Introduction
It is worth noting that the movie Pulp Fiction is full of mysteries posed by Quentin Tarantino to the viewers, and he offers the audience to independently solve these puzzles in their way. With each scene, he invites the viewer to figure out what will happen to the main characters next and try to understand who they will see in the next scene. Interestingly, the opening scene launches the mood of the film, along with the viewer’s thinking. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the formal, aesthetic, and narrative elements of this scene to make an argument about the significance of the movie as a whole.
Discussion
The film begins with a situation in which two people are sitting in a cafe and discussing something. During the first minutes, the viewer watches this ordinary scene and tries to understand what these individuals are talking about. From their dialogue, it becomes clear that these are two robbers who are discussing which of the places that can be robbed is the most suitable. They dwell on the fact that robbing this cafe itself is a great idea since no one in America robs cafes, while a lot of money can be stolen from visitors. They take out pistols, threaten the visitors, and at that moment, the credits begin. Thus, two robbers, who had never robbed a cafe before, in which they admitted to each other, make such a decision in a spontaneous manner, which was the result of their short dialogue.
Notably, through this scene, Tarantino pushes the viewer to several conclusions, which are amplified by subsequent episodes from the film. In particular, public censure of incorrect or illegal acts leads society to take crimes seriously, while the director shows how everything is relative by the example of his heroes. Honey Bunny and Pumpkin make fun of the way banks are being robbed these days – one no longer needs to have a weapon. They drink coffee and have breakfast, and then decide to carry out an armed attack.
Violence in one form or another must always stand out in the plot of almost any film. As a rule, this is achieved through story arches and character lines. Directors also prepare their viewers to this emotionally by increasing tension, with the help of music, dialogs, and visual storytelling tools, which includes the work with a palette of colors and lighting. The first scene of the film ridicules violence despite traditional views on it. The film shows violence as part of the narrative and an integral element in the revelation of characters. The first scene sets the mood for the whole plot and reveals the overall meaning of the film. The viewer can conclude that the most violent scenes are the result of random spontaneous events.
Concluding Points
Thus, it can be concluded that Pulp Fiction is quite different in the way it presents complex situations and contradictory events to the viewer. At first glance, the opening scene may seem useless or meaningless, but it is not. The movie consists of the links that build the plot bit by bit; they fully reveal it to the viewer. The opening scene sets the viewer in the right mood and pushes them to recognize specific patterns that are then skillfully ridiculed.