BTEC DIPLOMA IN FOUNDATION STUDIES ART & DESIGN
QUESTIONING THE ARTEFACT
An Essay by Algirdas Bucas
From the moment that postmodern art had changed the whole understanding
of what is a bad painting and immemorial “instructions“ began to fade. The
definition of an artefact finally reached the crossroad between the present,
past and the future. Nowadays art is everywhere. It destroys any possible
obstacles which may try to restrict the human imagination from doing it. In
this essay, I am going to analyse the contemporary film – “Kill Bill“, which
was created by one of the most controversial film-makers and media
manipulators - Quentin Tarantino. “Expect – the unexpected“ - this definition
can be applied to all of his creation and I believe that this is the key thing that
attracts most of his viewers, myself included.
“Kill Bill“ is a quintessential postmodern film which could be described as
nothing but pop culture reference. All parts of the film are constructed entirely
using motives from other movies which were created in the past 50 years.
Quentin Tarantino in one of his interviews said: “I steal from every movie
ever made“1, and I think, that's a right way to describe most of his creations,
“Kill Bill“ is no exception. It is possible to discover various connections to the
1 A quotation from Empire Magazine interview [http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Quentin_Tarantino]
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BTEC DIPLOMA IN FOUNDATION STUDIES ART & DESIGN
Spaghetti Western, Horror, Japanese and Chinese films which Quentin
literally grew up with. While it may look impertinent, he has never tried to
hide the fact of reproduction. “Great artists steal, they don't do homages“1 -
he said, and I completely agree with that, because all artefacts are a result of
inspiration of something else. For ancient people, it could have been the
stars, animals – objects which were created by someone else, but we don't
consider that as a plagiarism. Then the question should be asked: why
should we blame such reproduction? In my opinion, the success of any
artefact is based on the individual idea. You don't have to re-invent the bike
everytime you want to ride it. That's why I don't see nothing bad in using
other peoples creation as a tool that you may apply to your composition,
whether it's a movie, a collage or another creation.
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BTEC DIPLOMA IN FOUNDATION STUDIES ART & DESIGN
In my presentation about Quentin's films I highlighted the fact that “Kill Bill“
was something that inspired me to look more deeply into his life because It's
not like the rest of his films, which he considers as just “cool movies to
watch“2. I realised that this film is the biggest reflection of what is going on
inside this guy's head and I feel acquiescent with his description of “Kill Bill“
as a “movie-movie“. What did he mean by that? Well, you can either simply
watch it without thought, and enjoy it simply as a bloody violent, kung-fu
revenge movie, appreciating the screen getting red everytime people cut
each other; OR you can watch it as a revenge movie, but at the same time
discover something more within the story and the characters, and try to
extract that hidden reason beyond the revenge. That's why in my further
analysis, I would like to interpret this film using these two different points of
view.
Quentin Tarantino dedicated “Kill Bill“ to the Japanese filmmaker Kinji
Fukasaku (1930-2003), who was a major influence for him, but it's obvious
that the whole filmstory is constructed by using motifs of another Japanese
film called “Lady Snowblood“, which was directed by Toshiya Fujita. “Lady
Snowblood“ is a story about a lonely girl whose main task in life is to find and
kill her mother rapists. As a comparison between the main characters – both
2 A quotation from Quentin's interview about Kill Bill [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=auIn_TTuJhQ]
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Bride and this Lady Snowblood are cold-blooded assasins, with nothing left
to lose in their lives. The only difference is that Bride was the mother whose
daughter's gift of life was destroyed, and Snowblood was the daughter
whose mother's life was destroyed. It's like a reversal, but the story of
revenge in both movies is revealed in the same, non-linear way which is also
familliar to other Quentin artefacts such as Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs. In
my opinion this type of story-telling has more advantages, because when
different parts are revealed step by step, and from different angles, the
viewer may not suspect what will happen next, and that's the key thing which
keeps them focused.
Another thing which unites “Lady Snowblood“ and „Kill Bill“ is the violence. It
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BTEC DIPLOMA IN FOUNDATION STUDIES ART & DESIGN
is not so shocking for those who have seen some of Quentin's movies before
and for him - violence is one of the most interesting things to watch. I
wouldn't recommend it to twelve year old kids, like Quentin did3, but in my
opinion, the way he uses violence in the films, is more artistic than done in a
purely gratuitous way. As an example, a flashback of O-Ren‘s life is shown
as an anime sequence in the third chapter of film which is truly cruel,
shocking and violent but I cannot deny the fact it was executed remarkably
and the contrast of intensive red blood and cold blue background made
everything look even more dramatic.
