Wes Craven's 'Scream', 1997.

Fig. 1 Scream poster.

Scream was a highly entertaining bundle of postmodern references and genre conventions that no one would believe could have worked so well together.

Fig. 2 Genre conventions.

If you were to read the synopsis of Scream, it would not be surprising if it seemed like another slasher horror film that's genre was tired out a long while before this film was released. However, the writer of Scream is well aware of the conventions and clichés that are associated with this genre of film and it seeks they're sought a way to challenge your expectations of it. As the audience watches Scream it is clear that everything you see on the screen has been done before (even the big twist at the end) but, again, the writers are well aware of this, and they use it to their advantage. George Ochoa expressed that "Consistent with its postmodern style, there is little of genuine originality. What was new in Scream was to bring self-refentiality to the slasher film in such a thoroughgoing and playful way." (Ochoa, 2011:139) It is the film's obvious 'playful' nature towards its source material that makes it so thoroughly enjoyable.  One example is the opening sequence, in which the audience is introduced to the 'virginal' character.  Blonde haired, dressed all in white she is the symbol of the 'final girl' in the slasher genre. The 'final girl' refers to the innocent, non-drinking, non-sexually active female within the narrative that is able to fight the killer and survive because of her innocence. However, the character in Scream, that has all the signs of the 'final girl' is the first one we see get brutally murdered. In Landscapes of Postmodernity, it is explained that "this scene is a reflection of and on postmodern reality, in which signs not only influence the way we perceive the world we live in, but rather replace any fixed conceptions of reality altogether." (Eckhard, Höbling, Fuchs, 2010:72) This reality was created by the audience's experience of the horror genre. They see a blonde virginal girl and they assume she will survive to fight the killer but in fact she is just another victim. The writer has deliberately subverted this genre convention because they know it was seen in the majority of films of this type and they also know the audience will not expect it.  Dominic Strinati believes that "These films [Scream franchise] are self-reflexive and knowing about the conventions of the genre in the way postmodern theory suggests. They rely on the tacit understanding that both film makers and audiences know how such films work and they therefore produce and appreciate them because of self-conscious knowledge." (Strinati, 2000:109)  One of the reasons this film, and the Scream movies that follow, is so successful is because it takes so much from previous films within the genre but it uses these to create something new.  The writer references so many varied elements of previous slasher movies that it is no longer an element from another film, it now acts as a nod to the audience members that can spot them, and they will feel satisfied in knowing that their experiences and enjoyment of the genre is shared by the director and writer of the film.

Fig. 3 Randy explains the rules.

There are many references to various horror films in Scream and it is the intertextuality that makes the narrative so compelling. Ochoa believed that "Scream was full of ironic wit and postmodern references to other horror movies - even references to references" (Ochoa, 2011:139) The most prominent 'reference to a reference' is the intertextuality with the film Halloween (1978). Scream takes not only visual but also narrative and audible references from it too. In Scream, one of the lead character's surname is Loomis, which is also the surname of a character from Halloween, which in turn is referencing a character with the same name from Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960).  This is a fairly obscure reference that would fly over the head of any normal viewer, but to the experienced watcher of the horror genre this would be a fantastic little nod to them and the films they have enjoyed. Matt Hills explained that "the Scream franchise also offers the possibility of repeated intertextual recognitions to horror fans.  By doing so it pleasurably flatters and interpellates its fan audience without alienating non-fan, genre audiences who can still participate in the ride, and who can pick up on more obviously self-reflexive aspects such as the way in which relevant clips of Halloween are intercut or integrated with Scream's diegetic actions" (Hills, 2005:192) There are many possibilities for 'repeated intertextual recognitions' in Scream, but there are different layers of this postmodern borrowing from the genre. Some of the references, as I previously mentioned, are quite obscure but there are still plenty that someone new to the genre would be able to understand.  As Hills mentioned, visual clips from Halloween are actually seen in the film (see figure 3) alongside the introduction to 'the rules of horror movies'. Christopher Sharett expressed that "Scream exemplifies the insularity of the genre's pastiche in its reliance upon the viewer's sense of mastery of the form in order to entertain. Rather than referring out, the genre refers in, and rewards its viewers for doing so." (Sharett, 1999:278) It is in the scene from figure 3 that the audience gets a great example of the 'insularity' of the film's pastiche. The character Randy explains to his friends, and to the audience, the rules of a horror film. These reveal who would normally die, who would survive and why. This is a very broad reference as any member of the audience that has ever seen a horror film will be able to appreciate the rules and agree with Randy. He has a clear understanding of the genre as the audience does and as he is part of a horror film this reference is in fact internal rather than external. This leaves the audience both entertained and a little concerned as the rules have not entirely been adhered to yet, the opening scene saw to that.

