Textual Analysis – “Pulp Fiction”

MA Film and The Moving Image

First Semester Essay

Keith Devereux

Student Number: 10154146

Textual Analysis - “Pulp Fiction”
“Through the contents of the image and the resources of montage, the
cinema has at its disposal a whole arsenal of means whereby to impose its
interpretation of an event on the spectator.”

(Bazin 158)

When Andre Bazin originally wrote these words during the 1950s, he was considering

that the era of silent film represented the peak of cinematic tradition. However, he also

wrote, “…in the silent days, montage evoked what the director wanted to say; in the

editing of 1938, it described it” (Ibid. 167) The concept of the director as “the equal of

the novelist” was developed further by Bazin’s protégés at Cahiers du Cinema:

Francios Truffaut, Jean Luc Godard, etc., who were brought up on pulp American

movies in post-war France. Recognising staleness in contemporary French cinema, they

went on to create the ‘nouvelle vague’, or French New Wave of the 1960s and 1970s,

subverting traditional cinematic values and creating a new language of cinema.

In the following essay I will demonstrate how a contemporary director, Quentin

Tarantino, has used the language of the French New Wave in the 1994 film Pulp

Fiction. While there is probably little to say about Pulp Fiction that hasn’t been written

already, I hope to demonstrate from a short extract of the film how existing conventions

have been used and how film theory can explain the development of one character,

Marcellus Wallace.

Setting the Scene

The extract chosen from Pulp Fiction is where we first meet Butch Coolidge, a boxer

being paid by the gangster Marcellus Wallace to throw a fight. The scene occurs in an

empty bar in the middle of the morning and is also the first scene where Marcellus
appears and where Butch meets the other characters that will influence his actions,

notably Vincent Vega, one of Marcellus’ enforcers.

The scene opens with a title card announcing the segment of the film we are

about to see. The title card is replaced by an image of Butch being told by Marcellus to

throw the fight. In one unbroken take lasting just over two minutes, the camera is

framed on Butch with Marcellus speaking off camera. When Butch accepts the money

that Marcellus is holding out to him, we cut to a rear view of Marcellus reassuring

Butch that he has done the right thing -for Marcellus as well as Butch. Returning

briefly to a close up of Butch acknowledging that he will throw the fight, the scene cuts

to outside the club, where two of Marcellus’ employees: Vincent Vega and Jules

Winnfield are welcomed by the manager, Paul.

Once Butch has accepted the bribe, the scene changes to ignore Butch and

Marcellus, playing out the remainder of their conversation out of focus in the

background. We now meet Vincent and Jules discussing with Paul the impending date

that Vincent has with Mia Wallace, Marcellus’ wife. As the story unfolds, Paul and

Jules make fun of Vincent, who responds aggressively. When Jules excuses himself, we

see Butch and Marcellus stand and shake hands in the background and Butch walk up to

the bar next to Vincent.

Vincent and Butch stare at each other and exchange words, before Marcellus

calls Vincent over. Feeling antagonistic towards Vincent, Butch watches him meet and

hug Marcellus, before collecting his cigarettes and leaving the bar, when the scene fades

to black.
Influences
“Throughout Reservoir Dogs and especially Pulp Fiction, Tarantino
experimented with genre conventions just as Godard and Truffaut had in
their earliest films. Unexpected plot twists, unusual dialogue, cinematic
in-jokes, and unconventional characters galore became Tarantino
trademarks.”

(Sleeper, La Fiction du Pulp)

In creating an alternative structure that is quite distinctive, Tarantino has openly

admitted that he has been influenced by a range of film makers and theorists, including

Godard, Howard Hawks and Hong Kong action movies. His debut feature, Reservoir

Dogs, was a loose remake of Ringo Lam’s City on Fire.

Although the classic Hollywood approach to film making uses continuity or

cause and effect to establish a clear narrative structure, some film makers have chosen

not to do so. Tarantino has taken the comment by Jean Luc Godard that: ‘a film should

have a beginning, a middle and an end, but not necessarily in that order’ (Cook and

Bernink: 100) literally, inserting scenes near the beginning of the film that

chronologically occur later than some scenes later in the narrative.

According to Bordwell and Thompson, the scene is ‘the common unit of

classical narrative cinema… Typically marked off by editing devices such as the

dissolve, fade or wipe, each scene presents a distinct segment of space, time, and

narrative action’ (234).

Let us consider this segment of the film in greater detail, and discuss how this

influences the development of the characters and the narrative. Tarantino uses

flashbacks and flash forwards and mixes chronology to explain character development.

