Narrative and Genre Features in the Opening Sequence of Pulp Fiction
A narrative is the story itself and generic features are elements
expected to be contained within a certain category of film.
Pulp Fiction is labeled as a gangster film; however gangster films
follow very precise generic elements such a death, contraband’s,
violence, wealth and strong family loyalties.
Pulp Fiction doe follow the above mentioned elements but the locations
of the action are unorthodox. Screen gangster activities tend to take
place in sophisticated up market places as gangsters tend to be
perceived as sophisticated and highly respected and feared individuals
in society. This is a generic convention which is usually followed
strictly; however the action in Pulp Fiction takes place in everyday
places in broad daylight.
Gangster films also tend to follow the rise and fall structure, where
the main character goes from rages to riches and back to rags again or
ends up dead. This is a form of Aristotelian narrative. Pulp Fiction
has a circular narrative; it begins and ends in the same scene,
opposed to an Aristotelian narrative. However Pulp Fiction contains
three smaller Aristotelian narratives within its main story.
In the opening sequence of Pulp Fiction we see two characters dressed
casually. Therefore immediately see that Pulp Fiction is subverting
generic conventions and traditions because traditionally screen
gangsters wear well-fitted smart suits. There is also a female
gangster. This is almost unheard of except for in ‘Bonnie and Clyde’.
The second of the two opening characters is an English man. This is
also a subversion of conventions...
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...tion by sarcasm. For example ‘… can I have a bite of your
burger?’ ‘…may I wash it down with a drop of your tasty sprite?’ These
are both rhetorical questions which are not ment to be answered. By
asking such questions Jools is demeaning the college kids and giving
himself a great sense of self importance.
Before Vincent and Jools shoot Brett, Jools gives a theatrical
performance of a passage of the bible. This appears to give Jools a
sense of self importance. This subverts generic conventions. It’s
unusual for a character to turn a murder into a theatrical
performance. In the next scene this narrative is left behind and a new
one unfolds.
To conclude Pulp Fiction is one of a kind. It tends to break all the
conventions set in place for a traditional gangster film, however it
does it successfully and with style.
The only real way to truly understand a story is to understand all aspects of a story and their meanings. The same goes for movies, as they are all just stories being acted out. In Thomas Foster's book, “How to Read Literature Like a Professor”, Foster explains in detail the numerous ingredients of a story. He discusses almost everything that can be found in any given piece of literature. The devices discussed in Foster's book can be found in most movies as well, including in Quentin Tarantino’s cult classic, “Pulp Fiction”. This movie is a complicated tale that follows numerous characters involved in intertwining stories. Tarantino utilizes many devices to make “Pulp Fiction” into an excellent film. In this essay, I will demonstrate how several literary devices described in Foster's book are put to use in Tarantino’s film, “Pulp Fiction”, including quests, archetypes, food, and violence.
July in America is a big public holiday, so it was a very clever idea
Analyzing the Ways the Director Builds Suspense and Scares the Audience in the Film Jaws
Genre and Narrative Establishment in the Opening of Pulp Fiction, The Krays and Goodfellas In this piece of coursework I am going to study, compare and evaluate three films in order to show how the genre and narrative are established in the opening five minutes of each. The three films I have chosen to study are 'Pulp Fiction', 'The Krays' and 'Goodfellas'. Pulp Fiction was released in 1995, it was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and was star studded with the likes of John Travolta (Vincent Vega), Uma Thurman (Mia Wallace), Samuel L Jackson (Jules) and Bruce Willis (Butch). Pulp Fiction has a non-linear narrative; the film follows Vincent's life and the scenarios he transpires within just a few days.
While there are many different ways to classify a Neo-noir film, Roman Polanski’s, Chinatown captures many. The 1974 movie consists of many of these elements, including both thematic and stylistic devices. One of the main themes of neo-noir film that is constant throughout the film is the deceptive plot that questions the viewers’ ideas and perceptions of what is actually happening in the film. Every scene of Chinatown leads to a twist or another turn that challenges the practicability of the film’s reality. All of the never-ending surprises and revelations lead up to the significant themes the movie is trying to convey in the conclusion of the film.
