A contemporary myth

Rating: 10/10 (13 January 2005)

The "Kill Bill" films comprise (among other things) a self-conscious creation of a contemporary myth. The characters are larger-than-life in the manner of the classical gods, and like the classical gods they are jealous, violent, often petty, and indifferent to the loss of human life. Existing on this mythical level, they can't be judged by human laws or ethics and social conventions. They're operating in a different realm altogether. Thus, almost every aspect of the film is larger-than-life, often in self-conscious and deliberately humorous (albeit dark humor) way: the spurting and raining, and artistically spattered blood, the name of Bill's Gang (the Deadly Viper Assassin Squad, which just sounds silly), the numerous references to other films (building on an accumulated contemporary myth), the use of an anime film-within-the-film (O-ren Ishii's biography), the Bride's ability to defeat a mini-army of kung fu fighters, the tangled relationship between the Bride and Bill (again reminiscent of the classical gods), and finally, the Revenge (with a capital R) motif and the Bride's re- creation as a Mother (think Ripley in "Aliens" who is also larger-than-life). The Bride's skills are obviously larger-than-life, giving her a superhuman quality. The films also comprise a quest story (a la Joseph Campbell), including the elements of separation, initiation, and return, and including such typical quest conventions as the helping character who provides the hero with a gift (in particular the katana the Bride receives from Hattori Hanzo and the knowledge of the Five Point Palm Exploding Heart technique she learns from her martial arts Master, Pai Mei. The films are filled with hilariously exaggerated moments, suggesting that they aren't to be taken entirely seriously--self-conscious myths can be funny and mythic at the same time, and the Kill Bill films succeed wonderfully.