Editing Pulp Fiction (section)

== Legacy and influence ==
''Pulp Fiction'' quickly came to be regarded as one of the most significant films of its era. In 1995, in a special edition of ''[[At the Movies (1986 TV program)|Siskel & Ebert]]'' devoted to Tarantino, [[Gene Siskel]] argued that the work posed a major challenge to the "ossification of American movies with their brutal formulas". In Siskel's view,

<blockquote>
the violent intensity of ''Pulp Fiction'' calls to mind other violent watershed films that were considered classics in their time and still are. [[Alfred Hitchcock|Hitchcock]]'s ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' [1960], [[Arthur Penn]]'s ''[[Bonnie and Clyde (film)|Bonnie and Clyde]]'' [1967], and [[Stanley Kubrick]]'s ''[[A Clockwork Orange (film)|A Clockwork Orange]]'' [1971]. Each film shook up a tired, bloated movie industry and used a world of lively lowlifes to reflect how dull other movies had become. And that, I predict, will be the ultimate honor for ''Pulp Fiction''. Like all great films, it criticizes other movies.<ref name="SE">"Pulp Faction: The Tarantino Generation", ''Siskel & Ebert'', ''Pulp Fiction'' DVD (Buena Vista Home Entertainment).</ref>
</blockquote>

Ken Dancyger writes that its "imitative and innovative style"&nbsp;– like that of its predecessor, ''[[Reservoir Dogs]]''&nbsp;– represents

<blockquote>
a new phenomenon, the movie whose style is created from the context of movie life rather than real life. The consequence is twofold&nbsp;– the presumption of deep knowledge on the part of the audience of those forms such as the [[gangster film]]s or Westerns, horror films or adventure films. And that the parody or alteration of that film creates a new form, a different experience for the audience.{{sfn|Dancyger|2002|p=228}}
</blockquote>
[[File:Quentin Tarantino Uma Thurman John Travolta Cannes 2014.jpg|thumb|[[John Travolta]], [[Uma Thurman]] and [[Quentin Tarantino]] at the [[2014 Cannes Film Festival]], for the film's 20th anniversary tribute.]]
In a widely covered speech on May 31, 1995, [[Bob Dole]], Senate Majority Leader and [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] presidential candidate for the then-upcoming [[1996 United States presidential election|1996 presidential election]] (as well as the party's vice presidential nominee in the [[1976 United States presidential election|1976 presidential election]]), attacked the American entertainment industry for peddling "nightmares of depravity". ''Pulp Fiction'' was soon associated with his charges concerning gratuitous violence. Dole had not mentioned the film, instead citing two less-celebrated movies based on Tarantino screenplays, [[Oliver Stone]]'s ''[[Natural Born Killers]]'' and [[Tony Scott]]'s ''[[True Romance]]''.<ref>{{cite news| last =Janofsky| first =Michael| title =Reviews by Weekend Moviegoers Are In. Dole Gets a Thumbs Down| url =https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/04/us/reviews-by-weekend-moviegoers-are-in-dole-gets-a-thumbs-down.html| work =The New York Times| date =1995-06-04| access-date =2007-10-08| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20180602064611/https://www.nytimes.com/1995/06/04/us/reviews-by-weekend-moviegoers-are-in-dole-gets-a-thumbs-down.html| archive-date =June 2, 2018| url-status =live}} {{cite magazine| last =Lacayo| first =Richard| title =Violent Reaction| url =http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983035-1,00.html| magazine =Time| date =1995-06-12| access-date =2007-10-08| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080422075503/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983035-1,00.html| archive-date =April 22, 2008| url-status =dead}}</ref> In September 1996, Dole did accuse ''Pulp Fiction''&nbsp;– which he had not seen at the time&nbsp;– of promoting "the romance of heroin".<ref>{{cite web| last =Gorman| first =Steven J.| title =Dole Takes on Drug Issue: Clinton Faulted for 'Naked' Lack of Leadership| url =http://www.thefreelibrary.com/DOLE+TAKES+ON+DRUG+ISSUE+:+CLINTON+FAULTED+FOR+%60NAKED'+LACK+OF...-a083968058| work =Daily News| date =1996-08-19| access-date =2007-10-08| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20080719202147/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/DOLE+TAKES+ON+DRUG+ISSUE+%3A+CLINTON+FAULTED+FOR+%60NAKED%27+LACK+OF...-a083968058| archive-date =July 19, 2008| url-status =live}}</ref>

