Spring Break
Tarantino Movies Worth The Wait
Greg Pivarnik
Issue date: 10/13/06 Section: Commentary
An aspect of Tarantino's movies which has always been criticized is the excessive violence. His movies have a collective band of characters who are morally ambiguous and who would just as much shoot someone as say hello. His most recent forays into directing, "Kill Bill: Vol. 1," and "Kill Bill: Vol. 2" were noted for their graphic violence and were often criticized for it. The movie was not for the feint of heart. Limbs being chopped off and blood gushing in every possible direction were common images on screen.
One has to examine where this violence comes from. It is easy to cast it off as just another example of senseless violence and to acquaint his movies with the numerous slasher films that are released each year. But that would be a very superficial examination of Tarantino's films. In many of his films, Tarantino references previous movies he watched before becoming a filmmaker. He is a high school drop out who used to spend most of his time watching movies. After leaving school, he moved in with his mother in Los Angeles where he worked in as a video store clerk for five years before receiving his big break. Knowing this fact about Tarantino, it is easy to spot his movie influences in his films. In "Pulp Fiction" there is a scene frame for frame exactly as one that appears in Hitchcock's "Psycho." "The Kill Bill" series on the other is an ode to the over the top kung fu and martial arts movies he loved growing up.
There is also a dark sense of humor that I find enjoyable in most of Tarantino's movies as well. The humor goes hand-in-hand with the violence. The violence and brutality is so over the top, that it actually becomes comical. I don't know if I am desensitized or just crazy, but I often find myself smiling at situations that would otherwise not warrant it. In "Pulp Fiction" for example, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson are riding in a car with a man in the backseat. Travolta is waving a gun around talking to the man while Jackson is driving, when all of the sudden, the car hits a bump, the gun goes off and the man's brains are scattered all over the backseat. Now this may seem disgraceful, but in context it is rather amusing. The argument that ensues between Travolta and Jackson is not about the life of the poor man they just shot, but about how to dispose of the body without getting caught.
One has to examine where this violence comes from. It is easy to cast it off as just another example of senseless violence and to acquaint his movies with the numerous slasher films that are released each year. But that would be a very superficial examination of Tarantino's films. In many of his films, Tarantino references previous movies he watched before becoming a filmmaker. He is a high school drop out who used to spend most of his time watching movies. After leaving school, he moved in with his mother in Los Angeles where he worked in as a video store clerk for five years before receiving his big break. Knowing this fact about Tarantino, it is easy to spot his movie influences in his films. In "Pulp Fiction" there is a scene frame for frame exactly as one that appears in Hitchcock's "Psycho." "The Kill Bill" series on the other is an ode to the over the top kung fu and martial arts movies he loved growing up.
There is also a dark sense of humor that I find enjoyable in most of Tarantino's movies as well. The humor goes hand-in-hand with the violence. The violence and brutality is so over the top, that it actually becomes comical. I don't know if I am desensitized or just crazy, but I often find myself smiling at situations that would otherwise not warrant it. In "Pulp Fiction" for example, John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson are riding in a car with a man in the backseat. Travolta is waving a gun around talking to the man while Jackson is driving, when all of the sudden, the car hits a bump, the gun goes off and the man's brains are scattered all over the backseat. Now this may seem disgraceful, but in context it is rather amusing. The argument that ensues between Travolta and Jackson is not about the life of the poor man they just shot, but about how to dispose of the body without getting caught.
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