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Popular Culture Review
between Beatrix and any other person on her Death List. Ultimately, this is due
to the opposite paths each has chosen. Beatrix chose to align herself with the
Chinese Kung Fu tradition, while Elle chose to assert her own selfish agenda. As
Pai Mei might have suggested, Beatrix took the path of the human and Elle took
the path of the dog since he compares each woman to a dog at different points.
For Beatrix, Pai Mei states that he will treat her like a dog if she cannot
understand or communicate in Cantonese. She will be trained like an animal. He
refers to her as a dog a second time when her hand is so crippled from training
that she is unable to use her chopsticks in order to eat. After deciding to put the
chopsticks aside and eat with her hands, Pai Mei reprimands her by throwing her
rice aside, stating that if she wishes to eat like a dog, she will live and sleep
outside like a dog. However, if she wishes to eat and sleep like a human, she
will eat like a human and use the chopsticks. He is thus visibly impressed when
she picks up the chopsticks attempting to eat despite the pain.
Elle, however, does not behave like a human during her training with the
Kung Fu master. She verbally insults him by calling him a “miserable old fool”
and she pays the price as he plucks out one of her eyes. But the scene does not
stop here. Elle has already proved that she does not have the obligatory respect
for her master. She plans further revenge by poisoning the old man’s fish heads
and as he lie dying, he tells her that she is “a treacherous dog.” And here lies the
divide between the two white women. Not only do the two women react
differently under their tutelage of Pai Mei, but the murder of the Kung Fu master
also adds another personal element to their dispute. So while some members of
the audience may find themselves concerned with the fact that Asian- and
African-American women are killed while a blond-haired woman with an eye
the same shade of green as the protagonist’s lives, I must argue that Elle’s
character is the most defiant of authority. She is the character who lacks respect
for her training and for the warrior art forms of others. And under most Asian
cinematic genres including Kung Fu and Samurai where death by a worthy and
respectable enemy is considered an honorable death, Elle falls short. Her
betrayal not only makes her an unworthy opponent, but also makes her
unworthy of the honor that would come from death. Instead, she is destined to
live out her shame, which in some Asian cinematic traditions is deemed worse
than death. Beatrix’s subsequent removal of Elle’s other eye, leaving her blind
and living, is the ultimate punishment. Her body will remain marked as shamed
and honorless.
Another aspect of identity that the film addresses is that of motherhood.
While it does not relate directly to genre, the conversations around motherhood
can be tied to concepts of ethnic identity. Beatrix’s own pregnancy was the issue
that began the film’s timeline. While the film’s content may not make any direct
claims on the nature of ethnicity, it clearly makes claims on the value of
motherhood as recognized by all women, despite any ethnic differences.
However, Kill Bill does not suggest that motherhood forms any sort of defining