Easton Ellis, B, (2015), ‘The Gonzo Vision Of Quentin Tarantino’, New York Times, T Magazine’s Oct. 25 Greats issue

Famed writer Bret Easton Ellis wrote a character piece about Quentin Tarantino for the New York Times’s inaugural Greats issue in October 2015. The piece explores Tarantino’s (then) upcoming film, The Hateful Eight, and his incredibly successful career, before both Ellis and Tarantino rejoice on their shared love of film. The discussion of the latter was particularly interesting; they unpack how cinema has evolved, and the politics behind a film’s narrative.

This article is quite useful when trying to understand how the Oscars reward films through a moral lens rather than a cinematic one. Tarantino is an auteur filmmaker who has been the victim of the Academy’s political decision making; his films are seen as too politically incorrect to warrant a reward. Ellis and Tarantino’s love of film also serve as a reminder that we sometimes forget that films are primarily created to entertain and impress.

This article clearly supports our groups idea of how the status of certain ‘prestige films’ (films that have been created just to win an Oscar) are elevated purely because of their self-righteous and sanctimonious subject matter, rather than the actual aesthetic or cinema behind it. Tarantino believing “Selma should have won an Emmy” plays into this idea; despite the film looking like a TV movie, it was nominated because of its ideological-driven narrative. This type of opinion, specifically from an auteur filmmaker, is useful when building our group’s angle.