Pulp Fiction

• Where is the birth of cinema

  - france, by Lumiere brothers, but hollywood became the biggest and most successful film industry in the 1920s
• George melies


  - shifted away from realism of the lumieres but towards story and narrative expression

  - many today consider him to be the first auteur

  - a trip to the moon (1902)
• Differences between Melies and Lumieres films

  Lumiere -

  realist, outdoor locations natural settings, no cuts, static, lack of narrative, costumes reflect Victorian era.

  Melies -

  Set design is elaborate, costumes, staging, wide shot, fantasy, camera trickery.
• Bazins main debate


  Argued German expressionism and soviet montage filmmakers went against what he saw as the realist and true calling of cinema

  Concern for propaganda

  Director should be invisible

  Interpretation left to the spectator
• 6 elements included in a film movement

  - 'high end' status

  - influence continues

  - often a alternative to mainstream Hollywood

  - significant auteurs

  - 'something new' enabled through film technology

  - filmmaking practice and response to political and social changes
• Modernity


  changes brought about by the Industrial Revolution

  At Time of mechanical advancements

  Early history of filmmaking (1895-1915)

  The first 20 years of filmmaking were characterised by constant experimentation, mechanical advancements played a significant role during this period.
• What are the conventions of German expressionism

  Fantasy, shadows, distorted reality
• Why were fantasy and exaggerated visuals used in German expressionism

  Expresses mind control and manipulation
• What elements of German expressionism tend to have influenced future films

  Shadows and chiaroscuro lighting
• Narrative themes and characters - German expressionism


  - often dark, drawing the devastation that followed WW1

  - the known and the unknown

  - temptation

  - notion of being able to control other people

  - extreme situations

  - fascination with fear of modern life and technology

  - fantastical beings living within normal existence
• Characters in German expressionism were often


  - obsessive

  - mad

  - melancholic

  - tortured

  - paranoid
• Institutional context


  - fox's most expensive silent film, intended as a prestige picture

  - German directors such as Murnau were viewed as artist so were given complete freedom and control with sunrise

  - although it won three awards including Oscar for best picture, it failed to recoup costs t the box office
• American film industry


  By 1920s Hollywood became the world's film captital. Received 80% of the revenue from films shown abroad.

  Hollywood also symbolised the 'new morality' of the 20s which was a mixture of extravagance, glamour, hedonism and fun
• Sunrise


  Very German film, but the genre melodrama is very American as are the performances.

  Murnau arribved in Hollywood in 1927, and the film is hugely significant in demonstrating the willingness of Hollywood to incorporate europea innovation.

  William fox wanted to make a prestige picture, so hired Murnau to blend German expressionism elements into Hollywood drama
• Social and political context


  - in 1920s more Americans lived in the cities than rural ares.

  - general roles for woman were reestablished and had more roles in society, gained the right to vote

  - modernism, fear of the new, hence the evil and dangerous woman from the city.

  - shifts in gender roles
• Representations


  - woman from city represents the 'flapper figure'. Woman in the 20s that enjoyed a new found freedom. They rejected Victorian modes of dress, favouring short bobbed hair and short skirts. Here, the flapper girl is represented as a threat to the stability of marriage.
• Marsh sequence


  - lit in lowkey lighting used expressively to reflect the doomed immoral nature of the mans affair.

  - intertitles are used expressively 'couldn't she just get drowned' they drown off the screen then dissolve into a image of the man pushing the wife off the boat. This may be the perspective of the woman's imagination

  - the film combines realism and expressionism as they imagine the city together. The city is represented as a place of fun and excitement in opposition to the simple life on the farm.
• The wife


  - dresses in more traditional rural clothing

  - presented as innocent and angelic.

  - She is shot in bright light to signify purity.

  - The film suggests that being a mother and a wife is the desired role for a woman.
• Marsh sequence - realism vs expressionism


  Expressionist

  - performance weights in his shoes, themes of inner thoughts and mind control, dark foreboding set, chiascurio lighting, large shadows on face shows inner conflict, melodrama- theme of love triangle. Overlay of images feels disorientated

  Realism

  - set is realistic, costumes realistic, domestic lives, psychological themes
• Historical and political context

  - post ww1 mind control

  - roaring 20s, women get the vote
• Jules Winnfield - Samuel L Jackson
• Vincent Vega - John Travolta
• Butch Coolidge - Bruce Willis
• Mia Wallace - Uma Thurman
• Honey Bunny - Amanda Plummer
• Mainstream Cinema


  linear plots, aligned with morally upstanding characters, goal-oriented characters, resolution and closure
• Auteur Theory


  - shows directors creative vision

  - personal stamp

  - considered artist

  - film is a collaborative medium
• Tarantino signature style overall

  - casual violence

  - themes of revenge and redemption

  - music

  - inconsequential dialogue

  - consistent referencing and intertextuality

  - characters with moral ambiguity
• Tarantino


  Directs and is author of script and sometimes producer - central creative force behind his films

  'Violence is a form of cinematic entertainment'

  'Films and music go hand in hand...first thing I do when writing a script is find the music to play in opening sequence'

  Influenced by the french new wave
• French New Wave


  A film movement 1960s - the films were populated by dissolute, morally ambiguous characters who embarked on casually sexual relationships with other outsiders.

  Utilised lighter, mobile cameras to increase the range of camera movement and film on location.
• What were the auteur elements of the french new wave

  - distancing the viewer

  - reminding viewers they are watching a film.

  - low budget

  - long takes
• Auteur elements in pulp fiction

  - casual violence - 'just another colour to work with'

  - morally ambiguous characters - butch

  - shift in tone

  - themes of revenge

  - use of colour - retro - homage to technicolour

  - music

  Debate

  - steals from very film he's ever watched.
• How did the french new wave use the camera differently

  - shot on location

  - kanted angles

  - jump cuts

  - handheld
• Institutional context


  - made for $8.5

  - after the success of resovoir dogs - his first film - he received an advance from TriStar to complete writing pulp fiction

  - TriStar ended up passing pulp fiction due to concerns about violence leading to miramax picking up the film.

  - Miramax agreed to Tarantino's demands for final cut and a specific runtime, except for casting John Travolta, however they eventually gave in.

  - film made $214 million worldwide

  - Bruce Willis - big actor at the time, could've helped with the success of film.
• Mise en scene in pulp fiction

  - costumes, hairstyles, setting - lack of definitive time and place

  The Mise en scene is experimental as it is challenging to the audience.

  His use of playfulness with the mise en scene - experimental
• Critical reception


  - well received critically but sparked controversy due to its violent content

  - roger ebert considered it as one of the most influential films of 90s

  - some film critics felt it lacked depth despite its visual and story telling brilliance

  - faced criticism for his use of racist slurs

  - he defends this by stating the language is authentic to the characters or time period

  - spike lee expressed that not all African Americans find the language trendy or acceptable
• Generation X (Gen X)

  The shift to consciousness

  First self conscious postmodern generation

  This created a audience ready for a film like pulp fiction
• Post modernist features


  - intertextuality

  - self referential

  - randomness

  - style over substttance

  - playfulness

  - fragmentation of time and space and personal identity

  - homage

  - irony
• Experimental features of pulp fiction

  - fragmented narrative

  - no central character

  - alternative ideas on what's moral

  - enigmas

  - frequent shifts in tone

  - minimal character development
• Conventional features of pulp fiction

  - some alignment

  - conventional character arc

  - false sense of resolution

  - cyclical (sort of)

  Conventional themes-redemption, revenge, loyalty