A Guide to Tarantino
INTRO
He is one of the great talents of his generation. A visionary who is willing to take big risks and has thus far garnered big rewards. Quentin Tarantino has developed a unique humorous, violent, and cutting edge style of filmmaking. In his screenplays, he writes quick dialogue exchanges that often seem meaningless to help the audience get to know his characters and this technique allows Tarantino to change the pace of his films very rapidly. Changing perspective and mixing discourse time has also become a trademark of Tarantino. Where lesser directors use shifting perspectives and time to cover the holes in a plot or to make a mediocre movie seem weightier or more cutting-edge, Tarantino ‘s playful manipulations of narrative and time have been compared to a breath of cinematic fresh air (Jeff Maguire Interview, 12/9/12). This freshness on screen is the result of Tarantino’s novelistic style of narrative in his screenplays. He breaks up the parts of his story into chapters in order to allow the audience to prepare for a new development of character and narrative. Using all of these components, Quentin Tarantino’s screenplays and films function more like novels in their complexity. His unique and original method of storytelling has garnered him a lot of success and fame, and has elevated him to being one of the best in the business.
Style
Quentin Tarantino’s style is unlike any that people had really seen before. “Reservoir Dogs is constructed like a puzzle,” writes Peary. “ In fact, it’s more like a novel in the way it’s put together: no flashbacks, just chapters” (Peary, 7). Pulp Fiction employs that same style and brings it to greater prominence and complexity. While the story is disjointed in it’s composition, it is well organized and makes sense. Much like novels use chapter titles, Tarantino uses title cards as markers for a shift in story or time. In Reservoir Dogs they mark character pieces or stories that the characters tell. In Pulp Fiction these
He is one of the great talents of his generation. A visionary who is willing to take big risks and has thus far garnered big rewards. Quentin Tarantino has developed a unique humorous, violent, and cutting edge style of filmmaking. In his screenplays, he writes quick dialogue exchanges that often seem meaningless to help the audience get to know his characters and this technique allows Tarantino to change the pace of his films very rapidly. Changing perspective and mixing discourse time has also become a trademark of Tarantino. Where lesser directors use shifting perspectives and time to cover the holes in a plot or to make a mediocre movie seem weightier or more cutting-edge, Tarantino ‘s playful manipulations of narrative and time have been compared to a breath of cinematic fresh air (Jeff Maguire Interview, 12/9/12). This freshness on screen is the result of Tarantino’s novelistic style of narrative in his screenplays. He breaks up the parts of his story into chapters in order to allow the audience to prepare for a new development of character and narrative. Using all of these components, Quentin Tarantino’s screenplays and films function more like novels in their complexity. His unique and original method of storytelling has garnered him a lot of success and fame, and has elevated him to being one of the best in the business.
Style
Quentin Tarantino’s style is unlike any that people had really seen before. “Reservoir Dogs is constructed like a puzzle,” writes Peary. “ In fact, it’s more like a novel in the way it’s put together: no flashbacks, just chapters” (Peary, 7). Pulp Fiction employs that same style and brings it to greater prominence and complexity. While the story is disjointed in it’s composition, it is well organized and makes sense. Much like novels use chapter titles, Tarantino uses title cards as markers for a shift in story or time. In Reservoir Dogs they mark character pieces or stories that the characters tell. In Pulp Fiction these
Cited: Studios Home Entertainment, 2009. Contenmporary Literary Criticism. "Quentin Tarantino." E Notes. N.p., 2000. Web. 11 Dec Creative Writing Now. William Victor S.L., n.d. Web. 14 Dec. 2012 <http://www.creative-writing-now.com/novel-writing-tips.html>. Dawson, Jeff. Quentin Tarantino: The Cinema of Cool. New York, New York: Applause Books, 1995 Deemer, Charles. "The Screenplays of Quentin Tarantino." Ibiblio. N.p., 1994. Web. 13 Nov Parker, Philip (2002). The Art and Science of Screenwriting, 2d ed. (Bristol, UK: Intellect). Peary, Gerald, ed. Quentin Tarantino: Interviews. N.p.: University Press of Mississippi, 1998 Reservoir Dogs. Santa Monica, Calif: Lionsgate, 2006.