Essay Example on Film Movements and Styles Influence on Quentin Tarantino

A film movement is described as a movie that follows a particular trend of that period. Although most film movements are regional, sometimes they have a significant influence internationally. Most of these films have unique cultural backgrounds and current social issues. In the movie industry, experimental procedures are used to create new changes regarding filming styles. Editing is done thoroughly to ensure that the film has a unique origin and identity. The innovating films have been changing and transforming over time and have a significant influence on Hollywood and in the future of the cinema industry. The oldest and renowned film movement in history is the cinema of attraction. The film was created to shock and fascinate its viewers and as produced from 1895 to the 1900s. The Soviet montage was designed by French filmmakers where they put different movies together to form documentaries. In German expressionism, pictures in films had great lighting, were heavily styled and with great costumes. Several film movements were initiated in the 1900s, but the climax was in the 1960s. The New Hollywood film movement was made by American filmmakers who produced movies about sensitive issues in society like taboos, drugs, and violence. The films made in this era were not for the whole family. In the New German Cinema era, the movies produced were meant to assist the audience in dealing with the difficulties after the post-world war. The movies were black and white and with a somber mood. The Dogme 95 film making approach produced pictures using only natural light with no musical soundtrack. The most modern film movement is the digital cinema where most movies are entirely digital. All the film movements described above have a significant influence on present-day fil makers. The primary goal of this essay is to explain how different film movements have influenced Hollywood Director Quentin Tarantino.

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Quentin Tarantino is an American filmmaker whose movies are mostly characterized by satire, violence, dialogue, and non-linear storylines (Cobb 1). One of the film movements that significantly influenced Tarantino was the New Hollywood that occurred in the 1960s. The films produced during this era had no specific style but were influenced by foreign movies. The movies were about promiscuous sex, drugs, and violence and could not be watched by the whole family (Galenson & Kotin 8). An example of a film in New Hollywood is the Easy Rider. The story describes two bikers who traveled through South and Southwest America after striking a cocaine deal. The film explored some contemporary issues that were happening in the United States at that time like the rise of drug use and the hippie revolution (Galenson & Kotin 10). Another movie that was produced during the New Hollywood movement in the 1960s is The Good, the Bad, and the ugly. The film is known for the use of violent and stylistic gunfights. The main characters of the film engage in a serious fight as they search for the hidden gold after the American war. The film's director's original idea was to depict the old west as hell where people were greedy and violent. In connection with the New Hollywood movement film movements, Quentin Tarantino has directed several movies whose primary theme is violence. Some of the films include The Hateful Eight, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Inglorious Bastards, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill, and Natural killers.

The Hong Kong Wave film movement is one of the productions that inspired Quentin Tarantino the most. The filmmakers during this era wanted to represent Hong Kong's culture and history differently from that of China. Most of the films contained thrilling crime scenes about the Triad gangs (Berry 1362). Some of the famous movies produced in Hong Kong at that period were days of Being Wild, A Better Tomorrow, The Butterfly Murders, and Boat people. Even today, Hong Kong's film industry is widely known for its kung-fu action films. The Hong Kong crime thriller film that significantly influenced Reservoir Dogs that was directed by Tarantino is City on Fire (Berry 1370). In the movie City on Fire, an undercover police officer invades a gang of thieves. The character is in a dilemma since he is torn between performing his duty as an officer or protecting the friendship he has developed with a member of the gang. The theme described above is borrowed and seen in the film Reservoir Dogs. There are several other plot similarities depicted in both films, and it can be challenging differentiating the two narratives. The Kill Bill series of movies that Tarantino directed was also influenced by the Hong Kong New Wave film movement (Berry 1363). For instance, in the Game of Deaths, Uma's character dresses in a black and yellow tracksuit that is similar to Bruce Lee's outfit in kung-fu martial arts.

