Arts Challenge: A Look At Two Writers

For the Arts Challenge, I'm going to look at two scriptwriters (well, they're writer-directors) whose writing I personally admire, these writers are Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith. I enjoy the writing of the two in their films, particularly Kevin Smith's realistic dialogue and sense of humour that is evident in most of his films (except the out-and-out slapstick and fantasy film, e.g. 'Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back' and 'Dogma'), and Tarantino's influence on 90s crime films after 'Pulp Fiction' came out with it's hip-talking, pop culture drenched dialogue.

Quentin Tarantino
Was born on the 27th of march 1963 in Knoxville, Tennessee (though he moved to California and subsequently LA at an early age), dropping out from high school at the age of 15 to attend acting classes full time, he soon quit (after two years) and worked at a video rental store in Manhattan Beach. He began writing and attempting to get his scripts off the ground during this time, these include 'True Romance' and  'Natural Born Killers', though he had to sell these in after it became apparent he couldn't get the projects off the ground (however after he became a well known name, both were subsequently made, albeit with different directors) but they both, especially show his emerging style of non-chronological structure and a script drenched in pop culture references (this is evident in his screenplay for 'True Romance', which was later adapted by Tony Scott in 1993, in what is a very faithful adaption, even though it straightens out the narrative and changes the ending).

He then helped co-write and direct 'My Best Friend's Birthday', although only half of the film survives after a fire in the editing room decimated the final reel, the film has never been released and Tarantino himself has voiced his displeasure at the film and having called it his 'Film School'.

However in 1992 he burst on to the scene with the dialogue centric heist film 'Reservoir Dogs', which was released to critical acclaim during the Sundance film festival, though the film gained more of an audience post-'Pulp Fiction' when Tarantino's presence became more well known. Stylistically the film features hallmarks that will feature heavily throughout his filmography, these include the use of non-linear narrative to play with the audience's sympathies and, what some would deem excessive, use of profanity.

These were used throughout his 90s crime phase, before reverting back to his grindhouse roots, shedding the realistic depictions of the LA underworld for excessive bloodbaths in the style of exploitation films he consumed while young, though with modern riffs. A prime example of this is 2003's 'Kill Bill Volume 1', a tribute to the Shaw Brothers martial arts films of the 70s (even going so far as to feature their indent in the opening) and most revenge fuelled exploitation films from this this era, whilst utilising his signature use of non-linear storytelling.

Though this "borrowing" of elements from older films has been repeatedly criticised by filmmakers and critics alike as copying, however I think that this offers fans of older films a chance to spot the references, for example the inspiration for Daryl Hannah's character in 'Kill Bill' was directly inspired by the lead character in 'Thriller: A Grim Picture' (AKA: 'They Call Her One Eye') ( a film which Tarantino has described as "the roughest revenge film") and it uses the same typography (at the end of 'Kill Bill: Volume 2'), this is fairly obscure film trivia that allows those who "are in the know" to get a lot more out of the film, and it allows those audience members to feel like they are in on a big in-joke (which to an extent they are).

This is also one of the reasons that I like his films, and his style of writing, the paying homage to older, and more obscure films which allows the modern generation to dig them up. Though he does lift elements from other films it does add to his films, giving them a collage-esque feel, this allows him to revisit and stylise a certain genre, capturing the highs , and in some cases cross pollinating it with another ( a la 'Kill Bill: Volume 2', which mixes 1970s martial arts films with the atmosphere and themes of spaghetti westerns) to create a truly wild ride.

His movies have been influential to a whole generation of film makers and after the 2007 double bill experiment 'Grindhouse', practically created the 'fauxsploitation' genre and revitalised an interest with exploitation films in modern audiences, including my own- as 'Grindhouse' served as a gateway to an era of film that I had previously no-idea existed, so in that respects it was fairly important for me (and I have enjoyed the many fauxsploitation films that have been released in it's wake).

After the 'Grindhouse' experiment (which undeservedly flopped spectacularly, forcing the Weinstein Company to hack the two films apart for distribution outside of North America), he moved on to his "alternative history trilogy", starting with 'Inglourious Basterds' and continues with 'Django Unchained', they both show off his dialogue writing abilities, especially with 'Inglourious Basterds', which has a script which is fantastically unpredictable with extremely well written characters with acts of violence that come out of nowhere, this all fits in with Tarantino's desire to give the audience a wild ride.    

Filmography:
-My Best Friend's Birthday (1987) (Co-wrote, directed and starred in)
-Reservoir Dogs (1992)*
-True Romance (1993) (Written by)*
-Pulp Fiction (1994)*
-Natural Born Killers (1994) (Story by)*
-Four Rooms (1995) ( Segment 'The Man From Hollywood')*
-From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) (Written by and starring)*
-Jackie Brown (1997)
-Kill Bill: Volume 1 (2003)*
-Kill Bill: Volume 2 (2004)*
-Sin City (2005) (Special guest director)*
-Grindhouse (2007) ('Death Proof' segment)*
-Inglorious Basterds (2009)*
-Django Unchained (2012)*

(All the films market with a asterisk I have seen)

My top 5 Quentin Tarantino films:
-Pulp Fiction
-Reservoir Dogs
-True Romance
-Inglorious Basterds
-Kill Bill: Volume 2

Kevin Smith
A film school drop out who maxed out his credit cards and sold his comic collection to finance his first film,'Clerks', following a day in the life of two convenience store workers as they go about there duties and debate the intricacies of life, the implications of your job and how they affect behaviour and deathstar politics. A film that really showcases his sense of humour and ability to write dialogue, displayed by the fact that the characters never feel less than real, this is almost like a fore bearer for his subsequent entries in the 'Viewaskeniverse' series of films (though realism is soon jettisoned in the fantasy film 'Dogma' and the cartoonish 'Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back', which reduces it's characters to caricatures).

