Tyra Heckstall

UWRIT 1101 MW 9:30

Mr. Campbell

Genre Analysis Assignment

Kill Bill is an action film produced and directed by Quentin Tarantino. This
movie is about a woman, also known as the bride, who is betrayed and brutally
beaten by an assassin squad that she was once apart of. The Deadly Viper
Assassin Squad are notorious assassins skilled in sword fighting and martial arts.
The groups leader, Bill, and the bride once had an intimate relationship together.
After she found out she was pregnant, she wanted out of the group, ran off, and
changed her identity. After being in a coma for four years, the bride finally
awakes and sets out on a path of revenge. Other films that are also in the action
genre are of course Kill Bill Vol 2 and 22 Jump Street. 22 Jump Street is a movie
about two undercover cops who go to college in attempt to bust a drug ring. Even
though 22 Jump Street has a comedy twist, its also considered an action movie
because it contains many conventions of an action film. Examples of conventions
in action films are massive destruction, explosions, fighting, weapons, physical
stunts, high energy and majority of the time, killing. Also, there is always a
motive. For example, the motive in Kill Bill is for the bride to seek revenge on the
Deadly Viper Assassination squad. The motive in 22 Jump Street is for the two
cops to find the source of the drug bust and bring criminals to justice. Both
movies have extensive fighting and use of weaponry. Most of the characters in
Kill Bill are skilled at martial arts and sword fighting and the characters in 22

Jump Street uses a lot of guns and knives. Both films have many conventions in
them that categorizes into the action genre. As far as constraints, Kill Bill really
didnt have any. The film was strictly in line. There was no love scenes or
comedic scene. It focused on the action and adventure prospect.
The intended purpose of the action genre is to entertain the audience.
Producers build up a suspenseful and adventurous story line keeping the
audience interested and wanting to know more or whats going to happen next.
The producers want the audience to have an anxious feeling as the movie
reaches the climax and they achieve this purpose by building up tension in the
story line. Many rhetorical choices are used in movies. For the action genre, one
may notice a lot of figurative language, metaphors and personification. The
intended audience for the action genre could be anyone of any age, except kids.
I do not believe parents should let younger children watch action movies like Kill
Bill due to excessive bad language and violence, unless its a movie like
Superman or Spiderman. People who are attracted to physical stunts and enjoy
watching fights and plot twists are the audience of the action genre. Depending
on the movie, audience can expect little to a lot of profanity. Kill Bill does not
have as much profanity as 22 Jump Street. As far as social and cultural context,
Kill Bill was made in 2003. During this time, the War on Terror was fresh after the
incident of 9/11. With the film having the whole idea of revenge, you can
connect that with 9/11, on how America was getting revenged with the Middle
East for what they did to our country.

In selecting another drama, I would choose horror because I adore scary

movies. Horror movies are completely different than action movies because of
the conventions. The entire purpose of the film would change from entertaining
the audience to giving the audience a scary feeling. Horror movies specialize in
scaring people. Kill Bill is not scary at all, unless someone finds fighting scary.
The audience is expected to be scared and also have a feeling of anxiety and
suspense. In order for Kill Bill to transform into a horror film, the entire plot story
line, and motive would have to change. It would have to have less physical
stunts, and weapons, and more gory things that would terrify the audience (in a
good way). Conventions of the horror genre is mostly darkness, abnormal
creatures such as ghosts and demons, suspenseful music, blood, abandoned
houses, frightened sounds, etc. Overall, it would take a lot in order for an action
movie to fit into a horror genre because of the conventions and characteristics of
both genres.