Question of the Week - II

Given my current rate of posting here (blame it on lack of time rather than lack of content), this should've read "Question of the Month", but then here it is anyway. This time's pick is a question by the recently de-mobbed Gaurav (of COEP 2002, IIM-L 2004, soon to be Infesting Business Markets and the one who owes me un dosa masala) from his collection of questions posted here.

Now, this is a very BC-esque question: the visual connect that upholds the Rule of Economy by saying nothing more than is necessary. It's also about movies, which is a common hunting ground. The question reads:

Q. Look at the image. Whose face should be in place of the question mark?

A. Quentin Tarantino (the reasoning derives from the film Reservoir Dogs). Each block in the upper half is a colour, associated with the face below - the colour being their codenames .

Of course, people who haven't watched the film would find it extremely difficult to get. But since Reservoir Dogs is a well-known film, that's not a problem, no accusations of obscurity here. Anyone who's seen the film will easily recognize some of the actors - Buscemi or Keitel or Madsen in particular. Reservoir Dogs would probably spring to mind. Now, who could be the last person? If you'd read the film credits, you would know QT was the missing person. If that was not the case but you knew that Tarantino has acted in films a few times, you might be tempted to guess his name. You were sure to know that QT was the director of Reservoir Dogs, and it would add weight to your guess.

Other good points about the framing of the question is that it cleverly avoids using words where pictures could be used. This way, the person asking the question wouldn't point out the significance of the colours by emphasis (for e.g. the "blond" shade isn't very obviously at first). The fact that it is QT who is missing and not any of the others is what's best about the film, otherwise it wouldn't be such a good question. Also, it's one of those questions that rewards the person who has watched the film rather than the chap who simply has read a lot of trivia about the film (which happens a great deal).

I enjoyed the question. That's why it's my question of the week.

Here's Question of the Week-I. Contributions to this section welcome.