Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy

Table of Contents

 

 

 

 

 

 

Popular Culture and Philosophy
^®
Series Editor: George A. Reisch

VOLUME 1

Seinfeld and Philosophy: A Book about Everything and Nothing
(2000)

VOLUME 2

The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D’oh! of Homer
(2001)

 

VOLUME 3

The Matrix and Philosophy: Welcome to the Desert of the Real
(2002)

VOLUME 4

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Philosophy: Fear and Trembling in Sunnydale
(2003)

VOLUME 5

The Lord of the Rings and Philosophy: One Book to Rule Them All
(2003)

 

VOLUME 6

Baseball and Philosophy: Thinking Outside the Batter’s Box
(2004)

 

VOLUME 7

The Sopranos and Philosophy: I Kill Therefore I Am
(2004)

 

VOLUME 8

Woody Allen and Philosophy: You Mean My Whole Fallacy Is Wrong?
(2004)

VOLUME 9

Harry Potter and Philosophy: If Aristotle Ran Hogwarts
(2004)

VOLUME 10

Mel Gibson’s Passion and Philosophy: The Cross, the Questions, the Controversy
(2004)

VOLUME 11

More Matrix and Philosophy: Revolutions and Reloaded Decoded
(2005)

 

VOLUME 12

Star Wars and Philosophy: More Powerful than You Can Possibly Imagine
(2005)

VOLUME 13

Superheroes and Philosophy: Truth, Justice, and the Socratic Way
(2005)

VOLUME 14

The Atkins Diet and Philosophy: Chewing the Fat with Kant and Nietzsche
(2005)

 

VOLUME 15

The Chronicles of Narnia and Philosophy: The Lion, the Witch, and the Worldview
(2005)

VOLUME 16

Hip Hop and Philosophy: Rhyme 2 Reason
(2005)

VOLUME 17

Bob Dylan and Philosophy: It’s Alright Ma (I’m Only Thinking)
(2006)

VOLUME 18

Full-Throttle Aristotle
(2006) Edited by Bernard E. Rollin, Carolyn M. Gray, Kerri Mommer, and Cynthia Pineo

VOLUME 19

Monty Python and Philosophy: Nudge Nudge, Think Think!
(2006) Edited by Gary L. Hardcastle and George A Reisch

VOLUME 20

Poker and Philosophy: Pocket Rockets and Philosopher Kings
(2006) Edited by Eric Bronson

VOLUME 21

U2 and Philosophy: How to Decipher an Atomic Band
(2006) Edited by Mark A. Wrathall

VOLUME 22

The Undead and Philosophy: Chicken Soup for the Soulless
(2006) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad

 

VOLUME 23

James Bond and Philosophy: Questions Are Forever
(2006) Edited by James B. South and Jacob M. Held

 

VOLUME 24

Bullshit and Philosophy: Guaranteed to Get Perfect Results Every Time
(2006) Edited by Gary L. Hardcastle and George A. Reisch

VOLUME 25

The Beatles and Philosophy: Nothing You Can Think that Can’t Be Thunk
(2006) Edited by Michael Baur and Steven Baur

 

VOLUME 26

South Park and Philosophy: Bigger, Longer, and More Penetrating
(2007) Edited by Richard Hanley

VOLUME 27

Hitchcock and Philosophy: Dial M for Metaphysics
(2007) Edited by David Baggett and William A. Drumin

 

VOLUME 28

The Grateful Dead and Philosophy: Getting High Minded about Love and Haight
(2007) Edited by Steven Gimbel

 

VOLUME 29

Quentin Tarantino and Philosophy: How to Philosophize with a Pair of Pliers and a Blowtorch
(2007) Edited by Richard Greene and K. Silem Mohammad

 

VOLUME 30

Pink Floyd and Philosophy: Careful with that Axiom, Eugene!
(2007) Edited by George A. Reisch

 

 

 

IN PREPARATION:

 

Johnny Cash and Philosophy
(2008) Edited by John Huss and David Werther

 

Bruce Springsteen and Philosophy
(2008) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Doug Anderson

Battlestar Galactica and Philosophy
(2008) Edited by Josef Steiff and Tristan D. Tamplin

The Legend of Zelda and Philosophy
(2008) Edited by Luke Cuddy

Star Trek and Philosophy
(2008) Edited by Jason T. Eberl and Kevin S. Decker

 

iPod and Philosophy
(2008) Edited by Dylan E. Wittkower

 

The Wizard of Oz and Philosophy
(2008) Edited by Randall E. Auxier and Phil Seng

Working on this project has been a pleasure, in no small part because of the many fine folks who have assisted us along the way. In particular a debt of gratitude is owed to George Reisch and David Ramsay Steele at Open Court, the contributors to this volume (each of whom agreed to produce top-notch work at a highly accelerated pace), and our respective academic departments at Southern Oregon University and Weber State University (Terry Thiel has been particularly supportive). Finally, we’d like to thank those students, friends, and colleagues with whom we’ve had fruitful and rewarding conversations on various aspects of Tarantino’s work in relation to philosophical themes.

Quentin Tarantino makes the most aggressively reflexive films in contemporary mainstream cinema. From dialogue about Madonna, Lee Marvin, and the Fantastic Four in 1992’s
Reservoir Dogs
, to the Seventies retro pastiche of 2007’s
Death Proof
, Tarantino’s movies are obsessed with pointing self-consciously to their own knowledge of the position they occupy among the disposable (but infinitely recyclable) entertainments of American pop culture.