Representations of different cultures and ethnicity within Quentin Tarantino's films

Django Unchained

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/culture/2013/01/how-accurate-is-quentin-tarantinos-portrayal-of-slavery-in-django-unchained.html

This article was helpful as it answered various important questions that surround the film “Django Unchained” as well as gave the authors opinion on certain aspects of the film.

It answered the questions:

·        Does the film Django Unchained portray the black slave community in a fair and realistic way?

·        Do all people from a black ethnicity view the film in the same way?

·        Does the film portray the way in which Americans now perceive slavery?

It contained several views from people of the black community, such as an audience in Harlem as well as the opinion of Spike Lee, who refused to even see the film as he believed that it “disrespected his ancestors”.

The article also answers the question as to whether the black community is displayed in an accurate and realistic way, giving both arguments for and against this. While many had believed that the black community was ashamed of the lack of fighting back during the times of slavery, it also notes on how many of the slaveholding class “existed in a constant paranoia about slave rebellions, escapes and a litany of more subtle attempts to undermine the institution. “, which is what happens, in a more over the top manner, in Django Unchained. It also notes how “Nearly two hundred thousand black men, most of them former slaves, enlisted in the Union Army in order to accomplish en masse precisely what Django attempts to do alone: risk death in order to free those whom they loved.” This shows how the film, despite its gorey and unrealistic features, does actually stick to some sort of accurate and correct history.

Kill Bill

http://www.subtraction.com/2003/10/23/the-kill-bil

This article, written by Khoi Vinh, talks about the representation of women within the film “Kill Bill (Vol 1.)” and how they make the film “profoundly masturbatory”. The article answers the questions:

·         Are women represented in a fair and non-sexist way?

·         Does the film only appeal to males?

·         Are the oriental ethnicity presented in a fair way?

The article starts by talking about how the film is presented, saying that the worst thing about it is that it is “profoundly masturbatory.” While the article praises the film by saying this, it also mentions how there are certain factors to the film that “amount to a catalog of Tarantino’s cinematic and pop-cultural fetishes: a legion of profusely sexy female assassins, a prolific counter-culture or moral evil-doers, a population of black-belted warriors, and a climate given over to regular, strong gusts of nostalgia for the 1970s.” the main part of this quote would be “a legion of profusely sexy female assassins”, which can be seen as implying to the fact that the film Kill Bill uses women in a “profusely sexy” way, and this is could be applying to the Male Gaze theory and such. The author claims that the film is used to satisfy “some well of fascination in his (Tarantino’s) psyche.” Which is implying that the use of “sexy female assassins” and the other factors that make the film are there to purely entertain Tarantino, and others like him.

There is also the case of the orient ethnicity within the film. The author comments on this, saying that “fetishism can be a foul spectacle” as the character O-Ren Ishii “dominates the second half of “Kill Bill”. The role, played by Lucy Liu, is, according to the author, “the petite, sexy and ruthless queen of Seijun Suzuki-inspired Japanese underground,” this shows how women are shown in the film, as a thing to look at that would appeal to the male audience. The author also claims how O-Ren Ishii is “flanked by a pair of petite, sexy and ruthless female lieutenants,” this quote shows how almost all the women in the film are shown in a “sexy and ruthless” way that would appeal to the male audience, and the fetishes of the oriental ethnicity is used to heighten this appeal and atmosphere of women used as a thing to look as.

Inglourious Basterds

http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/reviewcomplete.asp?FID=10392

This article was written on the Empire Online site in the review forums, and was reviewed by Chris Hewitt, who gave his opinion on the representation of various groups within the film. There is a lot of different types of groups, ethnicities and religious organisations to be represented in this film such as the French, Nazi’s in WWII, the Jewish and American, as well as women and the black ethnicity during the war.

The article answers the questions:

·        How are Nazi’s represented in the film?

·        How does Tarantino’s film differ from different representations used in films?

Within the article there is a Nazi character called Col. Hans Landa, played by Christoph Waltz, who is described and used in a different way to which Nazi’s are normally portrayed in a WWII film. While Nazi’s are now commonly used as a monster type of figure, this certain article talks about Col. Hans Landa as “a charming yet callous Nazi officer,” this shows how the view of Nazi’s is portrayed in a different manner to the usual monster figure, and the writer even goes to mention how the character Col. Hans Landa is “so much more than a typical movie Nazi.” Again showing how Tarantino has diverted away from the typical image of a Nazi in film and instead decided to represent them in a different manner to which we are used to.

This again goes to show how Tarantino has differed from certain representations within films. The typical WWII military figures are not the, as described in the article, “ rootin’, tootin, cigar-chompin’ Where eagles Dare/Dirty Dozen-style shoot-‘em-up that had once, if you believe all you read, been tailored for Arnie and Sly.” But instead a “squadron of ruthless Jewish soldiers”. This again shows how Tarantino has decided to change the typical expectations and switched them with something we, the audience, would not expect to find in a WWII film. The religious beliefs of the characters also differs to what we are used to, as the normal representations of the Jewish community in a WWII film are normally used within the tragedy of the Holocaust, and not as actual soldiers within the military, especially an elite group that is displayed within the film.