Indeed, one of Tarantino's more recent works, Kill Bill, manages to successfully incorporate a variety of film genres, such as anime and westerns, into one nonlinear story.
Taking this into account, the majority of his movies can be said to blend specific categories of film together in order to create something entirely unique and innovative. Though he himself denies it, the director of Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino, is widely considered to be a neo-noir filmmaker who engages in aspects of postmodernism. Orange, seem to revel in their roles as gangsters, it is clear that they, like the masses of society, are entangled in a never-ending cycle of consumerism which Reservoir Dogs appears to have successfully illustrated as a philosophical film.Ī second feature of postmodernism lies in its ability to break down boundaries and combine genres. White, as well as the undercover officer, Mr. Overall then, while individuals such as Mr. It is also important to note that the protagonists of Reservoir Dogs themselves, as gangsters, are primarily motivated by a desire to acquire a large amount of diamonds, unquestionably allowing them to purchase a variety of products which, as consumer culture dictates, will give their life meaning.
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Furthermore, pictorial as well as verbal references to popular culture such as the Silver Surfer comic book and the Get Christie Love! TV show are interspersed throughout the film to subtlety display how much influence and control the media truly possesses in contemporary society. As Mark Conrad notes in his article, " Reservoir Dogs: Redemption in a Postmodern World," Tarantino's film begins with its main characters discussing the significance of popular songs such as 'Like a Virgin,' and 'True Blue,' apparently more concerned with aspects of consumer culture than with the intricate details of their impending bank heist. In particular, John Berger maintains that after being exposed to the substantial amount of advertising that the media employs, the average individual is manipulated into purchasing a plethora of material products in order to become "an object of envy for others.which will then justify her loving herself." In my opinion, Reservoir Dogs does a considerably good job of illustrating a world consumed by late capitalism as well as demonstrating the influential effect advertising can have on our everyday lives. Taking this into account, it is my intention to divide the notion of postmodernism into three distinct aspects of interpretation, namely late capitalism, the combining of genres and the critique of knowledge claims, in order to examine how closely Reservoir Dogs corresponds to each one.įirst, postmodernism is intimately connected with late capitalism, an economic structure in which consumerism has overrun virtually every facet of human life.
Simplistically defined as a historical movement that has succeeded the era of modernism, postmodernism is actually an intricate and multifaceted philosophy which is essentially impossible to identify within a single sentence. Employing Wartenberg's theory of what it means for film to do philosophy, I shall now proceed to scrutinize Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs in order to determine how much, if at all, this particular motion picture enacts and extends upon the concepts of postmodernism as well as nihilism.
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Wartenberg discusses the silent film Modern Times to demonstrate that, by illustrating a philosophical idea, films are not only capable of arousing deep thought within an individual, but they may also interpret and update a philosophical text in the same way that contemporary philosophers respond to the work of their predecessors. According to Thomas Wartenberg, if films are capable of illustrating "philosophical ideas in interesting and illuminating ways," then such works of cinema can and should be perceived as philosophy-in-action. One of the most prominent philosophical questions in contemporary society is whether or not films, even popular Hollywood blockbusters, are capable of being or doing philosophy. Justin O'Brien (HBABED History IS 3rd year)