Quentin Tarantino's Use Of Humor In Pulp Fiction

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.

In my analysis I will be looking at a scene near the end of the film where Bud White and Ed Exeley take part in a shootout at the victory motel. The narrative conveys very common noir aspects here; the shootout takes place in a very dark room. The only light comes from outside. This shows the mood of the scene to be sinister and bleak. It puts the audience in a scared state as the shadows can conceal anything. It is also hard to see what White and Exeley are doing. The shadows are very menacing because they use a chiaroscuro lighting effect. This means that the rooms, people and settings are hidden from view by shadows. The blinds over the window cast strong grid shadowing over the characters showing uncertainty and anxiety. This lighting is very common in film-noir films as it shows the seediness of the settings. The

Lewis uses lighting to dramatize the opening scene of the film and characterize the protagonist of the story. The most noticeable utilization of film noir lighting is in the beginning

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.

Lighting and filming through the movie is applied creatively causing people to be interested in not only the plot but the aesthetic . Lighting gave the movie a mysterious ambiance. They also use the lighting to create a contrast of characters, they manipulate the lighting in a scene with Harvey Dent to show the dark side Of himself. Doing these

The mise-en-scene in The Godfather I, directed by Francis Ford Coppola, plays a huge role in how the film is perceived by viewers. Mise-En-Scene is characterized as, “The arrangement of everything that appears in the framing – actors, lighting, décor, props, and costume” (elementsofcinema.com). The Godfather utilizes mise-en-scene perfectly. Coppola combined all the right components of a typical mafia film and made something extraordinary. From the clothing, to the homes, to the cars, and lighting; The Godfather was executed wonderfully. Lighting plays a huge part in The Godfather. The first scene opens with only one man talking, in low light. The relaxed lighting makes the scene intense and leaving the audience with a sense of fear. With the light just appearing on the man's face, the foundation is totally dark, highlighting the threatening tone of the scene. This scene uses the same lighting elements as chiaroscuro paintings would have. If you were to pause the scene at certain points you would be able to see the rembrandt light and the strong tonal contrasts between light and dark. Different props are also used throughout the film. When you think about the Mafia, you think Italian men

One of the ways why cinematography made the film was the lighting. To get the feel, the lighting appeared to be fake shadows that were painted on the set. The fake shadows that were painted on the set gave the lighting appeared to be harsh and sharper to set the mood for the audience. If it weren’t for the painted shadows, the movie wouldn’t have been so successful in the horror genre. Since it was a silent movie, if it weren’t for the shadows, you wouldn’t of seen it as a horror film, but as an original film that was trying to be creative.

Another element of the gangster genre that is seen in Wellman’s film is the rise and fall trajectory of the central gangster protagonist. In order to avoid glamorizing the life of a gangster and his perverted American Dream, his crimes must be punished. This is a central element to any gangster film created under the auspices of the production code. To obey the rules and regulation of the PCA, any gangster in film will live “a short but glamorous life..that reaffirms the audience’s knowledge that in Hollywood, lawlessness cannot go unpunished” (Køhlert 857). The era under the PCA shaped the narrative of the gangster genre to include the death of essentially every gangster protagonist. In one of the most powerful scenes of the film, after Tom has taken revenge on the rival members, he stumbles, shot, clutching his chest into the raining streets and gutter (The Public Enemy). He is alone, isolated by the rain, and likely going to die. This is not a character the audience is supposed to sympathize with, and this is exactly to goal of the gangster genre. After the audience has seen Powers rise through the world of crime starting as a little boy

Another famous star in the movie is Uma Thurman played as the hitmen wife along with many other characters that make this film so iconic. It is interesting to analyze this film to see how it manages not only to preserve the thrill of a gangster’s life, but how the intentions were not all bad. Pulp Fiction is known as an iconic crime and drama film. Along with the unique cast of characters, there are many connections to pop culture and also shows the transformation of the character especially “Jules” and “Butch”.

Pulp Fiction by Quinton Tarantino falls into the genre of a Gangster film but has elements of other genres as well like Film Noir and Black Comedy. Pulp Fiction has a balance of drama and comedy along with hard to watch scenes like rape, violence, gore and heavy drug use. Tarantino’s style of movie making help make Pulp Fiction the classic it is today. The mise-en-scene, cinematography and other elements of movie, including sound effects and round characters leave us intrigued as well as content with the story structure as well as its ending.

Most of the actors are wearing darker clothing as well which makes their faces stand out even more. This lighting style also adds to the tension and the mystery of the scene. It makes the audience on edge. The contrast filled lighting of film noir is also effective at bringing out the extremes of emotions and thought. The darkness of the genre makes anything that goes wrong seem less taboo, because the lighting of the genre sets up the norms for the world that the film lives in—and in that world, bad things happen. The lighting of the film helps the audience understand the world that the characters are in.

I was a little late on the Kill Bill train and did not watch the movie until last year. As soon as the film started, I knew that it was going to be extremely intense. The same goes for Pulp Fiction. These two films directed by Quentin Tarantino were very different from all the other films that I’ve seen in my life. The mise en scene, dialogue, and music, were all different factors that intrigued me. I watched Pulp Fiction after watching Kill Bill and at first I thought that Pulp Fiction was an odd spin off to Kill Bill or that it took place in the same kind of universe because the worlds are so similar, the characters are just as intense, and the amount of violence was just as common. These are just a few things that make Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill similar. In this essay I will be discussing more similarities and slight differences between the two films.

The movies that Tarantino makes are not just violent, but have a great storyline, which he writes. His most famous movies include: Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, From Dusk Till Dawn, Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2, and the newest one, Inglourious Basterds (IMDb). Other, less famous ones are: Jackie Brown and Grindhouse (a double-feature consisting of Planet Terror, and Death Proof) (IMDb). To this day, people still talk about how great of a movie Pulp Fiction is. These movies are well known for their graphic violence, and sometimes profanity.

The lighting in "The Godfather," is very dim and is often said to be compared with a Rembrant. The lighting suggest many things throughout the film like a painting. The light scenes in the movie are to portray the Corleone family as good people, someone you could relate to not look down upon.

Color being one element, was really used in the film helped and played a major role to help the viewer see the obscurity and wickedness that lied within all of the characters. The colors were used to also manipulate the way your mood fluctuated throughout the movie. Another strong element used was the set design. The set was used to show what time period the movie was set in, but also where the Mafia was mainly located throughout the movie. The dialogue furthermore showed and helped the viewer really get the feel of where the characters are from, and their culture. The costumes additionally played a major role in showing where the characters were from in the movie. The costumes helped audiences get the full ambiance of the time period and moods of the characters. Also, there are many scenes in the movie that make you anxious and on the edge of your seat. A specific example would be the scene of the shooting of Sollozo and Mcclusky. This scene makes you question many things and you do not know what is happening when Sollozo is speaking in Italian, which just adds suspense to the viewer’s emotions. The camera pans out of Michael’s face and then, BOOM! Sollozo and Mcclusky are dead. This is just one of the scenes that kept you in the verge of your seat and through all of these elements, there was a permutation that worked in harmony to make