Wimbledon just got a whole lot more interesting
Do a bit of googling and you can soon find plenty of articles on Tarantino's alternate universe theory, one I've become increasingly interested in. I don't feel QT really gets the credit he deserves. Sure he looks like a raging pervert, but for Christ's sake, the man made a Neil Diamond song seem fucking cool. he's made the films every aspiring writer wished he/she had inked. But it's much bigger than that. You see all of Tarantino's films - the ones he's written and directed - are all inexplicably linked by more than just a brand of cigarettes.
seriously, Neil - fucking - Diamond
The theory begins with the first movie universe, a realer than real world in which True Romance, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Death Proof, Inglourious Basterds and the upcoming Django Unchained are set. Predominately established by character relations - for example: Mr. White had worked with Alabama from True Romance + Mr. Blonde (Vic Vega) and Vincent Vega are brothers. QT has confirmed this and stated he once had plans to make a prequel to Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, which would've been set in Amsterdam - sadly now Travolta has too many years and massages under his belt.
under the belt, geddit?
Expand this further - the "Bear Jew", aka Donny Donowitz, is the father of movie producer Lee Donowitz from True Romance. In QT's movie universe, all the characters have grown up learning how a faction of commando Jews de-scalped hundreds of Nazis, eventually machine gunning Hitler's face until it looked nothing more than a spilled bowl of salsa. The argument goes that because WWII ended in dramatic fashion in a movie theatre, everyone in this universe lends a far greater significance to popular culture - debating Madonna's Like a Virgin over breakfast becomes common place, and everyone has a much more in depth knowledge of cinema and TV. Since the war was won in a perilous act of hyper-violent slaughter, everyone is also more desensitized to murder - think Butch and Esmerelda the cab driver's sexualisation of violence, Vincent Vega's distinct lack of real worry when he shoots Marvin in the face, and last but not least - Mr. Blonde's pure glee as he slices, tortures and jives around to Steeler's Wheel.
common place in the QT world
With me so far? Good, 'cause this is where shit starts to hit the fan. Y'see, inside the first universe, there lies another. QT has gone on record as saying that Kill Bill and From Dusk 'til Dawn take place in what he deemed a "movie-movie universe" - that is, they are movies that characters from the first universe (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, etc.) would go and see in cinemas. Kill Bill, after all, is essentially Fox Force Five, right down to Mia Wallace playing the title role. And who would make these super violent cavalcades you ask? Son of "bear jew" of course! Nobody is better placed to come up with these movies than Lee Donowitz, produced in a world where America's crowning victory was locking a bunch of people in a movie theatre and blowing it to smithereens.
"Zed's dead baby. Zed's dead."
Right. So basically now we've got every single one of Tarantino's films placed. In this theory he made them all within one overarching world, which is fucking genius. There's so many little details that you can notice if you really look for them. For example, props in the first universe also appear as popular culture references in the movie-movie universe. In Pulp Fiction, Butch butchers Zed with a sword made by none other than Hattori Hanzo - a fictional Hattori Hanzo then grafts the Bride her new toy in Kill Bill. Red Apple cigarettes are famously smoked by all in the first universe, but appear predominately as advertisements in the movie-movie. The same way Malboro, for example, might be injected into films for the same purpose.
Finally, the briefcase! The contents of which have been up for debate since '94. How about if I told you that Vince and Jules were sent to retrieve the briefcase of diamonds that were stolen from Mr. Pink at the end of Reservoir Dogs. Sound plausible? It would make sense seeing as the Vega brothers are the link between the crime syndicates of Joe and Marsellus, and it explains the glow that emits from the case each time it opens. So there you have it. A rough QT fan theory that you may, or may not, buy into. Personally I'd like to believe. But all I'm sure of is that I cannot fucking wait for Django Unchained, as it predates the chronology of Inglourious (which should be interesting), and it looks absolutely rad.
best xmas present ever
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