Analysis Of Pulp Fiction Essay, Research Paper

Analysis Essay on Pulp Fiction

The 1994 film Pulp Fiction may seem confusing and slow to some viewers. It is not until you fully understand the director s manipulations with time frames that you fully appreciate this film. This film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino is packed with action scenes as well as extensive dialogues between characters that illustrate the life of a small mob in Los Angeles California. Even though this movie may seem violent and cold there is certain humor created by the character s perspective of the crimes they commit.

Like most of Quentin Tarantino s movies, Pulp Fiction has a circular path. The movie starts when an English couple decides to rob a coffee shop after going through an extensive discussion on why they should rob coffee shops and not liquor stores or gas stations. As the action is about to happen, the credits are shown on the screen. The movie then continues beginning with another chapter in the story. Julian, played by Samuel L. Jackson, and Vincent, played by John Travolta, are in a dialogue about Vincent s trip to Amsterdam. They talk about the legalization of Marijuana. Later on they start talking about Vincent having to take care of his mob boss s wife for one night. This seemed like a delicate situation for Vincent since his boss, Marcellus Wallace played by Ving Rhames, was said to be very strict when it came to other men getting too close tohis wife. All of these facts from the movie we get just from the character s dialogue. One might think that so much dialogue could make a movie boring. The beauty of this idea by Tarantino is that we are forced to pay attention to the dialogues since they foreshadow upcoming events in the movie. All this conversation is happening while Vincent and Jules are on their way to take care of Mr. Wallace s business. They had been sent to get a suitcase that had been stolen by a group of young men. Again when the two enter the people s apartment they still humor us with their lack of conscience and cold blood when killing people. In this part we catch one of the most interesting things of the movie. The characters all see what is in the suit case that they recover. As they open the suitcase we see a gold reflection in the character s faces. We can assume that it is gold, but never in the movie do we truly know what is in the suitcase that amazes each character as each takes a look at the suitcase throughout the movie. Julian and Vincent kill the young men that had the suitcase, right then the scene ends.

The movie continues when Vincent is shown waiting for his drug dealer to hook him up with heroin. Any other then Tarantino would have just shown Vincent buying his heroin, but in this case Tarantino decide to show what happens as Vincent waits in the drug dealer s living room. Attention to all the details of the drug buy and many other scenes make this movie seem more realistic. The dealer talks about how powerful his product is. This prepares us to what happens next when Vincent takes care of Mia Wallace, Marcellus s wife, portrayed by Uma Thurman. After a long night of dancing and doing drugs, they go home where Mia suffers an overdose from the heroin that Vincent had bought earlier that day. Vincent brings Mia to the drug dealer s house where we witness one of the most nerve wrecking scenes. Vincent stabs Mia in the heart with an adrenaline shot. The suspense builds rapidly as the dealer counts to three for Vincent who is giving Mia the shot. This chapter ends as Vincent takes Mia back to her house after a close call.

The movie then introduces a whole new plot. Marcellus is shown fixing a boxing match with a boxer called Butch played by Bruce Willis. The movie then concentrates only on the boxing match and its results. The main idea is that Wallace and his gang are looking for the boxer who took Marcellus s money and ran away. The boxer had already gotten away but has to return to his apartment where he forgot his watch witch had great sentimental value. He knows that One of Marcellus s men would be waiting for him but he still decides to go. Luckily Butch caught Vincent with his pants down. Butch kills Vincent and after much more drama with some sexually ill men and Marcellus, he finally gets away. Chronologically this is the last part of the movie. Vincent is killed, and Butch gets away. But the movie still continues.

The next chapter of the movie continues narrating what is happening at the apartment of the young people who had Marcellus s suitcase in the beginning. A person comes out of the bathroom trying to shoot Vincent and Jules. After firing 5 shots and not hitting either one, Vincent and Jules kill him. The amusing part of this scene is that Jules refuses to leave the scene even though the police is on its way because he wants Vincent to admit that they had just witnessed a miracle. The discussion on the miracle they witnessed goes on in the car until it is interrupted by Vincent s gun going off and shooting a someone that was riding in the back seat. This intensifies the suspense since they are driving in the daytime with a dead body and a car full of blood. This event leads us into the next scene where Quentin Tarantino appears in the movie as Jimmy. Jimmy is a regular guy, not involved in the mob. He helps the two by giving them a couple of hours in his house to store the body before the dispose of it. As all of this is going on, there is much dialogue going on giving some humor to the stressful situation.

After they get rid of the body they both go to eat breakfast at the coffee shop that was about to be robbed by the English couple. At this point the movie goes back to the opening scene. As they are eating breakfast and discussing the miracle witnessed earlier that morning, the robbery starts. The suitcase with the gold reflection is shown again and makes you wonder again of its contents. The situation is kept under control by Julian and Vincent. After a long day the both return to Marcellus Wallace with his suitcase as he discusses fixing the fight again with the boxer where the movie ends.

Pulp Fiction I believe is a movie that has to be seen more than one time to understand it completely. Most people may get lost in all the time frames and dialogues, but when you see it the next time it is easy to comprehend the path of the movie. There are two main things that make this movie interesting. The dialogue is an important part of this movie. It makes it more real and also gives details that prepare us for future incidents and also gives the movie a unique humor. The other characteristic that I appreciated was the different time frames that all tie up in the end of the movie. The movie might not have an interesting plot, but even for someone who dislikes gangster movies, this film should be appreciated by the directors work in composing it in an unusual fashion. Together with its great cast of characters and great soundtrack, Pulp Fiction is a uniquely put together film that made it and its creator worthy of many awards.