Quentin Tarantino, Research Project

Does the use of extreme violence make Quentin Tarantino an auteur?


Topic of study: Quentin Tarantino
Focus of study: Auteur


Films
Item 1 - Django Unchained, 2012
I have chosen this film as my main focus as this is one of Tarantino's most recent film, which uses the element of violence through out the film, this could be the reason why his fans call him a successful auteur rather the narrative and the filming techniques. The auteur uses consistent techniques within this film and revenge. Revenge is a key the theme in Tarantino's films and without the element this theme could make the film less successful, this is what creates the violence in his films, this is why I have chosen this film because it has explicit violence which is the focus of my question.

Item 2 - Pulp Fiction, 1994
Pulp Fiction also uses aspects of violence and killing and is one of Tarantinos most violent and popular films. The film follows main protagonist Vincent and his partner as well through out the film, Jules, two killers for hire set in 1994. The film also follows other characters' problems and they all resort to violence with very gory conclusions. The film has a non-linear narrative, so it shows the deaths of one character and later shows that same character from before. This suggests that Tarantino is a gifted autuer because he uses different techniques making the film different and better. This is also has the theme of crime, crime will always have element of violence because it won't complete the theme and improves the film, giving it better techniques.

Item 3 - Kill Bill: Volume 2, 2004
I chose this film because it is about a female protagonist who isn't named until the sequel and is just referred as The Bride or Black Mamba. The narrative of the film is, she used to be apart of an assassination group and they turned on her killing her child and putting her in a coma. She then spends the rest of the two films hunting down the group and violently murdering them using the same theme of revenge, this will once again use a lot of violence to achieve the main characters revenge. Tarantino also uses different cinematic techniques including animating flashbacks giving the film more varied techniques.

Item 4 - Reservoir  Dogs, 1992
The reason why I have chosen this is the amount of violence that is used in it. The narrative is about a gang of men stealing diamonds and one of them is an undercover police officer so they all get paranoid and turn on each other. There is one long shot of Mr Blonde just using extreme violence torturing someone for pleasure, This could give us an idea that Tarantino uses violence to amuse himself and needs violence in his films to make them succeed and gain fans. This genre of crime allows the Tarantino to use violence in his films, this is because crime creates the element of violence to make it realistic.


Interview
Item 5 - Channel 4 Interview, Django Unchained- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrsJDy8VjZk
I have chosen this interview because Tarantino actual argues with the interviewer Krishnan Guru-Murthy about his film not linking to real life violence and says making violent films "is good cinema" and this gives me the idea that the violence in the film makes him a good auteur and without it could he be a good autuer. He also says his fans who aren't twisted or violent in real life go to watch his films that are normally twisted and violent to enjoy it and watch it as a normal film. He later refuses to answer why its interesting to watch movie violence and not real life violence. He then around midway through the interview refuses to answer any of the questions saying that his opinion hasn't changed the whole 20 years of work he has done and says to the interviewer that he didn't like these questions and wanted to film the films how he likes them.

Item 6 - Kron 4 Interview, Kill Bill- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EEpTrPb0-c
In this interview Tarantino argues with a news reporter from Kron 4 about the film Kill Bill Vol 1. The news reporter discusses that he uses the element of violence too much and could affect the younger generation if they watch it, but Tarantino says that the element of violence makes the film a lot better and says that its fun to make the films with this element of violence. I can use this because it shows someone else arguing that Tarantino's films are not successful because of the use of violence all the time, showing he isn't a successful auteur.


Internet
Item 7 - The Telegraph - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/film-news/6975563/Quentin-Tarantino-violence-is-the-best-way-to-control-an-audience.html
In this newspaper article Tarantino said violence is good, this backs up my question asking if he actually uses violence to make himself a successful auteur rather than using actual cinematic techniques like a lot of auteurs do. He uses an incredible amount of violence in his films because he feels that it is good entertainment. But sometimes the amount of violence he does use actually loses audience members because these audience members won't think that Tarantino is a successful auteurs because he uses too much violence in his films, it says when Reservoir Dogs was released in 1992 audience members reportedly walked out during a torture scene.

Item 8 - Biography IMBD - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000233/bio
in this biography it states that Tarantino uses an excessive amount of violence in his films and it is one of his trade marks. This webpage classes violence as one of his trade marks so it shows us that he uses a lot of violence through out all of his work and that could tell us that this element helps him makes his films more successful and they might not be as good without this element. It does also say his uses a wide range of camera shots which a lot of other directors do so it doesn't mean he is a skilled autuer but shows that he has the same skills as other autuers.