The plot segmentation of Quentin Tarantino’s 1994 film, “Pulp Fiction,” reveals how the pieces in the nonlinear narrative structures are put together. In order for the audience to remind them when these events take place, the movie uses title cards to specify each segments’ main plot. Some of the characters would even reference events that have already occurred, such as when Mia, in the boxing match building, thanks Vincent for the dinner. The movie does not just allow the audience to really pay attention to how the story is being told, but also show how similar each of the main stories’ structures is, despite being in a nonlinear form. For example, all of them feature acts of “heroism” by resolving the issues when caught in very unexpected
The film received mostly positive reviews. Roger Ebert praised the film as "one of those stories with the quality of a nightmare, in which foolish young men try to out-macho one another until they get trapped in a violent situation which will forever alter their lives.”
Halloween is rife with psychological scares that affect its audience greatly. “Symbolism, dreamlike imagery, emotional rather than rational logic” are present in Psychoanalytic criticism. Siskel and Ebert talked about how the movie makes you feel as if you are the protagonist, scared for your life and feeling every bit of suspense (Siskel and Ebert). The movie is purely fueled by emotional responses to what is happening to the characters and focuses itself purely on how the audience will respond. In the clip shown, the main protagonist talks about how she killed the killer but he is shown alive. The movie is not concerned with the logic; otherwise, the killer would have at least been slowed down by the injuries he sustained. Siskel and Ebert laud the movie on its set up of scenes, score, character development, and use of lighting to make the audience feel the terror the characters undergo.
How the Opening Sequence of Halloween Captures the Attention of the Audience ' 'Halloween' was made in 1978 and is a good example of the 'Slasher' movies from that time and this is an interesting piece of cinema as it can be related to the German expressionism of the late 1920's which used jerky camera shots and high contrast lighting to enthrall the viewer .In this essay I will discuss how the opening to Halloween captures the audiences attention and how codes and conventions create suspense and tension for the audience.
An Analysis of How Narrative and Genre Features Create Meaning and Generate Response in the Opening of Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas
‘Jaws’ a thriller based on the novel by Peter Benchley, the film was directed by Steven Spielberg. In a beach resort of Amity Island, a young girl named Chrissie is the first victim of the shark’s vicious attack, when it strikes for the second time, the police refuse to put out warning about the shark. It then returns and kills again, the mayor orders the local fishermen to catch the great white shark before it kills even more victims. The fishermen are satisfied when they catch a Tiger shark the mayor reopens the beaches despite the warning from the ichthyologist when he suspects it was from a formidable great white shark. Brody and Hooper and the only fisherman willing to join them to catch the great white set out in the fisherman’s boat only coming face to teeth with the enemy. This film is rated as a 15, and has a running-time of 124 minutes. It was made in the USA, the soundtrack to ‘Jaws’ was a famous two-note piece composed by Czech composer Antonín Dvořák.
...s we are given. Some displayed right on the screen, others shown through actors’ gestures. At the same time this film keeps us entertained with action and violence current the interested of the present generation. This shows “American Gangster” was made with the audience in mind and this is why it did so well in the box office. This film really does such a quality job of capturing the time period, but it still had all these other elements in it to try to make it perfect. “A perfect cast”, that become their character and still brings their own personification into the film. Setting that can not confuse you, as well as narrative economy that still again remind you were you are. Editing that flows nice and evenly. But is this all the makes for a perfect film or just a jack-of-all-trades, master of none. Are all these qualities too much and really their downfall?
that a film can be just as or better than the novel it is based on.
There are movies that make you laugh, that make you cry, that blow you away with jaw-dropping, ever-so-satisfying action sequences. And there is Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino’s masterpiece, an homage to the old Pulp Magazines and crime novels popular in the 1950s. Known for their incredibly dense and complex dialogue and excessive violence, Tarantino adds his trademark nonlinear chronology and thorough character development to create a movie that celebrates the fact that chance governs all of our lives. The film consists of multiple stories that tell of the criminals, gangsters and outliers of Los Angeles, the underbelly of society. It follows Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield as they embark on their mission to recovering a briefcase that
...n (Director) mistakenly seems to believe can carry the whole film. On the strength "based on a true story", he has rejected attention-grabbing characters, an imaginative plot, and unforgettable villains.