Welcome to our class blog for Cinema and Globalization: Genre Cinema in East Asia!
Hope you all enjoyed watching Kill Bill v.1. I thoroughly enjoy it each time I see it again, and I notice more thought-provoking details and elements with each subsequent viewing.
Could we get a running list going of the "genre" elements that we all noticed in Kill Bill, and which scenes/elements we associate with particular genres? I can get us started with a brief list here:
1) martial arts action films: (this is the most obvious, perhaps) martial arts fighting throughout the film.
2) thriller/suspense: rainstorm, wind, trees--"dark and stormy night" - on the night when the Bride wakes up from her coma.
3) film noir: switch to high-contrast b&w when the Bride fights the horde of yakuza in the episode at Blue Leaves. Grainy b&w in certain shots as well (massacre flashback scene).
4) the Western: landscape shots of the area outside of the chapel where the wedding massacre takes place; country-western and spanish guitar music.
5) East Asian horror/psycho-drama: the casting of actress who plays "Go-go" -- from the Japanese cult film Battle Royale.
Did anyone else notice particular elements that alluded to other genres? If so, please share. There are many--and some of the genres that Tarantino cites can be considered "sub-genres" that are particular to East Asian visual culture. One example of this is #5, above.
Any other opinions or responses to the film? Thanks and looking forward to the next 5 weeks :)
Lots of Samurai film influences in Kill Bill having all of the characters in the final chapter's fight sequences using samurai swords.
ReplyDeleteBill reminds me of Charlie from Charlies Angels. He is never fully seen and doesn't interact much besides voicing his orders to his subordinates, who happen to mostly be comprised of female characters.
Chinese Wuxia elements are seen in some of the fight choreography with the characters jumping and flying around. Reminds me of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
The entire Ori-Renshi back story animation was totally referencing Japanese Animation.
Some other elements I can see are from spy, gore, revenge, and crime films.
hi Johnathan--nice job pointing out Kill Bill's "intertexts"(that's the literary term for the referencing, borrowing, revision, or incorporation of other texts/sources in a particular text). I posted last night on the reasons why the fight choreography reminds you of _Crouching Tiger_: the same person choreographed the action in both films! This helps us to think about the genealogy of contemporary Hollywood action films in Hong Kong films of the 70's & 80's.
ReplyDeleteTo add to its element of surprise and suspense, I also feel as if the horror film genre also establishes itself through the use of thrilling moments and gore. Plenty of scenes involve the tracking shots of the feet of characters. These shots ultimately signify events that are about to occur; however, they are events that the audience does not know about. Most horror genre films involve the use of mystery and the retention of information. Also, in most horror films, the results of the suspense typically end in some kind of death. Thus, the gore is an exaggerated representation of the horror film genre.
ReplyDeleteUma Thurman has said that she thinks Tarantino has a foot fetish--not only do the tracking shots of feet recur (nice attention to detail!) but the setup for the Bride's recovery focuses on her feet (in the Pussy Wagon).
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