The Hateful Eight

In the 1870s Wyoming, a bounty hunter escorting a prisoner to the town of Red Rock is contacted by two strangers searching for a lift out of the approaching snow. Major Warren Marquis, who is also a bounty hunter and has three bodies to deliver to Red Rock, is one of the hitchhikers, while the other is Chris Mannix, who claims to be the new town sheriff.

The four tourists and their driver seek refuge at Minnie's Haberdashery, where they encounter four new faces who claim to be fleeing the snow as well. After John Ruth death due to poisoning, Major Marquiz and the sheriff are determined to investigate who poisoned the coffee, hence, working with Daisy Domergue.

Describe the characters.

Major Warren Marquiz is a black former Union soldier turned an infamous bounty hunter.

John “The Hangman” Ruth is a bounty hunter, known for bringing his prisoners alive to be hung.

Chirs Mannix aka The Sheriff is a southern renegade is claiming to be the new sheriff of Red Rock town.

Daisy Domergue is a John Ruth’s prisoner.

Oswaldo Mobray is Aka English Pete Hicox “The little man, ” the hangman of Red Rock.

Joe Gage is Aka “The Cow Puncher”, member of the gang working on freeing Daisy Domergue.

Jody Domergue is the leader of the Jody gang and brother to Daisy Domergue.

Bob is Aka “The Mexican”, a member of Jody gang.

What are the audience’s expectations for your film?

The audience expects the blizzard to clear and the bounty hunter to be able to capture and deliver all the members of the gang to Red Rock town.

How does the film create a sense of time?

A sense of time is created through the actions and object in the film (Tarantino, 2015).

How does the film create a sense of space?

A sense of space in the film is created through the camera shots taken (Tarantino, 2015).

How can you characterize the perspective?

First person perspective with narration in chapter five.

Part II: A Look at Film Genres

Questions

Answers

What are the conventions of your film’s genre?

The Hateful Eight falls in the Western genre of films. Hence, the conventions of these films are violence using revolvers and rifles. The majority of the western films are set in the period between 1840 and 1920 (Sanders, 2009). The environment of the setting is that of the old west which mostly consists of a small town which may be struggling or survive (Bordwell et al., 1997; Tarantino, 2015).

What are some of the formulas/myths of your film’s genre?

Several myths and formulas are associated with the Western genre of film. First conventional methods are the dusty small town, associated with these films. However, in the film The Hateful Eight the director opted for a stagecoach stopover in snowy mountains.

Another common formula for this genre are the horses, which are used as the means of transport (Bordwell et al., 1997). Outlaws and bounty hunters are another standard formulas for plotting films in this genre. The bounty hunters are usually tasked with the duty of enforcing the law by killing the outlaws or arresting them (Sanders, 2009).

What are the audience’s expectations for your film?

The audience of the western film expects to see horse riding, gun battle, and cowboys, and moreover, to witness violence which is common in western movies (Sanders, 2009).

What are the six genres and corresponding film components of each?

Apart from Westerns genre, there are several other genres of films which are common as follows:

Comedy. The primary emphasis of films in this genre is humor. These films contain light-hearted plots, which are deliberately developed to amuse and provoke laughter through the language, action, relationships and characters in them (Sanders, 2009).

Adventure. Adventure genre contains films that have exciting stories produced in exciting locales with some hint of action in them (Bordwell et al., 1997).

Sci-Fi. The sci-fi genre major components include space travel, liberal interpretation of laws of the physical universe, engagement in scientific and technological discourse and aliens (Sanders, 2009).

Action. Film in the action genre usually contains high energy performance, physical stunts and chases, escapes, battles, non-stop motion in race against time, fights, break-neck rhythm and big production budget for their sets (Bordwell et al., 1997).

Horror. The standard components of these films include dissonant music, screaming due to fear of being helpless, creatures or crazed individuals, threatening situations (Sanders, 2009).

Documentary. The key component of this genre include being structured and nonfictionalized (Sanders, 2009).

References

Bordwell, D., Thompson, K., & Ashton, J. (1997). Film art : An introduction (Vol. 7). New York : McGraw-Hill.

Sanders, J. (2009). The film genre book. Leighton Buzzard, England : Auteur.

Tarantino, Q. (2015). The Hateful Eight. Film. Hollywood : Red Studios.