View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Unisa Institutional Repository DISMEMBERMENT AND DISPOSSESSION IN THE WORK OF QUENTIN TARANTINO AND NATHALIE DJURBERG by CATHERINE TERBLANCHE submitted in accordance with the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS in the subject of ART HISTORY at the University Of South Africa Supervisor: Dr A U Krajewska November 2014 Declaration I, Catherine Terblanche (Student Number 33419914), declare that this dissertation, Dismemberment and dispossession in the work of Quentin Tarantino and Nathalie Djurberg, is my own unaided work, except to the extent explicitly acknowledged. All the sources that I have used or quoted have been indicated by means of complete references. This dissertation is being submitted for the Master of Arts in Art History, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of South Africa. It has not been submitted before for any degree or examination by any other University. _____________________________ Catherine Terblanche Date: November 2014 Dedication This dissertation is dedicated to my late mother. Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Dr Ania Krajewska, for her help and guidance, especially during the last months of writing this dissertation. I am indebted to the Department of Art History, Visual Arts and Musicology, Unisa, specifically Dr Nombe Mpako, Prof Bernadette Van Haute, Prof Frikkie Potgieter, Mr Nic Coetzee, Dr Eunice Basson and Ms Estelle McDowall who have all contributed to my studies in their own unique ways. I would also acknowledge the indispensable contributions of Mr Dawie Malan, subject librarian at Unisa, for his superlative research skills and Mr Daandrey Steyn, for his help with the layout. To Marina Pretorius, not only for her help with language editing, but her unwavering friendship, I am thankful. I am grateful for the understanding and support of my family and friends, Mike Rafferty, Peter and Karen Rafferty, Mia van Wyk, Gardial Potgieter and Johan Conradie. TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract iii Preface iv List of Illustrations v CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 1.1 Background to the study 2 1.2 Problem statement 11 1.3 Objectives 12 1.4 Relevance of the study 13 1.5 Scope of the study 16 1.6 Domain of the study 18 1.7 Methodology 18 1.8 Outline of the chapters 19 ENDNOTES 22 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 25 2.1 Overview of artists 25 2.2 Theoretical overview 28 2.2.1 The problematic definition of violence 28 2.2.2 Agamben’s Homo Sacer and the violent woman 31 2.2.3 Neroni and the portrayal of the violent woman 38 2.2.4 Feminist film theory and the violent woman 40 2.2.5 Mythology, fairy tales and the violent woman 43 ENDNOTES 48 CHAPTER 3: THE PORTRAYAL OF THE VIOLENT WOMAN IN ART AND FILM 51 3.1 Introduction 51 3.2 Neroni’s case study of violent women 51 3.3 Violence in everyday life versus violence in mass media 59 3.4 Tarantino’s view of screen violence 62 ENDNOTES 70 i CHAPTER 4: ISSUES OF DISMEMBERMENT 74 4.1 Introduction to dismemberment in art and film 74 4.1.1 Role or function of dismemberment in society 75 4.1.2 Historical portrayal of dismemberment 86 a) Dismemberment (and sacrifice) in Aztec art 86 b) Dismemberment and society: Joan of Arc and the cult of Lustucru 88 c) Dismemberment (and rebirth) in Surrealism 89 4.1.3 Narrative similarities in fairy tales, mythology and art: functions of dismemberment 92 4.2 Analysis of dismemberment in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill 94 4.2.1 Antagonists and victims 94 4.2.2 The sword as weapon of choice 97 4.2.3 Case study: The Handless Maiden and Kill Bill 101 4.3 Dismemberment in the work of Nathalie Djurberg 105 4.3.1 Freud’s Oedipus complex and dismemberment 106 4.3.2 Case study: Oedipus and Djurberg’s The Necessity of Loss 107 4.3.3 Dionysus, dismemberment and rebirth 109 4.3.4 Case study: Dionysus and The Prostitute 111 ENDNOTES 113 CHAPTER 5: ISSUES OF DISPOSSESSION 117 5.1 Introduction 117 5.2 Stereotypes and dispossession 118 5.2.1 The emergence of the ‘warrior woman’ in art and film 122 5.2.2 Case study: Stereotypes in Kill Bill 124 5.3 Dispossession in the work of Nathalie Djurberg 131 5.3.1 Case study: Red Riding Hood and the work of Nathalie Djurberg 133 ENDNOTES 137 CONCLUSION 139 Appendix 1: List of characters in Kill Bill I (in credit order) 142 Appendix 2: List of characters in Kill Bill II (in credits order) 143 Appendix 3: List of works by Quentin Tarantino. 