Hence the sequence we are looking at: ‘Vincent Vega and Marcellus Wallace’s Wife’

occurs well after a later segment: ‘The Bonnie Situation.’ At this stage, though, the

character of Marcellus is one of mystery. Until the opening of the sequence, we know
that Marcellus is ‘black’ and ‘bald’ as in a scene immediately prior to the chosen

sequence Brett, a young hoodlum who has betrayed Marcellus, is terrorised into giving

this description. We also know that he is a crime lord, described by his enforcers,

Vincent and Jules, as ‘the Big Man’ and able to mete out violent justice to those who

offend him, notably ‘Tony Rocky Horror’ who we never meet but whose name reoccurs

as a victim of Marcellus’ wrath.

While eschewing the conventional narrative structure of opening, exposition and

closure, Tarantino has retained linear character development, and nowhere is this more

clearly seen than in the character of Marcellus Wallace.

Marcellus is first introduced by his voice, telling Butch, the washed up boxer, to

throw the fight. Butch is intently listening to this voice, as are we, though at this stage

we do not know whose voice it is, while Butch clearly would. When Butch accepts the

bribe, and accepts Marcellus’ conditions (‘You my nigger? Marcellus says. ‘Certainly

appears so,’ responds Butch) the frame cuts to a rear view of a bald black man,

suggesting to the audience that this is the ‘big man’ Marcellus Wallace. However, even

after this sequence, Marcellus is still a mystery: he is black and he is bald, but what

else? All of his actions are filmed from behind or out of focus, so we never see his face.

Once Butch has accepted the bribe, the action cuts to consider Vincent and Jules

and their discussion with the bar manager, Paul, about Vincent’s dinner date with Mia,

Marcellus’ wife. In an earlier scene it is explained that Marcellus is going out of town

and Vincent has been asked to keep her company.

Paul: So I hear your taking Mia out tomorrow.

Vincent: At Marcellus’ request.

Although they talk about Marcellus and Mia in familiar terms, there is still respect in

their tone, and their conversation consolidates his position of power:

 Vincent: Look, I’m not a fuckin’ idiot. She’s the
big man’s wife. I’m gonna sit across from
her, chew my food with my mouth closed,
laugh at her fuckin’ jokes and that’s it.

Throughout this exchange the conversation between Marcellus and Butch is reduced to

the background, with Marcellus facing us but in shadow. Hence we still know little

more about him than at the start of the scene. Even after Butch and Vincent square off,

we see Marcellus out of focus in the background; a stationary, somehow regal figure.

Within this one scene we meet all of the major characters, with the exception of

Marcellus’ wife, Mia. In ‘New Vocabularies,’ Stam et al. Discuss the Proppian Model

of plot analysis (79-83), where they consider the seven standard figures or ‘tale roles:’

the villain, the donor, the helper, the princess and her father, the dispatcher, the hero and

the false hero. They describe these roles as:

“The functions and tale roles together constitute the spheres of action,
with each of the seven tale roles commanding a specific sphere of action.
Propp defined the tale roles as distinct from the actual characters in a
story, showing that one character may perform several different tale
roles.” (81)

In Pulp Fiction, Tarantino has subverted these roles so that no character, with the

possible exception of Mia as ‘the princess’ is heroic or villainous. While Marcellus is

clearly a gangster, the whole moral structure of the film is skewed to make his actions

acceptable. On the one hand he is able to hand down pearls of wisdom to Butch, while

on the other hand he is able to mete out swift justice to people who have hurt or

offended him:

Marcellus: Night of the fight, you may feel a slight sting.

That’s pride fuckin’ wit ya. Fuck pride! Pride
only hurts, it never helps. You fight through
that shit. ‘Cause a year from now, when you’re
kickin’ it in the Caribbean you’re gonna say to
yourself, ‘Marcellus Wallace was right.’
Marcellus’ position as a wise, benevolent leader is also expressed later in the narrative

when one of Jules’ friends, Jimmie, is voicing reservations that he shouldn’t be using a

wedding gift to help dispose of a body, the response is:

The Wolf: Were your Uncle Conrad and Aunt Ginny

millionaires?

Jimmie: No

The Wolf: Well your Uncle Marcellus is. And I’m positive
if Uncle Conrad and Aunt Ginny were millionaires, they
would’ve furnished you with a whole bedroom set, which
your Uncle Marcellus is more than happy to do.

Although the function of the scene is to advance the narrative action, at the conclusion

while this is true for Vincent, Jules and Butch, for Marcellus we know little more about

him than at the start. This sense of mystery is maintained throughout the film until

about mid-way, once Butch has betrayed Marcellus, stolen his money and killed

Vincent. By this stage, the power held by the characters has shifted in Butch’s favour.

