Quentin Tarantino sons and daughters: who has influence?

Sofia Coopola

By Tony Tran and Andrew Robertson

There are very few directors that are influence by Quentin Tarantino. Some has inspired by his works in films and screenplay. There is one directors has influence by his works and his art form in storytelling, that person is Sofia Coopola. She is a very talented young woman in her field of direct movie and telling a story. She had three of major project that can be trace to Quentin Tarantino work and art form.

Sofia Carmina Coopola was born in May 14, 1971 in New York City. She is also known as a film director, actress, producer, and Academy Award-winning screenwriter. She is the daughter of director Francis Ford Coppola, Who is most famous for directing The Godfather Trilogy as well as other films, such as Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He also received Oscars as a producer, director and writer. She is also a Cousin of Nicolas Cage, who Star of many films like National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets and Raising Arizona, and also got an Oscar for “Best Actor in a Leading Role”. She had three major films that she direct and written the screenplay for her movie.

One of her first major productions, which write and direct her movie, is called The Virgin Suicides. The movie is a story about five sisters and their mysterious existence, told in the words of the neighborhood boys who worshiped them and who come together twenty years later to try and solve the mystery of the Lisbon sisters. The movie had a non-linear approach to the telling of the story, like Tarantino work on Pulp Fiction. They don't actually show the death, similar to the torture in Tarantino’s first, Reservoir Dogs.

Here is the prime example of Coopola work on The Virgin Suicide, which can be cross references to Tarantino works. This scene show is how a non-linear approach of telling a story, and didn’t show the death, similar Tarantino works..

She also uses pop culture in music-Air, as well as many radio hits (Al Green, Styx and Heart). It also has strong male bonding-grouped around a table thought the whole movie.

This is a trailer of the movie it example of her using a pop culture in music.

The second production that Coopola work on is called Lost in Translation. Is a story about a movie star with a sense of emptiness, and a neglected newlywed meet up as strangers in Tokyo, Japan and form an unlikely bond. Like Tarantino work on Pulp Fiction that which he got a academy award for best screenplay, Coopola also got a Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay. She also use a lot of pop culture-American culture through a Japanese lens. Including using genre in actor, like Trovtia and Willis in Pulp Fiction same as Murray in Lost in Translation. This also include using music-The score of the film was a cross selection of tastes, from Pop to Soul. Again, Air was a key component of the soundtrack.

In this scene where Charlotte is singing karaoke to an 80’s song, is can cross reference to the similar scene to Trovtia and Thurman dancing scene in Pulp Friction.

The third major production and recited one is called Marie Antoinette. “Coppola says she based her interpretation on Antonia Fraser's 2002 biography, Marie Antoinette: The Journey, which accounts for the film's revised perspective as a "story about teenagers in Versailles," set to a rock score.” Pop music is the most influence in this movie

In this scene is a great prime example of Cooploa work using pop music in this movie.

There are similarities between Coopola and Tarantino work. They both like to use pop culture in clothing styles, languages in slang. Music is the key roles because of both directors are known for their emphasis on using music to expand the stories. They both have reusing actors- Establishing a rapport with an actor then casting them over and over. They have a very unique way to telling a story in their movie.

In 2003 shortly after her divorce with Spike Jonze , Quentin and Sofia briefly dated each other, but it was short lived and lasted only for a few months ,but they still remain friends. They also work together in opening credit for Kill Bill vol. 2. Even Tarantino use some of the picture in Marie Antoinette for his 2007 Death Poof flms.

Quentin Tarantino and Television
Thom Szol and Nick Averill

Quentin Tarantino has not only been a significant contributor to the big screen, but he has had a significant part in the small screen also. He has acted, directed and written for, and appeared as himself numerous times on television. Tarantino has been a guest writer and director for highly acclaimed shows. Considering his success and controversies he is constantly under the limelight and discussed/interviewed on television programs. Also because of his success, his speeches from award ceremonies have been aired. His portrayal on television is a large contribution to who people think Tarantino is. This is where his personality is seen, whether accurate or not.

Tarantino started in Hollywood as an actor, beginning with many small roles in movies, and then progressing towards larger more significant ones. This is true for his television acting career also, just at a slightly smaller scale. In the time span of 1988 to 1990 he acted as an Elvis impersonator on the hit show “The Golden Girls”. The part was insignificant and Tarantino did not have any lines. He then went on to act in “All American Girl” in 1995, as Desmond in the episode titled “Pulp Sitcom”. The Largest role yet was when he acted for four episodes of “Alias” from 2002 to 2004. He has since done a voice over for “Duck Dodgers” in 2004, and acted briefly in “66th Grand Prix of Monaco” in 2008. Although his roles in television have not been that extensive, they are enough to recognize that Tarantino is not just a director/writer that has been asked to play a guest part on television shows.

