Pulp Fiction is widely regarded as Tarantino's magnum opus, with particular praise for its screenwriting. The self-reflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive homage and pastiche have led critics to describe it as a touchstone of postmodern film.
With its interlocking story structure, looping time frame, and electric jolts, “Pulp Fiction” uses the grammar of film to explore the amusement park of the Tarantinoverse, a stylized merging of the mundane with the unthinkable, all set in a 1970s time warp.
Directed and written by the legendary Quentin Tarantino, Pulp Fiction is the high water mark of the postmodern film. This is because it indulges in copious self-referentiality, challenging structure, and a keen interest in pop culture. This is because the film challenges the traditional narrative structure.
The popularity of pulp magazines faded after the 1950s, but their influence is easy to spot in modern media, which is full of pulp fiction elements: gritty crime, bold adventure, far-out sci-fi, gruesome horror, and dashing romance. Today, stories with a lot of these elements are sometimes described as pulpy.
As I said, in general, the film is about American nihilism. More specifically, it is about the transformation of two characters: Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Butch (Bruce Willis).
Why Pulp Fiction Isn't In Chronological Order. While Quentin Tarantino's decision to tell the Pulp Fiction plot out of chronological order was partially stylistic, as he had just done so for the timeline of 1992's Reservoir Dogs, the nonlinear format also has a purpose in making the entire story more compelling.
Vincent turned to the backseat to ask for Marvin's opinion, but they hit a bump and Vincent accidentally shot Marvin in the face. Despite its themes, Pulp Fiction only has seven deaths, but they were graphic and shocking enough to cause controversy.
When a movie takes a creative leap and attempts to incorporate an unconventional technique, it can either end up as a big failure or as a massive success. Pulp Fiction's use of the non-linear narrative structure has made the movie complex and endlessly rewatchable.
Apparently, The Gimp is a hitchiker who fell victim to Maynard and his brother. Plus, Tarantino intended for the poor guy to die by the end of the film: “It doesn't quite play this way in the movie, but in my mind when I wrote it, the Gimp's dead.
What is the point of the first scene in Pulp Fiction?
The first scene sets the mood for the whole plot and reveals the overall meaning of the film. The viewer can conclude that the most violent scenes are the result of random spontaneous events.
So no one could have been all that surprised when Forrest Gump took six trophies at the 1995 ceremony while Pulp Fiction eked out just one of its seven nods, for Best Screenplay; Quentin Tarantino's gloriously profane crime opus undoubtedly came in too hot for the staid Academy, which tends to be about as radical as a ...
One key to Tarantino's successful dialogue is the underpinning tension. Even the most mundane conversation has an underlying pulse, a sense that something is about to happen. The breakfast scene in Pulp Fiction, where Jules confronts Brett and his associates, is a masterstroke in tension-building.
Uma Thurman was only 24 years old when she starred in Pulp Fiction as Mia Wallace, the wife of gang boss Marsellus Wallace who seamlessly dances the twist, overdoses on heroin and takes a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart all in one night.
Marsellus freed himself and picked up Maynard's shotgun. Before Zed could grab the pistol, Marsellus shot off Zed's genitals with the shotgun. He vowed that Zed's suffering had only begun, promising that he would call his crew in to torture Zed with a pair of pliers and a blowtorch.
Marsellus wanted Butch dead, but after going through a series of unexpected and traumatic events together, Butch saved Marsellus – and a theory suggests it's because he was honoring the story Captain Koons (Christopher Walker) told him about his father.
In an interview with the American Film Institute, Tarantino recalled: “Well, the idea in Pulp Fiction was the idea of taking the – I wouldn't say film noir, but the pulp genre that was represented in the case of magazines like Black Mask where you had Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett writing them.
Butch accepted a bribe from Marsellus to lose the fight, but he double-crosses him and arranges for the money to be bet on him, and goes on to win the fight. On his way back to the motel, he learns that he beat his opponent so badly that he died, and plans to escape to another place the next morning.
Pulp Fiction deals with themes of redemption and karma. Thus, when Jules and Vincent narrowly miss being shot, Jules decides to retire from his bad business, but Vincent chooses to carry on. Jules' character faces a redemption arc, whereas Vincent does not, resulting in his death.
The special edition U.S. DVD contains the following deleted scenes: Lance/Vince drug deal is longer and Lance delivers a monologue about being given wrong directions. The extended Butch/Esmerelda cab scene. Longer Monster Joe's Truck yard sequence.
Tarantino's originality stems from his ability to focus on small details and follow them where they lead, even if they move the story away from conventional plot developments. Perhaps no screenplay has ever found a better use for digressions.
Parents need to know that this film glorifies violence, drug use, and sexual themes. Gunplay, robbery, swearing, drug use, drug dealing, lying, cheating, violence, male rape, sadomasochism, and driving under the influence. A character is shot in the face and it's played for jokes. In one extremely graphic scene (one…
Marsellus gave him somewhat easy tasks that Vincent couldn't get through without some problems in the process: he sent him with Jules, his best hitman, to get the suitcase, asked him to take Mia to dinner and bring her back home, and sent him to Butch's apartment.
Why is Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) the only one on the poster ? Because the "pulp fiction" paperback books the movie is patterned after typically featured a sexy woman on the cover. The prominent position of the gun alerts the reader that there will be plenty of violence as well.
Most likely nothing more than friendship. Vincent and Mia had good chemistry and after dinner and dancing, he wanted to give her way more than a foot massage. However, both were smart enough to understand the consequences for betraying Mia's husband Marsellus, so anything physical was out of the question.
