Quentin Tarantino And His Movies: Analvsis On Tarantino's Movies From Postmodern Thoughts

Postmodernism is in certain degree a trend of cultural thoughts, growing in the western developed countries in 1960s and generated an immediate response in the fields of philosophy, literature, architecture, art, sociology and so forth. As an important and colorful branch of postmodern cultures/arts, postmodern cinema is attracting attentions from more and more people with its unique cinematic values and aesthetics. Accordingly, this gives rise to a great deal of academic monographs on the postmodern cinema abroad. Due to the historical and social circumstances, it was not until the end of 1980s that an enthusiastic wave toward postmodernism was raised in China. However, there are few systematic researches in China in regard to studies on specific postmodern arts, such as films, dramas, dances and so on, with the exception of novel. Therefore, a case study of Quentin Tarantino and his films is of important significance.With carriers of four films Tarantino made at different periods, Reservoir Dogs(1992), Pulp Fiction(1994), Kill Bill â…  (2003) and Kill Bill â…¡(2004), this thesis provides an analysis and critique of Tarantino's films in terms of narrative structure, dialogue, plot design, and characterization, trying to answer how his films represent the postmodern theories of discontinuity, playfulness, intertextuality and popularization, what influence his works will bring about and what deficiency are embodied behind all his successes. The thesis consists of introduction, three chapters and conclusion.Introduction provides general information about the researches on postmodern cinema and Tarantino's films, the theoretical basis and the significance of this thesis.Chapter I conducts the analysis from two aspects. The first looks into the narrative structures of his films in comparison with the previous landmark films which are important in terms of narrative structure. The second involves the investigation on the dialogue and violence represented in a playful way in his films with some failure hidden behind his playful manipulation of violence.Chapter II develops a detailed survey on the box-office receipts and the film awards of each of his films to display his trend of being commercialized. In addition, it also discusses the entertainment, nostalgia and vulgarity represented in his films contributing to his films' tendency of popularization and popularity around the world as well.Chapter III introduces general information of Tarantino's growing background, which plays an important role in shaping his intertextual way of filmmaking. Accordingly, his films display a strong sense of intertextuality. On the one hand, this unique way of filmmaking guarantees Tarantino's international reputation as a film genius and help start a fad of intertextual movie around the world; on the other hand, no matter how postmodern his films are, he could not avoid falling into the "trap" of being formalized resulting from this intertextual way of filmmaking.To conclude the thesis, the author reaffirms the postmodern characteristics embodied in Tarantino's films. At the end of the thesis, the author also points out that this thesis would more or less help Chineseaudience better understand the postmodern movies by Tarantino and provide some suggestions for researchers here to broaden the view on postmodern cinema.