As for directing, Tarantino has had some large projects for the small screen. In 1995 he was asked to direct an episode of “ER” titled “Motherhood”. After that he was going to direct an episode of “The X-Files” ironically entitled “Never Again”. The Director’s Guild of America said that he could not do it because he was not a member and failed to pay dues for his filming of “ER”. However in 2004, he somehow directed an episode of the late night show “Jimmy Kimmel Live”.

For season 20 (1994-95) of “Saturday Night Live” Tarantino directed the skit “Welcome Back Kotter” which was a hybrid of the hit 70’s show and “Reservoir Dogs”. John Travolta was the guest, who had parts in both the original show and movie that was combined. Tarantino also hosted an episode of SNL in season 21 (1995-96).

SNL: Welcome Back Kotter
http://www.jibjab.com/view/129552

The largest project that Quentin Tarantino had for television would be his writing and directing for “CSI: Crime Scene Investigator”. He wrote and directed two episodes, the finale for the fifth season (2005). It aired in May of 2005 under the title “Grave Danger” and was about one of the main characters being buried alive. This situation is very similar to what Tarantino does in “Kill Bill”. This episode was delayed in broadcasting in the UK for it coincided with the terrorist attacks of 7/7. The plot and characters were said to be too closely related to the attacks, and that it would be best to delay the broadcast. Tarantino was nominated for an Emmy for his role with this project.

CSI: behind scenes with interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbDKk3XX6_4&feature=related

CSI: Grave Digger selection
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZY0soCdf4&feature=related

Numerous times Quentin Tarantino has been interviewed and has appeared on late night shows (as himself). Some such occurrences have been: The Charlie Rose Show in 1994, Saturday Night Live in 1995, Late Night with Conan O’Brien for 7 episodes from 1997 to 2007, Jimmy Kimmel Live for 8 episodes from 2003 to 2007, The tonight Show with Jay Leno in 2003 and 2007, The Late Show with David Letterman in 2005, The Tyra Banks Show in 2006, Iconoclasts in 2006, Last Call with Carson Daly for 4 episodes 2004-2007, Center Stage in 2007, and The Late Late Show with Craig Fergusson in 2007.

One of the most recent and memorable of his appearances is when he was a guest on the popular prime time television program “American Idol”. He was a guest judge on the third season, and was said to qualify because of his ‘memorable movie soundtracks’.

Quick judging clip “alright”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmBnQ4skXQQ&feature=related

Whether it be acting, directing, writing, or appearing as himself, Quentin Tarantino has definitely had a part in the small screen business. Most of his involvement with television comes with his success as a movie maker. Television broadcasts play a large role in portraying Tarantino as who he is, through guest appearances and interviews. As television projects have not been his focus, lets hope that he continues to play guest to the small screen world as his contributions are continually found to be successful and creative, or interesting and funny.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_tarantino

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/

www.jibjab.com
http://www.jibjab.com/view/129552

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com

www.youtube.com:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmBnQ4skXQQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmZY0soCdf4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbDKk3XX6_4&feature=related

David Fincher by Kelly Anderson and Josh Evert

In comparing David Fincher to Quentin Tarantino, some obvious parallels can be drawn between the two directors. These include gratuitous violent sequences, harsh language, use of pop culture references and the borrowing of film genres. Both Tarantino and Fincher seem to draw major influence from crime-related genres, such as heist, murder mystery, and gangster films. Despite the notion that they both may use recycled material, both Tarantino and Fincher find ways to rejuvenate older genres and make them relevant for a contemporary audience. The two directors share a love for cinema, both modern and historical.

Fincher and Tarantino both thrive on unconventional ideas of setting. One notices that the directors rarely choose domestic spaces to set their movies. The most obvious example is Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, in which almost the entire movie takes place in a warehouse and at times, we visit car transit sequences and very limited views of public spaces. This parallels Fincher’s Se7en, in which most of the movie is set on crime scenes, in public areas, or in transit. They both use these settings as blank slates for the emotions of the characters to be clearly underlined. Similarly, Tarantino seems to love capturing dialogue in cars, as it gives his films a constant movement forward. Both directors make excellent use of plot development during transportation of characters, and it gives their movies genuine 21st century auras.

Panic Room is an exception, as almost the entire movie takes place inside a domestic space. This domestic space, though, is treated similarly to the warehouse in Reservoir Dogs. We see the characters move through this space for the entirety of the film and we know that the film is building suspense. Tarantino says this about the building suspense of the climax in his newest film Death Proof, “…If I did it right, you want that crash to happen. You’re caught up in it. You’re caught up in the emotion of it, you’re caught up in the adrenaline forward. And if at the last second they avoided it, you’d be mad at me.” (kcrw.com) Tarantino builds the suspense of his film the same Fincher does in Panic Room. This, the audience can sense, will undoubtedly utilize the grandiose space to work its way to the climax of the film and we will finally see how the space plays a role in these characters’ lives.

