Why didn’t they just use guns to kill each other? Because swords are phallic symbols; Bill’s hand is always seen firmly grasping one as he speaks to the females under his command over the phone, or if not a sword then a flute. If Gogo, the lethal Japanese schoolgirl bodyguard of O-Ren Ishii, had used a gun rather than a sword, how would she have ‘penetrated’ the lecherous middle-aged pervert who bought her a drink with the intention of ‘penetrating’ her