145 BIBLIOGRAPHY 146 ii Abstract This study aims to apply the biopolitical theories of Giorgio Agamben on homo sacer to the stereotypical representation of the violent woman. Using feminist methodologies for dismantling and exposing social stereotypes, this research explores the relationship between femininity, violence and the representation of these. By focussing on the influence of traditional narratives as found in ancient mythology and fairy tales, the study investigates the contemporary portrayal of the stereotypical violent woman using acts of dismemberment and dispossession in the work of Quentin Tarantino and Nathalie Djurberg, which serve as examples of the controversial relationship between real and filmic violence. Keywords: Dismemberment, dispossession, homo sacer, stereotypes, violence, film, mythology, fairy tales, Quentin Tarantino, Nathalie Djurberg. iii Preface As a little girl, I can remember the horror I experienced when I first heard the fairy tales of Hansel and Gretel, Little Red Riding Hood and Cinderella. Hansel and Gretel was particularly disturbing. What kind of parent would actively abandon her children, knowing that they might starve to death? This was something I could not understand; it was a foreign concept to me. My mother read books in Latin. I remember seeing The Illiad on the bookshelf in the study at home, a mythical code, and a reference to a heroic journey, which my life could echo. My paternal grandmother owned a leather-bound copy of Rudyard Kipling’s Just So Stories. Whenever I stayed over, I read the magical stories of how animals came about. With her death this book disappeared and so too, a piece of my childhood. The book somehow contained answers to all the questions about the mysteries of the universe. Stories have always been an integral part of my life, and have constantly informed the way I understand reality. I grew up in a loving family, the only daughter with three brothers, and both my parents read stories to us at night. I had no frame of reference in terms of experiences when it came to these tales, and the abuse they glorified was alien to me. Somehow as an adult, I still resort to fairy tales and mythological stories to give me comfort and guidance, and most importantly, to entertain and educate me in the form of books, films, animations, cartoons and artworks. My love of narratives, fantasy, and the power of make-believe, has informed and shaped my life and my values. I believe in ‘happy endings’ and utopian societies. At the start of my studies, I saw myself as a pacifist. However, I have come to understand that violence may, however horrific, have a functional role in society. This study for me has been about the gap between reality and illusion. This in a way reflects the structure of most fairy tales. They start with the fantasy ‘Once upon a time’ and end with the reality of ‘they lived happily ever after…’ This I have come to realise does not exist, and what happens in between is a matter of perspective. iv List of Illustrations Note: Unless otherwise stated, all images relating to Kill Bill I and Kill Bill II are from The Tarantino Archives, available at http://www.tarantino.info/ For Kill Bill I: http://wiki.tarantino.info/index.php/Kill_Bill_Volume_1_pictures http://wiki.tarantino.info/index.php/Kill_Bill_dvd_captures For Kill Bill II: http://wiki.tarantino.info/index.php/Kill_Bill_Volume_2_pictures http://wiki.tarantino.info/index.php/Kill_Bill_Volume_2_dvd_captures Plate I Figure 1: Peter Paul Rubens, Rape of the Daughters of Leucippus (c.1617). Oil on canvas, 224 x 211 cm. Collection of Alte Pinakothek, Munich. (Data: Carroll 1989:4,19. Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rape_of_the_Daughters_of_Leucippus#mediavi ewer/File:07leucip.jpg). Plate II Figure 2: Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith Slaying Holofernes (c.1620). Oil on canvas, 158.8 × 125.5 cm. Collection of National Museum of Capodimonte, Naples. (Data and image: http://www.wga.hu/framese.html?/html/g/gentiles/artemisi/judit.html) Figure 3: Artemisia Gentileschi, Judith and Her Maidservant with the Head of Holofernes (c.1625). Oil on canvas, 184 x 141.6 cm. Collection of Detroit Institute of Arts. Catalogue number: 52.253. (Data: http://www.dia.org/object- info/0573dd3e-1079-4ce3-82678b0e1e68331.aspx?position=2 Image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Artemisia_Gentileschi_Judith_M aidservant_DIA.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Artemisia_Gentileschi_Judith_Maidservant _DIA.jpg) Figure 4: Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, Judith Beheading Holofernes (1598–1599). Oil on canvas, 145 cm × 195 cm. Collection of Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica at Palazzo Barberini, Rome. (Data and image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caravaggio_Judith_Beheading_ Holofernes.jpg#mediaviewer/File:Caravaggio_Judith_Beheading_Holofernes.jpg) v Figure 5: Giovanni Baglione, Judith and the Head of Holofernes (1608). Oil on canvas, 220 x 150 cm. Collection of Galleria Borghese, Rome. (Data and image: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baglione_Judith.jpg#mediaview er/File:Baglione_Judith.jpg) Figure 6: Sandro Botticelli, The return of Judith to Bethulia (c. 1470). Tempera on panel, 31 × 24 cm. Collection of Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence.