Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy

Author: Richard Greene
Publisher: Open Court
ISBN: 081269709X
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 246

Book Description
The films of Quentin Tarantino are ripe for philosophical speculation, raising compelling questions about justice and ethics, violence and aggression, the nature of causality, and the flow of time. In this witty collection of articles, no subject is too taboo for the writers to tackle. From an aesthetic meditation on the use of spraying blood in Kill Bill to the conundrum of translation and reference in Vincent and Jules' discussion about French Big Macs in Pulp Fiction, Tarantino and Philosophy shies away from nothing. Is The Bride a heroic figure, even though she’s motivated solely by revenge? How is Tarantino able to create a coherent story when he jumps between past, future, and present? The philosophers in this book take on those questions and more in essays as provocative as the films themselves.

Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy

Author: K. Silem Mohammad
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1459601092
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 358

Book Description
In Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy, seventeen professional thinkers shamelessly exploit the cinematic achievement of Tarantino for all the steamy, sensational metaphysics and epistemology they can wring out of it. Are these eruptions of intelligent thought merely a cynical hypnotic manipulation of our cerebral cortexes? Or can we somehow relate them to the human values that really matter pyrotechnic car chases, Mexican standoffs, and exploding heads? Is the philosophers' preoccupation with quoting other philosophers nothing more than incestuous indulgence? Or are they somehow conveying a deeper point about the enduring validity of amputated ears and anal rape? In the final analysis only you, the viewer, can decide. What can Reservoir Dogs teach us about the evolution of co-operation? Is Beatrix's revenge in Kill Bill both justified and self-destructive? Can we agree completely on what has happened and disagree on whether it was a miracle? How is Pulp Fiction's Vincent doomed because of his messy bathroom habits? Does Grind house/Death Proof reflect the epoch in which everything that actually occurs is unreal? ""With Tarantino and Philosophy, it's the little differences, like having your Royale with cheese dissected by a grease monkey with a blowtorch. It's so bad, it's good.""

Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds

Author: Robert von Dassanowsky
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1441138692
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 333

Book Description
A wide-ranging study of Tarantino's controversial 2009 film, written by a luminous line-up of international scholars.

Dexter and Philosophy

Author: Richard Greene
Publisher: Open Court
ISBN: 081269726X
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 312

Book Description
What explains the huge popular following for Dexter, currently the most-watched show on cable, which sympathetically depicts a serial killer driven by a cruel compulsion to brutally slay one victim after another? Although Dexter Morgan kills only killers, he is not a vigilante animated by a sense of justice but a charming psychopath animated by a lust to kill, ritualistically and bloodily. However his gory appetite is controlled by “Harry’s Code,” which limits his victims to those who have gotten away with murder, and his job as a blood spatter expert for the Miami police department gives him the inside track on just who those legitimate targets may be. In Dexter and Philosophy, an elite team of philosophers don their rubber gloves and put Dexter’s deeds under the microscope. Since Dexter is driven to ritual murder by his “Dark Passenger,” can he be blamed for killing, especially as he only murders other murderers? Does Dexter fit the profile of the familiar fictional type of the superhero? What part does luck play in making Dexter who he is? How and why are horror and disgust turned into aesthetic pleasure for the TV viewer? How essential is Dexter’s emotional coldness to his lust for slicing people up? Are Dexter’s lies and deceptions any worse than the lies and deceptions of the non-criminals around him? Why does Dexter long to be a normal human being and why can’t he accomplish this apparently simple goal?

Once Upon a Time in Hollywood

Author: Quentin Tarantino
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0063112531
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 335

Book Description
Quentin Tarantino’s long-awaited first work of fiction—at once hilarious, delicious and brutal—is the always surprising, sometimes shocking, novelization of his Academy Award winning film. RICK DALTON—Once he had his own TV series, but now Rick’s a washed-up villain-of-the week drowning his sorrows in whiskey sours. Will a phone call from Rome save his fate or seal it? CLIFF BOOTH—Rick’s stunt double, and the most infamous man on any movie set because he’s the only one there who might have got away with murder. . . . SHARON TATE—She left Texas to chase a movie-star dream, and found it. Sharon’s salad days are now spent on Cielo Drive, high in the Hollywood Hills. CHARLES MANSON—The ex-con’s got a bunch of zonked-out hippies thinking he’s their spiritual leader, but he’d trade it all to be a rock ‘n’ roll star.

Quentin Tarantino

Author: Jami Bernard
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780002556446
Category : Motion picture producers and directors
Languages : en
Pages : 288

Book Description
An exploration of the mythology and philosophies of the Hollywood writer and director of the films "Reservoir dogs", "Pulp fiction" and "Natural born killers".

Zombies, Vampires, and Philosophy

Author: Richard Greene
Publisher: Open Court Publishing
ISBN: 0812696832
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 340

Book Description
"A collection of philosophical essays about the undead: beings such as vampires and zombies who are physically or mentally dead yet not at rest. Topics addressed include the metaphysics and ethics of undeath"--Provided by publisher.

Doctor Who and Philosophy

Author: Courtland Lewis
Publisher: Open Court Publishing
ISBN: 0812696883
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 450

Book Description
Philosophers look at the deeper issues raised by the adventures of Doctor Who, the main character in the long-running science fiction TV series of the same name.

Quentin Tarantino and Film Theory

Author: Federico Pagello
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030438198
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 218

Book Description
This book examines a set of theoretical perspectives that critically engage with the notion of postmodernism, investigating whether this concept is still useful to approach contemporary cinema. This question is explored through a discussion of the films written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, largely regarded as the epitome of postmodern cinema and considered here as theoretical contributions in their own right. Each chapter first presents key ideas proposed by a specific theorist and then puts them in conversation with Tarantino’s films. Jacques Rancière’s theory of art is used to reject postmodernism’s claims about the ‘death’ of the aesthetic image in contemporary cinema. Fredric Jameson’s and Slavoj Žižek’s dialectical thinking is mobilized to challenge simplistic, ideological readings of postmodern cinema in general, and Tarantino’s films in particular. Finally, the direct influence of Carol Clover’s psychoanalytical approach to the horror genre on Tarantino’s work is discussed to prove the director’s specific contribution to a theoretical understanding of contemporary film aesthetics.

Breaking Bad and Philosophy

Author: David R. Koepsell
Publisher: Open Court
ISBN: 0812697901
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 254

Book Description
Breaking Bad, hailed by Stephen King, Chuck Klosterman, and many others as the best of all TV dramas, tells the story of a man whose life changes because of the medical death sentence of an advanced cancer diagnosis. The show depicts his metamorphosis from inoffensive chemistry teacher to feared drug lord and remorseless killer. Driven at first by the desire to save his family from destitution, he risks losing his family altogether because of his new life of crime. In defiance of the tradition that viewers demand a TV character who never changes, Breaking Bad is all about the process of change, with each scene carrying forward the morphing of Walter White into the terrible Heisenberg. Can a person be transformed as the result of a few key life choices? Does everyone have the potential to be a ruthless criminal? How will we respond to the knowledge that we will be dead in six months? Is human life subject to laws as remorseless as chemical equations? When does injustice validate brutal retaliation? Why are drug addicts unsuitable for operating the illegal drug business? How can TV viewers remain loyal to a series where the hero becomes the villain? Does Heisenberg’s Principle of Uncertainty rule our destinies? In Breaking Bad and Philosophy, a hand-picked squad of professional thinkers investigate the crimes of Walter White, showing how this story relates to the major themes of philosophy and the major life decisions facing all of us.