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Pulp Fiction, one of the most highly acclaimed films of 1995, was without a doubt a shocking and controversial movie. Director Quentin Tarantino brought into the mainstream a genre that had never has such mass appeal, and he did it very successfully. This story is a cleverly disorienting journey through a landscape of danger, shock, hilarity, and vibrant local color. Nothing is predictable or familiar within this bizarre world. Introducing a film such as Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, takes much patience and significant artistry with words. While some critics denounced Pulp Fiction for its violence, the film is not about the killings that happen in it. Pulp Fiction is about its characters in potentially comic situations. Tarantino uses these characters and their situations to achieve a stylish masterpiece. The laid back nonchalant attitude is mixed with some vanity and an odd sense of loyalty, all created with a modern flair. The imagery is all part of the gangster mystique, which American movie audience’s love so much. Tarantino starts us off with a dual definition of pulp. One being “a soft, moist, shapeless, mass of matter” and two being “a book containing lurid subject matter, and being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper.” This introduced the audience to the presentation of the film. Its segmented structure s Tarantino’s was of playing with the audience’s perceptions. The entertainment throughout Pulp Fiction is scintillating; it captures the audience and forces them to piece the segments together in order to form one complete story. Hence the title containing the word “pulp” and the product being “rough” and somewhat “unfinished” to the viewer. In this sense I believe that Tarantino is allowing the viewer to make their own interpretations of the segments. Trying to determine if this film affected viewers on a formal or sensual level would only take away some of the film’s mystique. This film manages to affect viewers on both levels, depending on their depiction of the events.
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