Quentin Tarantino, Hotline Miami, and Stylized Violence

 1. "Because it's so much fun, Jan, get it!"



Watch enough interviews with Quentin Tarantino on YouTube and you will inevitably wind up with this clip from his 2003 appearance on KRON 4 in your recommended tab. For the three of you reading this who haven't seen it and don't particularly care to, it's a publicity piece gone bad. Jan Wahl, critic for KRON-TV and various San Francisco based newspapers, antagonizes Tarantino until he snaps, dredging up every talking point about preserving children's innocence along the way. After some quibbling back and forth between the two about whether or not the film empowers women, Wahl asks, "Why the need for so much gruesome, graphic violence?" To which an exasperated Tarantino responds, "Because it's so much fun, Jan, get it!" What follows is a conversation that has been had and had and had again since Moe first slapped Curly.

"I'd like to see you get attacked by some kids who had just seen your movie," Jan says. Tarantino says (though "shouts" may be more accurate), "You're talking about real life and I'm talking about the movies!" Curiously enough, the developers of Hotline Miami--an indie game about bashing Russian mobsters' heads in with crowbars, shovels, and other assorted lawn equipment at the behest of a mysterious voice on an answering machine--seem to see things Wahl's way.

2. "Do you like hurting other people?"


Developed by Dennaton games and published in 2012 by Devolver Digital, Hotline Miami is, according to its Steam page, "a high-octane action game overflowing with raw brutality, hard-boiled gunplay and skull crushing close combat." Set in an alternate 1989 Miami, the plot of the game is intentionally obscure. "Jacket," the game's protagonist, receives messages on his answering machine that direct him/the player to travel to various locations around the city and kill whoever he finds there. Between hits, Jacket has visions of men in animal masks who ask him various questions, the most notable being, "Do you like hurting other people?"

Hotline Miami's hyper-violent, neon drenched aesthetic is clearly informed by the films of Nicholas Winding Refn, Michael Mann, and documentary filmmaker Billy Corben. The music of various contemporary synth wave artists including Sun Araw, MOON, and IAMTHEKIDYOUKNOWWHATIMEAN also make an appearance and add much to the "feel" of the game. The general critical consensus seems to be that the game is making a profound statement about why players enjoy committing simulated acts of violence. Are they psychopaths? Was Jack Thompson right? (See also: Specs Ops: The Line).

All of which is muddled by the game's over-stylization. Hotline Miami absolves the player of any guilt by 1). removing any say they have in the crimes they commit and 2). by burying the violence under synth music and neon. The games central moral quandary, "Why do you enjoy this?", becomes just another piece of the aesthetic. Thus the answer to the question, "Do you like hurting other people?", then, is, "No, I just like Carpenter Brut and bright flashing lights."

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