Analysis

Analysis

Symbols and Tropes

Hero's Journey

Ever notice that every blockbuster movie has the same fundamental pieces? A hero, a journey, some conflicts to muck it all up, a reward, and the hero returning home and everybody applauding his or...

Setting

'90s Los Angeles, CaliforniaYes, believe it or not, this is the '90s. The music and cultural references might trick you into thinking the film takes place in the '50s but we're in the '90s and we'r...

Point of View

A Collage of Characters and a Superfluity of StoriesQuick—name the only character that appears in all three parts of the movie. Time's up. Answer: Vincent Vega. Two of the sections, his night out...

Genre

Crime, Exploitation, Spaghetti WesternQuentin Tarantino has been called a cinematic kleptomaniac. He borrows constantly from all genres because he loves all genres. A true video geek from an early...

What's Up With the Title?

What's up with the title? Quentin has that covered in the opening credits. The first thing we see on the screen is a definition of pulp. "Pulp" could mean "a soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter,"...

What's Up With the Ending?

That depends on which ending you're talking about: real time or screen time? The chronological ending is Butch driving off into the sunset (in a manner of speaking) with Fabienne on Grace, his new...

Shock Rating

RPulp Fiction has all the (R)ight stuff: brutal violence, sexual violence, drugs, nudity. Mature themes, indeed. There's the shooting of helpless young men and the accidental but very gory death of...