What Pulp Fiction means?
The term pulp fiction originally referred to “pulp”
paper magazines of the late 19th century, such as
Weird Tales and The Strand, which featured the work
of such prolific literary masters as H.G. Wells
(The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds), Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle, (The Lost World, The Adventures
of Sherlock Holmes) J.R.R. Tolkien (Lord of the
Rings) and Edgar Rice Burroughs (Tarzan of the
Apes). Generally, pulp fiction stories focused on
man struggling with dark, powerful and often, evil
forces — both internal and external –beyond his
control. By the early and mid-20th century, pulp
fiction, with its mix of science fact and
speculative fiction, launched a new era and genre
of fantasy stories with compelling alternative or
parallel realities.
Tarantino took his inspiration from many sources including 1950’s teen flicks to 1970s Blaxploitation to 1940’s film noir to 1970’s Kung Fu.
Here are some of the ways that I feel Tarantino uses pastiche in Pulp Fiction. The freeze-frame at the end of the opening scene is reminds me of the opening of Sam Peckinpah’s film the Wild Bunch. When Vincent is driving to pick up Mia for their date footage of a street is projected behind Vincent’s car in the style of older films. When Marcellus Wallace walks out in front of Butch’s car at the traffic lights and turns to face him, its just like the scene in Psycho by Alfred Hitchcock when Marion’s boss crosses the street in front of her car. When Butch decides to rescue Marcellus he runs through a variety of weapons, which bring to mind a variety of other movies. The baseball bat recalls Joe Don Baker in Walking Tall, the chainsaw recalls Leatherface in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and the Samurai Sword recalls Sonny Chiba in Shadow Warriors. The name of the boxer who Butch is supposed to take a dive against is Floyd Wilson, which is also the name of the fighter that Terry Malloy took a dive against in On The Waterfront. One final example would be Christopher Walken’s monologue about life in a POW camp, which is inspired by his performance as a POW in the Vietnam movie The Deer Hunter.
Media Notes 