Quentin Tarantino VS Spike Lee

Quentin Tarantino 


Who is he?

Quentin Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, cinematographer, producer and actor, born in Knoxville, Tennessee on 27 March, 1963. He was born to nurse, Connie and an Italian-American actor and musician, Tony Tarantino. Quentin Tarantino has had a love for films from a young age and he grew up in South Los Angeles with his Mother who took him to the cinema from the age of around 6. He saw films such as Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein, The Wild Bunch, Carnal Knowledge and Deliverance which were all inspirations for him, especially Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein. 

Where did he train?

Quentin Tarantino studied at Narbonne High School and Alexander Fleming Middle School however, he hated his time in education and would easily choose watching films over studying. When Tarantino was aged 22, he got a job at the Video Archives in Manhattan Beach in which he wrote the scripts for True Romance (in 1987) and Natural Born Killers (in 1988). In 1990, he made $50,000 for the True Romance script and he used this money to make the script for Reservoir Dogs with his friends as the main characters. Soon after, Tarantino left the Video Archives and he met Lawrence Bender (who now is often the producer for Tarantino's films) when doing rewrites for a small Hollywood production company called CineTel. Lawrence knew Harvey Keitel who saw and was impressed by the Reservoir Dogs script so raised more finance for it as well as helping Tarantino with casting. The film was then released in 1992 and then after the release and immense success of Pulp Fiction in 1994, Tarantino went on to be a major figure in the film industry.

What films has he made? What are his main values and themes?

Tarantino has 23 writing credits, 30 acting credits, 20 producer credits, 16 director credits and 2 cinematography credits. Popular films he has directed include: Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill Vol.1 (2003), Kill Bill Vol. 2 (2004), Death Proof (2007), Inglourious Basterds (2009), Django Unchained (2012) and he is currently working on The Hateful Eight. His films are best known for their extreme violence, a lot of which is suggested off screen which increases the intensity because the audience are given the opportunity to have gruesome imagery in their minds. He also makes references to cult movies and television and makes use of non-linear narratives in some of his films including Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. Smaller trademarks in his films include long lasting scenes, a scene at the beginning of the film before the main titles are shown, restaurant scenes and his protagonists are often violent tempered and will overcome the antagonist using brutality. The major theme expressed in most of Tarantino's films is revenge and 'repaying evil with evil' and other common themes are: violence, secrecy, hatred, trust, betrayal, friendship, murder and death. 

What awards has he won? 

Quentin Tarantino has won 122 awards and has received 103 nominations. These awards include 2 Oscars for best writing and original screenplay for both Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained, 2 Golden Globes for best screenplay again for both Pulp and Django, and 2 BAFTA awards for best original screenplay (Pulp and Django). 

Controversy between Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee: 

There has been some major controversy between Quentin Tarantino and Spike Lee, firstly as Lee is strongly against Tarantino's incorporation of the n-word in a lot of his films and in Jackie Brown, Lee calculated his use of the word to be 38 times. However, it is Django Unchained, which is based around slavery, that caused the largest amount of controversy between the two men. Lee claimed that he would never watch the film because it would be disrespectful to his ancestors and he expressed his hatred towards the film on twitter by writing: "American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them." 

Spike Lee 


Who is he?

Spike Lee is an African-American film director, producer, writer and actor born in Atlanta, Georgia on 20 March, 1957. He was born to Jacqueline Carroll, a teacher of arts and black literature and William James Edward Lee III, a jazz musician and composer. 

Where did he train?

Spike Lee studied at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn then after enrolled at Morehouse College which is a historically black college. It was here he completed his first student film called Last Hustle in Brooklyn and he graduated with a BA in mass communication whilst taking film classes at Clark Atlanta University. In 1982, he earnt a Master of Fine Arts in film and television at New York University Film School and he won a Student Academy Award for his thesis film, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. 

What films has he made? What are his main values and themes?

Spike Lee has 61 directing credits, 58 producing credits, 16 writing credits and 16 acting credits. Popular films he has directed include: She's gotta have it (1986), School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1993), Get on the Bus (1996), He Got Game (1998), Bamboozled (2000), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), Miracle at st. Anna (2008), Oldboy (2013) and Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014). His production company is called 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks and it has produced over 35 films since 1983. Lee's films are deep and meaningful and they explore themes that relate to him including: race relations, colorism in the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty and more political issues. Common trademarks of Lee include: he frequently casts himself, he makes use of direct mode of address within his characters (they stare directly into the camera) and he makes his characters look as if they are floating or gliding by placing them on dollies, sometimes with the camera as well. 

What awards has he won?

Spike Lee has won 39 awards and has received 53 nominations. These awards include a BAFTA special award, an Innovator award at the American Black Film Festival, a Black Movie Award for the best director in Inside Man and a Prize of the Ecumenical Jury- Special Mention award for Jungle Fever at Cannes Film Festival.