Paula Rabinowitz expresses the general film industry opinion that ''Pulp Fiction'' "simultaneously resurrected John Travolta and film noir".{{sfn|Rabinowitz|2002|p=15}} In Peter Biskind's description, it created a "guys-with-guns frenzy".{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=258}} The film has also been labeled as a [[black comedy]]<ref name="washingtonpost.com" /> and a "[[Film noir#Neo-noir and echoes of the classic mode|neo-noir]]".{{sfn|Waxman|2005|p=64}}{{sfn|Silver|Ursini|2004|p=65}}{{sfn|Real|1996|p=122}} Critic [[Geoffrey O'Brien]], however, argued against the classification of ''Pulp Fiction'' into the neo-noir genre: "The old-time [[film noir|noir]] passions, the brooding melancholy and operatic death scenes, would be altogether out of place in the crisp and brightly lit wonderland that Tarantino conjures up. [It is] neither neo-noir nor a parody of noir."{{sfn|O'Brien|1994|p=90}} Similarly, [[Nicholas Christopher (writer)|Nicholas Christopher]] calls it "more gangland [[Camp (style)|camp]] than neo-noir",{{sfn|Christopher|2006|p=240}}{{sfn|Rubin|1999|pp=174–175}} and [[Foster Hirsch]] suggests that its "trippy fantasy landscape" characterizes it more definitively than any genre label.{{sfn|Hirsch|1997|p=359}} Regardless, the stylistic influence of ''Pulp Fiction'' soon became apparent. Less than a year after the picture's release, British critic Jon Ronson attended the [[National Film and Television School|National Film School]]'s end-of-semester screenings and assessed the impact: "Out of the five student movies I watched, four incorporated violent shoot-outs over a soundtrack of iconoclastic 70s pop hits, two climaxed with all the main characters shooting each other at once, and one had two hitmen discussing the idiosyncrasies of ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'' before offing their victim. Not since ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' has one man appeared from relative obscurity to redefine the art of moviemaking."{{sfn|Dawson|1995a|p=207}} Among the first Hollywood films cited as its imitators were ''[[Destiny Turns on the Radio]]'' (1995), in which Tarantino acted,<ref name="SE" /> ''[[Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead]]'' (1995),<ref>{{cite news|last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |title=The World According to Harvey and Bob (''Smoke, The Glass Shield'') |work=Chicago Reader |date=June 16, 1995 |url=https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2023/03/the-world-according-to-harvey-and-bob/ |access-date=May 21, 2023}}</ref> and ''[[2 Days in the Valley]]'' (1996).{{sfn|Hirsch|1997|p=360}} It "triggered a myriad of clones", writes Fiona Villella.<ref name="FV">{{cite web |last= Villella |first=Fiona A. | title = Circular Narratives: Highlights of Popular Cinema in the '90s | url =http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/3/circular.html#b2|work=Senses of Cinema |date=January 2000| access-date=2006-12-31 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20061126215319/http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/00/3/circular.html#b2 |archive-date = November 26, 2006}}</ref> Internationally, according to [[David Desser]], it "not only influenced a British brand of noir, but extended the noir vision virtually around the world".{{sfn|Desser|2003|p=519}} ''Pulp Fiction''{{'}}s effect on film form was still reverberating in 2007, when [[David Denby]] of ''[[The New Yorker]]'' credited it with initiating the ongoing cycle of disordered cinematic narratives.<ref name="Den">{{cite magazine|last=Denby|first=David|title=The New Disorder|url=https://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/03/05/070305crat_atlarge_denby|magazine=The New Yorker|date=2007-03-05|access-date=2007-09-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090404093026/http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2007/03/05/070305crat_atlarge_denby|archive-date=April 4, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'', the trajectory of ''Pulp Fiction'' from Cannes launch to commercial smash "forever altered the game" of so-called [[Independent film|independent cinema]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Elley|first=Derek|title=Who Launched Whom?|url=https://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=features2006&content=jump&jump=story&dept=cannes&nav=FCannes&articleid=VR1117942945|work=Variety|date=2006-05-14|access-date=2007-09-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090402142636/http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=features2006&content=jump&jump=story&dept=cannes&nav=FCannes&articleid=VR1117942945|archive-date=April 2, 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> It "cemented Miramax's place as the reigning indie superpower", writes Biskind.{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=189}} "''Pulp'' became the ''[[Star Wars]]'' of independents, exploding expectations for what an indie film could do at the box office."{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p=195}} The film's large financial return on its small budget

