Narrative and Genre Features in the Opening Sequence of Pulp Fiction

In chapter two of The Cultures of American Film, the main focus is the establishment of studios. As demand for films rose in the early 1900’s, production companies needed to expand; this lead to the creation of large scale studios.

The classical Hollywood narrative is one of simplicity, linear continuity, and comprehensive storytelling, something typical American audiences were used to for most of films history. Quentin Tarantino, however, is not one to abide by the rules of cinema. The arguably auteur director reconfigures this narrative style with his 1994 classic Pulp Fiction. This film not only presented itself as a completely new and innovative take on what a film could be, but also created a foundation for which many films since have built their narratives from.

Steven Spielberg, the creator of Jaws, uses many different techniques to draw in the suspense of viewers and to capture their imagination. These techniques include special effects – to create tension, different camera angles – to show facial expressions and group shots. The classic Jaws music, known by millions of people, also helps build up tension, to let us know when the shark is approaching. He uses colours, so that we can associate signs and symbols to forthcoming events, e.g. the colour red is associated with danger. We will be using all of the above devices to help analyse different parts of the film.

This image, along with the cheerful music playing from somebody’s radio, implies a level of safety and comfort in this neighborhood that will sharply contrast with the violence to come in the film.

Although most would relate bathrooms to places of grime and filth, the director of Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino, portrays them as sacred symbols that relate to moral dilemmas held within both his movie’s characters and its audience. Featuring bathrooms in films has only recently become acceptable, with the first showing occurring in 1960 within the film Psycho. Critics argued that toilets are the last things audiences would like to see at the movie theatre, but this controversy inspired even more features of latrines in later cinematography. For instance, within one of Quentin Tarantino’s most popular and critically acclaimed films, Pulp Fiction, he not only includes the usage of the bathroom, but features the specific kind of room multiple times throughout the film. However, the frequent portrayal of these small, dirty rooms was no accident and instead served as a symbolic place of recollection of one’s morals and ethics.

The social group that is depicted in the opening scenes of ‘Goodfellas’ are white, middle-aged males. They’re portrayed as bad people. This means that even though they are the bad guys, we’re immediately fond of them. The ideological discussion of gangsters is disputed within the film. Gangsters are bad people, so ethnically we shouldn’t like or root for them, but we always do.

Pulp Fiction is a black comedy, and crime movie that was written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The movie features graphic violence, drugs, and a mysterious briefcase. Pulp Fiction tells several stories in a nonlinear way, meaning that the narratives are not told in a chronological order and do not follow the rules of space and time. The usage of a nonlinear format in Pulp Fiction was quite compelling as it did not follow the typical cause-effect sequence in any scene, instead Tarantino chose to open the movie with a non-typical effect rather than a cause.

Slaughterhouse-Five: The Novel and the Movie In 1972 director George Roy Hill released his screen adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five (or The Children's Crusade; A Duty Dance With Death). The film made over 4 million dollars and was touted as an "artistic success" by Vonnegut (Film Comment, 41). In fact, in an interview with Film Comment in 1985, Vonnegut called the film a "flawless translation" of his novel, which can be considered an honest assessment in light of his reviews of other adaptations of his works: Happy Birthday, Wanda June (1971) "turned out so abominably" that he asked to have his name removed from it; and he found Slapstick of Another Kind (1984) to be

The aspect of the Citizen Kane’s mise-en-scene that stood out to me the most were the sets. The first scene showing the once amazing and repugnant Xanadu now in disrepair helps to portray the psychological disrepair Kane experiences over the film. The giant oversized office of Mr. Thatcher portrays the cold decrepit old men who are in it. The huge interiors of Xanadu show the isolationism of his relationship towards Susan and his own loneliness in the world. Each of the sets in the film help to show the progression of the character. The sets along with the other aspects of mise-en-scene create the effect of reality by its change. The mise-en-scene of the film is a reflection of the character progression throughout the movie. The scene where

The Grand Budapest Hotel revolves around Europe of the 1930s and 1960s while it was in time of the war, through the adventures of The Grand Budapest Hotel's doorman Zero and the Hotel manager Gustave. The saga is linked to a burglar and a Renaissance painting, a great family's wealth war, and the sudden change of war in Europe. It reflects the vicissitudes of political history in Europe for half a century. This article will analyze The Grand Budapest Hotel from two aspects: artistic style and film theme.

