Michael Rennett Quentin Tarantino And
Quentin Tarantino and the Director as DJ
MICHAEL RENNETT
I
1990S, TIMOTHY CORRIGAN DEFINED A NEW KIND OF film auteur as “celebrity,” exemplified by Quentin Tarantino,
Spike Lee, and Oliver Stone. He describes these directors as selfpromotional machines, in which “the artistic expression of contemporary directors is fully bound up with the celebrity industry of
Hollywood” (38–39). Essentially, contemporary directors are marketing themselves as a specific brand, and the films created by each auteur could be recognized by that brand-name on the product.
Corrigan’s discussion, however, mainly focuses on the marketability of these directors and not on the artwork itself. Just because a director can market himself to an audience, he does not necessarily become an auteur; he must still create a viable product to market. If the celebrity-director’s films were to fail consistently or be ignored at the box office, then he would no longer fit this definition of an auteur. Thus, there is an inherent connection between the film text and the claim for auteur status: the texts produced by a celebritydirector must be studied in order to truly understand him. As this change in authorship style occurred, an increasing number of films began to be shaped out of intertextual references to movies, songs, record albums, and literature, among other elements of popular culture. In fact, many contemporary films and television shows are known for their almost endless references to and quotations from other popular texts.
The most important works, due to their massive influence, have been the highly-referential films of Quentin Tarantino. Authors Jim
Smith and D.K. Holm individually describe Tarantino’s personal style as an exhibit of his “spurious intertextuality” (Smith 6–7): his
N THE LATE
The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2012
© 2012, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
391
392
Michael Rennett
combining numerous references to films, television shows, songs, and novels (Holm 11).
MICHAEL RENNETT
I
1990S, TIMOTHY CORRIGAN DEFINED A NEW KIND OF film auteur as “celebrity,” exemplified by Quentin Tarantino,
Spike Lee, and Oliver Stone. He describes these directors as selfpromotional machines, in which “the artistic expression of contemporary directors is fully bound up with the celebrity industry of
Hollywood” (38–39). Essentially, contemporary directors are marketing themselves as a specific brand, and the films created by each auteur could be recognized by that brand-name on the product.
Corrigan’s discussion, however, mainly focuses on the marketability of these directors and not on the artwork itself. Just because a director can market himself to an audience, he does not necessarily become an auteur; he must still create a viable product to market. If the celebrity-director’s films were to fail consistently or be ignored at the box office, then he would no longer fit this definition of an auteur. Thus, there is an inherent connection between the film text and the claim for auteur status: the texts produced by a celebritydirector must be studied in order to truly understand him. As this change in authorship style occurred, an increasing number of films began to be shaped out of intertextual references to movies, songs, record albums, and literature, among other elements of popular culture. In fact, many contemporary films and television shows are known for their almost endless references to and quotations from other popular texts.
The most important works, due to their massive influence, have been the highly-referential films of Quentin Tarantino. Authors Jim
Smith and D.K. Holm individually describe Tarantino’s personal style as an exhibit of his “spurious intertextuality” (Smith 6–7): his
N THE LATE
The Journal of Popular Culture, Vol. 45, No. 2, 2012
© 2012, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
391
392
Michael Rennett
combining numerous references to films, television shows, songs, and novels (Holm 11).