One of Tarantino’s signature themes is male bonding. Fincher’s Se7en seems to draw influence from this motif, as detectives Mills and Somerset share a very close relationship. Their interaction with each other particularly seems to emulate that of Mr. White and Mr. Orange in Reservoir Dogs. As a veteran detective, Freeman eventually takes Pitt under his wing, despite Pitt’s naivety and irrationality. It is these character flaws that eventually lead to Pitt’s downfall, as he shoots and kills villain Kevin Spacey in the closing sequences of the movie.



While Mr. Orange ultimately meets a significantly more macabre fate, it is his friendly relationship with Mr. White, breeching confidentiality issues, that leads to their demise. In both films, these “father/son” relationships take away from the professionalism of the characters and doom them. Professionalism is something both directors focus on, especially in these two specific films (but also in Fight Club) and when these men lose sight of their true purposes, they are ultimately destined for failure.




Se7en’s plot is based largely upon mythology, as the killer (Spacey) bases his murders on the seven deadly sins. A sequence is filmed in a public library where Freeman researches Dante’s The Inferno in an attempt to predict the killer’s next move. This is comparable to the mythology present in Pulp Fiction, as Jules constantly references the bible in his monologues regarding “the good shepherd”. Both Jackson’s character and Freeman’s character have a sort of faith in a higher power and their insight into this wisdom provides them with the strength and the motivation to be successful in their careers. Both directors deal with ideas of motive and what influences their characters to work how they work and do what they do.

Screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker mentions in the special edition audio commentary that the film is very influenced by exploitation film, featuring seven sins based on seven murders, and having the film end at 7:00 P.M (this is very reminiscent of the structure of an exploitation film, basing it on one theme and keeping that theme prevalent through the end). Tarantino is known for his love of exploitation films, and it is evident that both directors draw influence from this genre.
Fight Club was released in 1999, and is arguably the film Fincher is best known for. Much like Se7en, Fight Club again features strong male bonding, chiefly between Brad Pitt and Edward Norton. The movie also features a scrambled chronology--reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs or Pulp Fiction--as the first scene in the movie is a flash-forward to the ending sequence. Also, similar to Reservoir Dogs is the blatant disrespect for police officers that is written in the script. Here is a clip that is extremely reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs. Not only are all the characters dressed in the same white tuxedos, but they torture a man that works for the government (obviously these films have the same take on how criminals treat state elected officials). Also, the men all walk out of the building in a motley crew sort of manner, very similar to the way Tarantino shows his “dogs” as a group of men, bonding.

Fight Club... or Reservoir Dogs?

Tarantino dark humor throughout all of his work, and it makes the audience question why they are laughing. This is exemplified in Pulp Fiction when Jules shoots Marvin, an awkwardly humorous scene. Similarly, a scene in Fight Club makes light of testicular cancer, as Norton’s character mentally describes a patient as having “bitch tits”. The viewer is thrown into a situation that seems funny, but when analyzed, is far from it.



Panic Room is a perfect example of what Tarantino would call “contemporary American storytelling,” (kcrw.com). The entire plot is revealed within the first 20 minutes, as foreshadowing reveals that something will happen inside of the panic room. Both directors are clearly influenced by Staley Kubrick’s The Killing. Reservoir Dogs deals with the same ideas of professionalism versus non-professional crime and they both have a non-linear structure that makes the audience work to put the film together and make sense of where and when each characters is affected by the sequence of events. In Fincher’s revision of this film, we see him reference the same idea of hopelessness with the loss of money. At the end of Panic Room, Forest Whitaker’s character is the only surviving burglar, just like Sterling Hayden’s character in The Killing. Not only is Fincher playing with the idea of failed criminal activity, but the film ends the exact same way as Kubrick’s ending. As the police corner the burglar, he surrenders and lets all of the twenty-two million dollars he holds fly away into the wind. Both of these characters come to the harsh realization that there is nowhere for them to run and they submit to the police.

Panic Room Ending

Fincher may deny the idea that Tarantino has influenced him, but it is very clear that many of their signature motifs and themes are the same or very derivative of the same historical film genres. Both filmmakers have a refined sense and taste in the realm of cinema and are both big enough cinephiles to look at film in a revisionist sense. Both love film enough to understand what makes a film relevant for a certain time and place and have the capabilities to create genre-influenced films relevant to the 20th and 21st century.



