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Quentin Tarantino's Film, Pulp Fiction

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Pulp Fiction Pulp Fiction, a crime film released in 1994, was the second of Quentin Tarantino’s many well known films. It was written, directed, and for the most part, composed, by Tarantino himself. He also made an on-screen appearance as Jimmy, the desperate husband in the interrelated story titled 6. The Bonnie Situation There was no official film score composed for Pulp Fiction, but the movie is rather an assortment of rock and roll, soul, pop, and surf music. Tarantino uses surf music as the typical style of, not because it is a movie related to surfing, but for the cool western sound. The best example is during the opening credits when Miserlou plays. Chuck Kelley and Laura Lovelace, friends of Tarantino, are credited as music consultants …show more content…

Like many other Quentin Tarantino movies, there are seven narrative sequences that exist within the three primary stories. The movie begins with a hold-up that is conducted by a couple in a local diner, then from that point it jumps into the three sub-stories. The first story stars John Travolta as the protagonist, Vincent Vega, a mob contract killer who is oddly instructed by his boss, Marcellus Wallace, to take his wife, Mia, out for entertainment while he is out of town. The scene that I chose to analyze takes place in this story. Butch Coolidge, played by Bruce Willis, is the protagonist of the second story and he is a prizefighter who disobeys orders from Wallace to lose a widely anticipated fight in exchange for a considerable sum of money. The last story centers around Vincent Vega’s partner, Jules, who is played by Samuel L. Jackson. Then the movie ends where it began, the …show more content…

Vincent Vega and Marcellus Wallace’s Wife. In this scene, Vincent (John Travolta) is at a 1950’s style restaurant/karaoke bar called “Jack Rabbit Slims” because he has been ordered by his boss to take his wife (Uma Thurman) out. Mia and Vincent argue over the ridiculousness of ordering a $5 shake and then the two discuss the grisly details of a hit her husband made on one of his own employees that went unexplained. Shortly after that, it is announced that there will be a couples dance contest and Mia abruptly raises her hand, to Vince’s dismay entering them in the contest. He protests and she explains that it was Marcellus’s specific instructions that he show her a good time. “Now I wanna dance. I wanna win. I want that trophy. So dance good,” she says. You Can Never Tell by Chuck Berry plays and John Travolta shows his disco skills similar to his performance in Saturday Night Fever. The purpose of this scene is to add to the irony and the flare of Vincent and Mia’s relationship. The lyrics “it was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well - you could see that Pierre did truly love the mademoiselle” show that the two clearly click well, but she is his boss’s wife and anything more than friendship would be inappropriate and dangerous. The scene fades out as they are still dancing and we don’t actually find out if they won the contest

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