Dr. Martens and Tarantino

If you have ever bought a pair of Dr Martens shoes (or boots) you know where this comparison is going.

Both invoke this sense of carelessness and hipness, that is at the same time trendy and above any trend. Timeless classics with characteristics easily identifiable and that have carved their place in Pop culture and the common conscience. Not to mention that either invoke a certain type of edginess that is both too mature for its own good but equally young and youthful, a bit like punk or rock movements.

Dr Martens shoe wear is the shoe equivalent to Tarantino cinematography; hip, pleasurable, with a fascination with feet and more than anything...gory!

But if you have the stomach to endure blood you are in for a wonderful time.

Don't get me wrong I'm a fan of the shoe brand, and more often then not you can see me sporting either my black boots or my ox-blood shoes, and they are wonderful and comfortable shoes, appropriate to all kind of environments and situations, from a Metal concert to formal dinners (although I probably would choose the shoes to the formal events than the boots). But as anyone that got a pair can tell you, getting a new pair is a baptism by fire. To the point that you get warned about that by the clerks that are trying to sell you the shoes. ”Beware that the first few weeks you wear them you are going to have blisters”. So if the person that is going to profit from selling them warns you, well you get the picture. Grab a couple of blisters plasters.

But after bloody socks, blistered heels, even when wearing the plasters, painful walks and all sorts of sores, you are in for one of the best and long lasting shoes you can find. After the aforementioned baptism by fire, you will have a pair of “armoured slippers”, as I call them. All-terrain fluffs of clouds involved in all sort of leathers (and vegan leather), with the classic yellow sole.

Speaking of black and yellow, what about the Second part of the title?

In a way Tarantino bring a similar kind of a pain to the screen, nothing compared to slashers off course, but you are guaranteed to find bloodbaths and violence. But if you endure bloody corpses, sword fights and foul language you are christened by over the top movies that are almost guaranteed to give you a wonderful time (taste is subjective so I can't guarantee it).

Not much of a direct connection but in the two are also undeniably linked to good music, either being Dr. Martens being worn by a plethora of artists throughout the years or Tarantino's brilliant soundtracks (as I type this I have Pulp Fiction ’s soundtrack playing) and although I haven't checked I can almost bet that at least one of the artists involved might have worn them.

The last piece of comparison is that both have a fixation on feet, either being because...well its a brand of shoe wear or because the director simply happens to have an appear foot fetish (wherein at least 8 of his movies there are extensive shots of feet, female feet, and/or conversations about them).

So grab a pair of Doc Martens (a blister pack or two), and head to your local rerun theatre and catch a Tarantino film, with a good old bucket of greasy popcorn, or a Kahuna burger, some beer or a five dollar shake and pack of apple cigarettes and settle in for a wonderful night.