Focus Essay

What the public may perceive of celebrities can often be completely contradictory to what the person is truly like. With Quentin Tarantino comes a lot of confusion and many assumptions. Based on his movies, many people presume that he is a strange, disturbed man who grew up in an unsettling environment, but that is not true. Also, his material is often thought to be incredibly original, when in fact only the main ideas come from Quentin’s mind. Therefore, what the public think of this multitalented man are often severely warped versions of the truth.

Peculiar, unstable, and nerdy are words that often describe Quentin. People see his movies, and inevitably notice all the sick and twisted scenes that these movies consist of. Instantly, many people are disgusted and develop an aversion for Quentin and his movies. In their minds, he is the epitome of messed up people, and they assume that he had a messed up childhood to match his personality. Quentin himself implies hillbilly upbringings. Those who admire this man’s work, or know him personally know this is not the case. In reality, Quentin’s mother Connie raised Quentin Jerome Tarantino normally in an upper middle class society. His real father, Tony Tarantino left Connie and Quentin and so did the next two men who became Quentin’s stepfathers. Quentin never quite had a father figure, and this idea is prevalent in his movies. The beginnings of his affinity for movies originated when Quentin was young. He would often see movies, some that children his age should not have seen. It was no surprise that he aimed to become a famous director/actor. He was unique and creative as a child, and this imaginative spark grew as Quentin got older. Quentin often appears at somewhat important events dressed in jeans and a dirty t-shirt. Though he is seemingly a slob, he simply figures that people come to see his work, not him. When the name Quentin Tarantino was not yet widely known, people who saw his films then met the man himself all shared the same reaction. They did not expect what they saw. Quentin appeared to be too happy and seemingly naïve to have written such vulgar movies. Quentin Tarantino definitely does not fit under the labels he is so often given.

The originality of Quentin’s masterpieces is often questionable. While his unique filming styles and main storylines are all thought of by him, parts of dialogues taken from other films and even his friends can be found in his films. Some actions are taken from other films and his friends as well, however he never truly gives them credit. For example, Roger Avary wrote a whole third of Pulp Fiction, but Quentin modified it and made it his, without acknowledging Roger. Things that Quentin’s friends say in their everyday lives often show up in Quentin’s movies (also without acknowledgement), and some of them get sore about Quentin’s “first come first serve” perspective. Not only does Quentin use the material of others, he even “steals” his own material. A scene from a film he and Craig Hamman made in his amateur years called My Best Friend’s Birthday closely resembles a scene in Pulp Fiction, where Uma Thurman inhales heroin, thinking it’s cocaine. In a sense, it’s like quilt work. Quentin takes bits of material that, on their own wouldn’t look interesting, and puts them together in such a way that the end result is a unique, attention-grabbing masterpiece.

Most celebrities seem insecure about all the rumours that circulate through magazines and the television. Quentin Tarantino prefers to laugh at rumours, and actually find it quite interesting to hear what people think about him. Though the public may see Quentin as a troubled mind with an odd persona, he truly is just unique and goes for the shock factor. In addition, he may seem to have fresh ideas, but in actuality, a considerable amount of his work is similar to movies or people he took the ideas off of.