Editing Pulp Fiction (section)

== Critical analysis ==
Tarantino has stated that he originally planned "to do a ''[[Black Mask (magazine)|Black Mask]]'' movie", referring to the magazine largely responsible for popularizing [[hardboiled]] detective fiction. "[I]t kind of went somewhere else".{{sfn|O'Brien|1994|p=90}} Geoffrey O'Brien sees the result as connected "rather powerfully to a parallel pulp tradition: the tales of terror and the uncanny practiced by such writers as [[Cornell Woolrich]] [and] [[Fredric Brown]]&nbsp;... Both dealt heavily in the realm of improbable coincidences and cruel cosmic jokes, a realm that ''Pulp Fiction'' makes its own."{{sfn|O'Brien|1994|pp=90, 91}} In particular, O'Brien finds a strong affinity between the intricate plot mechanics and twists of Brown's novels and the recursive, interweaving structure of ''Pulp Fiction''.{{sfn|O'Brien|1994|p=91}} Philip French describes the film's narrative as a "circular movement or [[Möbius strip]] of a kind [[Alain Resnais|Resnais]] and [[Alain Robbe-Grillet|Robbe-Grillet]] would admire".<ref>{{cite news|last=French|first=Philip|title=''Pulp Fiction''|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2006/mar/26/1|work=The Observer|date=2006-03-26|access-date=2008-12-28|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160817181404/https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2006/mar/26/1|archive-date=August 17, 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> James Mottram regards crime novelist [[Elmore Leonard]], whose influence Tarantino has acknowledged, as the film's primary literary antecedent. He suggests that Leonard's "rich dialogue" is reflected in Tarantino's "popular-culture-strewn jive"; he also points to the acute, extremely dark sense of humor Leonard applies to the realm of violence as a source of inspiration.{{sfn|Mottram|2006|p=228, 77}}

Film scholar/historian [[Robert P. Kolker|Robert Kolker]] sees the "flourishes, the apparent witty banality of the dialogue, the goofy fracturing of temporality [as] a patina over a [[pastiche]]. The pastiche&nbsp;... is essentially of two films that Tarantino can't seem to get out of his mind: ''[[Mean Streets]]'' [1973; directed by [[Martin Scorsese]], who loved ''Pulp Fiction'' and the way the film was told<ref name="Scorsese">{{cite episode| title = Martin Scorsese's Best Films of the '90s| series=Roger Ebert & the Movies| series-link=At the Movies (1986 TV program)| credits=[[Martin Scorsese]] (guest host), [[Roger Ebert]] (host)| airdate=2000-02-26| season=1| number=26}}</ref>] and ''[[The Killing (film)|The Killing]]'' [1956; directed by [[Stanley Kubrick]]]."{{sfn|Kolker|2000|p=249}} He contrasts ''Pulp Fiction'' with postmodern Hollywood predecessors ''[[Hudson Hawk]]'' (1991; starring Willis) and ''[[Last Action Hero]]'' (1993; starring [[Arnold Schwarzenegger]]) that "took the joke too far&nbsp;... simply mocked or suggested that they were smarter than the audience" and flopped.{{sfn|Kolker|2000|p=281}} Todd McCarthy writes that the film's "striking widescreen compositions often contain objects in extreme close-up as well as vivid contrasts, sometimes bringing to mind the visual strategies of [[Sergio Leone]]", an acknowledged hero of Tarantino's.<ref name="TM" /> To Martin Rubin, the "expansive, brightly colored widescreen visuals" evoke comedy directors such as [[Frank Tashlin]] and [[Blake Edwards]].{{sfn|Rubin|1999|p=174}}

