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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Deconstructing 'PULP FICTION'

  
  

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Wrecks City-Zen
20:00 / 08.10.02
Pulp Fiction was on TV the other night and it prompted this conversation with a friend:

Rex:I've seen Pulp Fiction about 20 times now and I still can't make sense of the timeline...


Nameless Friend:Dude, that's because it's a loop!


Rex:What do you mean?


Nameless FriendThey're all dead! See? Everyone in this movie, they are trapped in like a Purgatory state where they keep repeating the same thing over and over


Rex:Hmmmm...please go on.

NF:Well, you know what's in the briefcase, right?

From there, he pointed out a few remarkable points:

1. The opening scene with Hunnybunny and Pumpkin (formerly Mickey and Mallory from NBK) are plotting the diner robbery, this dialogue:

PUMPKIN
(yelling to all)
Everybody be cool this is a
robbery!

HONEY BUNNY
Any of you fuckin' pricks move and
I'll execute every motherfucking one of you.

Now when we return to that scene later in the movie:

PUMPKIN
Everybody be cool, this is a
robbery!

HONEY BUNNY
Any of you fuckin' pricks move and
I'll execute every one of you
motherfuckers! Got that?!


2. The scene where Vincent and Jules enter Brad's apartment while discussing the foot massage:

JULES
What time is it?

VINCENT
(checking his watch)
Seven-twenty-two in the morning.

JULES
It ain't quite time, let's hang
back.

3. MARVIN: The lad who gets his head blown off in the back of the car is somehow connected with the two assassins.
JULES
Uuuuummmm, hit's the spot!
(to Roger)
You, Flock of Seagulls, you know
what we're here for?

Roger nods his head: "Yes."

JULES
Then why don't you tell my boy here
Vince, where you got the shit hid.

MARVIN
It's under the be --

JULES
-- I don't remember askin' you a
goddamn thing.
(to Roger)
You were sayin'?

ROGER
It's under the bed.

Vincent moves to the bed, reaches underneath it, pulling out a
black snap briefcase.

VINCENT
Got it.

Vincent flips the two locks, opening the case. We can't see
what's inside, but a small glow emits from the case. Vincent
just stares at it, transfixed.

And when we return to that scene again, a young man comes charging out of the bathroom, firing his gun, point blank at the 3 of them when the bullets seemingly pass right through them...

The two men lower their guns. Jules, obviously shaken, sits
down in a chair. Vincent, after a moment of respect, shrugs
it off. Then heads toward Marvin in the corner.

VINCENT
Why the fuck didn't you tell us
about that guy in the bathroom?
Slip your mind? Forget he was in
there with a goddamn hand cannon?

JULES
(to himself)
We should be fuckin' dead right
now.
(pause)
Did you see that gun he fired at
us? It was bigger than him.

VINCENT
.357.

JULES
We should be fuckin' dead!

VINCENT
Yeah, we were lucky.

Was Marvin a friend or a mole? Perhaps...

4. When Jules shoots "Flock of Seagulls" he turns over before he is shot.

5. The meeting between Vince (Travolta) and Butch (Willis) in the bar and the "look" they exchange...foreshadowing Butch killing Vincent?

6. The timeline itself.

I'm sure there is more, I just wanted to put the idea out there and see what came back...

Be back soon.

Re:XXX C T Zen
 
 
Utopia
00:15 / 09.10.02
I don't like telling people that their interpretation of a film is "wrong." Your veiws are very interesting, but I don't think they really work. Let's see if I can address some...

1. First, Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson played Mickey & Mallory. Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth played Pumkin & Honey Bunny. I don't believe these character's were supposed to be connected, like Alabama in True Romance and Alabama (name-dropped) in Reservoir Dogs, or Vic RD and Vince Vega PF. The flubbing of the lines was intentional, but only because we've seen this before. It made the 2nd viewing more interesting than a straight repeat.

2.The time issue: I think they were just to damn early. You knock on someone's door at 7:22 AM and expect them to be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed (Though SHIT, maybe that's why they were there so damn early. Sleepy yuppie punks can't give ya much hassle...). The foot massage resolution dialogue probably took up more "movie time" than it did real time. Suspension of disbelief required.

3. Marvin, I believe, was lookin' out for his own ass. He sold his friends out. They were on their way to Marcellus' to straighten things out, I imagine.

4. "Flock of Seagulls" was a shit actor. Actually, the "Tarantino instant death" trend has been spoken about by critics. You may find some interesting things written about this, and PF in general, somewhere out there.

5. Butch and Vince. Experiment: put two "heavies" in a room. Two big guys who take shit from no one. Add a botched hit and an ego-shattering sellout, and you've got two guys who are lookin' for trouble. Bake at 350, let cool and enjoy.

