A soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter. 2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper.
This is the exotic, but extremely fitting and appropriate, opening to the 1994 film, Pulp Fiction. Directed by Quentin Tarantino, this film is unpredictable, surprising, and possibly offensive. It forces action and thrill-seeker cineastes to dispose of all predictions and prepositions. The director uses shock, surprise, mystery, absurdity, and summarization, paired with bizarre humor and hallucinatory delight, putting Pulp Fiction in a realm its own. The film is then balanced with ample suspense and seriousness.
Arranging a nonlinear storyline, Tarantino tells of three interrelated stories of mobsters, thieves, and power that are equally filled with irony. The characters depicted voice absurd dialogue that unimaginably alters the traditional violence cliché. Strong, relatable characters are used to create a sense of reality and understanding. The film’s interest is heightened by various improbabilities and a wild series of events that only seem possible in Hollywood. Considerable time is exhibited understanding, getting to know, and relating to the characters, forming a more dramatic perception for the audience. As character Mia Wallace would suggest, this film commands the audience to “not be square” and to step outside of the box. Pulp Fiction is an astoundingly thrilling masterpiece; a suspenseful crime drama, harnessing the elements of glorified crime, impactful scenes, immorality, and underworld settings. The film commences to another level, assisted by black comedy, to portray improbable coincidences and unconventional satirical and surprising humor.
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.... He slashes the sadomasochist and his accomplice, saving Marsellus. Butch is then instructed to leave town and he does so, stealing the rapist’s chopper. The events are so unfathomable, it is hard to imagine or relate to the mental state of these mobsters. Similarly is the immediate shock after Jules’ first reading of the biblical verse. Unless referring to the ironic humor used by Tarantino, many scenes’ purpose only offers the immediacy of extensive shock and violence.
Pulp Fiction is an amazing and surprising collection of underground crime coincidences. It forces viewers to witness absurd violence, using bizarre humor to make it laughable, de heroizing the myth of traditional violence. The film’s unique use of a nonlinear storyline furthers the understanding and reception of the movie. The film is suspenseful, very original, and a proven mainstream classic.
The only real way to truly understand a story is to understand all aspects of a story and their meanings. The same goes for movies, as they are all just stories being acted out. In Thomas Foster's book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”, Foster explains in detail the numerous ingredients of a story. He discusses almost everything that can be found in any given piece of literature. The devices discussed in Foster's book can be found in most movies as well, including in Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, “Pulp Fiction”. This movie is a complicated tale that follows numerous characters involved in intertwining stories. Tarantino utilizes many devices to make “Pulp Fiction” into an excellent film. In this essay, I will demonstrate how several literary devices described in Foster's book are put to use in Tarantino’s film, “Pulp Fiction”, including quests, archetypes, food, and violence.
2. According to Sobchack, contemporary screen violence greatly differs than portrayals of violence in years past. Today, violent scenes are careless and lack significance because we as audiences have become calloused and desensitized to any acts of violence. She states that there is “no grace or benediction attached to violence. Indeed, its very intensity seems diminished” (Sobchack 432). Senseless violence, gruesome acts, and profound amounts of gore are prevalent in movies today, and because even this is not enough, it must be accompanied by loud blasts and noise, constantly moving scenes to keep audiences stimulated and large quantities of violence for viewers to enjoy what they are watching. Decades ago, it was the story that was engaging to audiences and filmmaking was an art.
Quentin Tarantino’s film, Pulp Fiction, uses words to the fullest of their meanings. Words in the film amplify meaning through their duplicity. Characters call one another names wherein the names’ meanings enhance our understanding of what the character is saying. Even if the author or speaker does not consciously intend the meaning, the language that this paper analyzes contains meaning of psychological importance. Characters’ actual names in the film are also of particular significanc e. Nearly every character’s name reflects his personality or role in the film. Because people are human and integrating a name and personality is difficult, it is only genius for every name to be significant and meaningful. Yet, it may be surprising ho w well thought out the naming of the characters is. Pulp Fiction also touches on the interpretive value of words. Oftentimes, a person or group of people may understand the same definition of a word but interpret it differently. Language is prim arily a means of communicating ideas. The film makes an interesting point of how the actual words used may be irrelevant to the idea being portrayed. In sum, Pulp Fiction demonstrates how the meaning of speech can depend either on the choice of w ords used or on the prescribed reaction to word’s usage.
When one thinks of a gangster they may think of speakeasies and classy cars or maybe drive-bys, but they will always imagine a man who is not afraid to get his hands dirty to grasp for a higher place on the social ladder. They will think of a man portrayed in a genre of cinema more American than any other, the gangster film. This genre began in the early thirties and has been re-adapted each decade to fit a new time. Although gangster films may mold themselves to fit into a certain cultural era, they still stay deeply tied to the foundations of the genre and its historical relevance to the american dream. This is apparent when comparing the differences and similarities between The Public Enemy and American Gangster. To better understand this comparison one needs to understand the origination of some of the classic conventions of the gangster film genre.
To conclude Pulp Fiction is one of a kind. It tends to break all the
Martin Scorsese has made a reputation from making movies that show a profound perceptiveness of human nature through their images of toughness and violence. On the surface, one would be hard-pressed to find a story more unlike Raging Bull or Goodfellas than The Age of Innocence, which seems better suited to a Merchant-Ivory production. However, Scorsese has placed his indelible stamp on this picture, not only through the camerawork, but in the potent tension that builds between the main characters. For while blood has often been Scorsese's method, the characters, and what exists between and within them, have always been his ends.
