Presentation outline: Kill Bill
I.
Introduction of the film:
The
movie revolves about the assassination and the ensuing desire for revenge of
Uma Thurman who stars as the bride, a member assassin group called Divas; her
group did not take it well when she decided to leave them because she got
pregnant so they ambush her wedding rehearsal and try to kill her and her baby.
Miraculously, the bride survives the bullet to the head and four years later
wakes up from her coma and seeks revenge against her four assassins and their
employer.
II.
Characteristics of the film that link to
classic film noir
1. Shots
mostly in black and white
2. Voice
over narration (first person point of view of the protagonist)
3. Typical
noir protagonist who suffers from appalling abuse
4. The
presence of crime and violence (film of death)
III.
Updated elements from Classic Noir to
Neo Noir
1. Gender
Reversal (female protagonist)
2. Explicit
language
3. Gruesome
scenes
4. Different
locations (United States, Japan and Mexico)
5. Different
ethnic group (Japanese, Chinese, half nationalities)
6. The
movie adapt different culture (language,
samurai and kung fu)
7. Special
Effects (Animation)
Source one:
Kill Bill has an
element of voice over narration and series of flashbacks which according to
Brian Snee in his article “Soft-Boiled Cinema: Joel and Ethan Coens’
Neo-Classical Neo-Noirs” are ways of inviting character0viewer identification,
it is “usually provided by the morally conflicted character at the center of
the story, which allowed protagonist to speak to viewers mush as they had to
readers. Coupled with other devices-like flashbacks, point of view shots, dream
and hallucination sequences” in which the viewer sees what a character is
thinking. On this movies, the narration is coming from the first person point
of view of the female protagonist, her story is told through series of
flashback that shows in black and white to emphasize events that happened in
the past. Through her narration, we get to know the bride, we build a
connection, we recognize her circumstances and we sympathize with her.
Source two:
Kill
Bill is a renovation of classic noir to blend in in today’s newest film style.
Dennis Harvey talks about the new neo noir movies’ borrowed idea from the
classical retro noir in his article “Neo-noir Films Transcend Style” he states
that “good film making is always about reinventing convention, taking the
familiar and making it strange” and that’s exactly what the author (Quentin
Tarantino) did on this movie, he cleverly updated and added new elements on the
film without losing the genre’s primary idea, from the setting of the movies,
adaptation to other cultures and vulgarity of the images and the language, this
movie is nothing like classic noir movie but sustains the idea of crime and
violence and the story of the troubled protagonist.