The South Korean New Wave movement also influenced Quentin Tarantino. Most of the movies produced in Korea during that period signified horror and violence through various methods (Jae-cheol 36). Many action movies were produced and had instances of violence and murder. Most of the films directed by Tarantino are violence-based. The director takes his audience through a reasonable amount of time before creating an instance of an explosion at the climax. The movies also contain greasy and bloody scenes to optimize his audience's cinematic experience (Jae-cheol 36). The Japanese New Wave film movement also influenced Tarantino since the latter had several crime scenes and themes (de Vargas 2).

The Cinema du look film movement also influenced Quentin Tarantino. In the 1980s through to the 1990s, the culture was changing. Video games, adverts, and music underwent a significant transformation (Carr 1). The elements above became essential in pop culture during that period. Filmmakers decided to produce films with adverts and heavily colored music videos after which the Cinema du look movement was initiated. The primary reason for using music and colored music videos was to make the movies attractive and the characters to resemble pop stars. Currently, many movies are bright and contain colorful posters and have an element of drama. Quentin Tarantino was influenced by the Cinema du look film movement to direct a film known as the Pulp Fiction in 1994.

According to various critics, Pulp Fiction has multiple pop culture references. First, pop culture is that which is transmitted to young people through mass media like televisions and social media (Carr 1). Pulp Fiction depicts young children who watch a lot of television programs. They develop a particular taste for different things in life. When they grow up, the children become criminals, robbers, murders, and drug addicts. The children have a taste for "cool" cars and fashionable clothes at that time. There are no rules and authority, and the film has no clear theme (Carr 2). However, the primary reason why Quentin Tarantino used pop culture inferences in this film is that he wanted to describe how contemporary American life composed of pop culture was meaningless. Young men became criminals, yet there were no laws to stop them. However, the director wanted to show that pop culture does not last long. Although the references to pop cultures depicted in the Pulp Fiction film described the emptiness and had no meaning, Quentin Tarantino explained that the idea was fascinating.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the primary goal of this essay is to explain how different film movements have influenced Hollywood Director Quentin Tarantino. Quentin Tarantino's movies are mostly characterized by satire, violence, dialogue, and non-linear storylines. The films during that era were about promiscuous sex, drugs, and violence. For example, The Good, the Bad, and the ugly movie produced in the 1960s is known for the use of violent and stylistic gunfights. The South Korean New Wave movement also influenced Quentin Tarantino. Most of the movies produced in Korea during that period signified horror and violence. The Cinema du look film movement also influenced Quentin Tarantino, and the latter depicted the pop culture in some of his films like Pulp Fiction. The Japanese New Wave film movement played a significant role in Tarantino's career since the latter had several crime scenes and themes. The Hong Kong Wave film movement is one of the productions that inspired Quentin Tarantino the most. Most of the films contained thrilling crime scenes about the Triad gangs. There are several other plot similarities depicted in City on Fire and Reservoir Dogs, and it can be challenging differentiating the two narratives.

Works Cited

Berry, Chris. "At Full Speed: Hong Kong Cinema in a Borderless World. Edited By Esther C. M. Yau. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001. vii, 342 pp. $19.95 (paper)." The Journal of Asian Studies, vol. 61, no. 4, 2002, pp. 1362-1364.

Carr, Jay. The A list: the National Society of Film Critics' 100 essential films. Da Capo Press, 2008.

Cobb, Jelani. "Tarantino unchained." The New Yorker 2 (2013).

Galenson, David, and Joshua Kotin. "From the New Wave to the New Hollywood: The Life Cycles of Important Movie Directors from Godard and Truffaut to Spielberg and Eastwood." 2008, pp. 1-54

Jae-cheol, Moon. "The meaning of newness in Korean cinema: Korean New Wave and after." Korea Journal 46.1 (2006): 36.

de Vargas, Ferran. "Japan's New Left and New Wave. An Ideology's Perspective as an Alternative to That of National Cinema." Arts. Vol. 8. No. 1. Multidisciplinary Digital Publishing Institute, 2019.