Film School with the Sword Experience
After our wonderful interview with Zoë Bell, we thought it would be interesting to take a look at one of her biggest projects to date, Kill Bill Vol. 1 &2. While there have been plenty of articles written in regards to the various film influences Quentin Tarantino used as inspiration for Kill Bill, one film that stands out the most among these influences is the 1973 action revenge thriller, Lady Snowblood. The purpose of this article is not to criticize Tarantino in any way.
In fact, while some people consider Tarantino to plagiarize from other films, this author recognizes that nearly every and all story or shot or style has pretty much been exhausted at this point in filmmaking. It is now up to the story teller to use the things that inspire them to create something wholly original in its own right. In that case, while Kill Bill has definitely been inspired by the likes of Lady Snowblood, the movies are vastly different, and can be watched independently of one another without one being detrimental to the other. So, on that note, lets dive into the similarities that these two movies share.
First, lets talk about plot. Kill Bill revolves around The Bride, AKA Beatrix Kiddo, AKA Black Mamba. A contract killer part of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad spearheaded by the enigmatic Bill. Upon discovering that she is with child, The Bride attempts to leave her life of killing behind to start a new life with a man she barely knows. When Bill discovers that The Bride is engaged to be married, he goes on a murder spree, killing The Brides entire wedding party and leaving her for dead. When The Bride finally awakes from her coma, she exacts revenge on those that took part in the massacre culminating in a showdown with the titular Bill.
Lady Snowblood centers around Yuki, AKA Lady Snowblood. Yuki was born in a prison. Her mother had been imprisoned for exacting revenge on the people responsible for murdering her husband and child while also raping her years prior to her incarceration. She is in prison for exacting revenge on one of the four individuals responsible for this heinous crime, however, she still wishes to see her revenge through with the birth of her baby girl. As she lays dying, after giving childbirth, her final wishes are for her daughter to find the remaining three responsible for the crime to ensure that her vengeance is complete. An adult Yuki finds each of her mother’s assaulters and systematically wipes them out. As you can see from the plot, both are high concept revenge thrillers.
From here, lets talk about the framing of these plots. Both films follow a nonlinear formula of storytelling. We jump around in time to reveal motivations of the characters as well as to get more backstory from them as the film progresses. This is not entirely unique to revenge thrillers, but revenge thrillers tend to play with time to make the audience uncomfortable. When we don’t know the full extent of why a character is doing what they are doing, we tend to want to know more. By leaving the motivations of characters out from the beginning, we become intrigued by their actions, even if we don’t agree with some of the things they are doing.
Next, lets discuss the style of both films. The most obvious style element that inspired Kill Bill is Lady Snowblood’s depiction of violence. The violence in the movie is incredibly over the top. When a character is slashed with a deadly katana, a ridiculous blood spurt is usually accompanied. There is a strange mixture of over the top violence mixed with serene shots of scenery. This showcases both the brutality and the beauty of the violence depicted onscreen. A lot has been said about the violent nature of Tarantino films, but one cannot argue that he is able to frame these bits of violence in a beautiful way. Lady Snowblood is a perfect example of showcasing the beauty in violence, while not detracting from the ethical questions of said violence.
The inspiration of style does not end simply at the violence. There are plenty of shots that Tarantino was directly inspired by that he even put into his movie. For example, both movies feature shots of the villains looking down at their victims like the one seen here:
While some may argue that this image is an example of plagiarism, that simply is not the case. This image is a direct representation of the feeling of oppression. By using a low angle shot with our villains looking directly at the camera, there is no question who the bad guys in this scenario are. It immediately makes the audience recognize who we should be rooting for or against. Clearly, we should be rooting for the point of view we are experiencing, which is the person lying on their back with their attackers looking over them.
This is only one of a handful of choices used in camera angles or camera techniques. For example, both films feature quick zooms on their protagonists faces after they realize they have found their targets. This lets us as the audience know that the characters are very much aware of who their targets are and what they look like.
The filming of The Bride’s training sequence with Pai Mei in Vol. 2 is extremely similar to the training sequence a young Yuki receives in Lady Snowblood. The major difference between them being that Pai Mei’s training is centered around the Chinese art of kung fu, whereas Yuki was being trained in the art of sword fighting under the brutal tutelage of a priest. Both Pai Mei and the priest do not hold back on their training with their underlings.
They are cruel to the point of being callous. However, when we begin to see the marked improvements of both protagonists, we begin to see the softer side of each character. Their harsh tutelage is only to prepare them for the harshness they will face in actual combat.
Another technique used by Lady Snowblood that Tarantino used for Kill Bill is using animation to tell a flashback. Both films use an animated sequence to reveal a backstory relating to its central characters. Lady Snowblood’s animation seems to be directly inspired by art from the Edo period. These flashbacks are marked with narration over still images that look similar to this period of art styles. While Tarantino’s backstory involving O’ren Ishii may have been more heavily inspired by such anime films as Akira or Ninja Sword, it is clear from his love of Lady Snowblood that he was inspired by Lady Snowblood’s technique of storytelling when showing O’ren’s background.
While we are on the subject of O’ren Ishii, it becomes painfully obvious how much the character was inspired by the look of Yuki from Lady Snowblood. Just take a look at these two images:
One can’t help but notice the similarities between the two characters design. This is purposeful. While O’ren may be the antagonist of this film, her backstory is similar to that of Yuki’s. Both were set to become agents of revenge from a very young age. Both became synonymous with murder and destruction. Some may even argue that both characters were victims of circumstance, and neither had a chance at living a peaceful life.
Next, lets discuss sound design. Tarantino made it abundantly clear that Lady Snowblood heavily inspired his film. There are direct sound effects and music taken from Lady Snowblood. An example of the sound effects Kill Bill reuses is the sound of someone jumping. One might mistake it for the sound effect used in The Million Dollar Man, but in reality, the reference that Tarantino was making with the jumping sound effect is lifted directly from the training sequence involving Yuki and the priest. Most importantly though is music. Tarantino made no effort to hide the influence of Lady Snowblood when he used the opening and closing theme of “Sharu No Hana” from Lady Snowblood as the closing song for Kill Bill Vol. 1. He was letting every film fan or burgeoning film fan in on his inspirations.
While many continue to argue that Tarantino’s style tends to copy other films, the truth of the matter is that Tarantino has always been a unique voice in cinema. He is heavily inspired by other films and uses those films for shots and design, but in reality, there is no mistaking his vision and his movies for that of anyone else. In fact, it can be argued that by directly lifting the ideas from some of these films, Tarantino is actually getting us to discuss movies that may not have been in the ether of film culture to begin with. Would we still be talking about Lady Snowblood today if it weren’t for its direct inspiration on Kill Bill Vol. 1 &2? Probably not.
A Brief Review of HBO Max
HBO Max is officially here, but what exactly does that mean? Well, if you were already a subscriber of HBO Now, congrats! You are already a subscriber of HBO Max. HBO Max is the next step for HBO in the landscape of streaming television. HBO has updated its catalogue of streamable content by including content from Warner Brother’s Media, Cartoon Network, and Turner Classic Movies. To be very frank, the catalogue is enormous and is filled to the brim with amazing content. For all of our sword enthusiasts, you’ll find a plethora of classic samurai films and action films to scratch your itch.
HBO Max should be every movie lovers dream. There is a nearly endless selection of movies to choose from. From comedies to dramas, HBO Max has content that is spectacular when compared to its counterparts. You won’t find yourself sifting though as much garbage you’ve never heard of before when searching for your favorite movies and television shows. However, HBO Max still has some issues at launch.
The first issue is in regards to load times and buffering. While HBO has addressed some of these issues since launch, it still takes an extended period of time for HBO Max to boot up to the first menu screen. This may not be an issue to some, but when time is of the essence, waiting nearly two minutes to get to a menu screen is completely unacceptable. As far as buffering issues are concerned, HBO has always required a near perfect internet connection in order to stream content without buffering.
HBO wants to be considered one of the highest quality streaming services visually, thus they require a strong internet connection. The end result of this can be detrimental to the viewing experience. It takes the viewer out of the experience of watching a film way more often when the film starts to buffer than if there were a drop in image quality. Personally, this author would prefer a drop in image quality over a complete stoppage.
There’s also an issue with where one may be able to view HBO Max. There is no application yet for streaming devices such as Roku or Amazon. This is due to a lack of deals in distribution rights for platforms. Luckily, if you have a gaming device, you should be able to download an application for HBO Max onto your device. However, considering that a lot of people use Roku or Amazon to access their streaming services, this feels like a huge misstep on HBO’s part. Hopefully this can be resolved sooner rather than later. You can still use HBO Max on your personal computer, laptop, tablet, or phone. So, there are options outside of Roku and Amazon, but the issue of streaming on your television can be more difficult than it needs to be.
Overall, the catalogue behind HBO Max seems to outshine its shortcomings. However, in order for HBO to dethrone the likes of Netflix or Hulu, they need to address a lot of these shortcomings if they’d like to be mentioned in the same breath as these streaming giants. That being said, since there is plenty of content as it relates to swords on their service, don’t be surprised if you see us talking about HBO Max in the coming months.
Do You Want to Share Your Art?
We all have a lot more time on our hands lately, and some of you may have been practicing your art skills. We’ve been toying with the idea of getting a glimpse of your artwork, especially as it relates to swords and The Sword Experience. If you’d like to share some of your artwork, let us know on our social media pages. You can tweet at us @SwordExperience. You can tag us in your artwork on Instagram using @swordexperience. You can even tell us more of your thoughts on our Facebook page. We’d love to hear from you guys, and are interested in seeing the incredible works of art you have been working on while in self-isolation.
Keep your eyes peeled for an art contest coming later this summer!
