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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