Sources:

"Reservoir Dogs." Metaphilm. 20 July 2008
http://metaphilm.com/images/pheatures/reservoir-Dogs15.jpg

"The First Rule of Fight Club." Eagles on Pogo Sticks. 20 July 2008
http://goofybeast.files.wordpress.com/2007/11/fight_club1.jpg

“The Treatment: Quentin Tarantino.” KCRW The Treatment. Mar 28, 20000.
http://www.kcrw.com/etc/programs/tt/tt070328quentin_tarantino

Kill Bill Volume 1 Influences

By Ronnie Dhaliwal and Lisa Fick

In Tarnatino’s Kill Bill Volume 1, there are many references to and influences from the genres of Spaghetti Western, Exploitation, Mainstream films, and even from his own movies. In an article describing the similarities between Kill Bill and films of some of the above genres entitled Found: Where Tarantino Gets His Ideas, Steve Rose describes the great influence that these genres had on Kill Bill. He mentions some of these genres when he writes, “The film is made almost entirely from elements of other films, mainly what Tarantino refers to as “grindhouse cinema”: a catch-all term for movies that played in cheap US cinemas in the 1970s – Hong Kong martial arts flicks, Japanese samurai movies, blaxploitation films and spaghetti westerns.” (Rose)

From the Spaghetti Western genre, the influence of the film The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1967), directed by Sergio Leone, is evident in the opening shot of Kill Bill Volume 1 when the camera is looking down on a beaten Bride before she gets shot in the head by Bill, as shown below. (Haselbeck) This shot is similar to one of Clint Eastwood in The Good, The Bad and the Ugly where he is also in a near-death state, with a gun being pointed at him by Eli Wallach. (Haselbeck) The wedding chapel where this takes place in Kill Bill is also in a desert setting reminiscent of the Spaghetti Western genre, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. (Haselbeck)

Similarities can also be seen between the relationship that The Bride and Bill share in Kill Bill and the relationship between Tuco and Blondie, in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. In both movies, there is a lot of mistrust, violence, death, surprise, and shifting alliances. The way that Bill surprises the Bride during her wedding rehearsal, hiding his true intentions of killing everyone, is similar to the events in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly when Blondie turns an enraged Tuco into the authorities for reward money, and proceeds to rescue him, split the reward money with him, and later, out of annoyance, abandons him in the desert. (Wikipedia: western) These themes of violence, death, surprise, shifting alliances between people, and hiding true intentions are popular in the Western genre (wikipedia: western). Not only can one see the influence of Sergio Leone in Tarantino’s Kill Bill, Tarantino also states his love of Sergio Leone’s work when he calls The Good, The Bad and the Ugly the “best-directed film of all time.” (Downey)

Although Kill Bill draws influences from many Exploitation and Mainstream films, one in particular is specifically cited by Tarantino, and includes aspects of both genres. That film is Black Sunday (1977), directed by John Frankenheimer, about which Tarantino says, “There’s another movie that I kind of got the idea a little bit more from. And that’s John Frankenheimer’s Black Sunday (1977, US). There’s a scene where Martha Keller goes into the hospital and disguises herself as a nurse and she’s going to kill Robert Shaw with a poisoned syringe.” (Machiyama) This scene can be seen here:
YouTube - Black Sunday . The Mainstream aspect of this film is obvious by its popularity when it first came out, “the film was a commercial hit when it was released in 1977.” (wikipedia: black sunday). The Exploitation aspect of it can be seen in subject and the promotion of its sensationalist “destruction, rebellion, and mayhem.” (Wikipedia: exploitation film) This promotion can be seen in an advertisement poster for the film shown below. This poster gives the audience a preview of the film’s exploitation of fear and mayhem. Another way in which this film includes aspects of the exploitation genre is in its use of real current or past events. This film is said to be “loosely inspired by the events of the 1972 Munich Olympics. The film concerns a group of Arab terrorists, calling themselves Black September, who plan to create havoc at the Super Bowl by sailing the Goodyear blimp into the huge crowd and raining 200,000 steel darts on the spectators” (rottentomatoes.com). The reason Exploitation films often use real life events and subjects whereas Mainstream might not is that “exploitation films often exploited events that occurred in the news and were in the short term public consciousness that a major film studio may avoid due to length of time of producing a major film.” (Wikipedia: exploitation film) Tarantino’s almost exact use of a scene from this movie, that includes both exploitation and mainstream themes, is a way for him to pay homage to the genres, as well as to Frankenheimer’s blending different genres in one movie, which Tarantino seems to take much inspiration from.

Tarantino not only usurps from other directors’ movies, he also takes from his own films. In Kill Bill, Tarantino uses scenes from both Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. For example, Tarantino uses his trunk shot camera angle in Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, which can be seen below.
Tarantino also uses ideas from Pulp Fiction. He has confirmed in interviews that the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad was inspired from Fox Force Five, which is the Pilot Mia was in Pulp Fiction. He even uses similar scenes from Pulp Fiction. For example, he has close ups of Uma

Thurman’s lips in both movies.

These are just a few examples of how Tarantino uses scenes and ideas from his previous movies to make Kill Bill.

In conclusion, it is easy to see that Tarantino steals, or pays homage to many movies to make Kill Bill. It is visible in Spaghetti Westerns, like The Good, The Bad and the Ugly, to mainstream films, like Black Sunday, and even his own films, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. These are a few movies that Tarantino borrows from to make Kill Bill. Even though he has taken from many movies to create Kill Bill, he was still able to turn it into his own unique masterpiece.




