Textual analysis - Kill Bill

Textual Analysis – Kill Bill

The film I am going to analyse is Kill Bill Vol1 Directed by Quentin Tarantino. It was released on 17^th October 2003 and it’s an action genre.

Kill Bill Vol1 has a really unusual narrative structure as Tarantino seems to be playing around with it. The movie is in non-linear order and it’s episodic which means it’s divided into a collection of chapters. There is a non-linear story telling as the narrative is presented out of sequence. In Kill Bill Vol1 Todorov’s theory of equilibrium model can’t be applied just by looking at Volume 1. This is due the non-linear structure and the (artificial) division of the film into 2 parts. The film begins with a lady lying down on the floor, a man called Bill holds a gun next to her head and they’re talking about some baby then he pulls the trigger and the action moves to another chapter.  As this film is divided into two separate films and it has an open narrative, therefore the new equilibrium is not included in the Volume 1 and we don't really know how is it going to end, we’re left with questions in our minds such as “Who’s Bill?” However, when we take the Volume 2 into the count, the equilibrium is briefly represented when we see Bill and Beatrix at the camp fire; the disruption is her realisation that she is pregnant or the attempted assassination of the Bride; the new equilibriums occurs at the end of Volume 2 where Beatrix takes her daughter away to start a new life. The main Binary opposition which has been used is men and women. Women were dominant, and they had an authority. Also the main character is seeking for Bill, so male was behind the main plot of the story.  The other binary opposition in Kill Bill was good and evil as there is a lot of violence which is typical for the action movies.

The storyline is very typical for the genre as it’s based on a woman who decides to seek revenge on the five people who destroyed her life and killed her unborn baby. She’s really determinate to kill her betrayers. We know it’s about revenge from the very beginning as one of the first things that appear on the screen is a quote “Revenge is a dish best served cold.” Revenge shapes and informs the entire movie.

Every member of the Deadly Viper assassination Squad had their name reffering to snakes, Black Mamba (the Bride),  Snake Charmer  (Bill, main antagonist), Cottonmouth ( the Japanese lady, O-Ren Ishii),  copperhead (the black lady Vernita Green), California mountain snake (Elle Driver) and the sidewinder (Budd to which we are intoduced in Volume2).  All these snakes are dangerous which may represent the characters however,  black Mamba is the only one out of them which is non poisonous.  Characters behaviour and body language are typical for the genre as most of the time they’re fighting, punching, kicking each other and they’re being aggressive and repulsive. However, the fact that the main protagonist is a female and two other members of Deadly Viper Assassination Squad are females and they’re represented as strong and dominant figures is not typical. 

The representation of gender was really exaggerated and almost comical. Women were portrayed as dominant and more powerful than men. They are represented in controversial way and opposite to what they’re like. It breaks the stereotype of the representation of women in today’s society.  For example when the Bride had a fight with the men with masks and she beat all of them up without getting hurt, it’s almost impossible. Also when a Japanese lady was talking and a man said something against her word, she cuts off his head.

The mise-en-scene contributes to the representation of gender. In Kill Bill Vol.1 women were represented as dominant, powerful, constantly aggressive and masculine. This may be shown by the use of props such as swords and knifes which is typical for action movies. They were equipped in swords which make them more powerful and dominant, that was the main prop used during the brutal fights.

In this picture two women are fighting, the blonde lady is holing a pan, which is one of the props, it is also an object we can find in the kitchen and as the stereotype says, women should stay in the kitchen, which makes it comical. They’re wearing non feminine clothes; the black lady is wearing jogging bottoms, vest and a jumper. The Bride is wearing jeans, top, jacket and her hair is tied back.

In all the fight scenes fake blood and sweat have been used to show the intensity of fights

At the beginning when the black lady’s daughter came back from school both women were fighting, as soon as both of them saw the black lady’s daughter they stopped As soon as the girl opens the door, both women hid their weapons.

From her facial expression we could see she doesn’t want the Bide to hurt her at the front of her daughter. The fact that they hid their weapons shows their emotional feminine side in contrast to all the aggression and violence.

Here is another shot showing the Bride’s facial expression. The chain is around her neck and she’s not able to breathe. From her facial expression she looks like she's in pain. Fake blood and make up around her eyes have been used to make it look realistic.

Through the use of camera such as close ups, mid shots and long shots on their faces and bodies, we were able to see the intensity of the fights. There was a variety of different camera movements such as crane shots during fights, panning tilting and tracking. Low angle have been used to show the vulnerability and high angle to show the power.

For instance in here low angle shot have been used when the Bride was laying down on the floor and the rest of  Deadly Viper Assassination Squad standing over her. It shows her vulnerability and their dominance and power over her

In here there is a close up of the girl’s face when she’s about to die. The blood is coming out of her eyes and it’s running down her face. It adds a dramatic effect the whole scene and it makes the death seem realistic. It shows the power and intensity of their fight.

This is a bird’s eye view shot of two women fighting. The black lady is on top of the white lady, it shows she has more power and she's dominant. We can see broken glass and table legs on the floor which shows how strong they are.

There is one long continuous shot (2mins) with a variety of different camera movements before the big fight. It starts with panning then it changes into bird’s eye view and it follows the Bride as she’s walking, then it changes into tracking, then panning again and back to tracking and this is all done with one continuous shot. It establishes the place the action is taking the place and it show’s what other characters are doing.

The editing was peaceful and as the action and fights started there was fast editing and cross cutting with a variety of different shots to show the fight from different angles for example when the Bride was fighting with the ‘Crazy 88’.

In this scene the editing was very peaceful, the lady picked up a box with cereals and then editing drastically changed as the lady fired a gun hidden in the cereal box this is typical for the action genre films.

  There was a slow motion used on the bullet to show the power and also to create a tension and to emphasise on this particular scene.

In here shallow depth of field has been. The sward is in focus and the background is out of focus. It shows the importance of the sward in this fight.

The sound also contributes to the representation of genre. There was a non-diegetic sound used such us wind swiping noise added to highlight the knife’s movement and the power. Also, sound effects were added to emphasize the force of each punch or kick. During fights there was a very electric choice of music in particular during the big fight sequence, there were various genres of music have been used.  It created a tension and it went well with the fight. By the use of diegetic sound such as dialogue "bitch", "come on bitch" women showed their non lady like behaviour. When the Bride says "You can relax for now. I'm not going to murder you in from of your child, okay?" it showed her feminine side.