From a different perspective, “Kill Bill“ is a movie about relationships
3 He recommended „Kill Bill“ for twelve years old kids in one of his interviews [http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7L2ukSJFgCM]
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between men and women. And most of all, it‘s about the mother-power of
Bride which destroys the stereotyped view of females as a weaker, less
stronger sex than males. There are thousands of films, thousands of
examples, where we can see the man as a dominant power and woman just
as a sexual object or a house-cleaner. Something in our history went wrong,
when we decided to separate things which are only possible for each sex.
Quentin‘s mother Connie, was a person who managed to grow up and build
her own life independently - and much more than this, she wanted to give a
chance to everything in life, for her son. This point is really important,
because I think that Bride‘s character is nothing else but the reflection of the
major influence uof Quentin‘s mother. It was not only a positive example of
self-realisation for him, but more importantly, it showed that women can
stand alone in the world and fight against this misogyny. The loss of a child
was something that made Bride to become the deadliest assasin in the
world, seeking her revenge. A lot of ancient religions state that birth of a child
is a symbol of innocence and it‘s fair to say that no-one has a right to destroy
or somehow affect it. This right was a major factor, major priority, which
literally transformed Bride from an assasin into a mother. Everyone has a
right to destroy their own lives, but to destroy the life of others? This was the
main point of film and the cause of revenge. The Bride‘s main target, Bill,
was a character who underestimated the choice of freedom; who thought
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BTEC DIPLOMA IN FOUNDATION STUDIES ART & DESIGN
that everything must stay in the position which was already created before
and this opposite opinion was the starting point which spread-out into the
massacre later.
The masterpiece of “Kill Bill“ was the first Quentin's creation in the new
millenium. America, the country in which the movie was produced, was still in
the shock of the 2001 September 11 attacks. Possibly a strange comparison,
but the hearts of Americans in that time were filled with blood-thirsty revenge,
just like Bride's was. In that time United States began the war with Iraq, and
perhaps in this case we can draw comparisons between Saddam Hussein,
and Bill. The context of war, terrorism and revenge was highlighted to the
maximum effect and this mass of information has stuck in everyone's
consciousness. The invasion and blind killing of innocent people were fully
covered by highest powers in discovering the hidden weapons of massive
destruction and the elimination of the Iraqi leader. The whole point of view is
made in such a dramatic way, that all actions of revenge seem to be fairly
reasonable. The Bride lost her unborn child, America lost its citizens, just put
some more wood into the fire and everything may start to look exactly the
same way as it looked in “Kill Bill“ Volume One. I am not sure whether the
author could have anticipated this kind of situation in the country, but it
definitely attracted more viewers and helped the film to gross more.
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As I have mentioned before, “Kill Bill“ has a lot of different ways to be
watched and interpreted. It's even possible to find some connections to
previous Tarantino film scenes. For example, church musician (S.L.Jackson),
may be the same character Jewels from the movie Pulp Fiction, because at
the end of the film, he decides to change his life and walk the earth until God
will put him in a certain place. But the most interesting thing about this
unique creation, is Tarantino's ability to manipulate both - the media, and
ideas in a such specific way, that no one could expect how it will conclude. It
breaks through all possible logical barriers and starts to play with the
audience and its inner feelings. Of course, different people have different
opinions, but even if you don't like his movies, you cannot deny the fact that
the film leaves an indelible imprint upon your memory.
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Bibliography & References
Jami Bernard book - “Quentin Tarantino – The Man and His Movies“;
Edina Bernard book - Histoire De L'art Du Moyen Age À Nos Jours;
Steve Rose's “the Guardian“ article - “Found: where Tarantino gets his
ideas“ http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2004/apr/06/features.dvdreviews #
Emma Wood's article - “Is Tarantino really feminist?“
http://www.thefword.org.uk/reviews/2007/11/is_tarantino_re_1
Mary Kaye Schilling interview with Q.Tarantino - “Total Tarantino“
http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,609679,00.html]
The biggest information resource about Q. Tarantino -
http://www.tarantino.info/
Kill Bill Press Conference -
http://www.kamera.co.uk/features/kill_bill_press_conference.php
Reservoir Dogs: Music (unknown author) -
http://www.planetpapers.com/Assets/2063.php
Quentin Tarantino's Quotes:
http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en/article/42898.html
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/q/quentin_tarantino.html
Mairi Mackay CNN article - „You either love or hate my movies, says
Tarantino“
http://www.cnn.com/2008/SHOWBIZ/Movies/06/04/tarantino.screening/index.html
Wikipedia -
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Tarantino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinji_Fukasaku
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lady_Snowblood_(film)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zeitgeist
Youtube video clips & interviews:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=7L2ukSJFgCM
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=bqTxs2nxmh0
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fb6hAu2rFMQ
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=auIn_TTuJhQ (3 parts)
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TxjBLq7ZoOs&feature=related
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