Smith was himself inspired by Richard Linklater's 1991 film 'Slacker', a film commonly considered (along with a few others) to be the starting point for the independent film movement of the '90s along with reclaiming the term "slacker" from its original use as an insult to the description of  "a person regarded as one of a large group or generation of young people (especially in the early to mid 1990s) characterised by apathy, aimlessness, and lack of ambition". The film's influence is evident in Smith's debut feature (and the rest of his filmography), from the oddball characters to the hypothetical philosophical musings of the characters.

The structure of the film was originally based on the 'Divine Comedy', whereby each section of customer would be another circle of hell and alluded to via title cards(hence the protagonist's name: Dante), though this was changed at the last minute (whilst flicking through a dictionary) to sophisticated phrases, this in itself has been interpreted as part of the film's Generation X message of intelligent people being stuck in menial jobs. This almost comes across as an autobiographical statement from Smith (who at the time of filming was still working in a convenience store), voicing his disgust about a generation stuck, like himself, in menial jobs.

The film finally managed to find a distribution deal at the Sundance film festival in 1994 (after winning the Filmmaker's Trophy) with Miramax, after a fabled dinner with Harvey Weinstein which ended with the worldwide distribution of 'Clerks'. The film grossed over $3 million and received critical acclaim, thus launching Smith's filmmaking career that has lasted 20 years.

The quality of his writing stands out in his films, capturing the intricacies of life and how people actually act, this is especially evident in 'Chasing Amy', though it's the transplanting of comic writing techniques into a film environment that is interesting about his work, creating a 'shared universe' with his characters, as they make reference to events taking place in each film and even make appearances in each film (this comes to a head with 'Jay And Silent Bob Strikes Back', as a sort of send off for the series, although made new films in this shared universe as of late, and plans to film another soon ('Clerks III')).

This comic writing technique has led to some interesting approaches to subject matter in his films, most interestingly in 'Dogma' which distills Catholicism into superhero lore, leading to the film having a comic book feel, though this irreverent treatment of the Catholic faith did land him in hot water with various religious groups, especially the Catholic League. Though, he did try to counter this by appearing with the protesters with a picket sign; this showed the ignorance of many of the protesters: they hadn't even seen the film.

All the controversy is fairly ironic considering Smith himself has constantly referred to the film as "a celebration of my faith", not an attempt at mocking Catholicism, but it is worth noting that the Catholic League had begun protesting before the film had even finished production.

After the controversy of 'Dogma' Smith returned to full-on slap-stick comedy, a climactic ending to the 'Viewaskewnivers' series, with cameos a plenty and a laugh-a-minute pacing, the film proved favourable at the box office opening #3 and grossing $33,788,161, though the film took a bit of flack from GLAAD for featuring an abundance of gay jokes (ironic considering they had praised Smith's earlier film 'Chasing Amy'), though missing the fact that the film was a satire targeted at mainstream teen comedies and their attitudes. It also took 3 submissions to the MPAA before the film managed to receive an 'R' rating, after initially receiving the dreaded NC-17.

After closing the book on the 'Viewaskewniverse' series with 'Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back', he got to work on 'Jersy Girl', which was critically trounced and performed poorly at the box office, before "going back to the well" (in Smith's own words) with 'Clerks II', which provides a sort of epilogue for the series, though (in my opinion) it isn't as good as the original.

Smith also works on a pod casts(SMODcast) with a fair few of the contributors to his films, and many of his newer projects ('Tusk', 'Helena Handbasket' and 'Here Comes The Krampus') have originated on there. He has also written a few comics that bridge the gaps between his films, and uses social media sites as a way of interacting with his fan base on more personal level.
Filmography:
-Clerk (1994)*
-Mallrats (1995)*
-Chasing Amy (1997)*
-Dogma (1999)*
-Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back (2001)*
-Jersey Girl (2004)
-Clerks II (2006)*
-Zack And Miri Make A Porno (2008)*
-Cop Out (2010)
-Red State (2011)
-Tusk (2014)
-Clerks III (TBA)
And as of late he is currently working on a festive horror anthology called 'Here Comes The Krampus' and the religious blockbuster, featuring Christzilla, 'Helena Handbasket'.
(All the films marked with an asterisk I have seen)

My top 5 Kevin Smith films:
-Clerks
-Mallrats
-Dogma
-Jay And Silent Bob Strike Back
-Chasing Amy

11th January 2014