<blockquote>
transform[ed] the industry's attitude toward the lowly indies&nbsp;... spawning a flock of me-too classics divisions&nbsp;... [S]mart studio executives suddenly woke up to the fact that grosses and market share, which got all the press, were not the same as profits&nbsp;... Once the studios realized that they could exploit the economies of (small) scale, they more or less gave up buying or remaking the films themselves, and either bought the distributors, as Disney had Miramax, or started their own&nbsp;... copy[ing] Miramax's marketing and distribution strategies.{{sfn|Biskind|2004|p= 193}}
</blockquote>

In 2001, ''Variety'', noting the increasing number of actors switching back and forth between expensive studio films and low-budget independent or indie-style projects, suggested that the "watershed moment for movie stars" came with the decision by Willis&nbsp;– one of Hollywood's highest-paid performers&nbsp;– to appear in ''Pulp Fiction''.<ref>{{cite news|last=Koehler|first=Robert|title=For Art's Sake|url=https://variety.com/2001/film/awards/for-art-s-sake-2-1117794890/|work=Variety|date=2001-03-07|access-date=2007-09-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081012072032/http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117794890.html?categoryid=1037&cs=1&query=%22pulp+fiction%22+1994+tarantino|archive-date=October 12, 2008|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2024, on the film's 30th anniversary, the magazine wrote that the film "revived the career of John Travolta, minted a star in Samuel L. Jackson and spawned a still-thriving cottage industry of knockoffs and imitation films."<ref name="Gilchrist-2024" />

It has been described as a "major cultural event", an "international phenomenon" that influenced television, music, literature, and advertising.<ref name="FV" /><ref>{{cite web |last=Samuels |first=Mark |title=''Pulp Fiction'' |url=http://www.totalfilm.com/features/specials/pulp_fiction |work=Total Film |date=2006-11-08 |access-date=2007-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071009170856/http://www.totalfilm.com/features/specials/pulp_fiction |archive-date=October 9, 2007 |url-status=dead}} For musical influence, see, e.g., {{cite magazine|last=Sarig|first=Roni|title=Fun Lovin' Criminals—''Come Find Yourself''|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/funlovincriminals/albums/album/107552/review/5944992/come_find_yourself|magazine=Rolling Stone|year=1996|access-date=2007-10-08|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080621204015/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/funlovincriminals/albums/album/107552/review/5944992/come_find_yourself|archive-date=2008-06-21}}</ref> Not long after its release, it was identified as a significant focus of attention within the growing community of Internet users.<ref>{{cite news|last=Butler |first=Robert W. |title=''Pulp Fiction'' Is a Cultural Phenomenon—And That's a Fact |work=[[The Kansas City Star]] |date=March 17, 1996}}</ref> Adding ''Pulp Fiction'' to his roster of [[The Great Movies]] in 2001, Roger Ebert called it "the most influential film of the decade".<ref>{{cite news |last=Ebert |first=Roger |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-pulp-fiction-1994 |title=Great Movies: ''Pulp Fiction'' (1994) |date=2001-06-10 |access-date=2006-12-29 |work=Chicago Sun-Times |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130213235156/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20010610%2FREVIEWS08%2F106100301%2F1023 |archive-date=February 13, 2013 |url-status=live }}</ref> Four years later, ''Time''{{'}}s Corliss wrote much the same: "(unquestionably) the most influential American movie of the 90s".<ref name="T100">{{cite magazine | title =All-Time 100 Movies: Pulp Fiction (1994) | url =http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/0,23220,pulp_fiction,00.html | magazine =Time | access-date =2007-05-15 | date =2005-02-12 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20070603155000/http://www.time.com/time/2005/100movies/0,23220,pulp_fiction,00.html | archive-date =June 3, 2007 | url-status =dead }}</ref>