The development of Marcellus, from mythical figure to victim to ‘king’ is

presented in a linear manner even though the narrative of the whole film is anything but

linear. The equilibrium that Marcellus enjoys is portrayed sense of mystery and menace

at the start of the film. This is disturbed by Butch’s betrayal, when he becomes a

slightly ridiculous figure and we see the whole character for the first time. Marcellus is

first glimpsed in full frame through the windscreen of a Honda Civic (a slightly

ridiculous car for a gangster thriller) holding a tray of burgers and coffee. With his new

found confidence, Butch is able to run him over, an action he could not have

contemplated before. In his attempt to regain his equilibrium, and sense of power,

Marcellus chases Butch, but Tarantino increases the pressure by having Marcellus

captured and raped by rednecks. After his rescue by Butch (his own act of redemption),

Marcellus’ equilibrium is restored, promising retribution on the redneck who raped him.

When we next see Marcellus, even though chronologically this is before the events in
the cellar, we find him ‘magisterial’ once more, dispensing wisdom and aid to his

subjects.
Conclusions
Calweti (499) argued that one of the central themes of the hard-boiled detective thriller

is “the ambiguity between institutionalised law enforcement and true justice.” Like

many other influences, Tarantino has exploited this ambiguity in his on gangster films,

and of the characters within them, subverting the use of justice towards a code of

honour between criminals rather than (as one of the characters in Reservoir Dogs was

heard to say) ‘real people.’ While Marcellus is clearly a crime lord, established by

Vincent and Jules’ killing of Brett and his gang on his instructions, the whole structure

of the film is skewed so that action that would be considered unacceptable in

conventional society are perfectly moral.

It is through the subversion of stereotypes, especially the coupling of humour

and extreme violence, that Tarantino has rewritten the American gangster myth.

Tarantino’s world is “deeper and more catastrophic, more enigmatic in its evil, more

sudden and inexplicable in its outbreaks of violent chance” (Cawelti, p. 503), and

nowhere is this better seen than in the character of Marcellus Wallace.

Bibliography

Bordwell, David, and Thompson, Kristin, Film Art: An Introduction (Addison-

Wesley, Second Edition, 1980)

Bazin, A, ‘The Evolution of the Language of Cinema,’ in Film theory and

Criticism, edited by Mast, Gerald, Cohen, Marshall and Braudy, Leo (Oxford
University Press, 1992).

Cawelti, John G., ‘Chinatown and Generic Transformation in Recent American

Films,’ in Film theory and Criticism, edited by Mast, Gerald, Cohen, Marshall
and Braudy, Leo (Oxford University Press, 1992).

Cook, Pam and Bernink, Mieke, The Cinema Book (BFI Publishing, 1999).

Stam, Robert, Birgoyne, Robert and Flitterman-Lewis, Sandy, New

Vocabularies in Film Semiotics (Routledge, 1992).

Tarantino, Quentin, Pulp Fiction (Faber and Faber, 1994)

Tarantino, Quentin, Reservoir dogs (Faber and Faber, 1994)

Internet Bibliography

Sleeper, Mick, La Fiction du Pulp,

([Link]

Films Cited

Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

Transcript: “Pulp Fiction”: The bar scene

Actions Dialogue Sound

Title Card (9 sec): Music:

Vincent Vega And Al Green ‘Let’s

Marcellus Wallace’s Wife Stay Together.’

Cut (2 min 3 sec): Marcellus (off):

I think you’re gonna find -when all this shit
Mid shot -Butch is over and done- I think you’re gonna find
Coolidge yourself one smilin’ motherfucker. Thing is,
Butch, right now you got ability. But painful as
We fade up on Butch it may be, ability don’t last. And your days are
Coolidge, a white, middle- just about over. Now that’s a hard motherfuckin’
aged prizefighter. Butch sits fact of life, but that’s a fact of life your ass is
at a table wearing a red T- gonna hafta git realistic about. See, this
shirt and a brown leather business is filled to the brim with unrealistic
jacket. Talking to him off motherfuckers. Motherfuckers who though their ass
screen is everybody’s boss would age like wine. If you mean it turns to
Marcellus Wallace. The vinegar, it does. If you mean it gets better with
black man sounds like a age, it don’t.
cross between a gangster
and a king Besides, Butch, how many fights do you think
you got in you anyway? Two? Boxers don’t have an
old timers debt. You came close but you never made
it, and it you’re gonna make it you would’ve made
it before now.
A hand holds out an Marcellus:
envelope full of money.
Butch reaches out but the You my nigger?
envelope is snatched back.

