Film director Quentin Tarantino has made national headlines over the last few weeks with his controversial comments and protests against New York City Police Department.

Many stand by Tarantino, citing his freedom of speech, while others feel his comments are unfair and unjustified. Many in Hollywood though, are not thinking about whether Tarantino is justified in his comments. Instead, they’re thinking of how these comments will affect his upcoming film “The Hateful Eight.”

When it comes to Tarantino’s upcoming release, his statements could have a variety of results. Tarantino has a very large national audience, and his statements could be upsetting to the large portion of Americans who think highly of their law enforcement officers, which will lower box office results. On the other hand, there is the mantra that all publicity is good publicity.

Regardless of what the country’s current feelings of Tarantino are, at the very least there is now a greater awareness of his name. People are far more likely to look him up, see his prior films and ultimately be more cognizant of “The Hateful Eight.” Additionally, as the film is released, we can expect the major news corporations to focus on Tarantino heavily, which only increases visibility.

Hollywood can speculate all day about whether Tarantino’s recent comments will affect his film’s performance or not, but it brings up the interesting quagmire of if these comments should affect the film’s box office.

Film is often called “a director’s medium,” meaning that the final product on screen is the vision of the director. Thus, the success or failure of a film relies heavily on a director, but they are not alone in the process. Making a film, especially one at the caliber of “The Hateful Eight” truly takes a village, and it would be unfair to punish the hundreds of people who worked on a film because of the director’s comments. Your $8 goes to so many places besides the director’s pocket, so by buying a ticket, one is in no way endorsing Tarantino’s comments, but simply participating in the commerce of art.

Another consideration to ponder is the quality of the film independent of Tarantino’s comments. From all of the promotional materials, there is no reason to believe that “The Hateful Eight” will make a statement on police brutality, thus one can enjoy the film and not worry about the politics.

At the end of the day, if a movie is good, a movie is good. A piece of art should be able to stand upon itself for its own merits. Film is ultimately about escapism, as we can observe characters and enter their world. As we are watching this other universe, why worry about what’s going on in ours? It is not a matter of right or wrong with Tarantino, it’s simply a matter of will his film be good or bad. I’ll certainly buy a ticket and find out, no matter what Tarantino says.

Erik Benjamin is a sophomore television, radio and film major. You can email him at ebenjami@syr.edu or follow him @embenjamin14 on Twitter.

Published on November 8, 2015 at 9:33 pm