Popular Culture Review Vol. 21, No. 2, Summer 2010 | Page 92

88 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