Pulp Fiction: Leadership from a Criminal Perspective

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Recommended: Ethical problems in filmmaking

Pulp Fiction, a film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino, interweaves a series of accounts depicting the various roles of southern California criminals. Within each story, a single character, or several characters, display various leadership themes. Considering that all of the characters in Pulp Fiction are gangsters, the use of leadership tends to revolve around unethical situations. Throughout the entirety of the motion picture, the crime syndicate in Pulp Fiction demonstrates a flat organization: an organization that has limited levels of positions, forcing more employees to make decisions. Therefore, multiple characters within the film demonstrate leadership in various forms and applications.
Throughout the film, an obvious crime boss Marcellus Wallace demonstrates how to be a resonant leader. A resonant leader is an emotionally intelligent, idealistic person who is able to lead in a manner that allows their employees to provide an effective contribution to the company, or in Pulp Fiction: the mob. Someone who is socially and emotionally intelligent has the ability to understand and manage their own emotions as well as others in social interactions. Through Marcellus Wallace’s use of emotional intelligence, he is able to stay calm and focused even during the most hectic situations. For being the head of a major crime syndicate, Wallace adopts a composed approach towards criminal activity. When his associates are frantic and distressed, he remains collected, speaks in a serene tone of voice, and effectively instructs his team towards a common goal.
Winston Wolf, a classic gangster and accomplice of Marcellus Wallace, exemplifies how to influence peers through expert power. One who influences others through ex...

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...ratively and literally, thus when he is given the opportunity to throw in the towel, he took that towel along with thousands of dollars and ran with it, finally getting the safety and security that he desired.
Pulp Fiction, although obviously unethical, proves to provide extensive leadership theories and themes when looked at from an analytical perspective. Through the use of various characters and scenes, the film was able to subtly portray leadership and the various actions that are necessary to succeed from a superior perspective. The films use of leadership themes inevitably could lead one to assume that even in the most unethical organizations leadership is imperative for success. Following the various themes and theories that thrive leadership can assist anyone within a company or organization in becoming an influential leader to his or her employees.

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