Tarantino's influence on the industry
- Thread starter jpeck
- Start date
Batutta
Major Contributor
Hmmm. I'm not sure how widespread his influence actually is. His style is so particular you can't really copy it. He's more like Woody Allen in that regard. There's only one Woody, and only one Tarantino. He may be an inspiration to many, but I don't see much evidence of people trying to imitate his style. I think the most influential films on the industry tend to be more mainstream. Like, I think JFK was one of the most influential films of the 90's, as everyone copied its style after it came out, and people still are. After the Matrix, every action movie had to have bullet time or some gimmicky effect. The film I see being copied most often these days is Saw. Every frickin' horror/thriller wants to be the next Saw, with its jagged editing and hyper saturated visuals.
I don't buy it. He's made memorable films, but I don't see "influence" much of anywhere mainstream. Care to cite examples?
Brandon Rice
Distributed Producer
I really don't think he's been a MAJOR influence
Barry_Green
Moderator
Well, after Reservoir Dogs came out, there were a flood of indie Reservoir Dogs ripoffs. And after Pulp Fiction came out, everyone wanted to imitate Pulp Fiction.
Mainstream/bigtime influence? I don't know. But among indie directors he seems to exert considerable influence -- or, at least, he did at his peak.
Mainstream/bigtime influence? I don't know. But among indie directors he seems to exert considerable influence -- or, at least, he did at his peak.
He's had a massive influence, but more on narrative and dialogue than on style.
His influence on dialogue is obvious; since Pulp Fiction, dialogue has gotten more reflexive, more digressive, and more self-conciously stylized and clever. Certainly this is true more in independent films than in mainstream ones, though.
His influence on narrative is a bit harder to pin down, but basically every Tarantino film manipulates time and linear narrative in weird ways. Resevoir Dogs is obvious; it's weirdly non-linear. Pulp Fiction is in three segments, not necessarily in linear order. Jackie Brown is pretty conventional except the climax which is replayed three times from three perspectives. Kill Bill is told in non-linear chapters. I haven't seen Death Proof yet, but I hear it's divided weirdly into two segments--plus the "missing reel" gag. Now, chapter titles have become pretty common, and we're getting films like Momento, plus more films that hinge on single plot twists (Sixth Sense, The Others, Usual Suspects, The Prestige). So he's influenced narrative, too.
The thing is, he's just ripping off other directors (New Wave and modern Asian) so you can't really say his influence is his alone; he's merely one of many directors who've incorporated art cinema techniques into Hollywood...much like Copolla, Scorsese, and Spielberg did in the 1970s... That said, accusing Tarantino of ripping others off is unfair; he's merely better at emulating his influences than others, and he's seen more films so he has more to copy. Everyone copies; he copies well.
All the same, I'm not a huge fan, but I love Pulp Fiction.
His influence on dialogue is obvious; since Pulp Fiction, dialogue has gotten more reflexive, more digressive, and more self-conciously stylized and clever. Certainly this is true more in independent films than in mainstream ones, though.
His influence on narrative is a bit harder to pin down, but basically every Tarantino film manipulates time and linear narrative in weird ways. Resevoir Dogs is obvious; it's weirdly non-linear. Pulp Fiction is in three segments, not necessarily in linear order. Jackie Brown is pretty conventional except the climax which is replayed three times from three perspectives. Kill Bill is told in non-linear chapters. I haven't seen Death Proof yet, but I hear it's divided weirdly into two segments--plus the "missing reel" gag. Now, chapter titles have become pretty common, and we're getting films like Momento, plus more films that hinge on single plot twists (Sixth Sense, The Others, Usual Suspects, The Prestige). So he's influenced narrative, too.
The thing is, he's just ripping off other directors (New Wave and modern Asian) so you can't really say his influence is his alone; he's merely one of many directors who've incorporated art cinema techniques into Hollywood...much like Copolla, Scorsese, and Spielberg did in the 1970s... That said, accusing Tarantino of ripping others off is unfair; he's merely better at emulating his influences than others, and he's seen more films so he has more to copy. Everyone copies; he copies well.
All the same, I'm not a huge fan, but I love Pulp Fiction.
