quentin tarantno's movie universe...?

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

this is something really interesting i've just read on a film blog:

Quentin Tarantino has been pretty vocal that many of his films are set in the same universe. Vincent Vega from Pulp Fiction is the documented brother of Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs. Mr. White in Reservoir Dogs possibly worked with Alabama from True Romance. Brands such as Big Kahuna Burger and Red Apple Cigarettes appear in multiple films, the list goes on an on. A more recent development was when Tarantino said that Sgt. Donny Donowitz, the Bear Jew of Inglourious Basterds, was the father of Lee Donowitz, the sleazy movie producer of True Romance.

And that got one person thinking. If all these movies take place in the same universe, that means World War II ended how it ended in Inglourious Basterds and everyone would know about it. Which opens up a huge can of worms. Read the very entertaining theory below.

The below theory first popped up on Reddit (influenced by Cracked) but then our own David Chen tweeted about it and sort of got the ball rolling. Here goes:

As it turns out, Donny Donowitz, ‘The Bear Jew’, is the father of movie producer Lee Donowitz from True Romance – which means that, in Tarantino’s universe, everybody grew up learning about how a bunch of commando Jews machine gunned Hitler to death in a burning movie theater, as opposed to quietly killing himself in a bunker.

Because World War 2 ended in a movie theater, everybody lends greater significance to pop culture, hence why seemingly everybody has Abed-level knowledge of movies and TV. Likewise, because America won World War 2 in one concentrated act of hyperviolent slaughter, Americans as a whole are more desensitized to that sort of thing. Hence why Butch is unfazed by killing two people, Mr. White and Mr. Pink take a pragmatic approach to killing in their line of work, Esmerelda the cab driver is obsessed with death, etc.

You can extrapolate this further when you realize that Tarantino’s movies are technically two universes – he’s gone on record as saying that Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn take place in a ‘movie movie universe’; that is, they’re movies that characters from the Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, and Death Proof universe would go to see in theaters. (Kill Bill, after all, is basically Fox Force Five, right on down to Mia Wallace playing the title role.)

What immediately springs to mind about Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn? That they’re crazy violent, even by Tarantino standards. These are the movies produced in a world where America’s crowning victory was locking a bunch of people in a movie theater and blowing it to bits – and keep in mind, Lee Donowitz, son of one of the people on the suicide mission to kill Hitler, is a very successful movie producer.

Basically, it turns every Tarantino movie into alternate reality sci fi. I love it so hard.

Do you buy that? I think it makes sense though I doubt Tarantino ever really thought it out and mapped it that way. Still, it’s a very cool idea and I’m curious to see where Django Unchained fits in. It reportedly fits in the ‘realer than real’ universe alongside most of his other films. Since Django is set in an earlier time frame than Tarantino’s other movies, it might not have many ties or much effect on the grand timeline. Then again, we once thought that about Inglourious Basterds, too.

if any of this is true at all, then i'm even more excited for django unchained - not just because it's di caprio in a tarantino film - and i want to see where it will fit into the tarantino-verse.

 

[Ohri-Jin]

I like his movies I really do but where does planet terror fit in? Cause tht movie was unbelievable shit. One of the worst movies Ive ever seen. Not sure if he made it but I could have sworn its his.

 

[Big Casino]

planet terror wasnt a tarantino film tho he did help out and star in it. It was robert rodriguez. Planet terror and deathproof or ''grindhouse'' as theyre called were tribute to the films youd see back to back in the old days at the cinema. where you would have a film to watch before the main picture came on. Deathproof is the A side and warm up film as its slower and planet terror is the main flick ''B'' with all the action and gore and excitement etc.

Its a cool theory for sure but i dont buy it tbh. Tarantinos just a fan of recurring themes i think. I think its like his own little joke in a way.
I also didnt love inglorious basterds all that much I seem to be alone on that though.

No mention of jackie brown?

EDIT ps i loved planet terror. Deathproof was a snorefest however

 

[Catnip]

This is excellent. Every bit of it. He's my favourite director and has been since I was a child.

This is a pretty interesting theory. I've always thought about how the QT universe would have worked, but never too deeply like this. I like

 

[Roland_Deschain]

I love tarantino... even though a lot of his films are a hit and miss for me. I love pulp fiction, jackie brown, kill bills were ok, inglorius bastards was great imo, and reservoir dogs and dusk til dawn good stuff. I was doing some reading on his movies and found that many popular movies he wrote he sold the story and scirpts for other people to do them... perhaps this might fit into this theory because maybe he did not think they belonged in his universe... who knows hehe.

 

[Jack's Smirking Revenge]

just found this about inglorious basterds and django unchained possibly being related:

Quentin Tarantino is well-known by fans as a guy who likes to construct inter-connected narratives. His characters and their relatives pass from one film to another, to the point where he’s got two “universes,” describing the real life of his general character set, and the films those people might go see. There are even a few characters (such as Harvey Keitel’s Winston Wolf, from Pulp Fiction) who can cross between universes.

So it isn’t a surprise to hear that Tarantino is thinking of his two most recent films, Inglourious Basterds and the upcoming Django Unchained, as two thirds of a loosely connected trilogy. But what does that mean for us?

Tarantino told Total Film,

Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained bespeak a trilogy. As different as they are, there is a companion piece quality. There might very well be a third one. I just don’t know what it is yet.

In addition to sharing Christoph Waltz as a major player, the two films both offer Tarantino’s own take on history, with World War II and slavery in the United States offering the films their respective historical background.

Tarantino has talked of making a ’30s gangster film, and so it’s easy to assume that might end up being the third film. (As The Playlist, which passed along the quotes, guesses.) Or we could see something entirely different from the director. He’s been working at a slightly faster pace recently than he did for some time, so lets hope this burst of inspiration continues to allow him to close the trilogy with similar speed.

which sort of puts more credibility to the theory