Several scenes and images from the film achieved iconic status; in 2008, ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'' declared, "You'd be hard-pressed, by now, to name a moment from Quentin Tarantino's film that isn't iconic."<ref name=EWClassic/> Jules and Vincent's "Royale with Cheese" dialogue became famous.<ref>See, e.g., {{cite news|last=Wilson|first=Bee|title=The Joy and Horror of Junk Food|url=http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25348-2597639,00.html|work=Times Literary Supplement|date=2007-02-14|access-date=2007-10-11|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071121220459/http://tls.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25348-2597639,00.html|archive-date=November 21, 2007|url-status=dead}} {{cite news|last=Gates|first=Anita|title=Movies: Critic's Choice|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/01/tv/movies-critic-s-choice.html|work=The New York Times|date=2004-08-01|access-date=2007-10-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602064545/https://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/01/tv/movies-critic-s-choice.html|archive-date=June 2, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> It was referenced more than a decade and a half later in the Travolta vehicle ''[[From Paris with Love (film)|From Paris with Love]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rea|first=Steven|title=Travolta, Rhys Meyers Pummel Paris|url=http://articles.philly.com/2010-02-05/entertainment/24955905_1_charlie-wax-secret-agent-man-pierre-morel|work=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|date=2010-02-05|access-date=2010-02-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160314104706/http://articles.philly.com/2010-02-05/entertainment/24955905_1_charlie-wax-secret-agent-man-pierre-morel|archive-date=March 14, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref> The adrenalin shot to Mia Wallace's heart is on ''[[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]]''{{'}}s list of "100 Greatest Movie Moments".{{sfn|Waxman|2005|loc=p. 72: Waxman misidentifies the list, which appeared in ''Premiere''{{'}}s March 2003 issue, as "100 Most Memorable Movie Scenes"}} The scene of Travolta and Thurman's characters dancing has been frequently homaged, most unambiguously in the 2005 film ''[[Be Cool]]'', starring the same two actors.<ref>{{cite web|last=Laverick |first=Daniel |title=Selling a Movie in Two Minutes—The Modern Day Film Trailer|url=http://www.close-upfilm.com/features/Featuresarchive/sellingamovie.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071011212644/http://www.close-upfilm.com/features/Featuresarchive/sellingamovie.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2007-10-11|website=Close-Up Film|access-date=2007-09-11}}</ref> The image of Travolta and Jackson's characters standing side by side in suit and tie, pointing their guns, has also become widely familiar. In 2007, [[BBC News]] reported that "London transport workers have painted over an iconic mural by 'guerrilla artist' [[Banksy]]&nbsp;... The image depicted a scene from Quentin Tarantino's ''Pulp Fiction'', with Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta clutching bananas instead of guns."<ref>{{cite news|title=Iconic Banksy Image Painted Over|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6575345.stm|work=BBC News|date=2007-04-20|access-date=2007-09-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100106021340/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6575345.stm|archive-date=January 6, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref> Certain lines were adopted popularly as catchphrases, in particular Marsellus's threat, "I'm 'a get medieval on your ass."{{sfn|Dinshaw|1997|p=116}} Jules's "Ezekiel" recitation was voted the fourth greatest movie speech of all time in a 2004 poll. One of the more notable homages to Jules's "Biblical" quote was one Jackson himself played a part in, near the end of 2014's ''[[Captain America: The Winter Soldier]]'', Jackson's character [[Nick Fury|Col. Nick Fury]], presumed dead, visits his own gravestone, on which, below Fury's name is inscribed "The path of the righteous man&nbsp;..." Ezekiel 25:17.<ref>{{cite news|title="Napalm" Speech Tops Movie Poll|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3362603.stm|work=BBC News|date=2004-01-02|access-date=2007-09-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090708135503/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3362603.stm|archive-date=July 8, 2009|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2019, it was reported that [[Dominic Cummings]], [[Special advisers (UK government)|special political adviser]] to [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|British Prime Minister]] [[Boris Johnson]], quoted Jules by telling Conservative MPs to "be cool like [[Fonzie]]s" as political pressure built to request an extension to the date of [[Brexit negotiations in 2019#August 2019|the UK's withdrawal from the European Union]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.indy100.com/article/dominic-cummings-pulp-fiction-cool-like-fonzies-boris-johnson-brexit-9095526|title=Dominic Cummings: Boris Johnson's adviser 'quoted Pulp Fiction' by telling aides they need to be 'cool like Fonzies'|last=Duncan|first=Conrad|date=8 September 2019|work=[[The Independent]]|access-date=9 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190909064808/https://www.indy100.com/article/dominic-cummings-pulp-fiction-cool-like-fonzies-boris-johnson-brexit-9095526|archive-date=September 9, 2019|url-status=dead}}</ref>