Works Cited

Downey, Ryan J. What Made ‘Bill’ Kill: Quentin’ Blood-Spattered Rundown: Spaghetti Westerns, Blaxploitation and Kung-Fu flicks. Mtv.com, June 2004. http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1488333/06102004/story.jhtml

Haselbeck, Sebastian. Roberts, Pete. Kill Bill References Guide. The Quentin Tarantino Archives, May 2008. http://www.tarantino.info/wiki/index.php/Kill_Bill_References_Guide

Machiyama, Tomohiro. Quentin Tarantino Reveals Almost Everything that Inspired Kill Bill. Quentin Tarantino: The Film Geek Files. 2005, Plexus, London. (172-178).

Rose, Steve. Guardian Unlimited. Found: Where Tarantino Gets His Ideas. Guardian Unlimited, April 2004. http://film.guardian.co.uk/

Rotten Tomatoes, Black Sunday (1976)
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1002526-%09black_sunday/

Wikipedia, Black Sunday (1977 film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sunday_%281977_film%29

Wikipedia, Exploitation film. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation_film

Wikipedia, Western (genre) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_film

Guy Ritchie

The last sixteen years of independent and world cinema has undoubtedly been altered by the streamlined success of Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film Pulp Fiction. While his influence has become apparent throughout many variable styles of filmmaking it remains most prevalent in the work of British filmmaker Guy Ritchie. James Berardinelli substantiates this claim stating of Lock, Stock, “It belongs to the type of moviemaking that began with "Bonnie and Clyde" and evolved with Scorsese, then took a detour through Hong Kong, and finally landed in the hands of Tarantino.” (Berardinelli p. 1) Ritchie fends of this accusation with a subsequent denial of the presence of Tarantino’s influence, which lends to this notion of a “stolen” style of film authorship; a reassemblage of past elements of cinema in an effort to extrapolate a completely new and individualized work, something brought to the forefront of the industry and audiences with the release of Reservoir Dogs (1992). Though many stylistic and narrative elements of Ritchie’s appear to be analogous with that of Tarantino- such as his representation of off-screen violence, image composition, dialogue, narrative structure, self-reflexive nature, and film “borrowing”- what is most important to note is how these comparative elements also differ quite substantially in the context of films like Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, and Revolver. Comparing and contrasting the works of these two filmmakers establishes many varying uses of style and technique, which manage to manifest themselves and operate within a seemingly congruent display of form and function.

Violence, and its rampant, sometimes overshadowing presence, has become synonymous with the work of both directors. Concentrating on the omission and off-screen presentation of violence allows for an examination and realization of the inherent differences that end up substantially affecting both spectator relationship and tone. Lock, Stock sets up an explosive instance of obscured violence with the culmination of constantly interweaving character and narrative elements that leaves the spectator even more detached from the brutal nature of the almost all encompassing massacre (shown below). As the doors swing open and the players are set the music becomes a defining element. Its upbeat and festive nature removes the bullet fueled violence from the realm of reality and places it in a more comic and lighthearted setting whereas the wedding chapel scene from Kill Bill makes use of a much more heavy handed dramatic soundtrack accented with brutal screams and a solemn church bell. The effect of the latter leaves the audience in a more serious and engaged state of viewing resulting with a pensively more earnest response. Contrasting the camera movement and use of cuts within these two sequences discloses other distinct differences in technique. Tarantino, in a breath of obvious Godardian influence presents the slaughter at the church with one single shot moving out the doorway and eventually upwards while Ritchie incorporates numerous cuts into and out of the action. The oppositional choice of editing, as with the score, further detaches the audience from the violence. In not allotting a substantial amount of time for a sustained image/ location on-screen the viewer is consequently not able to identify with the events of the narrative.
The aftermath of off-screen violence also serves to illustrate the differences of character relations created by both filmmakers. Ritchie leaves the law removed from any aspect of the film as it is more focused on the underbelly of England and pinning criminals vs. criminals. Tarantino reveals a more humanistic approach to the aftermath the El Paso wedding chapel massacre. As the room is being surveyed by the Sheriff he is not concerned with money or drugs but the loss of life remarking of the professional slaughter, “you could almost admire it if you was a moron.” The spectator is left with a moment of embarrassment for having started to admire the brutal killings as opposed to being handed a resolution whose serious subject matter is buried underneath an extremely comic irony.

Off Screen Violence

Split Screen technique, having been defined and most likely inspired by Brian DePalma’s films Carrie and Sisters, functions well within in the body of both directors work. The use of split screen is a defining aspect of the self-reflexive nature presented by both filmmakers allowing us to see multiple locations, characters, and action simultaneously. The spectator is alerted to the fact that what they are seeing is an orchestrated instance of fiction and moreover a visualized novel. Taking note of the transitions to and from split screen presents the viewer with an almost exact match of editing technique but where they are differentiated by the particular use of each scene. Ritchie’s incorporation is utilized to give a sense of location as well as an all-encompassing view of environment that may affect character dialogue. Jackie Brown places the device in a precise time within the narrative framework to reveal something previously unbeknownst to the spectator, this instance being Jackie’s acquisition of Max’s handgun.

