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 Foster's book, quests are described as being a very popular device used frequently in literature. Foster says that a quest has five parts; a quester, a place to go, a stated reason to go there, challenges and trials, and the real reason to go (Foster 3). In “Pulp Fiction”, many quests are present as each character has their own voyage. These separate voyages all revolve around one main quest, Marsellus Wallace's quest to get his briefcase back. One of the mini stories revolving around the main quest is the story of Mia Wallace and Vincent Vega. Vincent Vega has been asked by Marsellus Wallace to take his wife, Mia out on the town while he is away. Vincent has heard a story about a man who gave Mia a foot-rub and was afterward thrown out of a window by Marsellus, so he is rightfully paranoid about his quest. Vincent is the quester in this m...
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...icance of spirituality in the film.
In conclusion, many other devices mentioned in Foster's book were employed throughout the film “Pulp Fiction”. However, the most prominent devices were quests, archetypes, food, and violence. These devices were used to make the story more interesting, easier for the audience to relate to, and to make the film a little deeper than most. Any great film or literary work is bound to include the devices mentioned in Foster's book. In fact, it would be almost impossible to make a movie or story without them.
Works Cited
Foster, Thomas C. How to Read Literature like a Professor: a Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading between the Lines. New York: Quill, 2003. Print.
Pulp Fiction. Dir. Tarantino Quentin. Perf. John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth and Amanda Plummer. Miramax / Buena Vista Home Video, 1994. DVD.
After reading the opening chapters, I was surprised by the laid back, casual attitude Foster displayed. He did not go about explaining certain aspects of previously written novels in a way that was hard to understand. Foster explained things in great deal, but in good taste. He did not go on with boring information; he simply got his point across in a way that made me want to know more. Not only was his way of thinking and expressing his thoughts interesting, but the subjects he tapped into were interesting also. Foster connected things that surround our average day lives to literature, and the effect it brings to the literature. For example, Foster discusses vampires in on of the first few chapters. The majority of people have seen numerous movies about vampires, making it easy to connect with what he was talking about. His overall tone and strategy of writing was relatable and the least bit overwhelming, which quickly grabbed my attention and made me interested in things I would not normally be interested in.
Pulp Fiction is a film that is structured around three story-lines. Vincent Vega is the lead in the first story. In the second storyline, Butch Coolidge is the lead, and Jules Winnfield, is the lead of the third. Each storyline targets a different series of incidents but they connect and intersect in numerous ways. “The film starts out with a diner hold-up staged by "Pumpkin" and "Honey Bunny," then picks up the stories of Vincent, Jules, Butch, and several other important characters. It finally returns to where it began, in the diner: Vincent and Jules, who have stopped in for a bite, find themselves embroiled in the hold-up”(Tarantino). There are seven narrative sequences:
Meyer, Michael, ed. The Bedford Introduction to Literature: Reading, Thinking, Writing. 5th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999.
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
Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction is one of the most daring, puzzling, and ultimately exciting pieces of cinema to hit the screen in years. As wholly original as it is a copy of hundreds of films before it about tales of hit-men and criminals, it dares you to step out of the dull and enter a colorful, exhilarating world that could only be Los Angeles. The intensity level of the movie is off the scale. People are laughing like crazy in the theater to the intelligent dialog and other scenes that have the audience gasping for air in shock over what just happened. Although one might say that Pulp Fiction is overly violent and disturbing, it is in fact, one of the greatest movies ever produced. Quentin Tarantino’s incredible screenplay, the intensity of the actors, and music to set the mood, created movie worthy five stars.
Schwiebert, John E. Reading and Writing from Literature. (2nd ed.) Boston New York: Houghton Mifflin. 2001
Thomas C. Foster’s novel How to Read Literature Like a Professor, helps the reader understand the beginnings of a quest by breaking down the task into five steps. A quest will always consist of 1) a quester, 2) a place to go, 3) a stated reason to go there, 4) challenges and trials en route, and 5) a real reason to go there. A quester, the protagonist, typically is not aware that they are partaking in a quest. Step two and three are thought of together usually because the protagonist is told to go somewhere to do something. However, the stated reason to go to their destination is not the real reason they go there. As Foster explains, “In fact, more often than not, the quester fails at
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
Pulp Fiction is a show that is debated on its true meaning, though one of the most debated and accepted theories is that it is the journey of Marcellus Wallace’s soul. It is thought that he has sold his soul to the devil and has sent his men to retrieve it. As the movie jumps across the timeline with his wife, Mia, who becomes a main character. She is instinctual and anxious. Her emotions take over constantly and create bad situations.
Danny Kaye, famous actor and comedian, once said, "To travel is to take a journey into yourself". He is suggesting that by seeing a new part of the world, one is inevitably confronted with deeper realizations about one’s self. Thomas C. Foster, author of How to Read Literature Like a Professor, would likely agree. In his book, he argues that every trip in literature is actually a quest. The word "quest" conjures images of knights in shining armor, princesses, and dragons, but Foster uses the word in a more archetypal sense. A journey, Foster says, needs only to fit five relatively simple criteria to be considered a quest (1-3). Quoyle, the protagonist of Annie Proulx's novel, The Shipping News, undergoes a life-changing journey that clearly meets all necessary criteria set forth by Foster to be regarded as a quest.
Being one of the world’s most popular art forms, it was inevitable that these archetypes would find their way into film as well. In this essay I will argue that the films Pulp Fiction, Taxi Driver, Watership Down, and Trainspotting are all versions of The Hero’s Journey, consequently demonstrating just how prevalent these archetypes have become in modern cinema. And that mythology and storytelling are important parts of each culture because they prevent the darkness in our hearts from spreading.
He too quickly dismisses the idea of reading on your own to find meaning and think critically about a book. For him, Graff states that “It was through exposure to such critical reading and discussion over a period of time that I came to catch the literary bug.” (26) While this may have worked for Graff, not all students will “experience a personal reaction” (27) through the use of critical discussion.
Meyer, M. (2013). Bedford introduction to literature: Reading, thinking, writing. Boston: Bedford Bks St Martin’s.
Clugston, R. W. (2010). Journey into literature. San Diego, California: Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Retrieved from: https://content.ashford.edu/books/AUENG125.10.2/sections/h2.1