Tarantino Isn’t A Fan Of People Being Offended By Movies: “Art Is Not Offensive”

It is undeniable that Quentin Tarantino uses different words and images to evoke different reactions from his audience throughout his films. Whether it is the harsh language or the graphic violence, the content of his films can cause some viewers to ruffle feathers, if they are unprepared. Even so, the filmmaker Tarantino, does not believe films should ever offend anyone. According to him, if you are offended, then it is your problem and not the movie’s.

Quentin Tarantino recently spoke to the French outlet Liberation about how people tend to be “offended” by films today. There are times when people are upset over exaggerated violence. Sometimes it’s the fact that the film includes gay people. It is likely that if someone wants to find something objectionable in a film, they will find it. Likewise, Tarantino believes that artists and art are not to blame if someone is offended by a film. It is actually up to the audience to deal with their own issues.

“I reject the word ‘offended,’” exclaimed Tarantino.“Because anybody can say he’s offended by anything. Frankly, I think that for the most part, and there might be examples to the contrary, to say that you’re offended about something is the first response of a tiny mind. ‘I don’t like this, and here’s why, tadadada…’: that’s OK. But fuck being offended. Art is not offensive.”

He aggressively said, “There can be examples of the contrary, yes. But even then, it’s just ridiculous to be offended by something [in films]. There was a movie – I won’t say which – that I saw in the last ten years that did offend me. But the more I thought about it, [the more] I realized that was my problem, my fucking problem.”

Tarantino despises trigger warnings and individuals who are outraged by a movie, as @worldofreel stated in a tweet that went viral with over 2.8K likes and 389 retweets.

QUENTIN TARANTINO hates trigger warnings and people who get offended by a movie:

“Saying that you are “offended” by a film is the first response of a very narrow mind. Art is no offense […] t’s just ridiculous to be offended by the content of a film“https://t.co/2iS6fM3qlN pic.twitter.com/9pzdFIYJNL

— Reel Updates (@worldofreel) June 19, 2023

While Tarantino did not name the film, when asked what about it offended him, he stated the problem with the unidentified feature.

“I felt it was racist. And it just absolutely offended me,” he said. “I had a knee-jerk reaction to it. I wanted to punch the director in the nose, but that was a bad reaction. I still think it’s a racist film. But it’s just a fucking movie, man.”

It’s pointless to make assumptions about which movies Tarantino objected to. But his argument seemed to be that he was unhappy over a film, but he understood that it was his personal problem that he should not blame the art or the artist. Obviously, this is a remark that will spark a debate. As with anything in the context of “free speech,” there are opposing perspectives on social media.

No matter where the audience stands, it’s evident that Tarantino isn’t willing to cater to anyone’s vision when it comes to deciding what content will appear in his films. It is up to the audience to determine whether or not to support the piece of art.