Split Screen

Other similarities between the two filmmakers we see throughout are shots at a very low-angle usually inside containers with a character looking inside. Tarantino uses this shot in every one of his films manly from the point of view inside a trunk of a car, unlike Tarantino Guy Ritchie borrows this very Quentin-esque camera placement and uses it throughout his film but not in the confines of the trunk of a car but in many different situations and places. For example Ritchie uses this point of view three time in the first fifteen minutes of Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels first from in a pot of soup, second within a box of stolen stereo system, and last but not lest we see the camera placed inside of a tanning bed, the first time we see this constant object that Guy Ritchie has in everyone of his films. Like Tarantino, Ritchie borrows from others but in away that is his.





After examining the work of both Quentin Tarantino, and what some might consider his, you can see in obvious ways and yet subtle similarities the way in which they both rely on the same functions and cinematic stylings but moreover the differences in the incorporation and use of these aspects solidifying both filmmakers with an appropriated title of auteur. Through a close analysis of a few of the numerous shared qualities (violence, split screen, image composition) one can easily point to divergences in the style and process of filmmaking that, while associating the two, also proclaims a divide to be referenced in discussing the originality of Ritchie himself as a filmmaker.



Work Cited

James Berardinelli “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels.” 1999. http://www.reelviews.net/movies/l/lock.html

“Guy Ritchie.” Art and Culture. http://www.artandculture.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/ACLive.woa/wa/artist?id=1185

Grindhouse Influences

Grindhouse films originated at a cross street theater in Manhattan called 42nd St. in the early 1960s and continued strong across America through the 70s. The films were exploitive B-films produced with an extremely low budget. This resulted in poor quality films with by gone actors and exploitive scripts that attempted to appeal an audience by selling sex, violence and speed in back-to-back films. These Grindhouse films would be shown on an underground level passed from theater to theater and would ultimately receive a lot of wear and tear. The films attracted an peculiar array of movie goers as one source described as, “the unique blend of people who made up the theater-goers, including black pimps, low-grade mafia, transvestites, Latino gangsters, "rough trade" homosexuals, aggressive lesbians, trench coat-clad perverts, and thrill-seeking squares.” These films would span from the dirtiest perversions to the most gruesome cinematography in the business.

What Grindhouse films needed to incorporate in the Grindhouse structure was this idea of exploitation. The point of exploitation is to sell the product with whatever measures needed by taking a low budget and making a fast pay day off of it. It is sold by exploiting the film to the audience by presenting prurient imagery, carnage and speed. As exploitation grew, so did its ideas. These turned into sub genres such as blaxploitation, zombie, kung-fu, sexploitation, spaghetti western, splatter films, sci-fi etc.. Each of these genres were based off exploitation and followed its form but were directed toward different interests.

One type of sub genre, most basic, was Kung-Fu. The film was about two crippled men who hone their skills to fight back their evil master who disabled them. This was a typical Kung-Fu film that not only followed an exploitive structure but also incorporated Kung-Fu mentality of revenge and honor.



A completely different example in Grindhouse films would be the Sci-Fi thriller, The Green Slime by Kinji Fukasaku. This storyline went in a different direction in exploitation, outer space. This film was about a group of scientists who try to destroy an asteroid on a direct course towards Earth. When the astronauts return to their space station they realize a green slime on the back of one of the scientists. The slime turns into a monster that attempts to feed off energy and take over the ship. The outer space genre focuses on a different aspect of violence. Its setting is completely different and situations between enemies evoke different actions.



One of the most famous and well-liked of the influential Grindhouse genres is the zombie genre. While zombie movies have been around since the 1930’s with films such as Night of the Living Dead, it wasn’t until the 1970’s that zombie films begun to feature an exploitation element to them, which is what made them perfect for Grindhouse cinema. Primarily created by Italian film directors, the zombie films of this era tended to feature over the top gore, nudity, and some pretty ridiculous plot lines. George A Romero’s Dawn of the Dead was one of the first and most influential zombie movies to come out of this time period. It was referred to in Europe as “Zombi”. " border="0" alt="" />Zombi 2 by Lucio Fulci was released in 1979, and has not relation to the original Zombi. Zombi 2 was known for over the top gore and violence and two scenes in particular; a zombie fighting a shark, and an intense eye gouge.



Another influential and often used genre of film that is featured in Grindhouse cinema is the shock film. These films were meant to portray ultra realistic gore, gang rape, incest, etc.. Basically, the worst of the worst, and most controversial subject matter was shown in this genre of film. An example of a film in this genre would be I Spit on Your Grave. The story features a woman getting violently gang raped by local townsmen. She then finds ways to very gruesomely exact her revenge on her attackers. This movie was banned in several countries and still remains very controversial to this day.