The movie's host of [[popular culture|pop culture]] allusions, ranging from the famous image of [[Marilyn Monroe]]'s skirt flying up over a subway grating to Jules addressing a soon-to-be victim as "[[A Flock of Seagulls|Flock of Seagulls]]" because of his haircut,{{sfn|Tarantino|1994|pp=24, 27}}{{sfn|Conard|2006|p=108}} have led many critics to discuss it within the framework of [[postmodernism]]. Describing the film in 2005 as Tarantino's "postmodern masterpiece&nbsp;... to date", David Walker writes that it "is marked by its playful reverence for the 1950s&nbsp;... and its constantly teasing and often deferential references to other films". He characterizes its convoluted narrative technique as "postmodern tricksiness".{{sfn|Walker|2005|p=315}} Calling the film a "terminally hip postmodern collage", Foster Hirsch finds ''Pulp Fiction'' far from a masterpiece: "authoritative, influential, and meaningless". Set "in a world that could exist only in the movies", it is "a succulent guilty pleasure, beautifully made junk food for [[Filmophile|cinéastes]]".{{sfn|Hirsch|1997|pp=360, 340}} O'Brien, dismissing attempts to associate the movie with [[film noir]], argues that "''Pulp Fiction'' is more a guided tour of an infernal theme park decorated with cultural detritus, [[Buddy Holly]] and [[Mamie Van Doren]], fragments of [[blaxploitation]] and [[Roger Corman]] and ''[[Shogun Assassin]]'', music out of a twenty-four-hour oldies station for which all the decades since the fifties exist simultaneously."{{sfn|O'Brien|1994|p=90}} Catherine Constable takes the moment in which a needle filled with adrenalin is plunged into the comatose Mia's heart as exemplary. She proposes that it "can be seen as effecting her resurrection from the dead, simultaneously recalling and undermining the [[Gothic fiction|Gothic]] convention of the vampire's stake. On this model, the referencing of previous aesthetic forms and styles moves beyond&nbsp;... empty pastiche, sustaining an 'inventive and affirmative' mode of postmodernism."{{sfn|Constable|2004|p=54}}

Mark T. Conard asks, "[W]hat is the film ''about''?" and answers, "American [[nihilism]]."{{sfn|Conard|2006|p=125}} Hirsch suggests, "If the film is actually about anything other than its own cleverness, it seems dedicated to the dubious thesis that hit men are part of the human family."{{sfn|Hirsch|1997|p=360}} Richard Alleva argues that "''Pulp Fiction'' has about as much to do with actual criminality or violence as ''[[Cyrano de Bergerac (play)|Cyrano de Bergerac]]'' with the realities of seventeenth-century France or ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'' with Balkan politics." He reads the movie as a form of romance whose allure is centered in the characters' nonnaturalistic discourse, "wise-guy literate, media-smart, obscenely [[epigram]]matic".<ref>{{cite news|last=Alleva |first=Richard |title=''Pulp Fiction'' |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_n20_v121/ai_15879432/pg_1 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071130072640/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1252/is_n20_v121/ai_15879432/pg_1 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2007-11-30 |work=Commonweal |date=1994-11-18 |access-date=2007-10-08 }}</ref> In Alan Stone's view, the "absurd dialogue", like that between Vincent and Jules in the scene where the former accidentally kills Marvin, "unexpectedly transforms the meaning of the violence cliché&nbsp;... ''Pulp Fiction'' unmasks the macho myth by making it laughable and deheroicizes the power trip glorified by standard Hollywood violence."<ref name="Stone">{{cite web|last=Stone|first=Alan|title=''Pulp Fiction''|url=https://bostonreview.net/BR20.2/stone.html|work=Boston Review|date=April–May 1995|access-date=2007-09-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070621100941/http://bostonreview.net/BR20.2/stone.html|archive-date=June 21, 2007|url-status=dead}}</ref> Stone reads the film as "[[Political correctness|politically correct]]. There is no nudity and no violence directed against women&nbsp;... [It] celebrates interracial friendship and cultural diversity; there are strong women and strong black men, and the director swims against the current of class stereotype."<ref name="Stone" />

Where Stone sees a celebration, Kolker finds a vacuum: "The postmodern insouciance, violence, homophobia, and racism of ''Pulp Fiction'' were perfectly acceptable because the film didn't pretend seriousness and therefore didn't mock it."{{sfn|Kolker|2000|p=281}} Calling it the "acme of postmodern nineties filmmaking", he explains, "the postmodern is about surfaces; it is flattened spatiality in which event and character are in a steady state of reminding us that they are pop-cultural figures."{{sfn|Kolker|2000|pp=249, 250}} According to Kolker:

<blockquote>
That's why ''Pulp Fiction'' was so popular. Not because all audiences got all or any of its references to Scorsese and Kubrick, but because the narrative and spatial structure of the film never threatened to go beyond themselves into signification. The film's cycle of racist and homophobic jokes might threaten to break out into a quite nasty view of the world, but this nastiness keeps being laughed off&nbsp;– by the mock intensity of the action, the prowling, confronting, perverse, confined, and airless nastiness of the world Tarantino creates.{{sfn|Kolker|2000|p=250}}
</blockquote>

[[Henry Giroux|Henry A. Giroux]] argues that Tarantino "empties violence of any critical social consequences, offering viewers only the immediacy of shock, humor, and irony-without-insight as elements of mediation. None of these elements gets beyond the seduction of voyeuristic gazing&nbsp;... [t]he facile consumption of shocking images and hallucinatory delight."{{sfn|Giroux|1996|p=77}}

