Quentin Tarantino: Life at the Extremes

(Hardback)

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Description

This book places Quentin Tarantino at the heart of Hollywood, showing a director who speaks film through film, who examines the world beyond the movies in a way few have previously attempted, and at which fewer still have succeeded. Quentin Tarantino: Life at the Extremes explores the uses of violence in the films Tarantino has written, directed, and produced. Arguing that extreme violence is central to Tarantino's art, the book helps readers understand its purpose in his filmsas metaphor, as movement, and as motivation. For Tarantino, the book explains, violence serves the purposes of film. In each of his movies, he explores the boundaries of taste and audience reaction, using violence and shock to bring questions of responsibility and expectation to the forefront of discussions on cinema. After introductory chapters placing Tarantino and his films within the broader context of American cinema, author Aaron Barlow focuses on Tarantino's six major directorial efforts. Each film is discussed from its genre starting point and the differing directions the films take are explored, as are the structural elements. In the end, readers will see how Tarantino deliberately pushes film in new directions through old techniques, styles, and even actors, crafting original art from what others have discarded.

Reviews

Arguing that extreme violence is central to Tarantino's art, the book helps readers understand its purpose in his filmsas metaphor, as movement, and as motivation. * Stevo's Book Reviews *
Anyone who enjoys Tarantino's movies and wants a greater context to place them in . . . or simply would like to share in the enthusiasm of a knowledgable narrator while thinking about issues such as violence in film and how we react to it would find it well worth their time to peruse the book. * Zaptown *
Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through faculty; general readers. * Choice *

Author Bio

Aaron Barlow , PhD, teaches writing at New York City College of Technology at the City University of New York, Brooklyn, NY.