TeamSeaShanty
Active member
It's QT's influence everytime we see a man in a black suit with a gun right?
Seriously, I respect him greatly for what he's accomplished but I can't say that any of his work has really influnced me.
Seriously, I respect him greatly for what he's accomplished but I can't say that any of his work has really influnced me.
Batutta
Major Contributor
I've always seen Tarantino as the first true "hip-hop" director. The same way rap and hip-hop artists sample and remix old tracks from the past and lay a rhyme on top of it, Tarantino samples and remixes old movies and lays his trademark dialogue on top of it...and they both use the word <<censored>> a lot.
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Batutta
Major Contributor
Somebody deleted their comment, so the following response makes no sense now;
I wasn't criticizing him, just explaining him. I was referring to his directing as well, which is constantly referencing shots from other movies. Kill Bill especially is chock full of visual and audio homages. Is there originality and creativity in what Tarantino does? Of course, just as there is in rap and hip-hop (some of it anyway). But primarily Tarantino takes a pop culture collage-like approach to his art. What he's doing isn't exactly new anyway. Even before rap and hip-hop Andy Warhol did the same thing, taking discarded junk culture and refashioning it into new art.
I wasn't criticizing him, just explaining him. I was referring to his directing as well, which is constantly referencing shots from other movies. Kill Bill especially is chock full of visual and audio homages. Is there originality and creativity in what Tarantino does? Of course, just as there is in rap and hip-hop (some of it anyway). But primarily Tarantino takes a pop culture collage-like approach to his art. What he's doing isn't exactly new anyway. Even before rap and hip-hop Andy Warhol did the same thing, taking discarded junk culture and refashioning it into new art.
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Phil Maker
Well-known member
"The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources." - Albert Einstein
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Herman Witkam
Well-known member
Phil Maker said:
Well....he's not hiding them well enough
Batutta
Major Contributor
He's not trying to hide his sources. If he was, he'd tell some composer "write me something like that Ennio Morricone track from this movie", instead of just using the actual music. Most of the originality in Tarantino's movies comes from the distinct voices he gives his characters. That's his particular genius, although in Death Proof I think that genius abandoned him. His movies have always been talky, but the failing in Death Proof is that the characters talking aren't as clever and interesting as those in his other films. The car chase at the end almost makes up for the insufferable hour preceding it though.
Phil Maker
Well-known member
Batutta said:
Tarantino's characters have never had distinct voices. They've always sounded exactly the same, and they've always spoke with one voice. His.
Zak Forsman
Major Contributor
not an influence on me, but i can easily acknowledge that if it weren't for Tarantino we wouldn't even have the "scuzz" genre -- Two Days in the Valley, Love and a 45, Things to do in Denver...
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Aaron Marshall
Well-known member
+1 for He has influenced me and the industry.
Batutta
Major Contributor
jpeck said:
Yeah, but that information does not come in any kind of compelling dramatic situation. It's just chicks hanging out and yammering for what seems like an hour...As for Tarantino's characters only having one voice...his own...I can agree with that to a degree, but he's created some indelible, individual sounding characters like Jules and Vincent...or even Stuntman Mike in Death Proof. I think the more skillful actors are able to make Quentin's dialogue sound unique to them, where the less skillful ones just sound like imitators. Woody Allen has the same problem. The majority of his characters, even the ones he doesn't play, end up sounding like neurotic Jewish guys.
matt s.
Veteran
I have respect for QT and i try and make it a point to see all his films but it all comes down to basically borrowing ideas even lines and scenes from every low budget 70s exploitation/action flick and tacking on a big budget with known cast. The story lines etc are more complex than the old American International films of the 70s but IMO its basically the same and Jack Hill - Roger Corman etc. were doing this long before QT so i would say they have more influence on the industry than QT as if it wasnt for them QT would probably not be making films 
.
Jackie Brown is my fave by the way.
.Jackie Brown is my fave by the way.
spidey
Shogun Assassin
yeah He is a big influence... go to most film schools and they watch pulp ficton like its a bible for filmmmaking.... I know this one guy who watches everyday tooo so i say it have influence it for what audiences want and yes I think QT has beable to do that and other who come from the school of QT do the same just different ways.