6. Tarantino commented that the timeline exists the way it does because A) he was looking for the creative freedom novelists often enjoy, and B) it worked for the story. He has said that if it worked better linearly, it would be a straight linear story. The simple answer is usually the best.

Hope you don't feel as if I'm shooting you down--that's the last thing I want to do. Like I said, you're views are interesting, but somehow they just don't jibe with what is known about PF, as well as Tarantino's body of work. Feel free to counterpoint.
 
 
CameronStewart
00:46 / 09.10.02
>>>First, Juliette Lewis and Woody Harrelson played Mickey & Mallory. Amanda Plummer and Tim Roth played Pumkin & Honey Bunny. I don't believe these character's were supposed to be connected,<<<

I remember reading somewhere - I think it was producer Jane Hamsher's book [i]Killer Instinct[/i], about the making of Natural Born Killers - that the scripts for Pulp Fiction, True Romance and NBK all began life as one BIG script, which was eventually splintered and turned into three smaller ones. In the original, Mickey and Mallory Knox were the fantasy alter-egos of Clarence and Alabama, who were also known to each other as Pumpkin and Honey-Bunny.

Or something like that.
 
 
Our Lady of The Two Towers
11:41 / 09.10.02
4. When Jules shoots "Flock of Seagulls" he turns over before he is shot.

Although I really like your interpretation, this is just, I think, the perils of shooting. Samuel L. Jackson clearly shoots the floor several inches away from the actor. And he directs Vincent to a cupboard in the kitchen, not a bed, if memory serves.
 
 
doglikesparky
12:49 / 09.10.02
Sorry to jump on the "your interpretation is wrong" bandwagon but there's something else I don't agree with. Not everybody is dead by the end of the film.

Butch, Marcellus, Mia, Jules, Pumpkin, Honeybunny, Mr Wolf, Tarantino's character (can't remember his name - sorry) all come out alive so I don't see how they can be trapped.

I'd be very interested to know what your unnamed friend (or indeed any 'lithers) thinks is in the briefcase.
I'm sure I read once upon a time that it's supposed to be a pair of Angels Wings but I might be mistaken. Does anybody know what, if any, relevance that may have to the story?
In mythology, does owning a set of Angels wings have any significance? Why might Marcellus want them, other than the obvious reason that having a set would be really cool.
 
 
8===>Q: alyn
13:06 / 09.10.02
I'd be very interested to know what your unnamed friend (or indeed any 'lithers) thinks is in the briefcase.

I'd understood it was Marcellus' soul.
 
 
8===>Q: alyn
13:07 / 09.10.02
There's no message or subtext in Tarantino's movies. They're all about how cool they themselves are. They can be fun, but are tremendously shallow.
 
 
gridley
13:36 / 09.10.02
Originally, the brief case contained the diamonds stolen in Resevoir Dogs, but at some point, Avery and Tarantino decided that was kind of boring. They figured it would be cooler to never show what was in the case (probably after a night of watching Repo Man).

The best explanation I've heard is that it's Marcellus's soul, which he sold to the devil, (and which I guess Flock of Seagulls stole back for him?). The combination on the lock is "666" and Marcellus also has a band-aid on the back of his neck, presumably from where his soul pulled out of him. Some people say that at the moment Jules kills that guy after reading him the Ezekial speech, you see see the same kind of light come out of him that you see coming from the brief case. I've never confirmed that for myself.

QT has said contradictory things about what's in the case. At one time he seemed to like the soul story, other times said it was crap. Most likely he was telling the truth when he said that the briefcase simply contained "the most beautiful thing in the world."
 
 
kagemaru
15:07 / 09.10.02
... and of course, when asked about the contents of the briefcase, Samuel R. Jackson answered "two batteries, some wire and a lightbulb".

Which is pretty zen, all things considered.
 
 
Elijah, Freelance Rabbi
16:03 / 09.10.02
hell, thats what my sould is made of
 
 
Wrecks City-Zen
20:12 / 09.10.02
Hate to jump on the "shooting you down" bandwagon Re:XXX but...

...oh wait a minute...

Why was Mr. Wolfe wearing a tux at 8:00 in the morning?
 
 
Wrecks City-Zen
20:13 / 09.10.02
And whatever happened to the "prequel" featuring Travolta and Michael Madsen from RD?
 
 
Jack Fear
20:29 / 09.10.02
Why was Mr. Wolfe wearing a tux at 8:00 in the morning?

Winston the Wolf was still wearing a tux at 8:00 in the morning.

Now that's cool.
 
 
Mr Tricks
23:28 / 09.10.02
Yeah... wasn't he at a party?
 
 
Wrecks City-Zen
23:42 / 09.10.02
Yep @ 8:00 am, seems to be a reception...
 
 
cusm
17:50 / 10.10.02
My take:

Pumpkin and Honeybunny's lines: sloppy editing.

