Quentin Tarantino: Violence is the best thing for filmgoers

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I have a bizarre confession: I’ve been having naughty thoughts about Quentin Tarantino lately. I’ve always liked him in a non-sexual way, always appreciated his eccentric brilliance and his filmmaking genius, but before a few months ago, I had never really thought about him in a sexual way, ever. But lately he’s made my sexual fantasies, and how. Am I crazy for thinking Quentin would be hot in bed?

Okay, back on topic: Quentin participated in a Q&A session in London a few days ago, sponsored by BAFTA. The topic was probably supposed to be about Inglourious Basterds, which continues to pick up a slew of awards and nominations. Recently, Quentin himself picked up some of the big nominations: for Best Director at the Directors Guild of America (a union which he’s always had a difficult relationship with), the Golden Globes, and a slew of critics awards. Unfortunately and oddly, Quentin’s script for Basterds wasn’t given a nomination by the Writers Guild of America, which some are calling a huge upset. Anyway, Quentin was at the Q&A, and he went off on one of his typical Tarantino-esque tangents about how violence in film is great, because “’I feel like a conductor and the audience’s feelings are my instruments. I will be like, ‘laugh, laugh, now be horrified‘. When someone does that to me I’ve had a good time at the movies.” Okay then:

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino, famous for the bloodshed and high body counts and of his films, says extreme violence is the best way to control a viewer’s emotions.

The man behind Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs said what he wants to see when he goes to the cinema is a man ‘bleeding like a stuck pig’.

Tarantino, 46, detailed during a speech at the British Academy of Film and Television how he uses gore to ‘play’ his audiences.

‘I feel like a conductor and the audience’s feelings are my instruments,’ he said. ‘I will be like, “laugh, laugh, now be horrified”. When someone does that to me I’ve had a good time at the movies,’ he said.

‘If a guy gets shot in the stomach and he’s bleeding like a stuck pig then that’s what I want to see — not a man with a stomach ache and a little red dot on his belly.’

He also claimed violence was the best thing about film, saying: ‘In general cinema, that’s the biggest attraction. I’m a big fan of action and violence in cinema. That’s why Thomas Edison created the motion picture camera — because violence is so good. It affects audiences in a big way. You know you’re watching a movie.’

The writer and director, who conceived breakthrough film Reservoir Dogs while working in a Los Angeles video store, also revealed that he hopes to one day make a movie in London.

‘I’ve never made a movie in London, I’d love to do that,’ he said. ‘If ever I had the right story that would be a dream to have an excuse to come out here and live here for a while.’
To those who want to following in his blood-spattered footsteps, he said film school was an inferior way to learn the artform to trial and error.

‘That was my film school,’ he said, ‘and it was pretty goddamn cheap. Rather than studying the film industry aspect, just pick up a camera and shoot a movie.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I guess I understand the point he’s trying to make. Something about how the visceral reaction is good for us, and eliciting strong emotions, bad or good, is what makes a great film. But… anyone can horrify. Anyone can shock. I think Quentin is selling himself and his films short if he thinks that his films are great because they’re violent. His films are violent for a reason, within a context, within a good story told well. Oh, and I would love to see Quentin’s take on a British gangster film.

Quentin Tarantino in London for a Q&A session on January 11, 2010, and at the Palm Springs International Film Festival on January 5, 2010. Credit: WENN and Adriana M. Barraza/WENN.com.

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15 Responses to “Quentin Tarantino: Violence is the best thing for filmgoers”

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  1. Jillian says:

    I love all of QT’s films. Inglourious Basterds was wonderfully gory.

  2. bitbrit says:

    inglorious was such good fun. i loved brad in it and i think it deserves all the awards it’s getting 🙂

  3. Firestarter says:

    His best film to date,IMO, is and always will be Pulp Fiction.

  4. LolaBella says:

    I’m a small fan of QT’s work; loved Resevoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill films.

    For me I enjoy a movie more when I have a visceral reaction to what’s happening on screen; whether that’s to something sexual or violent, so I understand what he’s saying.

    @Kaiser: Okay I think it’s time that we as your readers stage an intervention for you. We get the Gerry love and even the Jeremy Renner love, but sexual fantasies about QT????

    Now, you have just gone TOO FAR!! LOL! 😉

  5. Sumodo says:

    Best? Hard to say, but Kill Bill I and II created a whole world and a mythology that transcended Pulp Fiction.

  6. ering says:

    I can’t even watch his movies precisely because they are too violent. I managed to watch Pulp Fiction all the way through, and it is a good film, but in general, I don’t even try to watch his movies anymore (much to my boyfriend’s chagrin).

  7. Beck says:

    “Am I crazy for thinking Quentin would be hot in bed?”

    Yes. There is nothing attractive about him. He is kind of obnoxious.

    I like his movies but I think he has an unpleasant personality.

  8. Lem says:

    agree w/ other comments. we might need an intervention. I enjoy his movies but the man himself is like that creep in the back of your h.s. science class, that may or may not be ‘off’. brilliant and socially inept.
    what is that icon show? he did one of those. shudder. creepy! iconoclast. get familiar

  9. IceKitty says:

    Pulp Fiction changed my life….

  10. javelin says:

    ah ha ha ha … a confession of naughty Quentin Tarantino thoughts and an intelligent remark on film violence– this post deserves a gold star.

  11. Boo says:

    His movies are entertaining and interesting eye candy, but in general he’s totally overrated (I think)

  12. Kiki says:

    I like his movies.

  13. pickelhaube says:

    IceKitty-

    LOL, it was on HBO one time while I was asleep, and I woke up RIGHT at the part where the one guy was being raped…so needless to say I’ve never watched the rest of it, nor will I. God, what a horrid thing to wake up to! I’m still traumatized! I did see “Kill Bill” but was completely bored by it, the best thing was the “Pussy Wagon” which still makes me laugh when I think of it. But other than that, I have no interest in Golem Tarantino and his lame movies. To each their own though, and if it works for him, good on him.

  14. lisa says:

    I love Basterds.. really love it so much.. I hope he does a movie with just them kicking major as*.. MAJOR AS*S.. Brad was wickedly funny.. and Christoph is a true gem.. can’t wait to see him in more films.. Really a terrific film. The audience I saw it with (all three times were having a ball. Laughing out loud and clapping at the end. Now that is the kind of movie I like Audience participation.. I hope it or Hurt Locker win Best Film.. Up in the Air was just boring to me.

    Quintin has a big EGO. but the goods to back it up. And this man knows films.. really a true genius. I love that he is not afraid to put in smart dialogue and not the 3rd grade talk we get in most films. Hate when the director/writer dummies it down.

  15. Bete says:

    Please. Basterds needed more editing. It just went on and on. One of the crappiest films of the year. Violence isn’t a necessary addition to any film it’s just that Tarantino is limited as a film maker. Brad Pitt’s acting in basterds was terrible, it’s no wonder he wasn’t nominated for a Golden Globe. I’m thinking a few actors that saw themselves after the final cut probably regretted being in that film. I rented Basterds, with high expectations but it was just crap, crap and more crap.