YELLOW JUMPSUIT TERRORIZES HUNDREDS!
Aron Williams
English 1102
Spenser Simrill
“ Copperhead: So when do we do this?
The Bride: It all depends. When do you want to die? Tomorrow? The day after tomorrow?
Copperhead: How about tonight, bitch?
The Bride: Splendid. Where? “
Proceeding this quote, there were people’s heads disemboweled, arms sliced off, and an epic battle in which the top of one’s brains are sliced off completely! What more could you ask for from a wearer of the yellow jumpsuit? But I must digress from this topic of violence. Although it is a major part of this movie, Kill Bill (Volume 1 and 2), there is much more going on. After leaving the life of an assassin to settle down, only to witness her friends massacred mercilessly with machine guns and martial arts at her wedding rehearsal, Beatrix Kiddo, also known as The Bride or Black Mamba, sets out on a destructive and violent path for revenge. As anyone can see how this revenge is played out in the movie, it would be more beneficial to focus on the backstory and underlying themes motivating her to take such actions, apart from the obvious reason of having an attempt on her life while she was with child. In order to dissect her reasons to get a full and complete understanding, a character analysis of Beatrix Kiddo and how she is portrayed in the movie will help describe the plot of the story, and why things develop the way they do.
This movie was directed by Quentin Tarantino, like all of the other films we’ve watched in class. When you first start to watch this movie, one might perceive, well, it’s about a female with anger issues. However, there is one singular thing that captures the entirety of the whole movie. It helps represent the power and the fierceness of her blood lust, and her unrelenting motivation to press onward until she has killed everyone on her death list, no matter the amount of lives lost in the process. Before unveiling the secret of her devastating power, a quote worth mentioning after she has an all-out battle with an entire army helps to illustrate clearly her ruthlessness. “Bill: If you had to guess where she was headed next, what would be your best guess? Sofie Fatale: Guessing won’t be necessary. She informed me. She said that I could keep my wicked life for two reasons…[flashback]The Bride: As I said before, I’ve allowed you to keep your wicked life for two reasons. And the second reason is so you can tell him in person everything that happened here tonight. I want him to witness the extent of my mercy by witnessing your deformed body. I want you to tell him all the information you just told me. I want him to know what I know. I want him to know I want him to know. And I want them all to know they’ll all soon be as dead as O-Ren.”
All of this is thanks to her outfit, the yellow jumpsuit. So what is so special about this outfit? Don’t actors always dress up when they perform? In this case, this yellow outfit alludes specifically to one thing: Bruce Lee. When we think of Bruce Lee, we think of the epitome of human strength, flexibility, and above all, a martial arts master. Upon watching some of his movies, one of his famous ones, The Game of Death, stars with Lee wearing this same exact jumpsuit as he advances up a tower, defeating everyone in his way. As he battles on, the people he fights become tougher and tougher to defeat, which was also demonstrated in Kill Bill. When Beatrix goes to fight O-Ren, she first has to kill the soldiers or at least disable them, then O-Ren’s general, and finally her personal body guard. It gave the audience a scare, creating a suspense that even if she was able to defeat this opponent before getting to her ultimate goal, would she have the energy to even defeat her? This same suspense was also created in Bruce Lee’s movie, as the audience is able to see him as he starts to get physically worn out as he starts to reach the top, where the biggest challenge awaits him. He does sustain some serious damage, as does Beatrix (she suffers a sword swipe to her back), but in the end, they were both able to defeat their enemy in the only way possible…killing them.
Though the way she dressed is important, this next aspect is essential to understanding Beatrix as a character, and how she is portrayed in the movie by means of cameras, what she’s dressed in, and other cinematic techniques. From the absolute beginning of the film, you can see her place in the midst of the chaos. It starts out with her looking up to someone (Bill), who also happens to be her master and the father of her child. This simple shot implies that she is insubordinate, weak and helpless. A shot like this is also taken when she is in her coma laying in a hospital bed. Two people of importance come in. The first, Ellie Driver (in the movie known as California Mountain Snake), is seen looking down at Beatrix, helping to create the feelings in the audience of helplessness, and right as she’s about to kill her, she gets a call from Bill to dismiss that order, saying that it would disgrace their organization to kill someone in their sleep while they’re helpless.
Let’s take into account a video that was produced for this movie. It was very insightful to me, and made perfect sense. Including the examples that are related to this essay, everything in this movie was just a remix of numerous other movies, all together in one. Take for instance the motorcycle scene, when Beatrix is following Oren’s car. This same scene was mimicked from Bruce Lee’s Game of Death, including the way he put on his helmet. As alluded to earlier, the way she is dressed also helps to demonstrate the current physical state she is in, as well as her current personality and mental state. When she’s in the hospital, she’s wearing a hospital gown that’s long, with intricate details embroidered inside it, almost like something you’d see from a mother who just had a baby, or a lady while she’s recovering from surgery. This gown isn’t unique, as almost all patients that go into a hospital wear something similar. However, it’s what happens in the movie that makes Beatrix unique among all. While she is still in bed, we see her recover at an astonishing rate, both mentally and physically. This aspect of recovery is pronounced in the movie when she sees Buck and smashes his head to death-a powerful manifestation of the storm of fury that was raging inside of her. After this, she crawls out to the parking lot, and uses Buck’s keys to get into his car, whispering over and over to herself, “Wiggle your big toe”. Despite having just killed someone, having her say this over and over to herself helps to show two things: her determination, and her ability to overcome her muscle atrophy. Hers is most likely disuse atrophy because she was bedridden for months, not moving at all. This made her muscles go slack and not work when she needed them, but it can be reversed through exercise however.
Overall, the yellow jumpsuit helps to give the audience a sense of her empowerment. People all over the world would recognize the yellow jumpsuit, and would expect great feats to come of the one that is in it. Tarantino did a fine job at replicating and manipulating this suit to alter people’s perception of Beatrix, and not to make her be more or less overlooked because she doesn’t look as strong as say, Bruce Lee.
Sources:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0266697/quotes
http://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/oct/10/quentintarantino