Pulp Fiction: film analysis and themes

¶ … Violence in Pulp Fiction

When the movie Bonnie and Clyde opened in 1967, Newsweek reviewer Joseph Morgenstern slammed the move as a "squalid shoot-em-up for the moron trade." (Goldstein) But a week later retracted his previous bad review and praised the movie. It was the violence that originally shocked the movie reviewer, but within a week, the shock of the rampant violence had worn off. Once this had happened, Mr. Morgenstern, like American society in general, came to accept that violence was acceptable in movies as an integral part of artistic expression. 27 years later, in 1994, another film was released which once again shocked critics for the violence it contained, Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction.

In his film, Tarantino took the audience for a ride through the violent L.A. underworld complete with murders, drug overdoses, accidental shootings, and even a homosexual rape. (Tarantino 1994) While many initially panned this movie as overly violent, time has turned it into a classic of American Cinema. It is true that Pulp Fiction contains several scenes of extreme violence, but what needs to be asked is does the film use violence simply for it's shock value, or does it use violence as a legitimate took of artistic expression.

If one accepts Gary Hausladen's argument that Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is a reinvigorated type of L.A. based film noir, then violence is an integral part of that genre. (Hausladen 2005) The fact that Tarantino's film was made in a time when standards were not as stringent as when the classic L.A. film noir movies were made from the 1930's to the 1950's, allowed for a greater range of violence on screen. This type of genre is gritty and violent by nature and a modern attempt at this type of film would not work without the increased amount of violence.

While many may point to violence in movies as having a negative impact on children, the rating system currently in place provides parents with a guide to appropriate films for children. (Media Awareness Network) In a free country it is up to the parents of children to ensure that the movies they see are age appropriate. Since the 1960's Americans have accepted violence in movies, but only for those who are old enough to understand that films are make believe. While some have tried to treat all Americans as children, most reject this notion and allow for the freedom of artistic expression.