''Pulp Fiction'' now appears in several critical assessments of all-time great films. In 2008, ''Entertainment Weekly'' named it the best film of the past quarter-century.<ref name=EWClassic/> That same year, the [[American Film Institute]]'s "Ten Top Ten" poll ranked it number 7 all-time in the gangster film genre.<ref name="AFI10Top10">{{cite web | website = American Film Institute | title = AFI's 10 Top 10 | date = 2008-06-17 | url = http://www.afi.com/10top10/gangster.html | access-date = 2008-06-18 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130116145351/http://www.afi.com/10top10/gangster.html | archive-date = January 16, 2013 | url-status = live }}</ref> In 2007, it was voted 94th overall on the [[AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies]] list.<ref name=AFI10>{{cite web|url=https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movies-10th-anniversary-edition/  |title=AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movies—10th Anniversary Edition |website=American Film Institute |access-date=2007-09-20 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716071157/http://connect.afi.com/site/PageServer?pagename=micro_100landing |archive-date=2011-07-16}}</ref> In 2005, it was named one of "[[Time's All-Time 100 Movies]]".<ref name="T100" /> As of September 2018, it is number 54 on Metacritic's list of all-time highest scores.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.metacritic.com/browse/movies/score/metascore/all/filtered|title=Best Movies of All Time|work=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=September 29, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102032945/https://www.metacritic.com/browse/movies/score/metascore/all/filtered|archive-date=January 2, 2019|url-status=live}}</ref> The film ranks very highly in popular surveys. A 2008 ''[[Empire (film magazine)|Empire]]'' poll combining the opinions of readers, movie industry professionals, and critics named ''Pulp Fiction'' the ninth-best film of all time.<ref>{{cite web| title =The 500 Greatest Movies Of All Time| url =https://www.empireonline.com/500/94.asp| work =Empire| date =September 2008| access-date =2008-12-13| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20131101010231/http://www.empireonline.com/500/94.asp| archive-date =November 1, 2013| url-status=dead}}</ref> In a 2006 readers' poll by the British magazine ''[[Total Film]]'', it ranked as the number three film in history.<ref>{{cite web |last=Mueller |first=Matt |title=''Total Film'' Presents The Top 100 Movies Of All Time |url=http://www.totalfilm.com/features/total_film_presents_the_top_100_movies_of_all_time |work=Total Film |date=2006-10-17 |access-date=2007-09-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080924181919/http://www.totalfilm.com/features/total_film_presents_the_top_100_movies_of_all_time |archive-date=September 24, 2008 |url-status=dead}}</ref> It was voted as the fourth-greatest film of all time in a nationwide poll for Britain's [[Channel 4]] in 2001.<ref>{{cite news| title =''Star Wars'' Voted Best Film Ever| url =http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1676023.stm| work =BBC News| date =2001-11-26| access-date =2007-09-14| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20090302155719/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1676023.stm| archive-date =March 2, 2009| url-status =live}}</ref> In 2015, ''Pulp Fiction'' ranked 28th on [[BBC]]'s "100 Greatest American Films" list, voted on by film critics from around the world.<ref>{{cite web|date=July 20, 2015|title=100 Greatest American Films|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150720-the-100-greatest-american-films|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160916105535/http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150720-the-100-greatest-american-films|archive-date=September 16, 2016|access-date=July 21, 2015|work=BBC}}</ref>