Quentin Tarantino: Becoming a Legend

            Quentin Tarantino is one of the most talented individuals in today’s film industry.  During his career he has written stories, written scripts, acted in and directed over a dozen successful films.  His most phenomenal films are the ones that can truly be considered Tarantino’s movies. Movies such as “Reservoir Dogs” and, “Pulp Fiction” have been two of his greatest masterpieces. That can be attributed to the fact that he was both the writer and the director of both films. Tarantino’s first film, “Reservoir Dogs” released in 1992, introduced the world to a new style of film. His style was reinforced with the release of his Academy Award winning film “Pulp Fiction”, only two years later, in 1994. Quentin Tarantino’s style of writing and directing is defined by the creative and well planed out narrative structure of his films, the themes of his stories, and his ingenious filming techniques. The similarities in both films can also have to do with Tarantino’s cast and crew. After the production of “Reservoir Dogs” who wouldn’t want to sign on with another Tarantino film? Lawrence Bende produced both “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction”. Also joining the crew for a second time was chief editor Sally Menke. There were also many actors that appeared in both of the films, such as Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, and of course Quentin Tarantino himself.

            The narrative structures of Tarantino’s films are probably one of their most distinguishing qualities. His movies start and the most heightened state of emotion, the climax, and from that point, work through a series of flashbacks to tell the story. Both “Pulp Fiction” and “Reservoir Dogs” rely heavily on the flashbacks. In “Reservoir Dogs” the story starts out with Mr. Orange, played by Tim Roth, bleeding profusely in the back seat of a car. From that point the story becomes a bunch of flashbacks explaining how he arrived in the situation he was in at the beginning of the movie. “Pulp Fiction” starts out with the same kind of narrative structure. Pumpkin, also played by Tim Roth, and his girl are getting ready to rob a diner, and then there is a cut in the film and it starts with the flashbacks to get you back to the point the movie started out in. Tarantino’s movies are divided up, almost like chapters in a book, you follow one character for a little while and get that characters story, and then you move to a different character and get their story, and how they are related to the other characters in the movie. It is the style of telling stories that Tarantino has adapted and become known for.

Another distinguishing aspect of Tarantino’s films are their themes. He does the basic good versus evil, but in a more twisted than typical kind of fashion. All of the themes of the stories that he has directed have good guys, but they are not the typical good guys, in some way, they are corrupt. If the stories were told from a different perspective the same characters, committing the same actions could just as easily be hated. Telling the story from different characters perspectives allows the audience members to bond with the corrupt characters. The audience may know a character is corrupt, but they don’t care because of the bond Tarantino has already established between them.

The filming techniques that Tarantino uses in his films are as unusual, yet artistic as the films themselves. He starts his films with a few seconds of voices, before the audience gets to see anything. This technique helps emphasize that the movie is not starting at the beginning, that something has happened but the audience doesn’t get a chance to see what, at least not yet. “Reservoir Dogs”, for example starts off with the voice of Mr. White, Harvey Keitel, comforting a hysterical Mr. Orange, Tim Roth. The audience knows something has happened, and when the characters are reveled, you know that something has been missed; but what? Starting the movie off in this fashion drives the audience to His establishing shots going into the films are not a typical boom shot where the view starts out broad and then narrows. The establishing shot starts out narrow and then broadens. The opening shot signifies the rest of the story, in the fact that your only given a narrow understanding of the of what is going on. Another filming technique that is used in both “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction” is the fade. It is not used as the typical division of time, but rather to signal that the story line is changing and you are going to be following a different story line when the picture returns. Since Tarantino’s movies move around so much he used not just the fade, but he titled the new chapter in the story, so that it was easier to follow.

With Tarantino’s brilliant uses of narrative structure, his story’s unusual themes, and his artistic filming techniques, he has created a style of film making that is all his own. Tarantino’s unique style has made him one of the great writers and directors in Hollywood. With “Reservoir Dogs” he was born, and with “Pulp Fiction” he will live forever.