Quentin Tarantino - Allegations of plagiarism

I know that there are already threads of Tarantino but I wanted to hear the opinions on this specific subject.

Some critics say that Tarantino steal sall his movie ideas from other movies, And i got some exemples from wikipedia:

"Tarantino has also been criticized for using concepts, scenes and dialogue from other films.[22] For example, the climax of Reservoir Dogs is similar to that of Ringo Lam's City on Fire. Stanley Kubrick's The Killing is a direct influence on the fractured narrative structure (Lionel White, author of the novel Clean Break which The Killing was based on, was given a dedication in the end credits of Reservoir Dogs) while the idea of the color-coded criminals is taken from The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. The infamous ear-cutting scene in Reservoir Dogs resembles a scene in Sergio Corbucci's 1966 Spaghetti Western classic Django, in which a man's ear is cut off and fed to him before he is shot dead."

People who want to read more about this subject can read it here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quentin_Tarantino

My question is wether you think it is indeed plagiarism or do you think it is more of an hommage to the movies that he likes.

My opinion is that it is more of hommage because the storylines are ones that he wrote and they are very original. I believe that Tarantino just want to show his influences to the public by giving them a big greasy wink.

What do you guys think?

As for me, I honestly don't have a problem with Tarantino (or indeed, most filmmakers/artists) performing homages (which is spelled with one M). There's nothing new under the sun. Look up Once Upon a Time in the West on Wikipedia and note the "movie references" section, where it lists some of the more noticeable homages in the film. At the very least, the people stealing should be twisting their homages into something halfway-original and that makes it somewhat forgiveable in my ways. Outright copying however - just not as satisfying, really.

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We've got a whole massive thread about the larger topic of homage/theft in movies, right HERE. Of course Tarantino comes up a lot and is a prime example.

My problem with Quentin's heavy borrowing isn't in the borrowing itself but that so many of his younger fans are so undereducated in film appreciation that they don't realize how much of it is going on, thus he gets credit for a level of originality he simply doesn't posses. Quentin is always quick and happy to acknowledge all of his influences and the specific films, but since he often chooses more obscure cinematic reference points, even those who have a fairly good amount of movie knowledge may miss them and won't even know to ask the questions.



The example I always use is the scene where Uma Thurman's Mia Wallace ODs in Pulp Fiction and the adrenaline needle to resuscitate her. The idea of it and the action of the scene, almost exactly beat for beat right down to the use of a magic marker, are taken from an obscure rarely-seen (still not on DVD) documentary Martin Scorsese made called American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince (1978). To be sure Quentin added his visual flair and his own dialogue and characters, but the scene and the idea are lifted entirely from Scorsese. There's nothing wrong with that, but since even most Scorsese fans haven't heard of much less seen American Boy, the scene in Pulp Fiction seems more original and creative than it is.

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I'm sorry, I didn't realise there already was a thread about this

PS: Sorry for my english, I hope it doesn't bother you too much, Iroquois

Great works of art that use homages question and criticize the art they're referencing. They put familiar elements in unusual contexts and provide comments on the values of tropes which they use. Great filmmakers like Leone don't just imitate other directors to prove their affection - they attempt to deconstruct genres by playing with audience's preconceptions and by providing unique takes on age-old genre trappings. Same can be said about book adaptations - the most successful films based on novels don't just replicate novelists ideas on screen, they have a personal touch or perhaps they even subvert the original writer's intentions (2004's Merchant of Venice comes to mind, which shows more sympathy for the main villain of the piece without changing the original text).

On the other hand, there's Tarantino, who uses thousands of references in his films, yet rarely questions them. It shows how big of a geek he is, and how much in love with film in general he is. That's why I don't think that his "borrowing" of plot elements, characters and parts of dialogs is a shortcoming - he makes engaging narratives that don't look patchy in spite of all the eclectic details.

For anyone who wants to see the documentary footage from American Boy Holden was talking about, played alongside the Pulp Fiction scene, here it is...




EDIT: American Boy: A Profile of Steven Prince is now on .

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He is most definitely doing the homage. He 'steals' a lot but makes it his own brilliantly, nothing wrong with that. And they still end up rather original too. And love that he admits it.

I was watching a Miike film a while back called Rainy Dog, made in 1997. One scene had some dialogue in that instantly made me think of Kill Bill Vol.1 where she tells the little girl that one day she can get her revenge and so on, had more or less the exact same thing but with a man and a little boy.

Many creative artists rely heavily on their influences. I think it's their love for their medium -- I think its actually good for film that Tarantino throws in these tidbits. I've seen many movies and heard lots of great music that I never would have known about, had it not been for an artist nodding to it. Not plagiarism. More like a respectful bow.

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To add to this, some artists prefer to work this way. I would rather never in my music reference anything whatsoever but that's just how I work.

I love tarantino as much as the next person, but his homage gets a little out of hand when he refuses to admit his references. The Mia Wallace scene, i distinctly remember watching an interview where he [obvious lied] about a phone call where he was "coming up" with the adrenaline shot scene, he said he had to ask what you do, his friend said adrenaline shot to the heart and they discussed how it would work in the film. as much as i wish it was a simple homage that is plain and simple plagiarism. But nobodys seen american boy, so i gotta give him credit for that. I don't mind him doing homage, but when he deliberately plays off of the fact that he knows audiences haven't seen certain material and so he claims it as his own, i mean for gods sake Ezekiel 25:17 and the Adrennaline scene are the two most talked about ( and the anal rape scene but thats a whole different story) in the whole film and they're the ones people are always giving pulp fiction credit for, even though he stole them. I don't know whether i'm impressed or annoyed by this. haha anyone else feel the same?

One of the greatest interviews of all time!