Kill Bill and thoughts on male manipulator movies
When is the restock of the yellow Mexico 66 shoes
First off, I want to say apologies for not posting on my usual Wednesday evenings. I was busy being delighted at the NCT Dream concert in Newark last night. I’ve been an on-and-off K-pop fan since middle school and I officially felt old last night. Gen-Z girlies flooded Prudential Center in NCT’s neon green fandom color excited to be dazzled by the sweet NCT subunit that is Dream. I really felt like I was healing my inner child.
This week I want to recall my rewatching of a handful of “male manipulator” films I’ve watched recently. A total 180 from the NCT boys engineered for a woman’s gaze. Spoilers ahead but you already knew that :)
A few weeks ago, Luca and I split an orange-flavored edible and went to town on a vodka pie from Norm’s while watching a pirated version of Kill Bill: Volume 1 (there is no way I would pay to stream it). I watched it many years ago as a kid in my uncle’s living room during a family party more than once. My older cousin is a huge Quentin Tarantino fan and he seemed to play it anytime we came over. I only remember bits and pieces that scared me as a child, like when Uma Thurman is choked by the spiky ball on a chain or when she slices Lucy Liu’s scalp off. This rewatching of it made so much click in my head–the origins of millennial toxic masculinity. This is not to say that the film was bad. It was actually fantastic and I loved it. I cannot wait to rewatch Volume 2 next. In fact, I would enjoy being stabbed by Uma Thurman in her iconic canary yellow Game of Death-inspired jumpsuit!
There’s sword fighting and anime sequences and hot women in tight outfits and prolonged close-ups of feet and dire situations born by men’s actions and existences. Uma Thurman’s character is only known as “the bride”– her whole character is based on her attachment to a man, both married to him and destined to kill him. The stakes are even higher once you find out that she was pregnant with that man’s child. Her revenge is rooted in maternal instincts as if that’s the only thing that would motivate a woman to kill.
The concept of the Deadly Vipers as all-women assassins led by Bill made me giggle. They’re slender and sly and deadly and allegiant to a man. They are girl bosses in all their gatekeeping, gaslighting glory! The bride is nothing but a vessel used for killing and for fucking. Even in her comatose state, Tarantino can’t help but plaster her as this sexual being both by the cop who finds her body and the doctors selling her to rape in her unconsciousness.
The oriental themes are another layer of cool man stuff! Action anime and sword fighting are so alluring to the male gaze. Japan, with its patriarchal values and strict gender roles, is a perfect aesthetic for the film. There’s something about an old, wise Japanese swordmaker and the sacredness of the art of the blade that really gets the gears grinding. The emotions related to stabbing are, after all, deeply rooted in the male desire to penetrate.
The Kill Bills were released within the same 5-year period as Fight Club and American Psycho. Both films also fall under the category of toxic film bro maybe made possible by Bush’s conservative America. Both films are violent and glorify a type of alpha male. In reality, you’re not supposed to idolize Tyler Durden or Patrick Bateman. They are caricatures of gory machismo but are often violently misconstrued as aspirational strong men.
Despite all this, I can’t help but love these films. Every woman in Kill Bill could brutally murder me and I would thank them. It’s still a fun film that plays homage to so much iconic action filmmaking and animation. Fight Club’s twists and turns always keep me on edge Patrick Bateman is an iconic toxic baby girl. Maybe I am a film bro.
That’s it for this week! Until the next one. Peace and love.
P.S. Is allegiant a word? Well, it is now.