Quote:
Originally posted by CJFusco
I think you're missing the point. My point was that it was RESERVOIR DOG's success that allowed Tarantino to make PULP FICTION - which I still insist wasn't even remotely racially-charged!
You seem angry for no good reason.
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Tarantino's self-played character asks in Pulp Fiction: "What the hell is a dead nigger doing in my garage?" And that's not the least bit racially charged? If so, then what's the meaning of the dialogue? Is the character just saying it to say it, making it really a throwaway line, and in some respects, a flaw in the script?
No, Tarantino is not that talentless. His characters are highly motivated and meaningful - to the film. So, if you as a fan tout his abilities as highly as you have, you will also tout his scriptwriting abilities at revealing the characters' innermost cores - and in doing that, you cannot deny that several of the characters' innermost cores were motivated at least partly on a racial level, bringing the movie, in part, to light on a racial level.
Was the film's overall theme racially motivated? No. But as I've said, use of "nigger" no longer coincides with frivilous dialogue - the word has power and impact. And because Tarantino invests in powerful characters, such words pack much stronger connotations than if Shane Black or Joe Esterhaus used them.
Angry for no reason. No, I have reasons.
One reason, in fact, is how some - you included - would rather excuse so-called technical talent, edgy thematics, and overall coolness as a legitimate sounding block for sensationalism in language and violence. Speeder tagged it correctly about Tarantino being juvenile at the core of his movies, and believe me, no film making ability - technically to say the least, or stylizations to a theme, can supplant the story's overall message when brought to the table - which in Tarantino's case, involves characters that I believe Hollywood would think twice about utilizing, if not shun altogether.
But really, since you bring up the comparison of Tarantino "in certain academic circles" to Ford, Hitchcock and Wells; while staying on the subject of this thread, can you tell me which movie, if any, directed by Ford, Hitchcock or Wells, used "nigger" in its dialogue, and which of either directors' films were thematically based within racial parameters and stereotypes in the same way as Tarantino's?
If at all, when given the entire body of Tarantino's nine films, the critics regard him as just a B-level filmmaker as this link shows:
http://movies.yahoo.com/mvc/dls?lid=255-25834&iid=255-94773