Abstract

This article interprets the film Kill Bill as a journey of struggle for recognition in which anger and revenge, far from being destructive passions, become forces aimed at recovering violated dignity. Against the view that equates anger and revenge with irrationality and loss of control, it defends their potential restorative function when they arise from an unjustified grievance and are guided by reason and conscience. The article draws on Hegel and his "struggle to the death for the recognition of the other," as well as his dialectic between master and slave, to explain how Beatrix Kiddo, reduced to slavery, seeks to recover her autonomy by confronting Bill, the master who molded her identity and reduced her to an object. To further explore this idea, the article engages with Foucault and Pasolini, whose reflections on power relations illuminate Beatrix’s process of desubjectification, as well as the possibility of reversing it. Finally, it will be concluded that Beatrix’s revenge, although tragic and irreconcilable, represents a reappropriation of herself and an act of freedom that brings forth her self-awareness.

Keywords: Revenge | recognition | power | subjectivation | self-awareness