Wes Craven is a director well experienced in the horror genre. His and the writers enjoyment of it is clear to see in Scream as they twist and bend the audience's expectations. It is because of this that Scream is such an enjoyable and thrilling film. It not only rewards its audience with references and quotes from the characters that they themselves are aware of, but it still manages to be a horror film in its own right. Ochoa said that "To this day whenever a character in a horror movie says  something like, "This is just like what happens in horror movies," the success of Scream is behind it." (Ochoa, 2011:139). It started a whole genre of its own, but it will definitely be a difficult film to match both in quality and in intertextual references.

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Scream (1997) Scream poster. At: http://www.movieposterdb.com/posters/10_06/1996/117571/l_117571_51355a32.jpg (Accessed on: 13/10/11)

Figure 2. Scream (1997) Genre conventions. At: http://img.youtube.com/vi/PJ4ZyHu0-DQ/0.jpg (Accessed on: 13/10/11)

Figure 3. Scream (1997) Randy explains the rules. At: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu6H60jtIpNPb2_T-b4wrAli_qWIcQFnyO9M0AZnEfq2T8NuZNUYjP53TkFQhGfLexEGP4wPJx8TJ3vvFHvLLGhH711gtgOnv64XJxIqKmeflhWuVWS58lelfWA8e3GQ3PWZacpk6RLeUR/s1600/scream_356.jpg (Accessed on: 13/10/11)


Bibliography

Ochoa, George (2011) Deformed and Destructive Beings: The Purpose of Horror Films. USA: McFarland & Company, Inc.

Sharrett, Christopher (1999) Mythologies of violence in postmodern media. USA: Wayne State University Press.

Hills, Matt (2005) The pleasures of horror. London: Continuum

Rockoff, Adam (2002) Going to pieces: the rise and fall of the slasher film, 1978-1986.

Strinati, Dominic (2000) An introduction to studying popular culture. London: Routledge

Eckhard, Petra, Höbling, Walter, Fuchs, Michael (2010) Landscapes of Postmodernity: Concepts and Paradigms of Critical Theory. USA: Transaction Publishers.


P.S. I'm not sure if this is too waffly or if I'm saying the same thing more than once, but hopefully not! :)

David Lynch's 'Mulholland Drive', 2001...

Fig. 1 Mulholland Drive poster.

Mulholland Drive could be interpreted in many different ways. One of them is that the film is a postmodern journey through the main character, Betty's, deluded sense of reality.  The audience is lead down a merry path of detective film clichés, until about 2 thirds of the way through when we are awakened with a bump to her reality.

Fig. 2 Betty and Rita.

The narrative of this film is very interesting, as the audience can feel like they are technically watching two narratives back to back.  The first features the happy-go-lucky southern girl that's come to Hollywood to experience the 'American fairy-tale', make it big in the movies and in the meantime, solve a 'whodunit' with her femme fatale friend Rita. Already the narrative has a mix of two very different genres; the detective narrative, in which they have to discover the truth of something, and the 'American fairy-tale' genre, where the southern wallflower becomes an overnight success.  Both of these are very nostalgic genres, and end in a traditionally utopian way. M. Keith Booker explained that "the nostalgia of Mulholand Drive might be seen as especially postmodern in that the setting of the film is quite clearly contemporary with its making, yet its atmosphere and visual style show the clear influence of the noir films of the 1950s while it also draws upon a panoply of motifs from older films for its lot and characterisation." (Booker, 2007:xi)  The postmodern element is that the audience can clearly recognise the very theatrical and ominous techniques associated with the film noir genre of the fifties, as well as the comparatively squeaky clean 'fairy-tale' that Betty is experiencing. It is because of these visual sign posts that the audience is made aware that they are following a structured narrative. Though it is somewhat subtle, the clichés of these genre films are easily recognisable and can distract the audience from enjoying the film itself. However, Stuart Sim expressed that "Many of these [postmodern] films work on the pleasure of recognition, and sometimes just the sheer pleasure of the experience of the cinematic; you do not have to ask what it means in the case of Mulholand Drive; you just let the cleverness and beauty of the surface wash over you." (Sim, 2001:95) This is a really interesting interpretation of Mulholland Drive's postmodern borrowing from other film genres.  It is actually part of the experience of the film to be made aware that you are watching something constructed.  It is the 'cleverness' of the way these references are used that allows the audience to watch the film almost from a step back, as they are now aware of the cinematic techniques and can watch the film objectively as a piece of postmodernism because of it.

