Bohemian Cinema By Jonathan Pacheco

“Grindhouse”: Transcending Universes?

Tags: Grindhouse, Tarantino, Rodriguez

I remember when the Quentin Tarantino “Movie Universes” were a big deal (or at least a big deal to me.) It was publicized a little when the first Kill Bill volume was released, but I haven’t heard much since. So to bring you up to speed, let me quote an interview by Harry Knowles in which Tarantino lays it out:

At this point I asked Quentin about the Universes that his films take place in. To which Quentin broke it down like so…

Jackie Brown takes place in Elmore Leonard’s Universe… not his.

True Romance, Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction take place in Quentin Universe #1. This universe is REALER THAN REAL.

Meanwhile: His original Natural Born Killers script and From Dusk Till Dawn take place in Quentin Universe #2 which is the MOVIE MOVIE universe.

Now according to Quentin, there are specific rules that govern these two Universes of his. For example… Characters from Universe #1 cannot venture into Universe #2, but say Mr Blonde can appear in Pulp Fiction, and Clarence could appear in Res Dogs, but Vincent Vega could never meet the Gecko Brothers or Mickey and Mallory. And in Universe #2 those characters can’t venture into Universe #1, but can go between the films in their universe. Why is this important?

Well, Kill Bill takes place in the MOVIE MOVIE universe… where it is possible that Mickey and Mallory could exist… or the Gecko Brothers. BUT, also in the Movie Movie universe, characters from other movies… folks like Billy Jack or Shaft… well they exist in the Movie Movie universe as well. So if Quentin wanted Bruce Lee’s Chen Zhen from Fist of Fury to appear in Kill Bill… then Chen Zhen could appear, not that Chen Zhen will appear… but it is within the realm of possibility.

Quentin then states that there is only ONE character in his Universe that can disobey these rules and that is THE WOLF. THE WOLF can go between the universes because while he exists in the REALER THAN REAL universe… He’s a MOVIE MOVIE character that just exists in reality.

Now, the characters in Universe #1… if they were to go see a movie… They would see the movies of Universe #2.

We’ll come back to that.

Now, I’ve seen Grindhouse twice so far. During the Machete trailer, there’s a familiar scene: Danny Trejo leaps onto the hood and roof of a limo and proceeds to throw machetes through the sunroof. If you remember, Danny Trejo did the same thing in Robert Rodriguez’s Desperado, only his character threw small knives instead. I began thinking about this for a little, and then I thought, “What if Machete is the ‘Hollywood version’ of the story of Navajas (Trejo’s character in Desperado)?” It would make sense, wouldn’t it? The movie version is always exaggerated, so instead of small throwing knives, this dude’s tossing machetes! He gets the chicks, he’s flying on motorcycles as he mows down his enemies…..

Think it’s beyond Rodriguez? I’m not so sure. The opening of Desperado consists of Steve Buscemi’s character telling an exaggerated story (on purpose) about “El,” in which the “guitar fighter” takes down an entire bar full of goons by himself. Rodriguez liked the idea of playing with reality and myth.

Then there’s Once Upon a Time in Mexico; Rodriguez has called Mexico the fourth film in his Mariachi Series, with El Mariachi and Desperado being the first two. And the third film? The director says the third is a “ghost film,” meaning it’s a film that doesn’t exist, but it’s still part of the series. When we see flashbacks in Mexico to events we’ve never seen before, Rodriguez says those events are part of that third phantom movie. And isn’t Once Upon a Time in Mexico more in the Movie Movie Universe anyway, in that the characters are broad archetypes, and almost mythic (a guitar fighter, the man with no eyes, the man with no face, the Clash of the Titans lunchbox…). It feels like Rodriguez is already toying with different versions and universes.

So now let’s look at the two Grindhouse features. Planet Terror is a zombie movie that throws every movie cliche into the mix, just for the fun of it; it’s safe to assume that this film takes place in the Movie Movie Universe alongside Kill Bill, From Dusk Till Dawn (a vampire movie), and Tarantino’s script for Natural Born Killers. If you look at Tarantino’s Death Proof, you’re tempted to put it into the Movie Movie Universe because it’s a part of Grindhouse, but when you think about it, there are few things that would qualify it for that classification. It’s not too unrealistic, and there are no supernatural elements like zombies or vampires; it’s just about a sicko with a reinforced car—Pulp Fiction was faker than Death Proof!

To believe that Planet Terror takes place in the Movie Movie Universe and that Death Proof takes place in the Realer Than Real Universe would suggest that several characters can exist in both universes. The Crazy Babysitter Twins, Dr. Dakota Block, and of course, Earl McGraw all appear in both Grindhouse films. I think some can see this as proof that the two films are not in separate universes, because Tarantino has said that the only person who can go between universes was the one and only Wolf (of Pulp Fiction). But I think he’s changing the rules a little. Even if both Grindhouse flicks take place in the Realer Than Real Universe, we still have a crossover character in Earl McGraw. If you’ll remember, Tarantino has already said that From Dusk Till Dawn and Kill Bill are in the Movie Movie Universe, and I’m convinced that Death Proof is in the Realer Than Real Universe, and our favorite Texas Ranger is in all of them.

Now, someone might try to argue that Death Proof is actually in the MM Universe, so Earl McGraw wouldn’t be crossing over, but I’d have to say that you’re wrong. Beyond there being very little that could be taken as “supernatural” or “extreme” in the film, there are a ton of spoken references to movies and television. Characters talk about doing makeup for Lindsey Lohan, or how Darryl Hannah slept with their boyfriend; they talk about BJ and the Bear and Vanishing Point. Not only that, but Zoe Bell is credited as “Herself.” That means that in the world of Death Proof, someone can ask Zoe what it was like to be Uma Thurman’s stunt double in Kill Bill, yet Kill Bill is in the Movie Movie Universe. If Death Proof was in the MM Universe, how could they theoretically talk about Kill Bill, the movie?

Another big indicator is that in Death Proof, the car that the girls drive is just like the one from Vanishing Point. If this were the Movie Movie Universe, wouldn’t it be the actual car from Vanishing Point? Isn’t that the point of the MM Universe—that people and objects from other films can appear without any need for explanation? Then why do the girls have to find a car that’s the same make and model? Why not get the actual one?

I think the key to this is in mixing what Tarantino did and what Rodriguez did—and make no mistake about it, they’re mixing worlds. Characters in Rodriguez’s film are seen with Red Apple cigarettes while characters in Tarantino’s film order Chango Beer, a Rodriguez creation for Desperado.

The result of the mixing is that the Movie Movie Universe is now a place where not only film characters of the past can exist, but the events in this universe can also represent a “Hollywood version” of real-life situations. Say the Realer Than Real Dr. Dakota Block (of Death Proof) was involved in a big outbreak of a virus. Would it be a stretch for some filmmaker to come along and make an exaggerated film about the incident where the victims of the virus turn into zombies? Therefore in this Movie Movie Universe with zombies, we also have Dr. Dakota Block because she was involved in the real-life incident. This is also why Jungle Julia dies in the real world, but we hear a mention of it in the movie world.

Maybe I’m the only one who finds this all to be very interesting. I’m sure Rodriguez and Tarantino will continue to expand these universes. They’ve been getting chummy with other filmmakers like Eli Roth and Rob Zombie (which some think is a very bad thing)—does this mean that characters from their films will cross over? Either way, I’m looking forward to Machete, Inglorious Basterds, or whatever these guys have lined up next.