Perspectives: 5 Reasons Why Kill Bill Is Postmodern


5 reasons why the 2003 film Kill Bill by Quentin Tarantino is seen as being postmodern.

1 - The film makes a number of interextual refereces to other films such as the way that it is shot and the different genres that are used such as action, Japanese cinema and westens. Tarantino even hinds a referece to his 1994 flim Pulp Fiction in which Uma Thurman, who played the role of The Bride in Kill Bill, also started in. At the beginning of Kill Bill Thurman draws a square in the air something that her character, Mia Wallace, also did in Pulp Fiction.

2 - By the end of the flim it is clearly reminding the viewer that it is fictional. In The Bride's fight with the Crazy 88 she is able to easily take them all out one by one without getting hit once by any of them, most of them just stand by and do nothing before being cut in half by The Bride. At one point a Crazy 88 member is seen jumping up one floor and landing perfectly on the railing.

3 - Kill Bill also follows one of Tarantino's film making signatures, a non-linear story structure. The film is broken up in to chapters that are not in chronological order, we see The Bride killing her second target at the start of the flim and by the end we see her killing her first target.

4 - The gender roles of the film are reversed with most of the main fighters being female, The Bride, O-Ren Ishii, Vernita Green and Gogo. The more common trope for action films is that the main character is male and goes up against other males to get to the man that is in charge of all that is happening. In Kill Bill women are the main focus of the battles and are also shown to be the ones in places of power, e.g. O-Ren Ishii is show as the head boss of the Yakuza, whereas men are only seen as side characters or end up being killed by one of the female fighters.

5 - Kill Bill doesn't use a conventional soundtrack that matches up with the genres it is protraying. In the battle with the Crazy 88 salsa music is heard playing to build up the frist attack even though there is no reference is made to Spain in the whole film. Also, unlike most action movies, there is a lack of background music in some of the fight scenes and the sound effects seem to be the main focus throughout. There is also no original music composed for the film as it uses tracks that have already been recorded by other artists or have been used in other films. Something that also stands out with the soundtrack is the CD it's self as it also includes some of the dialog that is used in the film.

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