Quentin Tarantino: Why The Bride Is His Greatest Hero (& Django Is Second)

Both Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill and Django Unchained feature protagonists who have suffered. But that doesn’t stop them from winning their fights.

You Are Reading :Quentin Tarantino Why The Bride Is His Greatest Hero (& Django Is Second)

There are plenty of characters who could claim the title of Quentin Tarantino’s greatest hero. Jackie Brown plays both sides of a criminal plot against each other right under their noses; Lt. Aldo Raine leads the plot to end the Second World War in Tarantino’s revisionist timeline; and Mr. Orange is a good guy undercover in the bad guys’ cutthroat underworld.

But the two butt-kicking avenging angels that leave all their peers in their dust are Kill Bill’s sword-wielding heroine, the Bride, and Django Unchained’s gunslinging eponymous hero, Django Freeman. They are not only Tarantino’s easiest protagonists to root for; they’re also his most badass.

10 The Bride: She Was Tarantino’s First Action Lead

After a trio of masterfully crafted crime films, Tarantino jumped into the genre sandbox for his fourth feature, Kill Bill, which draws on martial arts films, spaghetti westerns, blaxploitation films, and plenty of other grindhouse favorites.

The Bride was Tarantino’s first action lead, and she more than delivered the goods with a powerful performance by Uma Thurman and a blood-drenched rampage of revenge with a massive death toll.

9 Django: His Bloodshed Feels Cathartic

While it’s a lot of fun to watch the Bride slashing her way through countless goons in black suits, the catharsis doesn’t compare to watching a freed slave powerfully dispensing with sadistic slavers.

In Django Unchained, the slavers’ violence against the slave characters is a bleak, harrowing, honest portrait of the horrors of slavery, while Django’s violence against the slavers is a bold, operatic spectacle of bloodshed ripped out of a Corbucci movie — an escapist historical revenge fantasy fighting back against the ugly truth.

8 The Bride: Kill Bill Is One Of The Only Times Tarantino Has Developed A Script With An Actor

Tarantino first brought the idea for Kill Bill to Uma Thurman — or, at least, its opening shot and its protagonist, whom she would play — on the set of Pulp Fiction. It was Thurman’s idea to reveal a bridal veil; hence, the Bride was born. Tarantino spent months writing the script, tailoring it to Thurman.

This is one of the only times Tarantino has not only written with an actor in mind for a character, but created the character in collaboration with the actor. This inimitable dynamic comes through in the movie.

7 Django: His Costume Design Is Iconic

While the Bride’s costume design is remembered for the yellow jumpsuit lifted from Bruce Lee in Game of Death, Django’s unique fashion style is iconic.

His valet costume, for example, was inspired by the Gainsborough painting The Blue Boy, which also influenced the wardrobe of Austin Powers. No other movie could make that look work for a gunslinging bounty hunter, but in Django, it works beautifully.

6 The Bride: She Starts Off At Her Lowest Point, Then Gets Dragged Even Lower

At the beginning of Kill Bill, the Bride is shot in the head, spends years in a coma suffering countless sexual assaults, then awakens to discover that her baby is gone. This is the lowest point in her life. And then, in true exploitation style, she’s dragged even lower.

Pam Grier’s classic heroines, like Coffy and Foxy Brown, follow this trajectory, and it makes their inevitable retaliation all the more satisfying.

5 Django: He Goes On Two Separate Hero’s Journeys

Most characters only go on one “hero’s journey,” but in a way, Django has to go on two. The first journey is becoming Dr. Schultz’s protégé. Django learns to shoot, earns some money on bounties, and they head to Candyland to liberate his wife. But after Schultz blows the deal by refusing to shake Candie’s hand, Django and Broomhilda are once again enslaved.

This is when Django’s second journey to truly becoming a hero begins. After losing his mentor, Django has to work independently. He figures out how to outsmart his new captors and kills them all within moments. He locates Broomhilda and takes her back to Candyland for the final standoff.

4 The Bride: The B.B. Twist Is One Of Tarantino’s Best

Quentin Tarantino has delivered a ton of classic plot twists over the years, from the undercover cop reveal in Reservoir Dogs to the gunning down of Adolf Hitler in Inglourious Basterds.

One of the strongest contenders for the top spot is the cliffhanger ending of Kill Bill: Volume 1, which reveals that the Bride’s daughter is alive and well. As the story moves into its second and final chapter, the Bride suddenly has a lot more to fight for.

3 Django: Django Unchained Is A Fairy Tale

Although it’s dressed up as an ultraviolent western, at its core, Django Unchained is a fairy tale. Django’s wife Broomhilda is being held at a plantation and, like a knight in shining armor, he infiltrates the plantation to save her.

The heroes of fairy tales are the purest kind — and the easiest to root for. Most people learned what heroes are from reading fairy tales as children.

2 The Bride: Uma Thurman Brought Real Humanity To Her Genre-Driven Arc

Kill Bill follows typical genre tropes, but Uma Thurman doesn’t give a typical genre performance. She doesn’t just show up and look cool; she brings an authentic sense of humanity to the pain that Beatrix Kiddo endures throughout this movie.

Thurman’s performance elevates Kill Bill above standard revenge fare. When the Bride is buried alive, the terror of that unimaginable situation comes through in Thurman’s performance.

1 Django: Jamie Foxx Can Jump Seamlessly Between Nuance And Comedy

Will Smith was Tarantino’s top choice to play Django, but Jamie Foxx ended up being the perfect actor to bring this character to the screen. Tarantino’s style can add dark comedy to dramatic scenes and bring comedic moments to a halt with a staggering dramatic turn.

There was no one more perfect to nail these moments in Django Unchained than Foxx, who has refined instincts for comedy from his standup career and a long history of phenomenal work as a dramatic actor. Foxx effortlessly married the two sides of Tarantino’s tonal sensibility in Django.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/best-quentin-tarantino-protagonist-kill-bill-bride-vs-django-unchained/