Kill Bill: You Didn't Think It Would Be That Easy Would You?

Kill Bill (2003) was Tarantino's first foray into the Kung Fu style of action movie with his telling of the revenge of "The Bride" (Uma Thurman). Having awoken from a four year coma to find her baby is gone, The Bride seeks vengeance on the members of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad lead by the mysterious "Bill", a past lover. Her quest for vengeance leads her to Okinawa, Japan. A far cry from Tarantino's typical American settings. Having found O'Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) a large scale fight breaks out between The Bride and Ishii's "Crazy 88" gang. In this fight we can see subtle instances of mise en scène.

The Bride, surrounded

 Tarantino utilizes interesting attire on the Crazy 88 gang members, choosing to have wear Masquerade masks. While not typical of the Kung Fu Genre, the matching attire aids in showing cohesion and conformity with the ranks of the gang, adding to their believability. When they surround an example of blocking, described by Corrigan as "the arrangement of actors in relation to each other within the physical space of a mise en scène"(76). This arrangement of gang member is used to exaggerate the size of the group and the apparent hopelessness of the situation. Visually stacking the deck against our heroine.

A "sight" for sore eyes

Kill Bill seeks to visualize an "authentic location" through the use of "cultural props". These, as Corrigan elaborates, "carry meanings associated with their place in a particular society". That would intern make Tarantino's choice to use life like Katanas and axes one that would help lend cultural authenticity to his mise en scène. Also to lend authenticity to genre he is working within, Tarantino utilizes a black and white lightning filter, as if in homage to classic Kung Fu films of the past.

"Prop Creation"

The Tarantino staple of fake blood is rampant in this scene, helping the audience visualise the gore. Also throughout the fight we can see the interesting "creation" of "props". This would be the use of fake prosthetics after the bride amputates limbs with her sword. While adding to the atmosphere of the fight, showing the destruction and devastation The Bride is creating, it also serves another purpose. The body and limb count lends authenticity to story and subsequent world building around the Bride. The savage nature and skill level involved with these kills is in line with what the story is trying to illustrate, The Bride is a trained assassin and her actions reciprocate this point. With these examples of mise en scène apparent in Tarantino's classics, the fourth and final mise en scène spotlight will be placed upon a more recent entry in the Tarantino film collection: Django Unchained.