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Justice, Vengeance, and Tarantino

Prompt

Using information from Solomon's "Justice and the Passion for Vengeance" and our discussion in class, answering the following questions.

  1. What does the visual rhetoric of these posters suggest about the relationship between vengeance, popular entertainment, and catharsis? 
  2. What role do you think vengeance plays in the public imagination Do you think this role is a healthy one? Explain.
  3. What details from Solomon's argument might explain the success and popularity of films such as Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained?

Response

  1. The rhetoric within these posters suggests that the relationship between vengeance, popular entertainment, and catharsis are quite close. Both posters show violent and revengeful scenes, which is purely made to spark viewer interest. The audience (or whoever these posters would appeal to) would most likely would enjoy being able to “go through” revenge, compare it within their own life, and reflect upon it - all of this without actually having to do it.
  2. Vengeance plays a pretty important role within society, as encouraged by the TV industry. We have multiple movies that are literally based off the plot of a lead seeking revenge for something that occurred to them in the past. While the argument can be made that vengeance is the nature of justice - it often can have a hard time being communicated as a very hard task to accomplish. Vengeance can be incredibly useful if used right, but because it’s pretty difficult to get done right, it may have a harmful and violent effect on society.
  3. Solomon’s main claim is that revenge is justice. This explains why some of the films such as Inglorious Basterds and Django Unchained may be so popular, as the audience may enjoy seeing justice being served to those that are often oppressed or powerless, just in a very action-packed nature.