Momyer, Genre, Identity, and Ethnic Representation
87
warrior who must avenge the death and destruction of his family, usually caused
by an employer or father figure. In Beatrix’s case, her vengeance is toward a
former boss and former lover, Bill (AKA Snake Charmer). Bill also plays the
role of father figure as he is responsible for her training and acts the role of her
father to her unsuspecting husband-to-be during the wedding rehearsal. After the
Twin Pines Wedding Chapel Massacre, after the shot to Beatrix’s head by Bill,
Beatrix wakes after a four-year coma with the memories of a dead groom, dead
wedding party, and the belief that her unborn child has also been killed.
Aside from a somewhat typical Kung Fu plot, Kill Bill follows the
cinematic conventions of the Kung Fu genre during the scenes in China with Pai
Mei. Pai Mei is the Kung Fu master with a long white beard that he flicks with
his hand to signal disgust or intrigue. His eyebrows are large white fluffy things
and the camera quickly zooms in and out on his face, Kung Fu style. Magically,
he sits in a seated lotus position elevated several inches above ground.
The martial arts and violence related to Kung Fu are very different from the
Japanese animation and Samurai traditions. There is no gore or severed limbs or
outrageous amounts of blood, though the violence is equally unrealistic. Instead
of witnessing the visual effects of violence, the audience is only aware that
violence has been performed. The results are frequently internal and mystical.
With the exception of the plucking of Elle Driver’s (AKA Black Mountain
Snake’s) eye from her head during her training session with Pai Mei, all other
forms of violence against humans are internal. Even the Kung Fu Master is
killed through internal wounds. His skill is beyond a level that he could be
attacked and not defend himself, but instead, he is killed through betrayal and
the poisoning of his body. Elle, the only white woman on Kiddo’s Death List
and the only survivor, poisons his fish heads during her training.
Again, looking at the film through a lens that is both ethnic and political,
the escape of Elle Driver may at first seem problematic. In many ways, she
parallels the protagonist, Beatrix. They are the only two Caucasian women in the
Deadly Viper Assassination Squad. Their actions on screen are frequently
paralleled. While Beatrix lies in the hospital in a coma, her face is projected on
the left side of the screen. A line divides the screen in half and Elle is seen on
the other side walking through the hospital in a phony nurse’s uniform as she
gets ready to perform another poisoning—the poisoning of Beatrix’s
unconscious body, which Bill calls off.
This same technique is used again while the two face off in a trailer. At
times both women are seen at the same time in separate sections of the trailer