Pulp Fiction is easily considered one of Quentin Tarentino’s best films. Released to theaters on October 14, 1994, the film quickly received high ratings and was a box office hit. Besides being the title, Pulp Fiction is actually a genre best described by dictionary.com as “a genre of racy, action-based stories published in cheaply printed magazines from around 1900 to the 1950s, mostly in the United States.” This completely encapsulates the film as a whole.
The movie cast is stacked with familiar names such as Uma Thurman, John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Quentin Tarentino, Bruce Willis, and many more. The movie clocks in for a runtime of 2 hours and 34 minutes, making the film a bit longer than most. Officially, the R-rated movie is classified as a crime/thriller. Although the movie is prone to violence and gore, the film maintains an overall dark humor and keeps the movie fairly lighthearted, even in serious scenes.
Pulp Fiction is a more unique film because it does not use linear storytelling. The film has a wide cast of important characters, with no single character being the protagonist. In turn, the movie shows how these characters interact with each other and their entwined story lines. Additionally, the film jumps forward and backwards in time to reveal certain aspects of the story which, in turn, adds more depth to previous scenes. In contrast, Tarentino uses a very common plot device in his film: the MacGuffin. The MacGuffin, defined by Merriam-Webster, is “an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance.” Pulp Fiction’s MacGuffins are the briefcase and the gold watch. Although only a few characters interact with these objects, they are important in moving the plot forward even though the items have little importance to the overall story.
For years many have analyzed and speculated about the movie’s overall theme or message. With that being said, from my understanding, the movie’s main objective leads the viewer to wonder whether there is a meaning to the film at all. The story is about finding purpose in a meaningless world. A perfect example of this is a moment in the movie when two characters, Jules and Vincent, are shot at but the bullets completely miss and avoid them. Jules believes this moment is divine intervention and a miracle that they were not hit. In contrast, Vincent believes that moment was a freak accident and pure luck. In an expertly crafted scene, the two characters have a conversation on their two conflicting views. Jules finds meaning from that moment and Vincent accepts it as meaningless. Overall, the movie is meant to invoke a similar analysis in the viewer, leading the spectator to try to find a particular meaning in the movie, or simply find it to be meaningless.
With that being said, the movie does have a more clear theme of violence and redemption. After all, the majority of the characters are criminals or gangsters in a way, however, each character embodies good qualities. The viewer can’t help but learn to like each character for their humor, wit, or personality. The movie portrays the good and light in a seemingly dark and violent world. An example of this in the movie is when Vincent, previously involved in a massacre, gets up on stage with another character and dances in a lighthearted scene. This scene alone is super iconic for Pulp Fiction and almost satirical because of the shift in seriousness. Overall, I would personally recommend Pulp Fiction. It’s a testament to the good in a bad world, and leaves much up to the viewer’s interpretation. Besides that, the movie is generally seen as a classic and a must watch.