The Avenging Females: A Comparative Analysis of Kill Bill Vol.1-2, Death Proof and Sympathy for Lady Vengeance

• Main Author: Basak Göksel Demiray
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of Pittsburgh 2012-04-01
• Series: CINEJ Cinema Journal
• Subjects: Revenge movies, male gaze, assaultive gaze, Laura Mulvey, Carol Clover
• Online Access: http://cinej.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/cinej/article/view/40

This paper provides a comparative analysis of Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill Vol.1-2 (2003, 2004), Death Proof (2007) and Park Chan Wook’s Sympathy for Lady Vengeance (Chinjeolhan Geumjassi, 2005). The primary objectives of this study are: (1) to reveal the gender-biases inherent to the fundamental discursive structures of the foregoing films; (2) to compare and contrast the films through an analysis of the ‘gaze(s)’ and possible ‘pleasures’,  which are inherent in their narratives, in relation to Laura Mulvey’s and Carol Clover’s approaches; and (3) to distinguish Kill Bill Vol.1-2 from the foregoing two and the ‘avenging female’ clichés of the other horror/violence movies in the context of the replaced positionings of its protagonist and antagonist inherent in its distinct narrative style.