Pulp Fiction as Postmodern HANDOUT

How can Pulp Fiction be described as postmodern?

Institutional Information:

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Year: 1994

Genre: Neo noir (prominently use elements of film noir, but with updated themes, content, style, visual elements or media that were absent in film noir of the 1940s and 1950s), crime (a genre of film that focus on crime. The stylistic approach to a crime film varies from realistic portrayals of real-life criminal figures, to the far-fetched evil doings of imaginary arch-villains), black humour (a comic style that makes light of themes that are generally considered serious or taboo. Black comedy corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor. Black comedy is often controversial due to its subject matter)

Target Audience:

·       Rated an 18- intense scenes including rape and murder, black humour alleviates this making it more accessible overall

·       Violence and black humour is usually associated with men and the film has been accused of laddishness- there is a sexual view of Mia as the femme fatale and there is also lots of reference to sex, as well as Butch and Fabienne are assumed to have sex

·       Many women enjoy the film as there is a lack of usual sexism, though the women are sometimes represented somewhat negatively- Mia is a femme fatale, Fabienne is a child-like woman and Honey Bunny becomes a screaming mess

·       Became a critical and commercial success as well as a cult classic despite it being such a different film to what Hollywood usually releases

 Mia as a femme fatale- Jules and Vincent discuss how, after seducing another man, he ended up dead:

Jules: Look, just because I don't be givin' no man a foot massage don't make it right for Marsellus to throw Antwone into a glass motherfuckin' house, fuckin' up the way the nigger talks. Motherfucker do that shit to me, he better paralyze my ass, 'cause I'll kill the motherfucker, know what I'm sayin'?

Vincent: I ain't saying it's right. But you're saying a foot massage don't mean nothing, and I'm saying it does. Now look, I've given a million ladies a million foot massages, and they all meant something. We act like they don't, but they do, and that's what's so fucking cool about them. There's a sensuous thing going on where you don't talk about it, but you know it, she knows it, fucking Marsellus knew it, and Antwone should have fucking better known better. I mean, that's his fucking wife, man. He can't be expected to have a sense of humor about that shit. You know what I'm saying?

Jules: That's an interesting point. Come on, let's get into character.

Postmodern Features:

·       Pulp fiction is full of intertextual references- references the French New Wave film at the beginning (“Band a part”), makes references to gangster, blaxploitation (mainly set in poor urban neighbourhoods. Terms used against white characters, such as "crackers" and "honky", are common plot and or character elements. Blaxploitation films set in the South often deal with slavery and miscegenation.), boxing, war, musical, romance and even arthouse genres. Possible ones across to other Tarantino films (is Vince the cousin/brother of Vic ‘Mr Blonde’ Vega in Reservoir Dogs, came out two years before? Related to Suzanne Vega the singer?) Include the stars’ other performances: Harvey Keitel as cleaner-up of murders in The Assassin, Travolya playing someone with the possible future of his character in Saturday Night Fever. Godard- ‘A Band Apart’ is a film by Godard, Vincent and Mia’s dance echoes Godard, Mia’s look echoes Anna Karina who worked closely with Godard.

·       Constant references to the part as well as use of temporal distortion- They go to a retro restaurant they listen to old music and dance an old dance, this is an element of postmodernity. No sense of time- 1990s referenced by McDonald’s chat and phones but lots of retro-cultural references= no time. Disorienting structure in regards to time- last event of the story= Fabienne and Butch making their getaway after The Gold Watch. Last event of plot= Vincent and Jules walking out of the diner, well before Vincent is killed during the gold watch

• They discuss eating burgers with the same seriousness as killing people - lack of meta narratives- leading to a lack of morality
• The film questions reality as in the car Mia draws a square graphic, reminding the audience this is a film and not real life.- element of postmodernism and modernism- variation and disruptions to the Hollywood style-  odd angles, unusually long takes, square drawn on the screen
• The bible is quoted at very inappropriate moments- black humour, sense of knowingness and irony
• Mixing of styles- neo noir, black comedy and crime

Postmodern motifs- The suitcase is the most important motif- the combination is 666, the number of the beast. It is a MacGuffin (plot device) but people put meaning onto it- links to feature of pluralism. Originally, the case was going to contain diamonds but this was considered too mundane. 2007 video with fellow director and friend Robert Rodriguez- Tarantino reveals the contents of the briefcase, but the film cuts out and skips the scene in the style employed in Tarantino and Rodriguez’s Grindhouse with an intertitle reading “Missing Reel”- intertextuality within an interview- Rodriguez discusses how radically the knowledge of the briefcase changes the understanding of the film- pluralism. The glow inside the suitcase links to 1955 film noir Kiss Me Deadly- features a glowing briefcase housing an atomic explosive= using intertextuality to add meaning, links to violence through kiss me deadly and raiders of the last ark (glowing chest)