Fig. 3 Magician at Club Silencio.

It is the audience's awareness that they are watching something fictional and constructed that is particularly interesting.  The director, David Lynch, uses many different narrative and visual techniques to wake the audience up and bring them into the reality he wants them to experience. Heidi M. Schlipphacke belives that "quintessentially postmodern films such as Mulholand Drive...exhibit...a non-linear, sometimes dream like narrative structure, multiple narratives, and a level of open-endedness that pose as many questions as they answer." (Schlipphacke, 2010:125)  This 'open-endedness' is something of a speciality in this film.  As mentioned previously, the audience can feel as if they have sat through two very separate narratives, linked together only by the familiar faces, rather than the supposed reality of the situations.  Both of these narratives have ways in which they make the audience aware that these events are fictional, and one is the use of dream-like sequences.  The most prominent example of this is when the two women visit Club Silencio after Rita mutters about it in her sleep.   It is this scene that marks the beginning of the end for the detective/fairy-tale narrative as this is where Betty (who later becomes Diane) begins to 'wake up'. Elena del Rio divulged that "This scene functions as the kernel of both dream and film, the point Diane's dream reaches at which it has no other choice but to self-destruct, thereby anticipating her own demise as well as the film's." (Del Río, 2008:181)  This is when the illusion of the film's first narrative dies away, and it metamorphoses into a much darker state. Club Silencio is opened by a magician; he tells the audience that there is no orchestra, that everything is run from a tape player, that everything here is an illusion.  Del Rio goes on to explain that "Here, the unravelling of illusion performed by the showman does not lead to Brechtian enlightenment*, but rather to an experience of raw and unmotivated affect that leaves characters and viewers in a state of perceptual and affective shock." (Del Río, 2008:21) Club Silencio is acting as an alarm bell, pointing out to the audience that everything they see is an illusion while simultaneously drawing them in with an incredibly emotional, but false, performance from a female singer. It is this lip syncing that "exemplifies Lynch's insight into the affective value and power of the false." (Del Río, 2008:183), giving so much power and influence to something that is in fact a falsification makes the audience feel foolish. They have been pulled into the realism of the performance despite all preliminary warnings and that is just so clever.

Mulholland Drive was a spectacular example of how illusion can manipulate an audience, and how 'breaking the fourth wall', between the fiction on screen and those watching it, can create a bold sense of confusion and fascination.  The audience is definitely left puzzled and as Schlipphacke aptly puts it: "films such as Lynch's Mulholland Drive (2001) begin and end in a haze of questions and abstractions" (Schlipphacke, 2010:125).  This is the perfect description of the enigma that was Mulholland Drive, and though it is nice for the audience to get some closure, sometimes you just want something to fuzz up everything you thought you understood.

Footnote:
*"Epic Theatre proposed that a play should not cause the spectator to identify emotionally with the characters or action before him or her, but should instead provoke rational self-reflection and a critical view of the action on the stage. Brecht thought that the experience of a climactic catharsis of emotion left an audience complacent. Instead, he wanted his audiences to adopt a critical perspective in order to recognise social injustice and exploitation and to be moved to go forth from the theatre and effect change in the world outside."
 - Wikipedia


List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Mulholland Drive poster. At: http://www.movieposterdb.com/posters/10_08/2001/166924/l_166924_b8c1bb3a.jpg (Accessed on: 12/10/11)

Figure 2. Mulholland Drive (2001) Betty and Rita. At: http://www.synoptique.ca/images/uploads/articles/s6_mull32.jpg (Accessed on: 12/10/11)

Figure 2. Mulholland Drive (2001) Magician at Club Silencio: http://hypebeast.com/blog/yoon/files/2011/06/md-magician-smoke-sized.jpg (Accessed on: 12/10/11)

Bibliography

Del Río, Elena (2008) Deleuze and the cinemas of performance: powers of affection. UK: Edinburgh University Press Ltd.