Item 9 - Blog on Tarantino being an Auteur - http://danielmichaelwhelan.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/quentin-tarantino-as-auteur-review.html
The Blogger states that the definition of an auteur shows similar styles throughout all of their films which will fit Tarantino perfectly because all of his films and very similar and uses the same themes and styles in almost all of his films. The blogger also states that the main styles Tarantino uses is black comedy and violence, he states that the violence brings out the brutal persona and shows what our violent society. this could answer my question because it shows that the violence does make his films successful but he uses them to shows a hidden meaning so he could be a different way of succeeding as an auteur. his films are so unique because his use of violence shocks the audience and it looks over the top, either entertaining the audience or shocking them.

Item 10 - The Wire - http://www.thewire.com/entertainment/2013/01/quentin-tarantino-violence-quotes/60900/
The reason why I have chosen this source is because Tarantino states that the violence in his films are the same as 20 years ago. This helps with my question because it shows he gets frustrated and this could say that he relies on violence to make his films successful. it is there for very useful because it shows that he will carry on with the same style and links to my question if he does need violence to be a successful auteur.

Item 11 - The artificial - http://the-artifice.com/work-of-quentin-tarantino/
This item states that iconic movie directors have different styles and those different styles are make the directors good at their jobs and make successful films. It states that Tarantino has three main styles in his work; witty dialogue, massive amount of violence and paying contribute to the old films he watched. It also states with these styles and his name could just sell a film which shows tells us he is a successful director but he will need these styles to help him become successful.

Item 12 - Flavourwire - http://flavorwire.com/482300/why-are-we-so-obsessed-with-tarantinos-violence-an-excerpt-from-pulp-fiction-the-complete-history-of-quentin-tarantinos-masterpiece
This article states That Tarantino thinks his films need violence and enjoys it, this shows us that because he enjoys violence he might think that his fans watch his films because of his violence. But it also states in this article that the reviews on violence are always negative for his films but also enjoyable to read, this shows that Tarantino doesn't care about negative reviews and will make the films no matter what anyway says so he doesn't have to use violence to be a successful auteur.


Documentaries
Item 13 - Hollywood's Boy Wonder - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejlRORZWui8
This documentary was released in 1994 which is the same time as his film 'Pulp Fiction' released. In the documentary Steve Buscemi says that the film links to Quentin Tarantino a lot, this shows us that because he was bought up with TV he was bought up with TV violence and understands the entertainment in it and uses it in his films to gain an audience. This could be why he uses a lot of violence in his films and why he thinks it makes him a successful autuer with it and entertains his audience.


Books
Item 14 - Film Studies: The Essentials: Teach Yourself By Warren Buckland
I have chosen this book to use for one of my items in my research project because it explains the auteur theory and how it links to my question. The auteur theory is a theory reflects directly on the director and makes him more of an author of the film, showing his work on the film and what he or she has done for the film they have made.

Item 15 - Tarantino A to Zed by Alan Barnes & Marcus Hearn
This item has an article all about Tarantino's violence which links to my question, does violence make Tarantino a good auteur? It states that Tarantino has a reputation in making films with a massive amount of violence within it, it also says that his violence differs within the films from just added violence to special choreographed violence that will improve his film more. This shows that the violence does improve the films but there are also some cases where the violence doesn't make a difference.


Rejected Items

Magazines
Slate magazine Sept 16, 2003 http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/assessment/2003/09/quentin_tarantino.html
In this magazine it says Tarantino is facing question asking about his skill as a director which is very similar to my question asking does violence make him a good auteur? This is a good source of information because it does ask a similar question to what I asked but it doesn't have anything to do with violence and asks questions about him doing film directly on his own, but instead of making successful films only if he works with another director.

Quintessential Tarantino by Edwin Page
This book states the different techniques within the films that Tarantino has done, I could use this because it tells me the different techniques that he is using so I could compare it to the element of violence. But the book doesn't show any research of the element of violence so this book could link to my question was related to this themes but it isn't.

Deadline - http://deadline.com/2013/01/quentin-tarantino-has-heated-exchange-with-uk-journalist-on-movie-violence-says-im-not-your-slave-video-401861/
The reason why I won't be using this article in my catalogue is because it doesn't or has very little about his style of violence and only discusses about slavery in Django Unchained, this has no use for and doesn't link to my question. I could twist it and it could help but it will be very hard to get this information to link with my question.