Regarding the violence and nihilism in the film, Pamela Demory has suggested that ''Pulp Fiction'' should be seen in light of the short stories of [[Flannery O'Connor]],<ref>{{cite conference |title=Violence and Transcendence in Pulp Fiction and Flannery O'Connor |last1=Demory |first1=Pamela H. |author-link2= |date=1995 |book-title=The Image of Violence in Literature, the Media, and Society: Selected Papers [from the] 1995 Conference of the Society for Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery |pages=187–194 |editor-first1=Will |editor-last1=Wright |editor-first2=Steven |editor-last2=Kaplan |location=Pueblo, CO |conference=Society for the Interdisciplinary Study of Social Imagery}}</ref> which likewise feature "religious elements, banality, and violence with grotesque humor." Discussing "the connection between violence and redemption," Demory concludes that while O'Connor's purpose is to convince readers "of the powerful force of evil in the world and of our need for grace," Tarantino "seeks to demonstrate that in spite of everything we have seen in the film&nbsp;– all the violence, degradation, death, crime, amoral behavior&nbsp;– grace is still possible; there might still be a God who doesn't judge us on merits."<ref>{{cite book|title=Flannery O'Connor: An Annotated Reference Guide to Criticism |editor-first1=R. Neil |editor-last1=Scott |location=Milledgeville, Georgia |publisher=Timberlane Books |year=2002 |page=185 |isbn=978-0971542808}}</ref>

=== Homage as essence ===
==== Cinema ====
''Pulp Fiction'' is full of [[Homage (arts)|homages]] to other movies. "Tarantino's characters", writes [[Gary Groth]], "inhabit a world where the entire landscape is composed of Hollywood product. Tarantino is a cinematic kleptomaniac&nbsp;– he literally can't help himself."{{sfn|Groth|1997|p=189}} Two scenes in particular have prompted discussion of the film's highly [[Intertextuality|intertextual]] style. Many have assumed that the dance sequence at Jack Rabbit Slim's was intended as a reference to Travolta's star-making performance as Tony Manero in the epochal ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'' (1977); Tarantino, however, credits a scene in the [[Jean-Luc Godard]] film ''[[Bande à part (film)|Bande à part]]'' (1964) with the inspiration. According to the filmmaker;

<blockquote>
Everybody thinks that I wrote this scene just to have John Travolta dancing. But the scene existed before John Travolta was cast. But once he was cast, it was like, "Great. We get to see John dance. All the better."...&nbsp;My favorite musical sequences have always been in Godard, because they just come out of nowhere. It's so infectious, so friendly. And the fact that it's not a musical, but he's stopping the movie to have a musical sequence, makes it all the more sweet.<ref name="T9">Enhanced Trivia Track, ch. 9, ''Pulp Fiction'' DVD (Buena Vista Home Entertainment).</ref>
</blockquote>

[[Jerome Charyn]] argues that, beyond "all the better", Travolta's presence is essential to the power of the scene, and of the film:

<blockquote>
Travolta's entire career becomes "[[backstory]]", the myth of a movie star who has fallen out of favor, but still resides in our memory as the king of disco. We keep waiting for him to shed his paunch, put on a white polyester suit, and enter the 2001 Odyssey club in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where he will dance for us and never, never stop. Daniel Day-Lewis couldn't have woken such a powerful longing in us. He isn't part of America's own mad cosmology&nbsp;... Tony Manero [is] an angel sitting on Vince's shoulder&nbsp;... [Vince and Mia's] actual dance may be closer to the choreography of [[Anna Karina]]'s shuffle with her two bumbling gangster boyfriends in ''Bande à part'', but even ''that'' reference is lost to us, and we're with Tony again&nbsp;...{{sfn|Charyn|2006|p=106}}
</blockquote>

Estella Tincknell notes that while the "diner setting seems to be a simulacrum of a 'fifties' restaurant&nbsp;... the twist contest is a musical sequence which evokes 'the sixties,' while Travolta's dance performance inevitably references 'the seventies' and his appearance in ''Saturday Night Fever.'' ...&nbsp;The 'past' thus becomes a more general 'pastness' in which the stylistic signifiers of various decades are loaded in to a single moment."{{sfn|Tincknell|2006|p=140}} She also argues that in this passage the film "briefly shifts from its habitually ironic discourse to one that references the conventions of the classic [[Musical film|film musical]] and in doing so makes it possible for the film to inhabit an affective space that goes beyond stylistic allusion."{{sfn|Tincknell|2006|p=140}}