Booker, M. Keith (2007) Postmodern Hollywood: what's new in film and why it makes us feel so strange.USA: Praeger Publishers

Schlipphacke, Heidi M. (2010) Nostalgia after Nazism: history, home, and affect in German and Austrian Literature and Film. USA: Bucknell University Press.

Sim, Stuart (2001) The Routledge companion to postmodernism. UK: Routledge.

Christopher Nolan's 'Inception', 2010.

Fig. 1 Inception poster.

Inception, on a basic level, is a heist film, in which the characters are seeking to stealthily steal (or in this case plant) something. However, the fact that the director, Christopher Nolan, spent around 10 years developing it makes it much more interesting. He had wanted to create a film about corporate espionage but as soon as he realised that it could involve delving into peoples dreams it unleashed a whole new world of possibilities.

Fig. 2 Bending reality in a dream.

The fascinating thing about a dream is it's completely dependant on the dreamer's experiences and emotions towards its content, interpreting the world within it around the dreamer's own beliefs.  No matter how unrealistic and twisted it may seem to an outsider it will feel completely real to the dreamer.  When speaking about the use of dreams in Inception, Christopher Nolan explained that "You're not just experiencing reality - you're dreaming it for yourself" (Nolan, 2010:19) which is what allows him to portray such interesting ideas and stunning visual interpretations. The dreams that the audience see are filled with real settings, such as shops, cafes, markets, but they can be turned completely upside down by
either being made aware of the fact that they are dreaming and not accepting it or by their 'real world' leaking in. An interesting consideration is a line from a wise old man when the lead character shows disdain to those that spend a long time 'in the dream'. He said that "The dream has become their reality. Who are you to say otherwise?" (Inception, 2010). This is an incredibly postmodern idea, that their reality, whether it is in a dream or in the 'real world', is still their own reality. Everyone has a different take on life, and much like their dreams, it is entirely affected by their experiences and emotional concerns. However, the idea that is really interesting is using someone else, known as the architect, to create their own version of a dream reality that someone else would find believable, should they be placed in there.  Using the architect's own interpretation of the real world to craft a dream reality that the 'dreamer' would relate to is quite contrary to postmodern beliefs. As it believes that there would be an interpretation that suits everyone's needs and beliefs about the world around them.

Fig. 3 Illusion of infinite space.

Another intriguing aspect of Inception is the use of mirrors and how they relate to postmodernism. Cristopher Nash explains that "postmodern texts repeatedly adopt as a capital object of their attention the mirror itself - the eternal symbol for the reflection of personal truth and self-knowledge and self-regard." (Nash, 2001:15)  In one scene (figure 3) the architect, Ariadne, and her mentor, Cobb, are seen peering deep into a mirror.  What is wonderful about this is that Ariadne is in fact manipulating Cobb's dream, creating two inward-facing mirrors and by doing so she creates the illusion of depth and the repeated image of herself and Cobb, also known as mise en abyme. Marian Hobson describes mise en abyme as "a series of reflections or internally contained scale-models of the literary work" (Hobson, 1998:75), in this case 'the literary work' would be referring to the image of Cobb and Ariadne. Hobson then goes on to divulge that "such doubles might give consistency and coherence to the literary or pictural work by encapsulating images which reflect the whole, by reinforcing and repeating it." (Hobson, 1998:75); these images could be literally reflecting the whole of the characters in the mirror, but the fact that their image is repeated so much could be interpreted as a portrayal of their traits. Ariadne is close against the mirror, so she isn't as clearly repeated, perhaps because she's so new to invading dreams she hasn't built up too many 'layers' of experience and interpretations. However, Cobb stands alone to the back of the mirror, so his image is clearly repeated all the way into infinity; which indicates how his experiences in dreams has built up so many layers that he has to keep to himself and distance himself from others. When talking about mirrors, Nash revealed that "Never neutral and 'transparent' as it seems...distorting as they reflect, showing never our self but its double in reverse, a negative we can never put right without a further mirror, ever distancing us from ourselves"  (Nash, 2001:15)  This could see the mirrors used as a metaphor for the levels of dreams that the characters experience.  The more levels they delve into, the deeper into the subconscious they get and the further away from returning to 'reality' they are. The mirror in this scene, from figure 3, is a visual representation of the distance Cobb is from his own normality, from his own interpretation of the world.

Fig. 4 Reality Check.

