Tarantino’s vision of violence
Gabriel Proctor
In Turner and the Barbershop, John Berger states that ‘violence is implicit in Turner's vision of nature itself’. 1 The same may be said about the films of the director Quentin Tarantino. Instead of violence being implicit in Tarantino’s vision of nature however, it is central in his portrayal of life. In an
interview with BAFTA on the 14th of August 2019, Tarantino pr oclaimed ‘one of the reasons why Tomas Edison invented the camera is to film violence’. 2 This essay explores two films directed and written by Quentin Tarantino and through doing so this essay argues howhis normalization of violence through the constant conflation with positive ideals is indicative of the wider culture and the constant portrayal of graphic violence in the media. Tarantino’s third film Jackie Brown (for which he both wrote the screenplay based on a novella by Elmore Leonard and directed in 1997), depicts violence in relation to sexuality. This is established early in the film in the second scene where he presents a video called ‘chicks with guns’. The subject is of scantily clad women demonstrating a variety of machine guns and assault weapons. This prompts the response ‘check out this gun here’ fromOrdell Robbie (the character played by Samuel Jackson). In this phrase the conflation between sexuality and violence is made clear. The character is referring to the weaponry in the same way he would usually crudely and casually refer to a woman he may pass on the street. This fascination and sexualization of weaponry in this way simultaneously introduces his misogynistic character and profession as a gun salesman. The main storyline revolves around the illegal import of large sums of money from Mexico. In addition to his illegal business activities, Ordell has ruthless tendencies. These characteristics are first exposed in the interaction which he has with a lesser character Beaumont Livingston (played by Chris Tucker), who acts as a source of comic relief as the plot unfolds. In this instance (and through this character), humour plays a large role in softening
1 Berger 1980. 2 Tarentino.
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