The pivotal moment in which Marsellus crosses the street in front of Butch's car and notices him evokes the scene in which Marion Crane's boss sees her under similar circumstances in ''[[Psycho (1960 film)|Psycho]]'' (1960).{{sfn|Dawson|1995a| p=178}}{{sfn|Polan|2000|p=19}} Marsellus and Butch are soon held captive by Maynard and Zed, "two sadistic honkies straight out of ''[[Deliverance]]''" (1972), directed by [[John Boorman]].<ref name="Stone" /> Zed shares a name with [[Sean Connery]]'s character in Boorman's follow-up, the science-fiction film ''[[Zardoz]]'' (1974). When Butch decides to rescue Marsellus, in Glyn White's words, "he finds a trove of items with film-hero resonances".{{sfn|White|2002|p=342}} Critics have identified these weapons with a range of possible allusions:
* Hammer&nbsp;– ''[[The Toolbox Murders]]'' (1978){{sfn|Fulwood|2003|p=22}}
* Baseball bat&nbsp;– ''[[Walking Tall (1973 film)|Walking Tall]]'' (1973);{{sfn|White|2002|p=342}} ''[[The Untouchables (film)|The Untouchables]]'' (1987){{sfn|Fulwood|2003|p=22}}
* Chainsaw&nbsp;– ''[[The Texas Chain Saw Massacre]]'' (1974);{{sfn|White|2002|p=342}}{{sfn|Fulwood|2003|p=22}} ''[[Evil Dead II]]'' (1987){{sfn|White|2002|p=342}}
* [[Katana]] (samurai sword)&nbsp;– many, including ''[[Seven Samurai]]'' (1954);{{sfn|White|2002|p=342}}{{sfn|Fulwood|2003|p=22}} ''[[The Yakuza]]'' (1975);{{sfn|White|2002|p=342}} and ''[[Shogun Assassin]]'' (1980){{sfn|Fulwood|2003|p=22}}

At the conclusion of the scene, a portentous line of Marsellus's echoes one from the crime drama ''[[Charley Varrick]]'' (1973), directed by another of Tarantino's heroes, [[Don Siegel]]; the name of the character who speaks it there is Maynard.{{sfn|Groth|1997|pp=188–9}}{{sfn|Dinshaw|1997|p=186}}{{sfn|Mottram|2006|pp=75–76}}<ref>For Tarantino's admiration of Siegel, see {{harvtxt|Dawson|1995a|loc=p. 142}}</ref>

David Bell argues that far from going against the "current of class stereotype", this scene, like ''Deliverance'', "mobilize[s] a certain construction of poor white country folk&nbsp;– and particularly their sexualization&nbsp;... 'rustic sexual expression often takes the form of homosexual rape' in American movies."{{sfn|Bell|2000|p=87}} Stephen Paul Miller believes the ''Pulp Fiction'' scene goes down much easier than the one it echoes: "The buggery perpetrated is not at all as shocking as it was in ''Deliverance''&nbsp;... The nineties film reduces seventies competition, horror, and taboo into an entertainingly subtle adrenaline play&nbsp;– a fiction, a pulp fiction."{{sfn|Miller|1999|p=76}} Giroux reads the rape scene homage similarly: "in the end Tarantino's use of parody is about repetition, transgression, and softening the face of violence by reducing it to the property of film history."{{sfn|Giroux|1996|p=78}} In Groth's view, the crucial difference is that "in ''Deliverance'' the rape created the film's central moral dilemma whereas in ''Pulp Fiction'' it was merely 'the single weirdest day of [Butch's] life.'"{{sfn|Groth|1997|p=188}} ("''[[American Me]]'' did it too," Tarantino observed. "There's like ''three'' butt-fucking scenes in ''American Me''. That's definitely the one to beat in that particular category!"<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Wild |first=David |title=Quentin Tarantino: The Madman of Movie Mayhem |magazine=[[Rolling Stone]] |date=November 3, 1994 |page=110 |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/quentin-tarantino-the-madman-of-movie-mayhem-186995/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220716045218/https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/quentin-tarantino-the-madman-of-movie-mayhem-186995/ |archive-date=July 16, 2022 |access-date=May 21, 2023}}</ref>)