The use of differing depths within dreams and the changes in reality that comes with it is another technique of note.  As previously mentioned, the dreams all contain usual features that wouldn't seem too out of place, however, the use of repetition within the different levels of dream experience is another postmodern trait. Nash expressed that "in postmodern fiction, houses form within houses, labyrinths within labyrinths, people within persons - the postmodernist's celebrated dicta resonate that no closure is to be found and that there is no outside...beyond the text." (Nash, 2001:16)  This quote is key when thinking about Cobb's character. He has formed literal 'houses within houses, labyrinths within labyrinths' in the dream worlds. Every layer he makes is slightly different configurations and at the deepest layer of the subconscious, the layer of 'no return', he builds homes with his wife. The layers of dreaming has challenged his interpretation of reality and, in turn lead to his need to be sure that the reality he is experiencing is the 'real world', he needs the 'closure'.  However, as Nash mentioned, there is no closure, there is no outside, and figure 3 is a literal representation of that. There are so many repetitions of himself to indicate how completely unsure he is of his own reality. Another interesting plot device is that at any moment Cobb's projection of his late wife, Mal, might leak into a dream he's in and disrupt everything; his own reality, leaking into, and affecting someone else's.

Throughout Inception, the audience is aware that Cobb's fragile grasp of reality is a constant concern, that the reality the characters are experiencing might in fact be a dream without them realising and that the film's ambiguous final shot could suggest that Cobb is still in a dream and he's created this reality for himself.  No matter how it is sliced though, the film is a thoroughly enjoyable and intelligent interpretation of how a person's mind and perception can be manipulated by another without them realising it. 

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Inception (2010) Inception poster. At: http://ubersuper.com/inception-poster-theatrical/ (Accessed on: 03.10.11)

Figure 2. Inception (2010) Bending reality in a dream. At: http://andrewprevett.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/inception-cropped-proto-filmcritic_reviews___entry_default.jpg (Accessed on: 03.10.11)

Figure 3. Inception (2010) Illusion of infinite space. At: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlac6ukyc58rDh60wD8aFErSXf2d0lYegcUTgjYLGt3X5ku-3iLqq9c7OxCozxuqXorpSmkiFmu2NKNTW1tQRvzQYw5-22tb0NMMw4WpspucUTbRcR8kn-fe9w3K8MSv41cLTyoDlXSL4/s1600/large_inception_blu-ray_4.jpg (Accessed on: 03.10.11)

Figure 4. Inception (2010) Reality Check. At: http://www.doobybrain.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/spinning-top-totem-inception.jpg (Accessed on: 03.10.11)

Bibliography

Nash, Cristopher (2001) The unravelling of the postmodern mind. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd.

Nolan, Christopher, Nolan, Jonathan (2010) Inception: The Shooting Script. USA: Insight Editions.

Hobson, Marian (1998) Jacques Derrida: Opening Lines. London: Routledge

Quentin Tarantino's 'Kill Bill: Vol. 1', 2003

Fig. 1 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 Poster

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is a wonderful example of how the postmodern approach of taking influences from pre-existing material and combining it for your own needs can create something unique. A plethora of martial arts and western genre film references welcomes the audience into the world of the director, Quentin Tarantino.

Fig. 2 Screenshot of direct visual reference.

Tarantino is a real lover of film and its visual storytelling. Kill Bill's extensive borrowing of techniques from other existing films either visually or musically, is proof of this. As Dominique Mainon and James Ursini explain: "one cannot help but feel that the film was ultimately made primarily for Tarantino's own viewing pleasure, with the audience of secondary concern." (Mainon, Ursini, 2006:206) There are so many films referenced that are both mainstream and niche that it can feel to the viewer that his films are solely designed for him to enjoy at the expense of good narrative and depth, but Mainon and Ursini go on to say that despite this "it is easy to be drawn into it. Tarantino's universe is a frenetically paced world with all the trappings of a fourteen-year-old boy's adventure fantasy, a psychological counselling session, and a manic pop culture/media experiment" (Mainon, Ursini, 2006:206). Kill Bill: Vol. 1 certainly has the frenetic energy they mention. It is seen through the quite spectacular jumping between different intertextual references, such as The Bride's biker outfit 'taken' from Bruce Lee's The Game of Death to a fight sequence mirroring one from Samurai Fiction. 

Fig. 3 The Bride destroys O-Ren's henchmen.