The envelope is held Butch:

out again and Butch takes it Certainly appears so.
(Marcellus holds onto it for
a second before letting go).

Cut (37 sec): Marcellus:

Night of the fight, you may feel a slight
The back of a man’s sting. That’s pride fuckin’ wit ya. Fuck pride!
head (Marcellus Wallace). Pride only hurts, it never helps. You fight
We see a bald black man through that shit. ‘Cause a year from now, when
with pierced ears. Butch is you’re kickin’ it in the Caribbean you’re gonna say
out of focus in the to yourself, ‘Marcellus Wallace was right.’
background.

Cut (22 sec): Butch:

I got no problems with that, Mr Wallace.
Close up of Butch.
Marcellus (off):
In the fifth, your ass goes down.

Butch nods his head: Marcellus:

‘Yes.’ Say it!

Butch:
In the fifth, my ass goes down.

Cut (13 sec): Paul: Music fades into

Vincent Vega, our man in Amsterdam, Jules background, but is still
 Exterior of bar, the Winnfield, our man in Inglewood. Git your asses in there. Outdoor sounds,
front entrance is unlocked, here. traffic passing,
revealing the bar manager predominates.
Paul on the inside.

Vincent and Jules,

wearing shorts and T-shirts,
step inside. Goddam, nigger, what’s up with them clothes?

Paul slams the door Jules:

in our faces. You don’t even want to know.

Cut to (10 sec): Background music

continues unbroken.
Interior of empty Vincent:
bar. Vincent crosses to the Where’s the big man?
bar and Jules and Paul
follow. Paul:
Big man’s right over there, taking care of
some business.

Why don’t you hang back for a second or two...

Cut (2 sec): Paul:

…When you see the white boy leave, go on over.
Mid shot of Jules and
Vincent facing Paul behind
the bar.
 Cut (4 sec):

Long POV shot of

Butch and Marcellus sitting
at a table talking. Marcellus
is facing us, in shadow, and
Butch has his back to us. Vince (off):
How ya been?

Cut (8 sec): Paul:

I’ve been doing pretty good, how about
Mid shot of Jules and yourself?
Vincent facing Paul behind
the bar. Paul fixes each a Vincent:
drink. Alright.

Paul:
So I hear your taking Mia out tomorrow.

Cut (5 sec): Vincent:

At Marcellus’ request.
Mid shot of Vincent
and Jules.

Cut (12 sec): Paul:

Have you met Mia?
Mid shot of Jules and
Vincent facing Paul behind
the bar.

Vincent:
 Paul smiles to Not yet.
himself. Jules chuckles.
What’s so funny?

Paul:
Not a goddam thing.

Jules:
I gotta piss.

Cut (7 sec): Vincent:

Look, I’m not a fuckin’ idiot. She’s the big
Mid shot of Vincent. man’s wife. I’m gonna sit across from her, chew my
food with my mouth closed, laugh at her fuckin’
In the background jokes and that’s it.
we see Butch and Marcellus
stand up and shake hands.
A deal has been struck.

Cut (4 sec): Paul:

Hey, my name’s Paul, and this is between
Mid shot of Vincent y’all.
facing Paul behind the bar.

Cut (36 sec): Vincent:

Then what’d you fuckin’ ask me about it for?
Mid shot of Vincent. Asshole.

Butch bellies up to Butch (To Paul):

the bar, sharing the frame
 with Vincent. Can I get a pack’a red Apples?

Paul:
Filters?

Butch:
While Butch waits for Non.
his smokes, Vincent just sips
his coffee, staring at him.
Butch looks over at him.

Butch turns slowly

toward Vincent.
Butch:
Lookin’ at somethin’, friend?

Vincent:
I ain’t your friend, palooka.

Butch:
What was that?

Vincent:
I think ya heard me just fine, punchy.

Butch and Vincent

face each other, when…
Marcellus (off):
Taking one last long Vincent Vega in the house? My nigger, git
look at Butch, Vincent walks your ass over here!
out of frame
 Cut (6 sec):

Close up of Butch,
the camera following his
head as he follows Vincent
with his eyes.

Cut (5 sec):

Butch’s P.O.V.:
Vincent hugging and kissing
the obscured figure that is Paul (off):
Marcellus. Pack of Red Apples, dollar-forty.

Cut (13 sec):

Close up of Butch
with Paul out of focus in the
background. Butch looks
down as he reaches in his
pockets for some cash.

Butch pays for and Butch:

collects his cigarettes. As he And some matches.
packs his stuff away and
takes one last look over at
Vincent and Marcellus (off
screen), the camera focuses
on Paul.
 Butch walks out of
frame, fade to black.