Neil Fulwood focuses on Butch's weapon selection, writing, "Here, Tarantino's love of movies is at its most open and nonjudgemental, tipping a nod to the noble and the notorious, as well as sending up his own reputation as an enfant terrible of movie violence. Moreover, the scene makes a sly comment about the readiness of cinema to seize upon whatever is to hand for its moments of mayhem and murder."{{sfn|Fulwood|2003|p=22}} White asserts that "the katana he finally, and significantly, selects identifies him with&nbsp;... [[honour]]able heroes."{{sfn|White|2002|p=342}} Conard argues that the first three items symbolize a nihilism that Butch is rejecting. The traditional Japanese sword, in contrasts, represents a culture with a well-defined [[Morality|moral code]] and thus connects Butch with a more meaningful approach to life.{{sfn|Conard|2006|pp=125, 133}}

The [[List of biker films|biker film]] ''[[Nam's Angels]]'' is also shown with Fabienne characterizing it as "A motorcycle movie, I'm not sure the name."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.filmsite.org/pulp4.htmls|title=Pulp Fiction (1994, part 4 of 5)|website=filmsite.org}}{{Dead link|date=December 2021 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}</ref>

==== Television ====
Robert Miklitsch argues that "Tarantino's telephilia" may be more central to the guiding sensibility of ''Pulp Fiction'' than the filmmaker's love for rock 'n' roll and even cinema:

<blockquote>
Talking about his generation, one that came of age in the '70s, Tarantino has commented that the "number one thing we all shared wasn't music, that was a Sixties thing. Our culture was television." A random list of the TV programs referenced in ''Pulp Fiction'' confirms his observation: ''[[Speed Racer]], [[Clutch Cargo]], [[The Brady Bunch]], [[The Partridge Family]], [[The Avengers (TV series)|The Avengers]], [[The Three Stooges]], [[The Flintstones]], [[I Spy (1965 TV series)|I Spy]], [[Green Acres]], [[Kung Fu (1972 TV series)|Kung Fu]], [[Happy Days]]'', and last but not least, Mia's fictional pilot, ''Fox Force Five''.{{sfn|Miklitsch|2006|loc=pp. 15, 16: Note that while the Three Stooges did have an original TV series that ran briefly in the mid-1960s, they were most familiar from their cinematic [[Short film|shorts]] that were [[Broadcast syndication|syndicated]] to television}}
</blockquote>

"The above list, with the possible exception of ''The Avengers''," writes Miklitsch, "suggests that ''Pulp Fiction'' has less of an elective affinity with the cinematic avant-gardism of Godard than with mainstream network programming."{{sfn|Miklitsch|2006|p=16}} Jonathan Rosenbaum had brought TV into his analysis of the Tarantino/Godard comparison, acknowledging that the directors were similar in wanting to cram everything they like onscreen: "But the differences between what Godard likes and what Tarantino likes and why are astronomical; it's like comparing a combined museum, library, film archive, record shop, and department store with a jukebox, a video-rental outlet, and an issue of [[TV Guide]]."<ref name=Profusion/>

Sharon Willis focuses on the way a television show (''[[Clutch Cargo]]'') marks the beginning of, and plays on through, the scene between young Butch and his father's comrade-in-arms. The Vietnam War veteran is played by Christopher Walken, whose presence in the role evokes his performance as a traumatized G.I. in the Vietnam War movie ''[[The Deer Hunter]]'' (1978). Willis writes that "when Captain Koons enters the living room, we see Walken in his function as an image retrieved from a repertoire of 1970s television and movie versions of ruined [[masculinity]] in search of rehabilitation&nbsp;... [T]he gray light of the television presiding over the scene seems to inscribe the ghostly paternal gaze."{{sfn|Willis |1997|p=195}} Miklitsch asserts that, for some critics, the film is a "prime example of the pernicious ooze-like influence of mass culture exemplified by their bête noire: TV."{{sfn|Miklitsch|2006|p=16}} Kolker might not disagree, arguing that "''Pulp Fiction'' is a simulacrum of our daily exposure to television; its homophobes, thugs and perverts, sentimental boxers and pimp promoters move through a series of long-take tableaux: we watch, laugh, and remain with nothing to comprehend."{{sfn|Kolker|2000|p=250}}

=== Notable motifs ===

==== The mysterious 666 briefcase ====
{{multiple image
| align     = right
| direction = vertical
| width     = 200
| image1    = PulpFictionCase.jpg
| caption1  =Vincent "stares&nbsp;... transfixed" into the glowing case, as specified in Tarantino's screenplay.{{sfn|Tarantino|1994|p=28}}

| image2    = KissMeDeadlyPandora.jpg
| caption2  = Vincent's demeanor reinforces the allusion to the scene in ''[[Kiss Me Deadly]]'' (1955) in which Lily Carver, a.k.a. Gabrielle ([[Gaby Rodgers]]), gazes into the glowing case.{{sfn|Gallafent|2006|p=46}}}}

