Religious Expression in Pulp Fiction

Religious Expression in Pulp Fiction

When Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction was released, it met with a storm of critical discussion. Some critics hated Tarantino's work, finding it unnecessarily and excessively violent, and suggesting that Tarantino's portrayal of that violence glorifies a gangster lifestyle. It was also celebrated as John Travolta's comeback film, and much critical and popular attention was given to what Travolta brought to the ultra-cool Vincent, who was ultimately a loser. However, what some critics missed, and what this reviewer actually missed when viewing the film for the first time, is the deeply spiritual message contained in the movie. While many of the movie's different subplots deal with different aspects of religion, two characters, Butch and Jules, are so obviously shaded with religious overtones that they help Pulp Fiction transcend the genre its name would imply and become one of the most important works in modern cinema.

When the audience first meets Butch, it has already met most of the important characters in the movie. Butch is a washed-up fighter, scheduled to take a fall in order to make money for his boss, Marcellus Wallace. When Marcellus discusses this arrangement with Butch, he acknowledges that Butch will feel tempted, by pride, not to honor his deal with Marcellus. This is when it begins to be clear that Butch may represent something more than an aging fighter. In the actual fight, Butch not only refuses to take the fall, but actually kills the other boxer. The audience also sees that Butch had previously bet on the fight, so that he would make a substantial amount of money by dishonoring his deal with Marcellus, which was, of course, a dishonest and dishonorable deal in the first place. At this point in the movie, Butch seems to be an almost unredeemable character, without even the much-touted "honor among thieves." However, when Butch and Marcellus, in the midst of a huge fight, find themselves captured by a pair of sadists, Butch reveals his honorable nature. Not only does he return to save Marcellus, but he does so without knowing whether or not his doing so will erase his debt to Marcellus. With this act, Butch reveals the idea that even the most dishonorable person can have honor. This is an important religious theme, the idea of the honorable man fighting in dishonorable circumstances. While many world religions have this theme, it is perhaps most notable in Christianity, where Christ kept company with thieves and criminals and was, himself, condemned to execution.

While Butch introduces the idea of honor, his message is almost secondary to the message conveyed by Jules, the hitman portrayed by Samuel Jackson. Throughout the movie, Jules acts on instinct, as if guided by something outside of science and logic, which is the essence of a religion. In fact, much has been made of the contrast of Vincent and Jules; more than just two guys in a typical buddy movie, the conversations between the two of them reveal deep philosophical differences between someone who relies on logic and someone who relies on intuition. Their discussions mirror the discussions that atheists, as a community, have with members of religious communities. While those discussions illuminate Jules' basic philosophical underpinnings, they do little reveal Jules as any type of religious hero. On the contrary, Jules initially seems far colder and less redeemable than Vincent. The best example of this is when Jules recites a verse from the Bible, "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you!" (Tarantino). This verse is at least partially derived from Ezekiel 25:17. Later in the movie, Jules reveals that he said those words without believing them, pretending that he was the righteous man. That makes the words, which could have such a strong religious meaning and speak to one's duty to one's fellow man, a duty that a hit man such as Jules, clearly is ignoring, become hollow and meaningless.

However, Jules has a spiritual epiphany when he and Vincent remain unharmed after living through a hail of gunfire. While Vincent attributes their survival to luck, Jules is unable to leave it at luck. Moreover, after what he seems to believe is a miraculous intervention in his life, he is in the car when an "innocent" is killed. Though the death is an accident, it would not have occurred but for the fact that Jules was on the wrong path. Clearly, Jules begins to recognize that he is not the righteous man. If he is not the righteous man bringing vengeance and furious anger upon selfish and evil men, then who is he? Jules makes several attempts to discuss this issue with Vincent, who seems uncomfortable with the spiritual natures of Jules' discussion and attempts to dissuade him from his newly spiritual point-of-view. Despite that, Jules informs Vincent that he is done with being a gangster.