Review of the Movie "Pulp Fiction" by Quentin Tarantino

1130 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Thesis statement for the movie Pulp Fiction

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.

After the pl...

... middle of paper ...

.... 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.

Show More
Related

  • Literary Devices Utilized in Thomas Foster's Book "How to Read Literature Like a Professor" Put to Use in "Pulp Fiction"

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • How Does Quentin Tarantino Use Ethos In Pulp Fiction?

    975 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Literally Speaking in Quentin Tarantino's film Pulp Fiction

    3042 Words  | 7 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Essay On Reoccurring Archetypes In The Movies Of Quentin Tarantino

    147 Words  | 1 Pages

    Director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino has a unique style that is easily recognizable and sets him apart from other film directors. Witty dialogue and blood and violence have become a staple of a Tarantino film. However, another crucial element to his films are the characters. The characters throughout Quentin Tarantino's most popular films share attributes with one another. The three most reoccurring archetypes in his movies are the anti-heroes, avengers, and the double agents.

    Read More

  • Gangster Life Portrayed in the Movie, Scarface

    559 Words  | 2 Pages

    Like most things captured on film for the purpose of being marketed, the richness of gangster life, with sex, money, and power in surplus, is glorified, and thus embraced by the audience. And as a rule, if something works Hollywood repeats it, ala a genre. What Scarface and Little Caesar did was ultimately create a genre assigning powerful qualities to criminals. Such sensationalism started with the newspapers who maybe added a little more color here and there to sell a few more copies, which is portrayed in Scarface’s two newspaper office scenes. Leo Braudy denounces genres as offending “our most common definition of artistic excellence” by simply following a predetermined equation of repetition of character and plot. However, Thomas Schatz argues that many variations of plot can exist within the “arena” that the rules of the genre provide.

    Read More

  • Reaction to Mean Streets

    1018 Words  | 3 Pages

    Aside from its acting, the other major influence which Mean Streets had upon American film-makers was through it's use of a rock n' roll soundtrack (almost perfectly integrated with the images), and in its depiction of a new kind of screen violence. Unexpected, volatile, explosive and wholly senseless, yet, for all that, undeniably cinematic violence. The way in which Scorsese blends these two - the rock and roll and the violence - shows that he understood instinctively, better than anyone else until then, that cinema (or at least this kind of cinema, the kinetic, visceral kind) and rock n' roll are both expressions of revolutionary instincts, and that they are as inherently destructive as they are creative. This simple device - brutal outbreaks of violence combined with an upbeat soundtrack - has been taken up by both the mainstream cinema at large and by many individual `auteurs', all of whom are in Scorsese's debt - Stone and Tarantino coming at once to mind.

    Read More

  • The Two-Tiered System of Allusions

    1605 Words  | 4 Pages

    In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.

    Read More

  • Pulp Fiction Narrative

    1062 Words  | 3 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • The Age of Innocence movie

    697 Words  | 2 Pages

    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.

    Read More

  • Review of the Film Django Unchained

    1088 Words  | 3 Pages

    Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino’s is what you would call a spaghetti western. The name ‘spaghetti western’ originally was a term used to reduce the value of something. American westerns were considered to be on a higher scale than spaghetti westerns. Django Unchained is set in the American South, two years before the civil war, telling the story of the freed slave Django who goes on a killing spree in the name of revenge to rescue his wife Brunhilda from the cruel plantation master that owns her. I thought it was interesting how this movie made the freed slave one of the protagonist seeking revenge. The character, who allows Django to take revenge, is Dr. King Schultz a German-American dentist/bounty hunter. Through Django’s heroism and portrayal of masculinity, we are reminded of the traditional hero traits from the western movies of past. The movie Django Unchained conforms to these traditional standards of masculinity and heroism.

    Read More

  • Criminals As Heroes: The Boondock Saints

    1749 Words  | 4 Pages

    Dr. Joy McEntee, professor of American literature and film at the University of Adelaide, describes this phenomenon by saying, “This film dramatizes revenge in some of its old, daft, dark style, and with a momentum mat allows audiences to ignore, momentarily, the fact that their empathy with the revengers' exuberance leads them into questionable ethical territory. The film's indebtedness to revenge tragedy is most visible in this perverse and amoral seduction of its viewers” (50). The film takes execution scenes that would normally appear gristly and morose, places them in slow motion, adds in some arias and other choir music, and produces scenes that instead possess an aesthetic quality that verges on appealing. This de-demonization of actions is expanded upon by creating an emotional connection between the viewer and MacManus brothers early on; showcasing them as fun loving, care free, and intelligent. This in turn makes it difficult for the viewer to see the brothers as criminals. The moral instinct is dulled and the ability to understand that the decisions the Saints make are inherently wrong is covered by the fact that the brothers are portrayed as great guys. The fact that these miniscule tactics are so effective plays upon a concept that is brought up numerous times throughout the film: the idea that there is an

    Read More

  • Pulp Fiction Thesis

    1678 Words  | 4 Pages

    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

    Read More

  • scarface movie review

    535 Words  | 2 Pages

    This film revolves around the world of an immigrant from Cuba by the name of Antonio “Tony” Montana. Along with his very close friend Manolo “Manny”, their goal is to live the American dream, which is to leave Cuba, relocate to America and become filthy rich. Tony’s mother and sister Gina are already in the States and currently residing in the state of Florida, where he plans to go and reunite with them. He eventually does and introduces Manny to the family. Right away Manny seems interested but keeps it to himself. They ultimately fulfill their goal, through organized crime, and are spoiled with wealth from an absurd steady income.

    Read More

  • Postmodernism in Pulp Fiction

    1676 Words  | 4 Pages

    In conclusion it is clear that Tarantino’s film is postmodern, and Jameson’s insightful essay stands in relation to Pulp Fiction much in the same way as a prophecy stands in relation to its fulfilment. The postmodernist Tarantino expresses in a full and technicolour form what Jameson the modernist had only partially understood in the more static arts of painting and architecture.

    Read More

  • The Godfather Film Analysis Essay

    1627 Words  | 4 Pages

    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.

    Read More

More about Review of the Movie "Pulp Fiction" by Quentin Tarantino

Open Document