The combination of the mysterious suitcase lock is 666, the "[[Number of the beast|Number of the Beast]]". Tarantino has said there is no explanation for its contents&nbsp;– it is simply a [[MacGuffin]], a pure [[plot device]]. Originally, the case was to contain diamonds, but this was seen as too mundane. For filming purposes, it contained a hidden orange light bulb that produced an otherworldly glow when the case was opened.<ref>{{cite web|title=What's In the Briefcase?|url=http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/pulp.htm|website=Snopes.com|date=2007-08-17|access-date=2007-09-13|archive-date=May 18, 2018|archive-url=https://archive.today/20180518145158/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/whats-in-the-briefcase/|url-status=live}}</ref> In a 2007 video interview with fellow director and friend [[Robert Rodriguez]], Tarantino purportedly "reveals" the secret contents of the briefcase, but the film cuts out and skips the scene in the style employed in Tarantino and Rodriguez's ''[[Grindhouse (film)|Grindhouse]]'' (2007), with an intertitle that reads "Missing Reel". The interview resumes with Rodriguez discussing how radically the "knowledge" of the briefcase's contents alters one's understanding of the movie.<ref name="Myspace">{{cite web|title=Rodriguez and Tarantino: Artist On Artist|url=http://creative.myspace.com/groups/_mh/aoa/pages/qtarantino_rrodriguez/qtarantino_rrodriguez.html|website=MySpace.com|date=April 6, 2007|access-date=2007-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120090140/http://creative.myspace.com/groups/_mh/aoa/pages/qtarantino_rrodriguez/qtarantino_rrodriguez.html|archive-date=January 20, 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

Despite Tarantino's statements, many solutions to what one scholar calls this "unexplained postmodern puzzle" have been proposed.{{sfn|Real|1996|p=259}} A strong similarity has often been observed with [[Robert Aldrich]]'s 1955 [[film noir]] ''[[Kiss Me Deadly]]'', which features a glowing briefcase housing an atomic explosive.{{sfn|Groth|1997|p=188}}{{sfn|Polan|2000|p=20}}<ref>{{cite web|title=What's in the Briefcase in ''Pulp Fiction''?|url=http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpulpfiction.html|website=The Straight Dope|date=2000-05-31|access-date=2007-09-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081120192104/http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mpulpfiction.html|archive-date=November 20, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref> In their review of [[Alex Cox]]'s 1984 film ''[[Repo Man (film)|Repo Man]]'' in ''The Daily Telegraph'', Nick Cowen and Hari Patience suggest that ''Pulp Fiction'' may also owe "a debt of inspiration" to the glowing car trunk in that film.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/wheelsonfilm/2753942/Wheels-On-Film-Repo-Man.html|title=Wheels on Film: Repo Man|date=Aug 16, 2008|first1=Nick |last1=Cowen|first2=Hari |last2=Patience|newspaper=The Daily Telegraph|access-date=2012-07-14|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813111607/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/wheelsonfilm/2753942/Wheels-On-Film-Repo-Man.html|archive-date=August 13, 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> In scholar Paul Gormley's view, this connection with ''Kiss Me Deadly'', and a similar one with ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' (1981), makes it possible to read the eerie glow as symbolic of violence itself.{{sfn|Gormley|2005|p=164}} The idea that the briefcase contains Marsellus's soul gained popular currency in the mid-1990s. Analyzing the notion, [[Roger Ebert]] dismissed it as "nothing more than a widely distributed urban legend given false credibility by the mystique of the Net".{{sfn|Ebert|1997|p=188}}

==== Jules' Bible passage ====
Jules ritually recites what he describes as a biblical passage, [[Book of Ezekiel|Ezekiel]] 25:17, before he executes someone. The passage is heard three times&nbsp;– in the introductory sequence in which Jules and Vincent reclaim Marsellus's briefcase from the doomed Brett; that same recitation a second time, at the beginning of "The Bonnie Situation", which overlaps the end of the earlier sequence; and in the epilogue at the diner. The first version of the passage is as follows:

<blockquote>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 goodwill 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 thee.</blockquote>

The second version, from the diner scene, is identical except for the final line: "And you will know I am the Lord when I lay My vengeance upon you."

