Quentin Tarantino is considered a post-modern auteur in film, he uses many techniques to convey this during his work. Kill Bill is iconic across the world, critically acclaimed and massively popular. To understand how Tarantino is post-modern it is important to first know how post-modernism portrays itself in society and in the art of what we create. Modernism was the idea of consciously trying to discover new varieties of viewing the world. For Example, questioning why things are done a certain way and trying to improve them as in architecture, during the modern period, it was considered modern to build a house which didn't look like a house. Modern art strives to question and criticise what art really is resulting in unique and interesting variations of what their creators call art.
Figure 1 - Traditional house design
Figure 2 - modern house design
Tarantino used Non-Linear Narrative in a way to challenge traditional story telling where it starts at the beginning, goes to the middle and then ends with the end. instead he constantly jumps back and forth to make sure the audience remains guessing throughout, the benefit of a non-linear narrative is that he can tell the story in a way which gives the audience knowledge exactly when they need it from any period of time in the chronology of the story.
Tarantino pays homage to various other film legends and techniques as mentioned by Groth on Tarantino as an Auteur "Tarantino regurgitates his favourite clichés and formulas, sometimes with a wink, sometimes with a straight face, sometimes with wit, but always with an unconditional love for the clichés" (Groth, 1995) originally influenced by Grindhouse Cinema, jumping from Japanese anime, to samurai to mariachi bands, references to Jet Li, and capitalism and various metaphors surrounding that, Howard remarks "consider it from a postmodernist perspective, you have to consider the anxieties that come with globalisation" (Howard, 2017) for example in the scene Lucy Liu decapitates the mob bosses head at her function for remarking on a change in tradition, a symbol of silencing opposition from those who disapprove.
Figure 3 - Kill Bill [film] - Lucy Lui
The use of violence as an art form or as a celebration breaks tradition in the sense it is very graphic and is arguably avant garde practice because it pushes the boundaries of what the audience is expecting and used to, Tarantino is consciously trying to shock the audience which would be considered post-modern, resulting in something unpleasant for the audience, this is no more prominent than in the Japanese restaurant fight scene where people have blood spraying from their limbs like jet streams, blood covering every surface and blade penetrations clearly visible for the audience to observe.
Figure 4 - Kill Bill [film] - Fight Scene
Tarantino uses an entirely new mode of media included in the film too in the form of Japanese anime cartoons to inspire a kinship to graphic novels pushing the boundaries of film to post-modernism by suggesting film doesn't necessarily have to contain only one form of media. This technique also helps because it allows for an extremely graphic scene which couldn't be shot in live action because of its extreme violence and subject of paedophilia. An audience will find the experience of the drawn cartoon duller and less discomforting in this form instead of live action because it is harder to associate with.
Figure 5 - Kill Bill [film] - Anime Sequence
Considering the director had complete control over every aspect of the film down to a say in costume and choreography, it becomes extremely apparent as why Tarantino chose to make miniatures and film live action over a better looking animated scene during the fly over in the aircraft over Japan. It is arguable this choice was made because animation would have been the more traditional option in the current technological climate, so by breaking this tradition Tarantino gives the audience something unexpected by confronting a version of how the world is viewed.
Figure 5 - Kill Bill [film] - live action fly over
Bibliography:
Howard, A. (2017). Tarantino as A Post Modern Auteur (Pulp Fiction, 1994, Kill Bill Vol.1 2003). [online] Alexandra Furssedonn Howard. Available at: https://alexandrafurssedonn.com/2017/04/20/tarantino-as-a-post-modern-auteur-pulp-fiction-1994-kill-bill-vol-1-2003/ [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].
Groth, G. (1995). A Dream of Perfect Reception. [online] The Baffler. Available at: https://thebaffler.com/salvos/a-dream-of-perfect-reception [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].
Illustration:
Figure 2: Foulkes, J. (2018). Stock photo BP2252. [online] Bananapancake.com. Available at: https://www.bananapancake.com/-/galleries/personal-favourites/-/medias/28eebd52-5410-4b57-9ce2-7eceae12aa4e-bp2252 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].
Figure 1: Khederian, R. (2018). Restoring a historic house: 8 tips and tricks before getting started. [online] Curbed. Available at: https://www.curbed.com/2017/6/8/15762608/old-house-renovate-restore-tips [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].
Figure 3, 4 and 5: Kill Bill. (2003). [film] Directed by Q. Tarantino. A Band Apart: Miramax.
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