As you may be shocked to discover, a filmmaker renowned for violence, foul language, and trigger-happy shootouts that’s regularly come under criticism for using racist terminology in his work is not a fan of trigger warnings. Color us surprised, then, but Quentin Tarantino has seriously strong words on the subject.
Given his status and reputation as one of the very few creative talents in Hollywood who can make whatever they want for however much money they need to make it, he’s in a rare position to enjoy unfiltered freedom regardless of whatever he wants to tackle. You can make the argument that some of his movies haven’t aged too well through a cultural or societal lens, but as he revealed in an interview with French outlet La Liberation, he simply does not care.
“I reject the word “offended”. Anyone can be offended by anything. Frankly, I think most of the time – and there are no doubt some exceptions – saying that you are “offended” by a film is the first response from a very narrow mind. “I didn’t like it, and here’s why, blablabla…” But, man, being offended? Art is no offense.
And, although, in rare cases, I can understand it, it’s just ridiculous to be offended by the content of a film. Here, there’s a movie that came out in the last 10 years – I won’t name it – that really offended me. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was my problem. My fucking problem. I found it racist. I wanted to punch the director. I still think it’s a racist movie. But it’s just a fucking movie, man.”
The most disappointing thing about his comments by far is that he doesn’t name what left him offended, because what on earth could be deemed so unpalatable that it affronts Quentin Tarantino on a personal level? After all, this is the dude who shoehorns his rampant foot fetish into everything he does, so it must have been really off-putting for him to draw the line.