Since the beginning of the Industrial Age, Americans have idealized the journey towards economic success. One thing people do not realize, however, is that that journey is not the same for every individual. For Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles), the main character of Citizen Kane, directed by Orson Welles, the path towards riches and a fulfilled life is being well liked. He serves to please others. He strives for that attention. This view cost him his happiness in the end. In this man’s rise and fall through prosperity, Welles shows the futility of striving solely for likeability.

Genre is a French word meaning ‘type or ‘kind’ (Genre, 2016). The film industry has been around for at least 100 years. The evolution of entertainment is growing rapidly through the use of media. And as these years go on, films have begun to fit into specific genres, and are important to appeal to the different types of audiences. Films can be described to genre in different types of ways, such as stars, director and narrative to help identify what genre the film is (Neale, 1990, pg. 49). Genre in films has become common because it helps give the audience a different expectation. One specific genre of film is a horror. Horror is a genre that tries to create, panic, dread and fear for the audience.

A genre is a category, and in film it is a way to describe the best fit of the direction a movie will display. There are many subgenres within a genre that also help to give definition. Genres are used to support a system of grouping instead of disarray by leaving others to decipher it themselves. Scarface is a crime film that also has the sub-genre of gangster. Even though it does not dramatize a social statement on a need for change, Scarface fits into the crime/gangster genre because it distinctly characterizes the severe bloodshed and assaults that are customary in the world of organized crime and demonstrates the calamity of the gangster lifestyle; however, oddly enough with the way the murders occurred it also fits into the horror film genre as well.

This serves to the complicating action. With complicating action, action shifts and some obstacles occurs in order to make it more compelling for protagonist to achieve his/her goal. This next scene shifts the action to Vincent’s relationship with his boss’ wife Mia Wallace. We see Butch during his confrontation with Marsellus Wallace at the very beginning of the first part. As he takes the money from Marsellus and agrees to take a dive in his next match, Vincent and Jules enter with a briefcase, dressed as they just came from a pool party. The tension between Vince and Butch pave the way for them to confront in a hostile way, in the second story. The narrative, in this scene, establishes a connection with the upcoming story. In the next scene, Vincent and Mia have dinner at Jack Rabbit Slim’s and participate in a twist contest. Before Mia and Vincent met, Mia snorts cocaine which gives a hint to the audience that the obliged date will be a little rugged which leads to complicating action. Mia overdoses and Vincent takes her Lance’s home where he purchases heroin and races against time to save Mia. At the end of the first story, Vincent saves Mia and they promise each other for keeping this action as a secret. These action scenes are used in the film to strengthen the continuity. Also, the relationship that is constructed between Mia and Vincent , share similarity with the relationship between Butch and Marsellus that will be constructed at the end of the second

Fight Club is a unique film that has many different interpretations consisting of consumerist culture, social norms, and gender roles. However, this film goes deeper and expresses a Marxist ideology throughout; challenging the ruling upper-class and a materialist society. The unnamed narrator, played by Ed Norton, represents the materialist society; whereas Tyler Durden, played by Brad Pitt, represents the person challenging the controlling upper-class. Karl Marx believed that the capitalist system took advantage of workers, arguing that the interests of the upper-class class conflicted with that of the common worker. Marx and Durden share the same views about the upper-class oppressing the materialist, common worker. By interpreting Fight Club through a Marist lens, the viewer is able to realize the negative effects a capitalist society has on the common worker by seeing the unnamed narrator’s unfulfilled and material driven life in contrast to the fulfilling life of Durden who challenges the upper-class. The unnamed narrator initially fuels the upper-class dominated society through his materialistic and consumeristic tendencies; however, through the formation of his alter ego—Durden—the unnamed narrator realizes the detriment he is causing to himself and society. He then follows the guide of Durden’s and Marx’s views and rectifies his lifestyle by no longer being reliant on materials. Also by forming fight club, which provides an outlet, for himself and the common worker,