Critical Aspects of Film Pulp Fiction Report (Assessment)

Introduction

Film making is a process that involves various components to achieve a high-quality film that will capture the interest of the viewers and meet their diverse needs. Some of the major components of a film are the plot sound, characters, writing skills, music, ideology, theory among others. The main point of focus in this essay will be writing and analyzing how the aspect has been handled in the film pulp fiction (Penzler 2006).

Pulp fiction review

Pulp fiction is an American film that was directed and written by Quentin Tarantino and won many awards too including seven Oscars, the Palme d’Or award and it was acted by renowned actors such Samuel Jackson and Uma Thurman. The film which is about crime is a hit film that had very high ratings when it was released this is due to the writing skills used such as dialogue, humor, and irony amid violence, cinema allusions, and references to the pop culture for example Jackson wears a very big afro on his head. The writer intertwines the many different stories that appear chronologically, to create the film. Tarantino (1994) says that “the stories include a mysterious stolen briefcase Los Angeles mobsters, fringe players, and small-time criminals”.

The film begins with two small-time thieves (Pumpkin and Honey bunny) in a diner taking breakfast and then they decide to rob the place, the writer then moves to another story where there are two characters involved, Vincent and Jules, who are in a vehicle, one driving while the other talks about his experiences in Amsterdam. They are on a mission to execute another character (Brett) who is in the custody of a very important briefcase that he stole from their boss a renowned gangster, Marsellus. The characters fear their boss who is known to be very brutal and merciless, the writer yet again changes to another story of an aging character (Butch), in a cocktail lounge waiting for Marsellus to strike a deal with him. The character is a prizefighter, he agrees to Marsellus’s demands to lose in the next game, for which he was given a heavy payment in return. The story goes back to Vincent and Jules who deliver the briefcase back to their boss, after which Vincent decides to pass by lance’s house a drug dealer where he obtains heroin. The writer shows the close relationship between crime and drugs and also does not leave out the issue of women as Vincent heads to meet Mia Wallace, Marsellus‘s wife, and takes her out but she overdoses herself with heroin thinking that it was cocaine when Vincent went to the bathroom. She is injected with adrenaline and they promise each other to keep the incident between themselves.

Butch did not throw the fight away instead he wins it hence double-crossing Marsellus, he, therefore, goes to hiding in his girlfriends’ hotel room but he realizes that he had left his very valuable gold watch in his room and he decides to go and pick it. He meets with Marsellus and the two start to chase each other and end up in a pawn shop where the owner captures them and ties them up at the gunpoint. They are taken to the basement from which they make Marsellus rape him. Butch can escape but he decides to rescue Marsellus; he can kill the two men raping him, Marsellus, therefore, forgives Butch but he orders him to leave Los Angeles forever. The Story goes back to Vincent and Marsellus who are now on a mission to kill Brett, they manage to kill him but they are attacked by Brett’s associates. It becomes a tough battle that they request Marcellus to send some help. Marsellus sends Wolf the known trouble solver to help them, they change their bloody clothes and enter the same diner that pumpkin and honey bunny are planning to steal from.

As they have breakfast Jules decides to retire from crime, Vincent decides to go to the bathrooms and it was at this point that Pumpkin instructs the diner patrons to surrender all their valuables. Jules holds Pumpkin at gunpoint, honey bunny points her guns at Jules, and at this moment Vincent emerges and quickly points his gun at honey bunny making the scene a Mexican stand-off. Jules explains to the two about his life of crime then allows them to take the cash (Polan 2000).

Writing aspects

As noted above the writer uses the trilogy technique, a skill mostly used by novelists; he tells three stories bringing in characters in and out at different intervals and allocating them timed upending on their importance. He uses old forms of story writing and applies them in today’s real life. Tarantino uses writing skills such as irony, flashback, humor among others; and also has largely used dialogue as a writing style for example a short dialogue occurs in the last scene between Pumpkin and honey bunny;

Honey Bunny: [about to rob the diner] I love you, Pumpkin.

Pumpkin: I love you, Honey Bunny

Pumpkin: [Standing up with a gun] All right, everybody is cool, this is a robbery!

Honey Bunny: Any of you fucking pricks move, and I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of ya! (Vatnsdal & Kino 2000).

The film received positive reviews claiming that it was brilliantly written but there were a few critiques that argued that the writer seemed to be desperate to get viewers’ interest by writing about bondage and homosexual sex, while others criticized the constant use of the word nigger and motherfucker in the film.

Conclusion

Overall the film received positive remarks on its storyline and some people claimed that the story was a triumph of post-modernism as the film is completely stripped of any political issues, metaphysics, or even moral values. The film though did not hit mainly because of massive audience support but because of the nature of the story and its narrative structure. The racists and homophobic jokes seem to be a good weapon for the selfish actions that characterize the world but instead, they create laughter hence keeping off the nastiness of human beings (Maddin 2003)

Reference list

1. Maddin. J. (2003). Guy. From the Atelier Tovar: Selected Writings. Toronto: Coach House Books.
2. Penzler, O. (2006). Pulp fiction: the crimefighters. Manhattan: Quercus.
3. Polan, D. B. (2000). Pulp fiction. London: BFI Publishing.
4. Tarantino, Q. (1994). Pulp fiction: a Quentin Tarantino screenplay. New York, NY: Miramax Books/Hyperion.
5. Vatnsdal, C. & Kino, D. (2000).The Films of Guy Maddin Winnipeg, Canada: Arbeiter Ring Publishing.