Mr Wolf: He's just that cool.

As for the diamonds, there are a lot of crossovers between PF and RD. Marsallas and Vick Vega are mentioned directly, in fact. That much is intentional. There are similar crossovers with True Romance. Though I suspect a lot of the rest is mythology implied by the viewer more than the writer.
 
 
Mystery Gypt
18:18 / 10.10.02
read the book cameron mentions above and you'll get the sense that although he sure as hell made some fun, super cool movies, mr. t.'s not really all THAT together in the brain department... he's one of the last people you'd really want to give extra credit to. just repeat the mantra "From Dusk Til Dawn... Four Rooms..." until the inconsitencies come clear... the book makes it sound like whatsits name Avery is actually the genius of the group, having pulled together these kickass screenplays from Tarentino's 500 page meander-thon.

what was it, Rex, that you found to be so strange about the time-line issues in the film other than the different takes on that one repeated line?
 
 
bio k9
21:43 / 10.10.02
I always thought the different lines were intentional.
 
 
Mr Tricks
23:56 / 10.10.02
By the way... anyone know what Book Travolta's charactor was reading?

always wanted to know but could never get a good look...
 
 
moriarty
00:21 / 11.10.02
Modesty Blaise.

Started as a comic strip, then in a series of books and a movie. Not sure exactly why Vincent would be reading it, unless Tarantino wanted to include some pulp fiction into the movie. Wouldn't be my first choice. Maybe some Cornell Woolrich or Walter Gibson.
 
 
Smoothly
00:16 / 13.10.02
...And according to the 'trivia track' on the DVD, the Modesty Blaise character indulges in a biblical rant very similar to Jules's. Oh, and that after Pulp Fiction Miramax bought the rights to the MB series with a view to Tarantino directing an adaptation with Uma Thurman starring.

Oh, and the discrepencies between the two versions of Honeybunny's stick up line are in the original script so it's not sloppy editing. I always took it to be a reference to the fact that the stories, although overlapping, are from different people's perspectives and so are recalled differently. But that might be bollocks.
 
 
Scrambled Password Bogus Email
19:41 / 13.10.02
With regard to the different lines, I also assume this to be an Orwellian point of view kinda thang.

As many different recollections of the event as observers and all that guff.
 
 
Scrambled Password Bogus Email
19:44 / 13.10.02
On a totally different, but similar 'movie deconstruction' kind of tack, has anyone ever read the superb atheist reading of 'Toy Story'?

I can't remember the author, but a Google search may yield results...I promise it's worth it - Bloody GENIUS!

:P
 
 
Smoothly
22:25 / 13.10.02
You mean This? Or are there more?
 
 
Jack Fear
22:42 / 13.10.02
You mean "You mean this?"?
 
 
Smoothly
22:48 / 13.10.02
Erm, yes. Thanks.
 
 
Jack Fear
12:44 / 15.10.02
Y'know, not to totally derail the thread or anything... but I'd put more credence in that "TOY STORY-as-atheist-parable" thing...

...if the shattering truth that Buzz discovers (and that Woody already knows) is that they not alone—that they are beloved of and protected by, that they serve and are served by, that are created to love and to be loved by, a huge and powerful entity: and that all their illusory activities in this world are vain and pointless and that the way to true fulfillment is to surrender oneself to the service and trust of this benevolent entity.

Ahem.

Of course, as Gene Wolfe sez, "Any interesting work of art comes close to saying the opposite of what it really says."
 
 
Axel Lambert
13:42 / 15.10.02
This just in: the suitcase-with-mysterious-content is a ripoff from KISS ME DEADLY (1955).
 
 
gridley
16:52 / 15.10.02
So, you're saying the atom bomb is the most beautiful thing in the world?
 
 
enough
21:17 / 15.10.02
>>>drives by very slowly to inspect derailed thread<<<
 
 
Axel Lambert
15:45 / 16.10.02
But it's really not the atom bomb, or plutonium, or uranium in that bag. It doesn't behave like a bomb. Rather it's the idea of the atom bomb. Or something -- evil. No?
 
 
gridley
18:26 / 16.10.02
Oh, I agree. The idea of the atomic bomb. Exactly. I have to watch that film again. It was very puzzling to me when I was 17.
 
 
Wrecks City-Zen
23:58 / 16.10.02
No,no...REPO MAN makes sense...
 
 
gridley
13:21 / 17.10.02
You're telling me?

--John Wayne was a fag.

--Hell, he was!

--Friend of mine went to install two-way mirrors in his pad in Brentwood. Came to the door in a dress.

--Aw, that's nothing. Lots of guys like to watch their friends fuck.
 
 
Wrecks City-Zen
23:10 / 18.10.02
Which character are you?
 
  

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