Pulp Fiction is a controversial film, written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, in 1994. It has almost everything you could wish for in a movie; drama, hilarity, intensity, action, thrills, fun, intelligence, romance, intimacy, over-the-top bravado, vulgarity, sweetness, humor, and soul-searching. The film is very raw and brutal, but has a unique sense of style that keeps the viewers entertained. It will build its way up gradually to an incredibly intense scene, before dropping down to a relatively calm, only to build back up again a few scenes later. This goes on throughout the entire course of the film, pummeling the viewer from one scenario to another.
The movie Pulp Fiction, directed by Quentin Tarantino, contains violence, sex and drugs but is an underlying religious film. The five main characters either follow the lord and are rewarded or they follow the devil and are punished. John Travolta plays Vincent Vega, Ving Rhames plays Marcellus Wallace and Uma Thurman plays Mia Wallace, these three characters represent evil and sin. Samuel L. Jackson plays Jules Winnefield and Bruce Willis plays Butch Coolidge and these characters represent good and follow a righteous path. The movie is broken up into four separate sections that are not in chronological order but they coincide with each other at the end of the film. Pulp Fiction is violent, drugs abusive and sex filled the movie that promotes strong religious messages through choice of the righteous man or the Devil’s path.
Imagine that tonight is movie night. The popcorn is made, the lights are low, everyone else is ready and the classic horror film Scream (Wes Craven 96) plays. The combination of horror and humor similar to the modern The Cabin in the woods (Drew Goddard 2012) has their unique message and some elements of a slasher film. In her essay “Her Body, Himself,” Clover writes a general description of a slasher film, “At the bottom of the horror heap lies the slasher (or splatter or shocker or stalker) film: the immensely generative story of a psychokiller who slashes to death a string of mostly female victims” (22). While in Scream these definitions may be obvious, Cabin in the Woods both critiques these traits while challenging them. By using Clover’s
It’s hard to argue that 1994 didn’t have two of the most influential and iconic movies to date. Both “Pulp Fiction” and “Forrest Gump” are movies that some would say are the best ever. Now, if you were to compare these two movies, it would seem absurd with each being on completely opposite spectrums of the moral ethics scale. However, on the surface Pulp Fiction may seem like another gangster, action, crime flick, but if a closer look is taken and the content really analyzed it can be seen that Pulp Fiction is really about redemption and how the characters seem to find it regardless of their actions. Through each separate story that Pulp Fiction tells, redemption runs at the core of the dynamic characters.
Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” is one of my favorite movies of all-time, it is about gangsters as well as everyday people struggling to get out of the dire situation they are in. In the final scene Ringo, a common criminal, is robbing a Diner. Jules just happens to be in this Diner, and Jules is one of the meanest gangsters in the city. Ringo and Jules have a confrontation in the Diner and eventually Jules is holding Ringo at gunpoint. Instead of killing him, he tries to convey a message to Ringo. In this message he uses logos, pathos and ethos to explain to Ringo that he is trying to transform from an evil man into a righteous one.
As a nostalgic reaction to pieces of a past culture may celebrate another time, but also offer personal comfort in the present, the past may be widely celebrated by connecting past pop culture with the present culture. This form of nostalgia uses memories of an era’s success and continues to attempt to uphold it in a permanent celebratory remembrance of cultural impact. In Pulp Fiction, the film plays homage to some of the great films of the past. The film is enhanced by use of pastiche, incorporating films that have brought joy and excitement to viewers for decades. In Pulp Fiction, the dark suits, skinny ties, the camera shots of the guns, and the slow, sinister apartment massacre is reminiscent of gangster films from the 1950s and 1960s. Honeybunny and “””” ‘s storylines are resented during the beginning and end of the film, their love story is intermingled with their lust for crime, specifically robbery, is a comedic twist to the Bonnie and Clyde. John Travolta gets to recollect on his own success in films “Grease” and “Saturday Night Live”, by re-creating a dance competition, in which he leaves victorious. Butch, a misunderstood boxer is placed in the most scenes mimicking great films from the past. As Butch takes a taxi from his big boxing match, is clearly a steal from the 1987 film, Taxi Driver. The style of the taxi along with the seating position of the “FARE” and the dark conversation is heavily
The Godfather is most notably one of the most prolific films of its time. This "gangster" film displayed many transformations of permeating color to give the viewer observable cues in its mise en scene that drew one right into the movie. The dramatic acting set the tone of the film with a score that lifted the viewer right out of their seat in many scenes. The directing and cinematography made The Godfather ahead of its time. The nostalgic feel of family importance and the danger of revenge lets us into the life of the Mafia. Even though no other techniques would have given the viewer a feeling of inside the mob like the mise en scene of the power the godfather held, the characters are reinforced literally and figuratively because the story views the Mafia from the inside out, and the cinematography of the film gives it a dangerous and nostalgic feel.
Stone's film is extreme in every way. Extreme in its violence. Extreme in its visual imagery, flashing hyper-speed bits of reality which don't quite register in one's mind. Extreme in its sit-com presentation of an abusive family as the ordinary stuff of entertainment. Extreme in its depiction of mass-murderers revered as icons of popular culture. Extreme in the banality with which the killers approach their crime.
There are movies that make you laugh, that make you cry, that blow you away with jaw-dropping, ever-so-satisfying action sequences. And there is Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece, an homage to the old Pulp Magazines and crime novels popular in the 1950s. Known for their incredibly dense and complex dialogue and excessive violence, Tarantino adds his trademark nonlinear chronology and thorough character development to create a movie that celebrates the fact that chance governs all of our lives. The film consists of multiple stories that tell of the criminals, gangsters and outliers of Los Angeles, the underbelly of society. It follows Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield as they embark on their mission to recovering a briefcase that