also seemingly limiting. It seems as if all of Tarantino’s products are an “excursion into style” making Kill Bill almost a parody of Tarantino filmmaking.
Kill Bill revisits most, if not all, of Tarantino’s signatures: finding a medium between the everyday world and the criminal world, non-linear storytelling, genre exploring and remixing, power struggles and hierarchies, familiar vs. foreign spaces, professionalism, confusion/remixing gender roles, and the list goes on. Interestingly, though, is the way he rethinks his less-than-happy endings. Instead of leaving our protagonist to wander on in search of something to ground them or having an extremely pessimistic view of life and death, Tarantino gives his heroine Beatrix Kiddo freedom to feel comfortable with her state at the end of Kill Bill, living happily ever after with her estranged daughter. In this revision of his classically stylized endings we can see Tarantino re-inventing Tarantino: the most stylized his films can get. To re-invent a staple of one’s signature is the epitome of stylization, giving the film the upper hand in being Tarantino’s most stylized work yet.
Also, as Gallafent mentions this epic to be comparable to the von Sternberg film in which the quote explains, Tarantino reinvents the mythology of many generations, kung fu and the western, even the fairy tale. In this sense he is making not only his characters, but also his film overall, very relatable to a whole spectrum of viewers. He uses this mythology that is so defining of a culture, or even many cultures, to link his interest in media to ours.
Kill Bill is a film riddled with referential jokes and quips based on the way true cinema fans watch film that it creates an encyclopedia of Tarantino style. Not only are these references film-based but they are also catering to true Tarantino devotees, what with this subtitle right after the film’s introduction: “Quentin Tarantino’s 4th Film”. This film did all in its power to catch the eye of not only the film nerd, who pays attention to things like style, but true Tarantino nerds. He has made the perfect film for anyone in search of something blatantly and utterly Tarantino-esque.
I think that Gallafent chose this quote to make his connection to Tarantino's work, is a very agreeable statement. First excursion means a longer journey or visit to a place, sometimes for other purposes. This meaning is connection to Tarantino’s work on Kill Bill. The movie is about a woman, who’s is seeking revenge on the people’s who try to kill her and left her in a coma for four years. Though out the whole movie in both volumes, Uma character known as Beatrix Kiddo - The Bride, and 'Black Mamba'. When she woke up from her coma, the first thing she would do is to travel pretty as far to Japan. When she meet Hattori Hanzo ‘the sword maker’ to build her a sword, after that was done. The next thing we find out that she went to Tokyo for her first target for her revenge, after she finish kill all the gang and the head leader (O-Ren) in a blood bath of a fighting scene. Then she went back to the state and continues searching her next targets.
In the next volume of Kill Bill, she was continuing search her next target. The movie started with her looking for Butch, which also related to the final character of the movie or the final target. When she finally fined Butch and confronted him, it gets very messy in the mix of all things. There was not whole a lot of shooting or evening not even bit of fighting too, between the two characters. After all that had happen to Beatrix, but she didn’t kill Butch another character did. That character name is Elle Driver, who is the second best killer in the movie and she also one of the target for Beatrix list of revenge. Then they fighting each other, but Beatrix didn’t kill her also either. She designed to pull her remaining eye and make suffer the plain. There wasn’t a whole lot of traveling to find her final target, she basically asked where he was and find him at his home. When she finally find him at his home, she to try confronting him, but they only talk for a few minute and start to fight for few second, and after all that her journey was over. So the conclusion is that I totally agree with Gallafent using this quote.
-tony-
I agree with Gallafant; that Tarantino’s films fit the Sternberg quote very literally. With the exception of Jackie Brown, the most subtle of Tarantino’s films, all of his films have a very stylistic quality, banking on violence, sexuality, and dialogue full of pop culture references. I think what is meant by the ‘unpardonable’ quality of this medium, is that in most cases, this kind of filmmaking is attributed to a style of films considered to be beneath ‘civilized’ society. The Cult genre, especially including grindhouse films, is noted for its gratuitous gore and violence. Tarantino feds off this stuff while maintaining a healthy enough distance to still be considered by contemporary critics. This quote, I feel, is particularly fitting to Vol.1. The movie opens with an execution, and is followed by a knife fight. As the film progresses we also see an anime version of a massacre, an impaling, someone gets his head blown off, and that still hasn’t touched the scene at the House of Blue Leaves. By comparison, Vol.2 is tame. He still pushes the envelope though; think of the scene in which Beatrix snatches out Elle’s eye. I would have been enough for us to see the eye being snatched out, but Tarantino decided to throw in the shot of her squashing it between her bare toes just to make sure he was being good and gross. It’s his style.
In Kill Bill Tarantino used many different styles from crazy animation to intense fighting scenes and I think this is why Gallafent uses the quote “relentless excursion into style.” Tarantino also changes the scenes from intense fighting to a humorous scene and then back to fighting, for example in Kill Bill 1 when Beatrice Kiddo is fighting Vernita Green and Vernita’s daughter gets home and they stop fighting and act like nothing happened even though the place is trashed. Even the dialogue used during the fight scenes give Kill Bill a unique style. For example Beatrice seems to always have a conversation, which is usually quite comical, with the people she is fighting, like when she slaps the young Crazy 88 boy in the ass and tells him to run home after killing all of the other Crazy 88. Tarantino explains his style, “I want you to laugh, laugh, laugh, and then stop you laughing and show you something else. Maybe start you crying, and then get you laughing again. I want to just constantly keep moving. For me, if I’m watching a movie and I’m going from laughing to crying…I’m being jerked around emotionally and that’s great” (Woods, 177). That explains how Tarantino makes his movies and why Gallafent would use the quote “relentless excursion into style,” because he keeps changing the style of his films around.
Ronnie Dhaliwal
Tarantino’s Kill Bill is a movie about a vengeance driven women who kills many deserving people in order to get her daughter and kill the man that wronged her. Uma Thurman, The Bride aka Beatrix Kiddo aka Black Mamba, plays a powerful female lead who has a lot of power over her enemies. She seems to be in charge of every situation she is placed in and succeeds. During her fight scenes, Tarantino does close up shots to The Bride’s and her opponents’ faces, especially when The Bride fights Elle Driver, Daryl Hannah. Gallafent suggests that he does this to “photo graph the warrior’s face,” which would allow him to give more power to the women. Using Japanese anime helps him with this because most anime features a strong female character along with ridiculous amounts of blood. Also in the anime world and the fantasy world created by Tarantino, gravity can be eliminated, and people can have sword fights without being seriously injured or paralyzed (O-Ren and The Bride’s sword fight). Tarantino incorporates many styles in his movie that take us through an “excursion into style.”
Post a Comment