{{listen|filename=End of Ezekiel.ogg|title="And I will strike down&nbsp;..."| description= Conclusion of the "Ezekiel 25:17" monologue and Brett's murder}}

While the final two sentences of Jules's speech are similar to the actual cited passage, the first two are fabricated from various biblical phrases.{{sfn|Reinhartz|2003|p=108}} The text of Ezekiel 25 preceding verse 17 indicates that God's wrath is retribution for the hostility of the [[Philistines]]. In the [[King James Version]] from which Jules's speech is adapted, Ezekiel 25:17 reads in its entirety:

<blockquote>And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious rebukes; and they shall know that I ''am'' the LORD, when I shall lay My vengeance upon them.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/108/26/25.html|title=The Book of the Prophet Ezekiel, 25|work=The Holy Bible: King James Version|via=Bartleby|access-date=2007-09-13|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100131052531/http://www.bartleby.com/108/26/25.html|archive-date=January 31, 2010|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

Tarantino's primary inspiration for the speech was the work of Japanese [[martial arts film|martial arts]] star [[Sonny Chiba]]. Its text and its identification as Ezekiel 25:17 derive from an almost identical creed that appears at the beginning of the Chiba movie ''[[Karate Kiba]]'' (''The Bodyguard''; 1976), where it is both shown as a scrolling text and read by an offscreen narrator.{{sfn|Thomas|2003|loc=pp. 61–62: Thomas notes that instead of "the Lord", this version reads "...&nbsp;and they shall know that I am Chiba the Bodyguard&nbsp;..."}}{{sfn|Conard|2006|loc=p. 134: Conard claims that the text originates from the film ''Bodigaado Kiba'' (''Bodyguard Kiba'' or ''The Bodyguard''; 1973) and that the end phrase there is "And you will know my name is Chiba the Bodyguard&nbsp;..."}}

The version seen at the beginning of ''The Bodyguard'' (1976) is as follows:

<blockquote>The path of the righteous man and defender is beset on all sides by the inequity 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 father of lost children. And I will execute great vengeance upon them with furious anger, who poison and destroy my brothers; and they shall know that I am Chiba the Bodyguard when I shall lay my vengeance upon them!</blockquote>

In the 1980s television series ''Kage no Gundan'' (''[[Shadow Warriors (TV series)|Shadow Warriors]]''), Chiba's character would lecture the villain-of-the-week about how the world must be rid of evil before killing him.<ref>Enhanced Trivia Track, ch. 4, ''Pulp Fiction'' DVD (Buena Vista Home Entertainment).</ref> A killer delivers a similar biblical rant in ''[[Modesty Blaise (novel)|Modesty Blaise]]'', the hardback but pulp-style novel Vincent is shown with in two scenes.<ref name="T25">Enhanced Trivia Track, ch. 25, ''Pulp Fiction'' DVD (Buena Vista Home Entertainment).</ref>

Two critics who have analyzed the role of the speech find different ties between Jules's transformation and the issue of [[postmodernity]]. Gormley argues that unlike the film's other major characters&nbsp;– Marsellus aside&nbsp;– Jules is:

<blockquote>
linked to a "thing" beyond postmodern simulation&nbsp;... [T]his is perhaps most marked when he moves on from being a simulation of a Baptist preacher, spouting Ezekiel because it was "just a cool thing to say&nbsp;..." In his conversion, Jules is shown to be cognizant of a place beyond this simulation, which, in this case, the film constructs as God.{{sfn|Gormley|2005|p=167}}
</blockquote>

[[Adele Reinhartz]] writes that the "depth of Jules's transformation" is indicated by the difference in his two deliveries of the passage: "In the first, he is a majestic and awe-inspiring figure, proclaiming the prophecy with fury and self-righteousness&nbsp;... In the second&nbsp;... he appears to be a different sort of man altogether&nbsp;... [I]n true postmodern fashion, [he] reflects on the meaning of his speech and provides several different ways that it might pertain to his current situation."{{sfn|Reinhartz|2003|pp=106, 107}} Similar to Gormley, Conard argues that as Jules reflects on the passage, it dawns on him "that it refers to an objective framework of value and meaning that is absent from his life"; to Conard, this contrasts with the film's prevalent representation of a nihilistic culture.{{sfn|Conard|2006|p=130}} Rosenbaum finds much less in Jules's revelation: "[T]he spiritual awakening at the end of ''Pulp Fiction'', which Jackson performs beautifully, is a piece of jive avowedly inspired by kung-fu movies. It may make you feel good, but it certainly doesn't leave you any wiser."<ref name=Profusion>{{cite news |last=Rosenbaum |first=Jonathan |title=Allusion Profusion (''Ed Wood, Pulp Fiction'') |url=https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2022/06/allusion-profusion/ |work=[[Chicago Reader]] |date=October 21, 1994 |access-date=May 20, 2023 |archive-date=May 21, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230521051042/https://jonathanrosenbaum.net/2022/06/allusion-profusion/ |url-status=dead }} Note that the avowed inspiration is actually a TV show, ''Kung Fu''.</ref>

