In most literary genres, many techniques are utilized to enhance the way the author addresses his message. In Pulp Fiction and Among the Red Guns, they share the same color and parts of the structure but have opposing fundamental meaning. With similar storylines, Pulp Fiction and Among the Red Guns showcase the rationalizations for taking life, rationalizations that have contrasting views: one acknowledging the value of life and the other refusing to accept any life value at all.
Although written in the 1990s, Pulp Fiction continues to impact viewers through its use of iconic characters and their amoral behavior. The audience’s emotion is caused by its luring storyline and dialogue that engages the reader into the world of violence and heinous acts. Called to do a “job” by their boss, Marsellus Wallace, Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega need to retrieve a
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Most of the storyline is surrounded around them trying to retrieve this briefcase and what happens during the pursuit of it is also rousing to the reader. One of the many things that Jules and Vincent do is engage in various philosophical conversations. As stated by many critics, this is what gives the film its atmosphere. “This movie gets its charge not from action pyrotechnics but from its electric barrage of language, wisecracks and dialogue” (Wilmington Web). Moreover, the luring dialogue is achieved by how candid the characters, Jules and Vincent, are on their views on life. Interestingly, Vincent and Jules have this mafia code so to say from beginning to end that is portrayed from the way they handle their problems, and the absolute power that their boss has on them. As seen in the film, there is a lack of any higher authority other than Marsellus. “This lack of any kind of higher authority is depicted in the film by the conspicuous absence of any police presence
2. According to Sobchack, contemporary screen violence greatly differs than portrayals of violence in years past. Today, violent scenes are careless and lack significance because we as audiences have become calloused and desensitized to any acts of violence. She states that there is “no grace or benediction attached to violence. Indeed, its very intensity seems diminished” (Sobchack 432). Senseless violence, gruesome acts, and profound amounts of gore are prevalent in movies today, and because even this is not enough, it must be accompanied by loud blasts and noise, constantly moving scenes to keep audiences stimulated and large quantities of violence for viewers to enjoy what they are watching. Decades ago, it was the story that was engaging to audiences and filmmaking was an art.
Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” is one of my favorite movies of all-time, it is about gangsters as well as everyday people struggling to get out of the dire situation they are in. In the final scene Ringo, a common criminal, is robbing a Diner. Jules just happens to be in this Diner, and Jules is one of the meanest gangsters in the city. Ringo and Jules have a confrontation in the Diner and eventually Jules is holding Ringo at gunpoint. Instead of killing him, he tries to convey a message to Ringo. In this message he uses logos, pathos and ethos to explain to Ringo that he is trying to transform from an evil man into a righteous one.
Like most things captured on film for the purpose of being marketed, the richness of gangster life, with sex, money, and power in surplus, is glorified, and thus embraced by the audience. And as a rule, if something works Hollywood repeats it, ala a genre. What Scarface and Little Caesar did was ultimately create a genre assigning powerful qualities to criminals. Such sensationalism started with the newspapers who maybe added a little more color here and there to sell a few more copies, which is portrayed in Scarface’s two newspaper office scenes. Leo Braudy denounces genres as offending “our most common definition of artistic excellence” by simply following a predetermined equation of repetition of character and plot. However, Thomas Schatz argues that many variations of plot can exist within the “arena” that the rules of the genre provide.
Can you recall the very last night that you spent with your high school buddies before packing your bags and leaving for college? The films American Graffiti and Dazed and Confused bring you back to that through the recreation of those great experiences. American Graffiti is based on a closely-knit group of teenagers who will all be leaving each other the next day for new adventures. This gang of teenagers, despite their differences, all goes out together and share their last memorable evening. Throughout the night, friendships are strengthened, conflicting struggles arise, and romances are created and disrupted. Dazed and Confused dealt about life during wartime – the wartime of high school, where the faculty is irrational, the parents are
A question that arises in almost any medium of art, be it music, film or literature, is whether or not the depiction of violence is merely gratuitous or whether it is a legitimate artistic expression. There can be no doubt that Michael Ondaatje's long poem The Collected Works of Billy the Kid is a violent work, but certain factors should be kept in mind before passing it off as an attempt to shock and titillate; certainly, the poem does both of these, but they are not the primary purpose of the work. For one thing, social context needs to be considered; Billy lived in the "Wild West", a time associated with range wars, shoot-outs and great train robberies. The entire legend of Billy the Kid has been built around his criminal activities and notorious reputation; indeed, the more popular this myth becomes, the more people he is accused of having murdered. If anything, it was a cultural fascination with violence that "created" the legend, perhaps even more so than anything the "real" Billy ever did. Michael Ondaatje comments on this phenomenon and actually offers an alternative vision of who Billy the Kid was; perhaps he was not just a blood-thirsty killer but a man who, due to circumstance and human nature, was continually being pushed over the edge. Ondaatje is more concerned with the motivations behind the acts of violence than the acts of violence themselves: "A motive? some reasoning we can give to explain all this violence. Was there a source for all this? yup -" (54). If they shock, it is to shock the readers out of complicity and encourage them to think about the nature of violence and their own capacity for it.