The fight sequences displayed in Kill Bill are incredibly frenetic but also vicious, bloody and gory. One of the most interesting aspects of these gory fight scenes is that all this vengeful killing is done by a female lead, and the victims she confronts from her list, for this film at least, are all also female. Diane Negra and Yvonne Tasker believe that the "Intense bloodshed in Kill Bill is reserved for female opponents, and each of the personally motivated battles occurs within enclosed, domestic, or at the very least quiet and incongruous spaces for violence... Varied in tone, theme, narrational style, and context, all of these fight scenes are defined by the strong kinetic action of the heroine." (Negra, Tasker, 2007:160)  The violence within this film is often considered gratuitous, the use of a female lead is usually to act as added titillation to the violence, but in Kill Bill Tarantino is deliberately drawing the audience's attention to this.  One of the most interesting themes in these films is that the heroine is acting as the hero seeking revenge and it isn't until she's immobilised that she becomes overtly sexualised by the men around her.  Negra and Tasker go on to express that "Kill Bill foregrounds violence and gender, doing so in a way that emphasizes its own commodification, stylistic extravagance, superficiality, and cultural appropriation... the film offers a spectacle of gender and aestheticized violence that simultaneously deflects and invites or provokes our critical attention to its discourses of gender" (Negra, Tasker, 2007:154)  Tarantino has deliberately taken the stereotypes and clichés that are associated with violence and the women that either endure or dispense it, and used them to challenge the audience's belief.  He wants them to see that these old, exploitative themes, when seen from someone else's view, can actually be challenging and quite stylised spectacle.

Fig.4 The Bride's Death List.

It isn't just the use of violence and stereotypes that Tarantino wants to employ to create an interesting narrative either. M. Keith Brooker explains that the Kill Bill films "are not about violence, but about movies; they are really about their own making - and the making of films in general." (Brooker, 2007:93) Tarantino is also well known for using many different techniques when making his films, and one of these is the non-linear narrative.  The film begins by telling the audience that one of The Bride's targets is already dead, and we go on to watch her kill the second.  Of course we go back to see her first victim, by doing so Tarantino can make a fairly ordinary story of revenge feel fresh and much more interesting to the audience. Not only do we have the non-linear narrative, showing us only certain elements of the story, but there are titles used in order to divide it further.  Philip John Gillett construed that "The flashback structure makes events difficult to follow, yet by dividing the narrative with inter-titles which place events in a time sequence, Tarantino is indicating that the story cannot be dismissed in favour of the excitement of the moment."  (Gillett, 2008:Section 16) Tarantino wants the audience to be completely under his control, they can only see what he wants them to see, when he wants them to see it. This technique means that the audience can't predict what will happen next, allowing for the director to keep them enthralled by a fight sequence one moment and then by a character's origin story the next.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 is, on paper, a simple story of revenge, but in reality it is a postmodern journey into the realms of extreme intertextuality.  The audience gets stylised violence, beautiful visual language and a fantastic soundtrack. Brooker describes it as "if Pulp Fiction remains the best film by Tarantino, the Kill Bill films are clearly the films that best represent Tarantino's special traits as a filmmaker." (Brooker, 2007:94)  This is exactly that. Kill Bill shows how elegantly Tarantino can visually portray influences and references from the genres he loves so dearly.

List of Illustrations

Figure 1. Kill Bill: Vol.1 poster (2003) At: http://www.movieposterdb.com/posters/05_02/2003/0266697/l_8175_0266697_4af8c109.jpg (Accessed on: 24.09.11)

Figure 2. Screenshot of direct visual reference (2003) At: http://designyoutrust.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Everything-Is-A-Remix-KILL-BILL-1-600x335.png (Accessed on: 24.09.11)

Figure 3. The Bride destroys O-Ren's henchmen (2003) At: http://filmjournal.net/mjocallaghan/files/2007/07/killbill1.jpg (Accessed on: 24.09.11)

Figure 4. The Bride's Death List (2003) At: http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqd0dqL3Z91qkl8dr.gif (Accessed on: 24.09.11)

Bibliography

Booker, M. Keith (2007) Postmodern Hollywood: what's new in film and why it makes us feel so strange. USA: Praeger Publishers.

Gillett, Philip John (2008) Movie greats: a critical study of classic cinema. New York: Berg Editorial offices.

Mainon, Dominique, Ursini, James (2006) Modern Amazons: warrior women on screen. New Jersey: Limelight Editions.

Negra, Diane, Tasker, Yvonne (2007) Interrogating postfeminism: gender and the politics of popular culture. USA: Duke University Press.

Tarantino's References: