The
article “Royal with cheese Quentin Tarantino and the blood-letting of culture”
was written by Matt Freeman, a freelance film journalist who is also a Master
of Arts film and television student. He also writes for Film Journal
International, Total Film and GoreZone.
The
article was written and first published in “MediaMagazine 35, February 2011:
The ‘Culture’ issue”
‘High’ culture is traditionally associated with the refined
and well-educated; it is elitism of the highest order.
Even today we continue to separate ‘art’ of all forms into
high and low, whether this is distinguishing musical theatre from opera or
blockbuster rom-com from arthouse short
In today’s culture, it seems, very few aspects of
contemporary art – be it cinema, television, visual art or music – remain quite
so clear cut
The Tarantino film is both B-movie exploitation and art
cinema – or rather, neither of these.
The Tarantino style blends elements from different genres,
different artistic movements, and different periods with absolute abandon.
This aspect is evident in his wide range of influences,
spanning the 1970s Blaxploitation flick to the novelistic structure of classic
literature. In Pulp Fiction (1994), with the iconic Jack Rabbit Slim restaurant
sequence between Vincent and Mia, for example, Tarantino makes a visual use of
the novelty diner where all of the staff are knowingly impersonating iconic
figures of 1950s pop culture, inviting comparison between the scene itself and
the film’s entire diegetic world, where various influences come together in a
vibrant new playground.
Tarantino movies continue to attract high-minded critical
attention on account of their postmodernism, rather that in spite of it.
As blogger and author Stephen Tully Dierks writes when
addressing this dilemma: ‘even if you’re rebelling against your parents’ ideas,
it’s hard to leave them completely behind’. However, he fails to consider just
how radical a figure such as Quentin Tarantino has been in effectively blurring
the line between high and low culture, merging the two into one package which,
whether progressive or not, imagines all forms of artistic culture – be it
high, low, or nobrow – as umbrella terms of yesteryear which now all belong
under the recognition of just one classification: pop culture.
Indeed, a film-maker such as Tarantino can be seen as a
figure who is not degrading, but reclaiming culture.
On the contrary, films such as Pulp Fiction (1994), Reservoir
Dogs (1992), Kill Bill (2003/2004) and Inglourious Basterds (2009) can be seen
to emphasise the human element – these are films which deal explicitly with
human themes of guilt, forgiveness and redemption
And despite the often eye-popping depiction of violence in
Tarantino’s works – a debate which should be saved for another article – the
director is at heart a moralist, framing his tales around the dual necessities
of forgiveness and punishment. That’s the American aesthetic of popular
culture, and Quentin Tarantino is one of its most articulate and thoughtful
voices.
I chose
this article as it shows how Quentin Tarantino gives a good insight to the
different cultures that he decides to use within his films, and how his films are
both of high culture and low culture.
The article was written by
Matt Freeman and talks about how Tarantino has used previous work in his films,
and how his films have changed and redefined the low/high culture.
In Pulp Fiction (1994), with
the iconic Jack Rabbit Slim restaurant sequence between Vincent and Mia, for
example, Tarantino makes a visual use of the novelty diner where all of the
staff are knowingly impersonating iconic figures of 1950s pop culture
This reference talks about
how Tarantino has used various cultures of iconic figures in lower class
restaurants. The article uses various references to Tarantino’s films and
productions, and talks of the various amounts of cultural references used
within them.
I believe that the article gives
a good insight to Tarantino’s work and how he has used various different
inspirations and cultures within his work, and clear identifies these various
cultures used within the films.
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