The film Pulp Fiction (1994), directed by Quentin Tarantino, is highly renowned for its criticism of modern media. The film “purposefully exaggerates the ever-criticized aspects of movies, such as jumping from scene to scene with no apparent reason, and throwing together a mishmosh of genres” (The Human Fiction). Tarantino disregarded the normal chronological plot of movies and took four different plots and jumbled them into a series of events. The four different plots follow; first, two diner robbers, Ringo “Pumpkin” (Tim Roth) and Yolanda “Honey Bunny” (Amanda Plummer), who we see at the very beginning and end of the film. The next plot follows Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) going out on a date at the request of Vincent’s boss and Mia’s husband, Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames).
When American Sniper opened in theaters January 2015, the world was shocked and excited that a film about a war has finally shown the emotional and psychological pain a soldier goes through. To many this was a new concept but, what the public did not realize, was in 2014, a World War II film, Fury was released. Fury is an insightful film about a tank crew surviving through World War II through the emotional and psychological hardships. The film takes place in April 1945, five months before WWII ends (Fury, IMDb). There are many key points to which makes Fury a modern war film from the extent of backstory each character has, to the prescreening prep and training, to the research of the props. Though American Sniper and Fury differ in wars and
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
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.
In Italy, post-World War II, a new film movement emerged amidst the collapse of the Mussolini regime, the desecration of a city and its historical landmarks, changes to social order and significant loss of life. Italian Neorealism embraced the harsh, impoverished and oppressive conditions being experienced by ordinary people trying to return to some normality (Film Reference 2015). Seizing an opportunity to discard popular Hollywood formula movies directors such as Roberto Rossellini, Vittoria de Sica and Luchinio Visconti shifted focus to ‘lower-class characters and their concerns, using nonprofessional actors, outdoor shooting, (necessarily) very small budgets, and a realist aesthetic’ (Criterion, 2015). While the Italian Neorealism movement
There are no happy ending and there is no escape, that is a guarantee when existing in the world of hard-boiled Noir. Originating from the French, “Noir” seemed to be the perfect word to describe the genre that was booming in American film and literature during post World War II. Noir authors developed popular formulas to address genuine social and aesthetic problems that appealed to American modernist society. James M. Cain’s short nouvelle, Double Indemnity, contains the basics formula for noir. As a written confession, the story unfolds the plunging doom of hapless sap, Walter Huff, who uses his job and knowledge of insurance to be immersed in a murderous scheme by his psychologically manipulative accomplice, the femme fatale, Phyllis
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
Although “Thriller” is beloved as a classic 80’s pop music video, it manages a successful dive into the social and political issues that make zombie flicks so great. Pulling from a history of work on zombies, Michael Jackson packs so much history into such a concise package. Through using the texts of Amy Devitt and Kerry Dirk we are able to uncover Jackson’s experience and social commentary in “Thriller”. He simultaneously writes a hit song, revolutionizes music videos, and still remarks on the societal problems of the early 1980’s. However, the story goes much further than that of a number one hit. “Thriller” owes its success to an important cultural figure that looms as large as
In conclusion it is clear that Tarantino’s film is postmodern, and Jameson’s insightful essay stands in relation to Pulp Fiction much in the same way as a prophecy stands in relation to its fulfilment. The postmodernist Tarantino expresses in a full and technicolour form what Jameson the modernist had only partially understood in the more static arts of painting and architecture.
‘Our interest in the parallels between the adaptation inter-texts is further enhanced by consideration of their marked differences in textual form,’