- This article is about the movie. For the literature, see Pulp
magazine.
Pulp Fiction is a movie directed by Quentin Tarantino. It was released in 1994. The stories were
written by Tarantino and Roger Avary.
Half film noir and half black comedy, Pulp Fiction weaves through the intersecting storylines of gangsters, general low-lifes,
and a mysterious briefcase. Following Quentin Tarantino's more traditional crime movie, Reservoir Dogs, the storyline is chopped up and shown out of sequence, a technique borrowed from
French new wave and Stanley Kubrick's The Killing.
Originally titled Black Mask, the film won the 1994 Palme
d'Or (Golden Palm) at the Cannes Film Festival.
Tarantino and Avary also won Oscars for the Screenplay in the
same year.
The movie was moderately controversial, partly due to the graphic violence and partly due to its perceived racism, as
Tarantino himself played a sympathetic character who freely used the word "nigger."
Spike Lee made a point of challenging Tarantino's attitude towards race relations
in his movie Bamboozled.
The success of Pulp Fiction spurred studios to release a slew of 'copycat' films soon after that tried to duplicate the
film's formula of witty dialogue, an unconventional storyline, and gritty subject matter. Most, if not all of these films, did
not fare well at the box office and were dismissed by critics as inferior and derivative, though the raver film Go received some acclaim.
Storylines
There are four main storylines in Pulp Fiction: Vincent and Jules; Mia; Butch; Honey Bunny and Pumpkin.
Vincent and Jules
Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield head to an apartment to retrieve a briefcase for their boss Marsellus Wallace, and to kill the leader of the men who have
taken it. The contents of the briefcase are never revealed except only as a glowing yellow light. After departing with the last of the men, Jules' informant,
Vincent accidentally shoots the hostage in the head, and the two gangsters quickly
try to find a place to hide and clean up the mess in the car.
Mia
Marsellus requests that Vincent Vega shows his wife Mia a good time while he is out of town. They head to a (fictional)
restaurant by the name of Jackrabbit Slims, a restaurant with 1950s and '60s pop culture icons as staff (with Ed Sullivan as the maitre
d' for the restaurant, and servers such as Buddy Holly and Marilyn Monroe), an option for patrons to eat at a booth or a replica of a
classic car, and a milkshake
that costs five dollars. Mia Wallace overdoses on heroin, believing it to be cocaine, and Vincent tries to save her life.
Butch
Butch Coolidge, a prize fighter, agrees with Marsellus to fix his next fight, going
down in the fifth round. However, Butch has other plans and double-crosses Marsellus, putting money on himself (with, due to the
fight's being fixed, presumably very favourable odds) and winning the fight. He must subsequently go on the run as Marsellus
tries to hunt him down. Forced to retrieve a watch with high sentimental value, Butch accidentally (and literally) runs into
Marsellus. In the ensuing scuffle Butch and Marsellus are kidnapped, and in a surreal scene Butch is faced with the choice of
saving himself or helping Marsellus.
Honey Bunny and Pumpkin
A pair of petty thieves discuss the merits of robbing a restaurant while in a diner as
a change from their usual target of liquor stores. Subsequently, they hold up the diner for all the patrons' valuables.
Unfortunately for them, Vincent and Jules are among the patrons.
The briefcase
A number of things can be observed about the briefcase that Vincent and Jules recover. The most obvious is that the lock
combination is 666, the number of the beast as given in the Book of Revelation.
Whenever asked, Tarantino has said that there is no official explanation for what it is inside the briefcase. Originally, it
was going to contain diamonds, but this was seen as too mundane. It is possible that Tarantino, a film buff, was inspired by
Robert Aldrich's Kiss Me Deadly, in which a briefcase glows because it contains a small nuclear bomb.
This being said, fans have offered up several theories, the most popular of which says that Brett (the leader of the men in
the apartment who have stolen the briefcase) made a deal with Marsellus Wallace for Marsellus's soul. (This deal may have also included "Tony Rocky Horror," explaining why Marsellus had him thrown out a window.)
The exit point of Marsellus' soul was probably in the back of the neck, covered by a band-aid. (The truth in real life being that actor Ving Rhames wanted to cover up a keloid scar.) Each time the briefcase is opened, a golden light shines. Why Brett had to be killed by
Marsellus' men for buying Marsellus' soul is unknown. Also, the male restaurant thief "Pumpkin" seems to recognize it, and he's
not known to have any association with Wallace. However, when Brett is killed, a similar golden light flares across the screen,
showing Brett's soul depart from his body. Jules safely returns Marsellus' soul before leaving to "walk the Earth."
Other theories include the golden Elvis suit from True Romance or the stolen diamonds from Reservoir Dogs. Some suggest it was a would-be present from Marsellus to his failed-actress wife: a
stolen Academy award. The fact that Tarantino sensed beforehand that he would be "robbed" of his Best Picture Award adds a tiny
speck of credibility to this last theory.
See also: MacGuffin
Cast
External links
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