Quentin Tarantino: "BECAUSE IT'S SO MUCH FUN"

There’s a lot of talk about Quentin Tarantino at the moment, from the leaking of the script for his upcoming movie Django Unchained earlier this month (which prompted an online blogging fiesta) to the twentieth anniversary of Reservoir Dogs (1992) which is approaching. He’s also one of my favourite directors. So with these two aspects in mind I bring you the first, of hopefully many, auteur portraits.

 Thanks to the folks at The Quentin Tarantino Archives for this picture (also, killer website – check it out).

Quentin Tarantino: “BECAUSE IT'S SO MUCH  FUN, JANE!”

I came across this video a few days ago; it seems to be doing the rounds on Facebook at the moment. I'm sure many of you have seen it (and if you haven't, why not?); it's of Quentin Tarantino talking back to Kron4 News movie critic, "Jane”. The clip culminates as, in answer to a question about the use of violence in his films, QT bounces up and down on his chair and – with arms waving – childishly responds with “BECAUSE IT’S SO MUCH FUN, JANE”. The whole clip is a hilarious battle between the always enthusiastic director and this movie critic, who appears to be dressed in her best gardening attire. However that quote stuck with me long after I finished laughing, and it’s got me thinking about Tarantino’s movies.

Watching a Tarantino movie, you know he’s had fun. There’s a childlike glee that underpins every scene. You know you’re watching a Tarantino movie when it seems something like the daydreams of a teenage boy. He loves the little details, and is almost pedantic about them – from making up his own companies and products for his movies to the intricate and quick-paced dialogue that defines his films. I think that it’s his pure enthusiasm and dedication to film that makes his film’s what they are. His childlike excitement for the entire world of cinema could be what makes his films so inventive and refreshingly different. But if anything else, he makes films that he would want to see because he loves doing it – and you can’t fault that can you?

Obviously violence is a big part of this, Tarantino has no reservations explaining why he loves it – in typical Tarantino style he used his interview at the BAFTA’s last year to advocate violence in films claiming “violence is so good” (but perhaps taking it too far when he claimed that was why Thomas Edison created the camera but the man’s an absolute genius so we’ll let it pass – you can check out the highlights of that interview here). And as one would expect, his movies are violent, like he said himself in a interview with the BBC no less, “Sure, Kill Bill's a violent movie. But it's a Tarantino movie. You don't go to Metallica and ask the f**kers to turn the music down." And the man has a point, as an audience member I EXPECT violence when I go into a Tarantino movie, and if I didn't get it I would be confused, and probably a little angry. Mainly because Tarantino does violence so well, it’s cinematic, creative and most of all effective. Violence in Tarantino’s movies affects the audience greatly, whether its horrifying (think the excruciating reality of the Nazi officer, who was portrayed sympathetically, being bludgeoned to death in Inglourious Basterds), hilarious (Vincent and Jules in the car after Vincent accidentally shoots Marvin in Pulp Fiction) and a strange mixture of the two (such as the notorious torture scene in Reservoir Dogs).

  

It's not as though his films are grossly more violent than others (believe me there is some nasty stuff out there, most of it from the 70's - who would've thought?), much of the violence is either alluded to or shown off screen (for example the ear being cut off in Reservoir Dogs). It’s more that Tarantino is so good at using violence to control his audience, if you checked out the interview he did at the BAFTA’s (I linked it earlier), Tarantino compares himself to a conductor. He claims that as a film director he should control his audience – whether they’re horrified or laughing. If his popularity and following are anything to go by, then Tarantino’s doing a great job – and he’s not the only one who enjoys watching violence on screen. I see where people are coming from; it's a little disturbing that violence is one of the most enjoyable things to watch for a lot of people. But it all comes back to the idea of being affected by a film, and violence does.

Understanding the reasons why we watch violence is one thing, but understanding its effects is another thing entirely. Violence in the media is a topical issue, with one of the main arguments raised that showing violent images will lead to a more violent society (I think that’s what Jan was trying to get at in the video, but I couldn’t hear her from underneath all that hat). Tarantino gives a two part response, firstly just straight out that "violent films don't turn children into violent people" and secondly, that there is a huge difference between a film and real life. I think the key in this argument is knowing the difference. When done well, violence in a film should do two things: firstly, it should affect you – make you feel something, and secondly it should wave a big (bloody) flag saying THIS IS A FILM. I think the problem with violence in the media would be when it doesn’t do this, when people aren’t affected and don’t grasp the fact that it’s a film.

In my opinion we need to teach media studies in schools (it’s such a dominate aspect of our society these days) to better understand films – to stop the confusion between representations in cinema and the real life. Also the more you know about them the more enjoyable watching them is, particularly good ones. I also hope that rather than a mass output of CGI dominated, profit orientated and unimaginative blockbusters, we can see more work from real artists and inventors like Tarantino, who know their audience and love their craft.

Stay tuned, more to come on Tarantino - hoping to take a look at his use of music in the next couple of weeks. To get you excited, here's a taste with what I would consider one of the best title sequences in cinema.