The Spaghetti Western was also featured in Grindhouse cinema. This subgenre of western film gets its name for mainly being Italian produced, featuring Italian and Spanish actors and sometimes a washed up Hollywood star. These films were shot in a region of Spain the resembles the desert of the USA and often featured Mexican themes because of the abundance of Spanish speaking actors. Django is a good example of a very influential Spaghetti Western. This film by Sergio Corbucci was released in 1966 and became very popular in Europe and is considered a cult hit in the US. Django is a gunrunner who drags a coffin around that conceals a machine gun.

Exploitation films can be split into many different subgenres including Carsploitation and like the name sounds this subgenre features cars as its main subject matter. Death Race 2000 is a cult classic directed by Paul Bartel in 1975. In this mid-1970's version of the year 2000, the favorite national sport is a no-holds-barred, violent cross-country road race in which the points are scored when pedestrians are run down. Sounds like a perfect fit for a Grindhouse flick. Tarantino’s Death Proof could arguably fit into this subgenre of Grindhouse film.

Finally, for hilarity sake, a sometimes used subgenre of film in the Grindhouse cinema was “nunsploitation”. This films often featured Christian nuns living in a convent during the middle ages. Themes were often of religious or sexual in nature. Religious oppression and sexual suppression were prominent themes due to the nuns living in celibacy. Killer Nun directed by Giulio Berruti and released in 1978 is an example of this subgenre of film. The film features psychosis, lesbian affairs, and heroin addiction. All in all Grindhouse wasn’t just a cult following with no attachment to the cultural world.

It can be misconceived that Grindhouse was and remains an untouchable area in cinematography. Although it was not acknowledged by the public eye, it promoted a different change in the movie industry that is given little credit for. During the 1950s and 60s typical Hollywood films where family films that promoted family values and dismissed a world of sex, violence and speed. Until the Grindhouse cult started the industry was promoting the idea of the nuclear family. It was not only the time period of a new way of thinking about social rights, but it was a time to question everything that was accepted in culture previously. Grindhouse opened the doors in the movie industry by going in a completely different direction with films. Yes, films in Grindhouse were exploitive, but it was something new, never done before and its statement was that not everything in the world should be homogenous. There are different views, different opinions and cinematography has a lot to owe for bringing in a darker side, excitement and storylines such as good versus evil to the screen.


Works Cited

Grindhouse (film). 17 July. 2008 Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grindhouse_(film)

Exploitation film. 19 July. 2008 Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploitation_film

Grindhouse Opens Friday. Memphis Flyer.
5 April. 2007 http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A26942

Death Proof, by Amanda Borchardt and Carolynn Wynia

Tarantino once again merges genres in his half of the Grindhouse double feature. He draws upon the slasher film and road movie to construct Death Proof. This paper will first describe the history of each genre, then it will explain Tarantino’s adherence to them in context of their respective conventions, and lastly it will briefly discuss how Death Proof relates to his previous films by the recycling of elements in the Tarantinoverse.

The slasher movie began in 1960 with the release of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. While itself not considered a slasher film, it’s emphasis on the killer’s psychotic state and it’s never before taken approach to murder would be influential on the development of the slasher sub-genre. Later that decade, Mario Bava made some innovations of his own in the film Blood and Black Lace. Originally written as a police procedural whodunit?, Bava decided to forego the murder mystery aspect and focus on the brutal killings themselves, earning it’s place as one of the first body count films. In 1974, Bob Clark made the first true slasher movie, titled Black Christmas. It developed the killer’s P.O.V. shot, the phone call motif, and the holiday theme, all illustrated in the clip below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEM5WLIC54E&feature=related It just edges out The Texas Chainsaw Massacre that came out a little later that same year. Massacre, however, is considered by many to be the best slasher film of all time. The 1980s saw the release of Friday the 13^th and Nightmare on Elm Street, while still surging on after effects of 1978’s Halloween. With their massive success, the 1980s became the golden age of the slasher genre. Films became franchises, releasing sequel after sequel, and developing the killer as a dark anti-hero whose gory murders were the film’s big draw. Later, new franchises emerged, like Child’s Play (1988) and Leprechaun (1993), emphasizing even more on the deranged-ness of the killer. The genre peaked in 1983, with 60% of all box office sales coming from slasher movies. But by around 1986 the genre began to decline in popularity. It’s strict conventions made the films formulaic and predictable. Changes to these conventions to reinvigorate them often eliminated them from the genre all together. In the case of Predator (1987), changing the victims to soldiers made it an action film. In the case of Aliens (1986), the location of space made it a Sci-fi movie. In the case of Jason X (2001), this same change made it a comedy. In the Late 80s and early 90s the sub-genre was mostly kept alive by straight to video releases. In 1996, with the release of Scream the sub-genre was revitalized and experienced a new wave of popularity that continued until films like Saw (2004) and Hostel (2005) transformed the traditional slasher into a new sub-genre, affectionately referred to as torture porn.

