Pulp Fiction

In the first seconds of Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, 2 definitions of “pulp” are shown on the screen. “1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter. 2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper,” and both describe the movie well. The movie is shapeless, being told non-linearly, and is a mass of pop culture references and imitation of movie genres. The movie is stylistically the latter definition by being rough around the edges through simple, low budget production, while being littered with adult themes and crass humour. However, the film uses it's identity as “pulp” in the best way, transforming crass jokes and genre imitation into a statement on film itself. Though the film consists of an erratic nonlinear narrative, there are 3 protagonists, each given character arcs through their own vignette. The first protagonist is Butch Coolidge, a dead-end boxer being hunted by the gang boss Marsellus Wallace. Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield, two of Marsellus's hitmen are the second and third protagonists. Their vignettes comprise the loose overall narrative of the film, but each one has a wildly different tone and imitates different genre tropes, ranging from deadly action to darkly humourous farce. …show more content…
During the dialogue scenes between them, the lighting is soft and warm, giving a sense of comfort. The camera during these scenes is tightly focused on our characters, obscuring the world around them. In addition, themes of drug use are rampant in this act, and extreme closeups of drug paraphernalia in dark lighting create a psychedelic mood to these scenes. Mise-en-scene in Marsellus's mansion informs us of his wealth and power, with large rooms and high art. In contrast, the referential humour in the fifties diner plays into the film's themes of mixing of