True Love in Pulp Fiction

There is an unrequited love in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction that surpasses even the romantic of dramas. Surprisingly, the relationship does not involve Uma Thurman’s character Mia Wallace. It is the closeness that the characters Jules and Vincent that demonstrates a sensitivity and compassion that is completely out of place for a film within this genre. This is Tarantino’s genius; effectively inserting thoroughly unorthodox characteristics in order to revitalize a genre that was slipping into cliche.

As a film aficionado, Tarantino witnessed years of repeated thematic motifs and unchanging, stereotypical characters. His beloved gangster genre was losing its vitality; the conventions become predictable and the underlying myth becomes boring and banal. As an innovative director Tarantino sought to revitalize the myth through what film historian John Cawelti called a "generic transformation”. Essentially, Quentin Tarantino borrows the traditional gangster myth, subverts it and subsequently installs a new, unorthodox myth in its place. The end result offers relationships where none had occurred before; Jules and Vincent become the deadly Odd Couple.

On it’s release, Pulp Fiction was hard to situate the film within mainstream cinema. While clearly acknowledge the conventions of the gangster genre, it is only as a point of departure. Tarantino introduces enigmatic characters and complex incongruities which combine to free his film from conventions. Cawelti suggests that the myth within the gangster film as "affirm[ing] the limits of individual aggression and violence ... show[ing] how violence evokes its own inevitable doom". In Pulp Fiction Tarantino subvert the traditional myth, effectively replaces it with myths of his own construction. The situations such as thoughtfulness that Jules and Vincent offer one another appear too sensitive to be contained within the boundaries of the gangster myth. But before that can be effective, Tarantino must first firmly establishing the conventional gangster persona.

Within the gangster environment, a darkened night club for example, the gangster looks the part; black suit, jewellery, sunglasses and the inevitable guns construct the image of menace. So too do his mannerisms, the gangster is a cocky, self-assured tough guy. The story within the film titled "The Bonnie Situation", provides an example an undermined gangster myth. Here, the two gangsters, Jules and Vincent, must retrieve and deliver a package that has been stolen. The visual appearance of Jules and Vincent effectively establishes them as dangerous individuals; their physicality combines with language, tone and background music (such as "Jungle Boogie") which contributes to their intimidating presence. With the gangster personas established, Tarantino then exploits the viewers' expectations by placing the gangsters in non-traditional scenarios. The viewer eventually realizes that the dialogue between Jules and Vincent has become quite common and most un-gangster like. They are not talking murder, guns or bank robberies; their discussion includes the nuances of European hamburgers, the delicacies of a foot massage and finally the proprieties involved in taking the boss's wife out to dinner. Here, the tough guy gangsters are curious and thoughtful, if not intellectual and insightful. Their dialogue is not what one might normally expect of two assassins about to 'make a hit.' There is something clearly wrong, so much so that Jules must finally insist: "Come on, let’s get in character". This particular line of dialogue clearly points out how deliberately Tarantino strays from the conventional gangster myth. When the dialogue, the character and his actions are incongruous with the viewers' expectations, the character is removed from the world of the gangster genre and placed into a dynamic of personal relationships where we see the ordinary rather than the rather than the violent.

The incongruities within the text are complimented with bizarre juxtapositions in the action or imagery. An example here is the shooting within the car. Vincent turns to Marvin in the back seat and poses a thoughtful theological question regarding divine intervention. "Marvin," he asks, "Do you think God came down from heaven and ... ." Marvin does not get a chance to answer as his head is shot off. The juxtaposition of thoughtful dialogue and gruesome action is bizarre. With no rationale for this occurrence, the scene is peculiar. The result, is laughter and again, the gangster myth is undermined. As the film proceeds, the costumes of the gangsters are removed; they are made to dress in shorts and t-shirts and "look like dorks” playing into the rôle of the Odd Couple.

It should be noted that the gangster myth is also reaffirmed in the Pulp Fiction. Revenge, a vital element in any gangster film, is exacted with absurd exaggeration in the film and pays tribute to Tarantino's fondness for this unsavory aspect of the human condition. From an interview from Grand Street Magazine; Tarantino says revenge is an art;

"As far as I'm concerned, if you're going to make a revenge movie, you've got to let the hero get revenge. There's a purity in that. So you set it up: the lead guy gets screwed over. And then you want to see him kill the bad guys - with his bare hands if possible".

Not all methods of revenge are appropriate for Tarantino and psychological revenge is not an option. For him, revenge involves disproportionate amounts of violence;

"... the minute you kill your bad guy by having him fall on something, you should go to movie jail. You've broken the law of good cinema".

Nowhere is this more evident than in the scene in the pawn shop basement. The build up is incredible as Butch finds bigger and nastier weapons to exact his revenge. He then kills with a psychotic mentality and a brutal physicality. Marcellus completes the action with his speech:

"I'm gonna get some mean pipe hittin' niggers to go to work on Mister `Soon to be living the rest of his short life in agonizing pain' Rapist here. I'm gonna get medieval on your ass, you hear me Mister Hillbilly? "

The build up and the murders lead to and exceed a type of revenge associated with the gangster myth and the myth is briefly reestablished. A problem lies in the fact that the scene is grossly exaggerated. It becomes apparent that Tarantino is again toying with the genre, using it to provide him with a vehicle to satisfy his enormous blood lust. The scene slips into the burlesque and further contributes to the demythologization.

With one myth is displaced, another one is inserted. The new unorthodox myth becomes Jules' sincere concern for Vincent’s well being and his quest for spiritual enlightenment. This, given the context of the film, seems quite unlikely for a movie of this genre. It is clearly established, however, through the abundance of religious rhetoric throughout the story. The examples are frequent as in the continuing theological discussion between Jules and Vincent after Jules is convinced he has witnessed divine intervention. The mysterious briefcase itself becomes a religious artifact where the lock combination (666) is juxtaposed beside a golden glow that radiates from within, leading one to believe that there is some kind of Holy relic inside. Jules' quoting of the scriptures also gains theological depth as the film progresses and climaxes in the final scene where he seems to have resolved his internal conflict. It is interesting to note that while Jules reads the Bible, Vincent is twice seen reading pulp fiction, both times while on the toilet and both times violence awaits him outside. It could be argued that the Bible becomes the parallel or opposite of the pulp fiction novel that Vincent is reading. The symbolism is all too obvious: Vincent's lack of faith leads to his untimely death. This supposition becomes the mythical moral of their adventure. But even more telling is Jules’ concern for Vincent’s state of mind; “If my answers frighten you then you should cease asking scary questions” and care and concern his his friends lack of enlightenment.

By positioning enigmatic characters in paradoxical situations, Tarantino's gangsters, for one reason or another, do not behave like gangsters in the traditional sense and the myth associated with the gangster genre is thus undermined. The way is then cleared for Tarantino to install his own version of a revitalized gangster myth. The result leaves the viewer, if not thoroughly disturbed, then very entertained and as an audience, we feel loss for a reprehensible persona and the end of an unrequited love story.