Introduction
The world of art has always been driven by an immortal tradition where the sole artist worked as the creative force and his relationship with the art was way more influential than the traditional author-art relation. In the case of films, the concept of the ‘Auteur’ explains one of the most significant styles of cinematic direction in which the director becomes too dominant over the entire film that he is being ranked as the author for the film. Some directors in the world cinema are reckoned to have such a strong authorial presence in their films that is very easy for the audience to segregate the other crucial aspects of the film like cinematography, editing, and actors from the overall outcome of the film and directly associate the director with the film. Quentin Tarantino is an excellent example of the Auteur theory as his influence on the cinema renders it to have witty dialogues, extremely gory action, and immaculate story-telling style. His work is even reviewed to be a matter of concern because of excessive inclination toward making his “function as director thematically explicit in his films”. This essay aims at discussing various instances in Tarantino’s movies where his authorial presence was highlighted and it succeeded in drawing the attention of the viewers as well.
Tarantino’s authorial presence: Character sketch of the antagonist in the Inglorious Bastards
One of the most distinctively striking areas of Tarantino’s authorial presence is in his unique way of representing his characters with a specific wittiness and wisecracking remarks to highlight the unique aspect of their characters. His primary aim is to create highly effective dialogues that can be equally entertaining as the visuals. For example, the character played by Christoph Waltz in the Inglorious Bastards, specifically in the opening scene, is extremely reminiscent of Tarantino’s authorial presence because of the way the character’s vice is presented in this scene. The unique mannerism used by the character while expressing himself, the multilingual command, and the way in which he spoke in riddles to confuse the other characters and the audience in expressing his real state of mind are all the signature styles of Tarantino. Further, Tarantino has used all these character traits in almost all of his antagonists to highlight the hidden caprice in their villainous characters. This sort of character sketch for the antagonist is also visible in his other remarkable works like Django Unchained, Kill bill, and Pulp fiction. Hence, it can be inferred that right from the Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino has gradually added a unique character sketch by merely reshuffling his authorial character traits in the overall pool of his unique characters.
2. Tarantino’s authorial presence: Style of filmmaking in Django Unchained
Most of Tarantino’s films are known for being adapted from other famous works and a strong inclusion of the social issues like racial discrimination in Django Unchained, the influence of the pop culture/noir cinema in The Pulp fiction, and the era of gangster movies in The Reservoir dogs. However, Django Unchained remains as his exceptional work with an extremely significant plot of the racial plight and the brashest use of the word “Nigger”. This film is almost an authorial extension of the racism expressed in Tarantino’s other milestone film “Jackie Brown” where the black characters addressed themselves as “Niggers” and implied the reference to black people as mere properties. The unique style of representation of the main storyline where the protagonist not only frees himself from the shackles of slavery and comes back to save his love is almost represented as a fantasy film wrapped in the purview of racial discrimination. Tarantino has succeeded in fusing a mythic story with the raw and most horrible span of the American history with a German fairy tale by bringing together unique adaptations from his earlier films and imposing his authorial presence on the narrative of the film. Ultimately the film Django Unchained won the academy award and critical appreciation on various fronts but Tarantino’s authorial presence is completely undeniable in the style of this film.
3. Tarantino’s authorial presence: Unique illustration of violence in Pulp fiction and Kill Bill
Tarantino is most recognized for his unique style of representing violence in his films and the inclusion of violence is perhaps the most distinctive norm of his authorial presence in his movies. The most frequent use of graphic bloodshed and gore in the action scenes of his movies like Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill create the dominant shock value for the audience. Further, in order to add his unique stance amidst the violence he often introduces humor and casualness which attract the attention of the viewers and makes them laugh, ironically. The spectator is first awestruck by seeing the amount of violence conveyed to him on the screen and then he laughs on the subtle humor intruded in the scenes and even finds himself baffled after giving such reaction. The characters played by Samuel Jackson (Jules) and John Travolta (Vincent), are portrayed as the murderous gangsters who conduct most of the violence during the broad daylight. The scene where Jules and Vincent assassinate the young drug dealers in their apartment is extremely shocking and the scene where brutality is shown with ease. Similarly, the most annoying visual of the movie where a subtle dose of humor is mixed in the violence is when Vincent stabs Mia (played by Uma Thurman) in her heart by a hypodermic needle to save her life from the eventual collapse suffered from a drug overdose. Thus, it can be seen that Tarantino’s authorial presence is most distinctive in his unique style of presenting the mandatory element of violence in his movies with inherent shots of humor and casualness.
4. Tarantino’s authorial presence: Distinctive narration in Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill
Tarantino has a unique style of narrating his movies as most often his tries to formulate an unconventional yet connected form of narrative which often dribbles between the reality and fantasy world of the characters. In his most renowned works like Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Reservoir dogs, etc. he has used the stylistic distortions to create non-linear narratives where the story moves between flashbacks, fast-forwards, disruptive plots, and segmented chapters which ultimately collate to the desired conclusion in the climax. For example, Pulp Fiction is narrated in a non-linear format where the characters are represented frequently in their present and past owing to the variety of incidents covered in the storyline. Similarly, Kill Bill is narrated by a mix of flashbacks derived from the various experiences and instances related to the protagonist Beatrice Kiddo (played by Uma Thurman). Thus, the amalgamations of various forms of unconventional narratives in Tarantino’s films make his authorial presence distinctive for the audience as they can always connect to his presence when the narrative tends to be a fusion of various styles.
5. Tarantino’s authorial presence: Common storyline and climax patterns in Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, Inglorious Bastards, Kill Bil, and Reservoir Dogs
The fundamental of revenge lies as a signature style in almost all of the films made by Tarantino, like Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, and Reservoir Dogs. Further, the base of revenge in the story further mandates the inclusion of his style of violence as well. As the story draws the audience nearer to the climax, violence is equally tuned into those levels where the acceptance of the shock element in the scenes turns to be unavoidable for the audience. Further, almost all of the major works of Tarantino have a common climax pattern where the important characters have either a Mexican standoff or a scenario in which massive fights result in a killing of the main characters of the film. For example, Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, and Inglorious Bastards have climax scenes where there are massive fights and main characters are brutally killed in the course of action. Thus, the common climax patterns also create a distinctive authorial presence for Quentin Tarantino in his major films.
Conclusion
Although Tarantino has been widely acclaimed for his dominant authorial presence in his films, most of his presence seems to be at odds with the larger postmodernism context in which most of his films are actually placed. The prime reason for this deduction is based on the fact that the postmodernist cinema is categorized in terms of the quality of the mise-en-scene and the overall contents of the film rather than merely demarcating the film on the basis of the director’s signature style. Further, Tarantino is often accused of overdoing his authorial presence over the other expected essentials of filmmaking like camerawork, background score, acting performances, and use of light and sound elements. However, apart from all these issues, it is still undeniable fact that Tarantino is definitely an Auteur who has excelled the art of filmmaking in his own unique ways and has created some of the masterpieces of the cinematic history.
Bibliography
Fujiwara, Chris. “A sight duplication of efforts: Redundancy and excessive camera in Inglorious Bastards Government Institutes”.1st ed. New York: Continuum International Publishing group, 2012.
