When we think of the great filmmakers in the history of cinema, names such as Christopher Nolan, Steven Spielberg, Roman Polanski and Quentin Tarantino come to mind. The latter brought together a distinctive set of characteristics that made each of his films unmistakably his own. Rubén de la Prida, who holds a PhD in Audiovisual Communication and is a lecturer in the Faculty of Communication Sciences, analyses the work and career of the American director in Quentin Tarantino: Mantener fuera del alcance de los niños (Keep Out of the Reach of Children).

De la Prida argues that, to understand the director’s films, it is first necessary to understand the person behind them: “He himself says that cinema saved his life or, at the very least, kept him out of prison and away from a life of crime,” the author explains in an interview with UIC. “Tarantino cannot be understood, and would not exist as we know him, if he were not a film director,” he adds.

Rubén de la Prida’s new work looks back at the filmmaker’s life and examines his feature films, treating each project as a key chapter in his career. The book explores the details and defining features of his films, including their references to classic cinema, the use of music and other elements that characterise his productions.

At a time when young people increasingly consume short-form content on social media, engaging with the works of the American director can open up a new world for those less familiar with cinema: “That audiovisual agility, together with the deep irony that permeates social media, the rewriting of traditional roles, the use of countless references from popular culture, the hybridisation of genres and the reworking of established conventions – so characteristic of phenomena such as memes – reached an undisputed milestone with Kill Bill, one that has contributed significantly to shaping contemporary audiovisual culture,” explains the lecturer. For Rubén de la Prida, the film starring Uma Thurman is the director’s magnum opus, “the work through which we truly understood who Tarantino was”.

Tarantino and a new generation of filmmakers

For the author, Tarantino’s cinema remains as vital and relevant as ever and continues to influence emerging filmmakers: “The absolute creative freedom that characterises his filmography continues to have an impact, creating the impression that one is entering a cinematic universe in which anything is possible,” he argues. He concludes that this influence endures “despite – or perhaps precisely because of – the fact that he never takes himself too seriously”.