Cult Classic: Pulp Fiction

I’ve taken a good amount of film classes throughout my college career and not one has show Pulp Fiction. Which I’m very shocked that none of my professors have shown or gone in depth of this amazing movie. Not to mention that NONE of Quinton Tarantino’s movies have been discussed in depth or shown in class.  Some would argue he’s one of the greatest directors of our time, and quite frankly I agree with them. Pulp Fiction has been dubbed one of the greatest crime movies of all time. The amount of depth Tarantino has in his stories is enormous. But add four stories and twelve central characters to a movie and you have a monster story on your hands. Too add to the complex four different story lines, these separate stories are not linear. This movie was made for people who think, this isn’t a blockbuster hit where you can passively watch and be entertained, but one where you actively participate in.  Pulp Fiction is one of those movies that you have to watch twice, not only because it’s so amazing you crave the use of language in the film. His writing skills and use of language is poetic and creates a utopia of words to wallow in.

 

There is a ton going on in the film and a good amount to focus on but somehow the extremely talented Tarantino doesn’t overwhelm the audience in one particular story. As one story transitions to another you don’t feel lost in the transition or like it was jarring, it flowed very nicely keeping the movie flowing without any bumps or awkwardness. Tarantino balances the movies action, thriller, comedy and suspense, through his use of clever dialogue, with easy to stamp Tarantino’s signature feel to it. Tarantino is known for his witty dialogue in his movies, from his great one-liners to his complex exchange of poetic banter. There should be a college course just on his screenplays let alone his movies. With this poetic dialogue Quinton Tarantino has made his own genre by the sheer style of writing and acting of the film.

 

Pulp Fiction has created a cult following along with his other movies that captures audiences. Tarantino’s writing brings to life his dynamic characters with his use of method writing. You can tell when watching Pulp Fiction that Tarantino focuses on the literature aspect of the film on each individual line rather than writing it as a whole, which I think makes this movie so special. That’s why this film should be shown in this film class. You could create an entire class course just looking at his screenplays and not watch a single movie and still have more to talk about. It has so much going on that can be viewed and broken down for content is many different aspects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pulp Fiction IMDb: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110912/?ref_=nv_sr_1

 

4 thoughts on “Cult Classic: Pulp Fiction

  1. This is a great kick-off to the third round of blog posts: a strong case for why Pulp Fiction belongs in the film studies canon. I like the way you point to Tarantino’s dialogue and the strength of his scriptwriting – Pulp Fiction is probably the second most quoted American film from the 90s (after The Big Lebowski). Also, the elements of nonlinear narrative structure that you point out have had a big influence on popular culture and American filmmaking. It’s hard to imagine a film like Crash (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0375679/?ref_=nv_sr_2) without the influence of Pulp Fiction.

    So, why don’t more film teachers show it in class? One reason might be that most people have already seen it, and part of the benefit of a film class is that it exposes you to films you might not have seen and discussed otherwise. Another reason is that, when you’re teaching a global and historical survey of film, the story of the 1990s is about the globalization of cinema and the opening of new film markets after the Cold War. So, instead of showing a film like Pulp Fiction to represent the 90s, teachers might try to highlight the rapidly-growing film industries in China, India, or Korea. Anyway, these aren’t necessarily my reasons, but maybe they help to explain why it’s not on syllabi that often these days. I would love to teach a class about American Indies in the 1990s, with Pulp Fiction smack in the middle.

    What does everyone else think? Tarantino yay or Tarantino nay?

  2. I understand how you feel in regards to Tarintino being snubbed from the syllabus. However, you have to realize a couple of things. First off, Pulp Fiction is one of the most popular movies in American history, most people have seen it. So, most would not gain anything new from seeing it again. Also, Tarintino would be nothing without all of the films he loved that most people never even heard of.

  3. I was extremely pleased to see Pulp Fiction make it into our blog posts, as this is one of my all time favorites. I had the pleasure of doing a presentation on Pulp Fiction last term analyzing the conflict in the scene with Jules and Vincent retaining the brief case from Brett and the boys; which was a lot of fun for me. Anyways, you bring out a great point about the nonlinear style of Tarantino and how this makes the viewer an active participant. In almost all of his films or at least the ones I have seen (which is a good amount) there is some nonlinearity to the plot line, which engages most viewers. The dialogue in this movie is phenomenal; I am not surprised at all to hear that this is one of the most quoted films from the 90’s. Thinking back on the film I feel like I can think of so many conversations that take place in intense circumstances. Tarantino does an excellent job of including action, comedy and drama all on a balanced level.

    I would have to agree, that I am disappointed to not see this film on this syllabi, but not surprised. This film is pretty mainstream now days, so I would think a decent amount of people have seen this movie already. Yet, I would bet that there is also a decent amount of people who haven’t seen this film. The difference is with the films we watch is that for the most part no one has seen or even heard of these films. Although Tarantino had some major influences, his films are on another level. Tarantino is a yay by far.

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