The genre conventions of the slasher film are fairly well known, but are also very strict. Tarantino himself stated in the Elvis Mitchell interview that it is one of the strictest genres, second only to women in prison films. As a result, it was both easy to construct Death Proof in the 1980s slasher style and a challenge to make it something new by merging it with the road movie genre. The killer in slasher flicks is usually male, psychotic, and not only has a desire to kill, but enjoys stalking his victims and often gets some kind of sexual rush out of the activity. Tarantino's Stunt Man Mike fits all those qualities.

The killer also usually employs an unconventional weapon and has an uncanny ability to survive. This ability is usually demonstrated by the killer continuing to close the distance as gun shots hit his chest, or the killer is able to walk away from a collision or high fall, or the killer may simply vanish when the camera cuts back to the spot of supposed death. In Death Proof, Stunt Man Mike uses his car as the weapon, and while sitting in the driver's seat he is deathproof.

The victims are usually teens or young adults, more often then not attractive young women, and they are most likely celebrating a special event with drugs and alcohol in an isolated location. The victims are also chosen randomly, and seldom do anything to provoke their attacker.

In Death Proof, both groups of girls are celebrating a vacation and are either in or on their way to the middle of nowhere. Only the first group of girls is intoxicated.
Lastly, a slasher film exploits violence to attract an audience. It will emphasize the creativity of the murders as well as the realism. Tarantino plays into this with the use of the four takes of the head on car crash. He sets the audience up to want the violence, and then delivers it four times over with close up detail

The road is a major part of American culture. It connects people through the interstates, highways, and county roads. The road is full of thrill and mystery because you never know what lurks around the turn or what lies in the town ahead. To many, the road symbolizes freedom with its vast openness and to some, a promise of a new beginning as in most road movies. Road movies are seen as a person being on a journey to discover something about themselves, about others or on a quest for information. In Easy Rider (1969) two bikers set out on a journey to discover the true America. Along the way, they encounter many people and opinions about America and what could have happened to it. Their journey is ended by rednecks shooting at them.

In the late 1960’s road movies skyrocketed into popularity with the release of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and Easy Rider (1969). Also in the 1960’s a sub-genre of the road movie came about with car chase movies. These became popular during the muscle car era. Bullitt (1968), was one of the first influential car chase movies about a cop that will do anything to catch his man. Bullitt also paved the way with camera angles that made the audience feel as if they are actually in the car with the driver. That style of shooting can also be seen in other films such as Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry (1974) and Vanishing Point (1971).

The road movie usually depicts a rugged solitary man whose home is the road. He uses the road to fulfill a daredevil purpose or complete a quest. In Death Proof, the rugged solitary man is Stunt Man Mike whose home is never shown. He stalks two groups of girls and kills the first group by crashing his “death proof” car into their car; the second group of girls survive and chase him in their car.

In Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry, the scenery surrounding the car chase sequence is very similar to the chase scene at the end of the movie when Kim, Zoe and Abbie are chasing Stunt Man Mike. There is also trash talking done by a cop who is chasing Crazy Larry; Kim trash talks Stunt Man Mike as she is chasing him and crashing into his car. The car that Kim drives originally has a similar paint job to Crazy Larry’s car as well as the body style. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jefDjE43puc

Vanishing Point also influenced Death Proof in that it was the whole reason behind getting the 1970 Dodge Challenger with a 440 engine and a white paint job. This is the car that Kim, Abbie, and Zoe test drive when they are playing ships mast. The trailer for Vanishing Point also has much of the same scenery shown in the final chase scene in Death Proof. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q71M88B12WA

Tarantino also steals from his own movies, in Reservoir Dogs, there is a scene at a café as the gang talks about pop culture and the camera rotates around the table showing their faces. The same shot is used as the second group of girls has breakfast and plans their test drive. From Pulp Fiction, Tarantino uses the line “Tasty beverage” referring to the shot of Chartreuse he takes with the first group of girls. He also references Big Kahuna Burger and Red Apple Cigarettes. From Kill Bill, Tarantino uses the two police officers that investigated The Bride’s murder massacre, the “Twisted Nerve” song from Elle Driver’s attempt to kill The Bride in the hospital, Buck who appears as Jasper, and Zoe Bell is actually Uma Thurman’s stunt double in Kill Bill. Finally, Tarantino also takes from Planet Terror, the second feature in the Grindhouse double feature. He uses Mrs. Block who plays the same character in Death Proof, Red Apple cigarettes, and Joe, the guy with tongue blisters, as the convenience store clerk

In conclusion, by carefully adhering to the conventions of the slasher film and road movie, Tarantino is able to successfully merge the two genres. He once again invigorates the old by infusing it with his ideas and elements and turns it into something new.

Bibliography

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Stevens, Daniel. The Slasher Movie: An Introduction. Helium.
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