Pulp Fiction

Post modern elements

- Tarantino is influenced by Jean Luc Godard, parodies and suverts film conventions


- Mia Wallace drawing a rectangle on screen, not realistic.


- The use of deliberately bad backdrop on car journeys


- The shop where Marcellus and Butch are assaulted is called Mason-Dixon (19th Century stereotypes who mapped the route of a railroad across the USA. The route of the line became known as the Mason-Dixon line, separating the North (non slave owners) and the South the (slave owners.) The Line symbolizes a cultural boundary between the Northern United States and the Southern United States (Dixie).


- Pulp Fiction links to films such as Daliverance (1972 John Boorman) and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974 Tobe Hopper) because of the culture code, humour to director, clever in the sense that it makes reference to many other films and events. Scary Movie's are an extreme of this were the whole film is made from taking the 'mick' out of other films.

- Mia's haircut - Louise Brookes in Pandara's Box (GW.pabst 1926)



- Reference to Psycho (1960 Alfred Hitchcock) Butch, when he's in the car waiting at crossroads has his path crossed by Marcellus, his boss. In Psycho the same thing happened to Marian Crane and her boss.


- Jules relating to the bible, links to Night of the Hunter (1955 Charles Layhton) Not a typical Gangsta thing to do when they go to kill someone.

- Robert Mitchums character, Butch is supposed to lose to Floyd Winson, the same fighter who is fighting an opponent paid to take a dive in on the waterfront, 1954 Eliatazan.


- Jules is friends with Jimmie, a nod to Jules et Jim (1962 Francois Truffaut)

- Vossler and Matinez two old colleques of T's video store days

- Wilson + Coolidge = two American presidents

- A reference to Caine in King Fu (character played by David Carradine) Later Bill in Kill Bill. In the final scene in the coffee shop a reference is made to Jules wandering the earth like Kaine from Kung Fu.


Pulp Fiction relates to a black audience there are references to past films and artists which were apart of the black media movement,
Isiac Hayes - Black Moses - Supercool, Shaft trailer 1971

These are Blaxploitation films which is a genre that emerged in the United States in the early 1970s when many exploitation films were made that targeted the urban black audience; the word itself is a portmanteau of the words "black" and "exploitation." Blaxploitation films were the first to feature soundtracks of funk and soul music. These films starred primarily black actors. Variety magazine credited Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song with the invention of the blaxploitation genre. Others argue that the Hollywood-financed film Shaft is closer to being blaxploitation, and thus, is more likely to have begun the genre
Examples of the most famous blaxploitation films: Shaft, Foxy Brown and Superfly.


Nearly all of the clocks in pulp fiction are set to 4.20 = no reality, Pulp Fiction plays which the audience because there is absolutely no linear. It has an ideal construction which does not bare any relation to reality this is very post modern. The time period aspect is particularly confusing it jumps from styles from 1990's, 1970's. 1950's to the 1940's. For example when Butch is in the taxi on his way back to his hotel room after his fight, the back drop from the car is unrealistic , in black and white and looks like a scene out of a 1950's film. Another example is Mia's house has a old 1960's stereo and they are wearing what looks like fashion from the 90's.

Dominic Strinati quotes -
"Postmodernism tries to come to terms with and understand a media-saturated society. The mass media, for example, were once thought of as holding up a mirror to, and thereby reflecting, a wider social reality. Now that reality is only definable in terms of surface reflection of the mirror" (1995)

"Media images encourage superficiality rather than substance, cynicism rather than belief, the thirst for constant change rather than security of stable traditions, the desires of the moment rather than the truths of history" (1992)

"Postmodernism is sceptical of any absolute, universal and all-embracing claim to knowledge and argues that theories or doctrines which make such claims are increasingly open to criticism, contestation and doubt" (1992)

Pulp is spilt into three sections which pulps time into a new reality.
The situations are;
- Mia and Vincent
- The gold watch
- Bonnie

Mia and Vincent; Wallace asks Vincent to take Mia is wife out for dinner. Mia ends up snorting heroin and having an overdose

The gold watch; Butch gets back from a fight which he goes against Wallace's orders to lose a fight, they are on the run, but Butch's girlfriend forgets to get Butch's gold watch which has been passed down, generation to generation and its the only thing he cares about. Butch goes back to his house gets the watch and ends up killing Vincent as he is waiting at Butch's home to kill him, because he won the fight. On the drive home Butch runs over Wallace and they have a gun fight down the street. They end up in a shop were the man ties them up and picks Wallace to rape first. Butch manages to get out, but goes back for Wallace as he is being raped by a police officer. Butch kills the shop owner gets Wallace and Wallace torches the police officer. Wallace and Butch are now ok and Butch and his girlfriend leave LA.

Bonnie; Jules and Vincent shot some men, Jules believes God saves him from gun shots and Vincent accidentally kills a guy. They go to Jules mates wear Wolf helps them out, as they have blood all over them and the car, they clean up then go for breakfast. A English man and women, Bonnie attempt to rob the restaurant. Jules doesn't shot the man but explains that he has been touched by god. The robbers leave with nothing and they leave. The end

The plot explains the no sense in time as Vincent gets shot in the second situation but then is in the third. This film was extremely successful as it breaks every convention and sense of time. Its different but successful which is a fantastic achievement for moving media. I think the reason for this is because you can watch it on face value which pleases the main streamers but also in captures the aspires because of all the added non conventional attention to detail.

Are homework was to write an essay on Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction Essay