Presentation outline-Kill Bill

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.