KILL BILL NARRATIVE ANALYSIS

Kill Bill is an American action/thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. Kill Bill was originally scheduled for a single theatrical release, but with a running time of over four hours, it was separated into two movies: Kill Bill Volume 1, released in late 2003, and Kill Bill Volume 2, released in early 2004. The movie follows a character initially identified as "The Bride", a former member of an assassination team who seeks revenge on her ex-colleagues who massacred members of her wedding party and tried to kill her. In relation to the general plot of the story and Todorovs narrative th eory, there is a state of equilibrium at the start of the film where you see the bride getting married to the man of her dreams and this is then disrupted when a hit man squad crashes the wedding, killing everyone inside the church, except for the bride. The bride begins to recognize this disruption when she names all the members of the hit man squad and begin to wipe them out individually one by one. The repair occurs in the second episode where she finds Bill who turns out to have brought up The Brides child whilst she had given birth as she was in a coma and she ends up shooting Bill and the new equilibrium leaves The Bride and her child to live their life alone. A scene in the film that could also be related to this theory is when she finds O-Ren Ishii (played by Lucy Liu) in Japan. The state of equilibrium is the setting of the restaurant where the fight scene takes place. People are sat down having a good time and enjoying the entertainment and this calm is then disrupted by The Bride who walks in and calls out for O-Ren Ishii. This is then recognized by her henchmen who come down to fight her in their hundreds and she ends up killing them all and once she finds O-Ren Ishii and finally kills her, this leads to the repair and leads to a new equilibrium which then allows her to move on to the next target on her list. In relation to the theory of Claude Levi-Strauss, you see within the film that there are many binary opposites that are clear throughout. For example, there is a clear division of good and bad with The Bride being seen as the good character who at the beginning seems to be leading a crime free life with her wedding being shown as almost the perfect family but in complete contrast, you then see the hit man squad who come in and wipe out everyone inside which clearly shows that they will be the bad characters in the film. Another example of binary opposition is the male/female relationship with The Bride and Bill, which in the second episode is made clearer when it follows their story of how he had previously trained her and how they had an intimate relationship before he had a hit man squad sent out to kill her. In relation to Vladimir Propps theory, there are many characters that could fit into the character types. The Bride could be seen as being the hero of the film as she is the one who has something to fight for and ultimately has an award for her efforts. Her daughter who she finds at the end of the film could be seen as being the princess and even though she didnt know that she would have this award, the princess is ultimately what she receives for her efforts. There are several villains within the film including the hit man squad who try to disrupt everything she does throughout the film. Bill comes under many character types within the film and could be seen as a villain, a false hero and a donor. His villainous element is when he sets up for The Bride to be killed and his manner when she finally meets him at the end of the second episode.

He could be also seen as a donor when he provides her with the training that the audience see in the second episode following her training and he ends up giving her the fighting ability to take out anyone she wishes. Bill also gives The Bride her child at the end of the film which ends up being what she has been looking for all along. Finally, his false hero element comes where he is seen as being a good character until you begin to find out what he is capable of and even though he did act as a good character when you see him training The Bride; it ends up being that this persona was a false one. There are many action codes within the film and a key one is right at the beginning where the church is in a dusty remote part of America and is almost quite Western like and the church is also quite empty which gives the audience a feeling where something is bound to happen. The next cut scene then shows a long shot with the hit man squad walking towards the church and with them all wielding weapons and dressed in all black, you know that they are there to wreak havoc. Another example of an action code is when The Bride is put into the back of a truck in the first episode and she wakes up lay on the floor with two men looking upon her. The setting is in a dark forest and it is right in the middle of the night. The next scene then shows The Bride being put into a coffin where she is then about to get buried alive which leads to audience to wonder how she will get out and the next section of the film follows her training and how she then used this in order to break out of the coffin and escape.
There are also many uses of enigma codes in the story and with the complex storyline; it leads to many parts being unexplained throughout. In the first episode, whenever The Brides name is mentioned, it is bleeped out and there is no explanation for this initially. When her name is revealed later in the second episode as Beatrix Kidda, this may almost link to the fact that now she has began to wipe out all of her enemies, she had developed her own identity and has been able to break away from her previous hit man exterior. The very first scene of the first episode also uses an enigma code with the use of a close up of The Bride who hasnt yet been introduced to the film and she is breathing heavily and has blood covered over her face which makes the audience think what could have happened. The use of a black and white effect also makes it look more mysterious and more striking on the eye for the audience. The signs and symbols within the film also make everything much clearer for the audience. All of the hit men have code names including The Bride who had one previously and they are all names of venomous snakes which would be symbolic of a creature that will sneak up on their prey and kill them in an instant. The Bride is always referred to as being Bills best student and her code name was Black Mamba which is one of the most venomous snakes in the world and would link to the fact that she is one of the most brutal and instinctive killers in the world. You see in Kill Bill that there are often references to different cultures. You see Beatrix being taught the art of her fighting in a remote Far East Asian village by a big master with a long beard, conforming to the stereotype of big senseis in films teaching young students forms of martial arts. This refers to the martial arts cultural stereotypes we hold as a viewer of media products and Tarantino allows for that link to be more apparent.