Quentin Tarantino reveals why he hates ‘trigger warnings’ in films, explaining that if you're 'offended' who cares.
During an interview with the French publication La Liberation, the legendary filmmaker was asked about trigger warnings appearing before films, to which he explained why he disapproved.
“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 of a very narrow mind. ‘I didn’t like it, and here’s why, blah, blah, blah…’ 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,” he said.
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Tarantino, a firm believer in artistic freedom of expression, added that he was only offended by one film in his lifetime so far.
“Here, there's a movie that came out in the last ten 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,” he said.
“My f**king problem. I found it racist. I wanted to punch the director. I still think it's a racist movie. But it's just a f**king movie, man.”
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The 60-year-old, known for his distinctive style and often violent approach to storytelling, also touched upon his final film, The Movie Critic.
He said the movie is inspired by a real-life critic who once wrote reviews for a porn magazine.
While speaking to Deadline at Cannes last month, he revealed that this real-life character is somewhat a cross between radio king Howard Stern and Taxi Driver’s Travis Bickle.
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“The porno rag critic was very, very funny. He was very rude, you know. He cursed. He used racial slurs. But his s**t was really funny. He was as rude as hell. He wrote like he was 55, but he was only in his early to mid-30s. He died in his late thirties,” he added.
But alas, Tarantino said while this marks his last movie, he’s not retiring anytime soon.
At least for now, he likes the idea of riding out into the sunset while still 'on top'.
He said: “I could do a TV show. I didn’t say I’m going to go into the night darkly, all right? I could do a TV show.
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"I could do a short film. I could do a play. All kinds of things I could do, but I’ll probably just be more of a writer."
Topics: Film and TV, Quentin Tarantino, Celebrity, News