==== The bathroom ====
Much of ''Pulp Fiction''{{'}}s action revolves around characters who are either in the bathroom or need to use the toilet. To a lesser extent, Tarantino's other films also feature this narrative element.<ref>{{cite web |last1=White |first1=Mike |last2=Thompson |first2=Mike |name-list-style=amp |work=Cashiers du Cinemart |title=Tarantino in a Can? |url=http://www.impossiblefunky.com/archives/issue_2/2_toilet.asp?IshNum=2&Headline=Tarantino%20In%20The%20Can |date=Spring 1995 |access-date=2006-12-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120211214336/http://www.impossiblefunky.com/archives/issue_2/2_toilet.asp?IshNum=2&Headline=Tarantino%20In%20The%20Can |archive-date=2012-02-11}}</ref> At Jack Rabbit Slim's, Mia goes to "powder her nose"&nbsp;– literally; she [[Cocaine#Insufflation|snorts coke]] in the restroom, surrounded by a bevy of women vainly primping. Butch and Fabienne play an extended scene in their motel bathroom, he in the shower, she brushing her teeth; the next morning, but just a few seconds later in screen time, she is again brushing her teeth&nbsp;– vigorously, after having given Butch "oral pleasure." As Jules and Vincent confront Brett and two of his pals, a fourth man is hiding in the bathroom&nbsp;– his actions will lead to Jules' transformative "moment of clarity". After Marvin's absurd death, Vincent and Jules wash up in Jimmie's bathroom, where they get into a contretemps over a bloody hand towel.<ref name="Den" /> When the diner holdup turns into a standoff, "Honey Bunny" whines, "I gotta go pee!"{{sfn|Fraiman|2003|p=15}}

As described by Peter and Will Brooker, "In three significant moments Vincent retires to the bathroom [and] returns to an utterly changed world where death is threatened."{{sfn|Brooker|Brooker|1996|p=239}} The threat increases in magnitude as the narrative progresses chronologically, and is realized in the third instance:

# Vincent and Jules's diner breakfast and philosophical conversation is aborted by Vincent's bathroom break; an armed robbery ensues while Vincent is reading on the toilet.
# While Vincent is in the bathroom worrying about the possibility of going too far with Marsellus's wife, Mia mistakes his heroin for cocaine, snorts it, and overdoses.
# During a stakeout at Butch's apartment, Vincent emerges from the toilet with his book and is killed by Butch.

In the Brookers' analysis, "Through Vince&nbsp;... we see the contemporary world as utterly contingent, transformed, disastrously, in the instant you are not looking."{{sfn|Brooker|Brooker|1996|p=239}} Fraiman finds it particularly significant that Vincent is reading ''Modesty Blaise'' in two of these instances. She links this fact with the traditional derisive view of women as "the archetypal consumers of pulp":

<blockquote>
Locating popular fiction in the bathroom, Tarantino reinforces its association with shit, already suggested by the dictionary meanings of "pulp" that preface the movie: moist, shapeless matter; also, lurid stories on cheap paper. What we have then is a series of damaging associations&nbsp;– pulp, women, shit&nbsp;– that taint not only male producers of mass-market fiction but also male consumers. Perched on the toilet with his book, Vincent is feminized by sitting instead of standing as well as by his trashy tastes; preoccupied by the anal, he is implicitly infantilized and homosexualized; and the seemingly inevitable result is being pulverized by Butch with a Czech M61 submachine gun. That this fate has to do with Vincent's reading habits is strongly suggested by a slow tilt from the book on the floor directly up to the corpse spilled into the tub.{{sfn|Fraiman|2003|loc=p. 14: Fraiman's identification of the submachine gun as a [[Škorpion|Czech M61]] matches the description in the screenplay: Tarantino (1994), p. 96. Visual evidence suggests that a different gun was actually used in the film, possibly a [[MAC-10]] or similar model}}
</blockquote>

Willis reads ''Pulp Fiction'' in almost precisely the opposite direction, finding "its overarching project as a drive to turn shit into gold. This is one way of describing the project of redeeming and recycling popular culture, especially the popular culture of one's childhood, as is Tarantino's wont as well as his stated aim."{{sfn|Willis|1997|p=195}} Despite that, argues Fraiman, "''Pulp Fiction'' demonstrates&nbsp;... that even an open pulpophile like Tarantino may continue to feel anxious and emasculated by his preferences."{{sfn|Fraiman|2003|p=15}}