Film Pulp Fiction

[ForEverAfter]

Yeah, without the intention of the author - or subconsciously. A lot of artists don't realize exactly what they're doing when they create art. A deeper part of them is working without their knowledge. I'm not sure why you find it so difficult to believe the pregnancy pot belly thing. Given the complexity of Tarantino's dialogue, it makes more sense that there is something going on there, rather than nothing. If the subtext isn't consciously intentional, it's almost definitely subconsciously intentional.

 

[panic in paradise]

If the subtext isn't consciously intentional, it's almost definitely subconsciously intentional.

lol

... i like that.

 

[AmorRoark]

You know I always wondered that myself. Perhaps it was an all night party that lasted well into the morning? lol

First time I saw the movie I thought it was a wedding or something like that, but then this post made me think. Who gets married or throws an extravagant party that early in the morning?

Maybe The Wolf just goes around all day wearing a tux?

Haha yeah. I pondered the whole wedding idea. Like, maybe the wedding started at noon or something and he was just prepared but then I thought why the hell would he go to breakfast with Raquel afterwards if he had an important event like a wedding to go to? Also, everyone in the background of the shot is wearing fancy ass clothes too... not wedding clothes, evening wear. It looks like a cocktail party. I think you're right that an all night party as as good of a guess as any. I think Tarintino just wanted him to wear a tux and due to continuity of time issues it had to be in the morning.

 

[alasdairm]

if you look at the action in the background, it appears to be gambling. during the call, you can hear a male voice say something that sounds a lot like "place your bets". i think he's been at an all-night casino night.

alasdair

 

[freddy47]

Haha yeah. I pondered the whole wedding idea. Like, maybe the wedding started at noon or something and he was just prepared but then I thought why the hell would he go to breakfast with Raquel afterwards if he had an important event like a wedding to go to?

Hmmm maybe he doesn't like weddings and decided to ditch and have breakfast with his lady? Who knows lol

Also, everyone in the background of the shot is wearing fancy ass clothes too... not wedding clothes, evening wear. It looks like a cocktail party. I think you're right that an all night party as as good of a guess as any. I think Tarintino just wanted him to wear a tux and due to continuity of time issues it had to be in the morning.

lol yeah I guess that could be it. Maybe Quentin was like "hmmm I want the Wolf to be in a tux but why would he be in a tux? Got it random cocktail party in the morning"

if you look at the action in the background, it appears to be gambling. during the call, you can hear a male voice say something that sounds a lot like "place your bets". i think he's been at an all-night casino night.

If I wasn't away from my DVD collection right now I would totally pop it in and check that scene, gonna have to make a mental note of it.

Although that does make sense as it fits with the whole pro gangster thing. But then I usually think of "underground" casinos as seedy and rough not classy and elegant where the patrons wear classy evening clothes. Like those scenes in Goodfellas.

 

[alasdairm]

mr. wolf has class. his underground casino would be classy.

alasdair

 

[Max Power]

It's cool, and i really do appreciate your analysis, although i do think you're overdoing it somewhat.

Agreed. Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

 

[freddy47]

mr. wolf has class. his underground casino would be classy.

alasdair

Are you saying the Mafia aren't classy?

 

[ForEverAfter]

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

I may well have been going overboard with the pot belly pig analysis. But the filthy animal pig dog dialogue is not just a cigar. The preacher aspect of Jackson's character and the religious connotations of not eating pork are beyond co-incidence. There is certainly more going on in that conversation than meets the ear. Given the open-to-interpretation aspect of cinema, a cigar can be whatever you want it to be. I guess I think it's a little boring to not have an interpretation. I really like it when people have bizarre explanations for films. I used to know this chick who was convinced that had a really complex and unusual explanation for the film 'Alien'. I don't agree with it, exactly, but I found it fascinating to hear how her mind worked. There's a lot of weird shit in that film, if you think about it. The inside of the ships have an organic feel to them. The eggs. Aliens hatching out of people's rib cages. Those spider things that fuck people in the face. It's got a lot of sexual and reproductive subtext if you chose to see it that way. Of course, you could chose to see it as just an alien film; and you can chose to see a cigar as just being a cigar: but - as I said - that's a little boring. I'd prefer to have a conversation with someone who has a creative and unique explanation, as long as it is well articulated and relies on some sort of logical process - no matter how bizarre. Cigars are symbols of power. At the very least, they reveal something about characters. So do bicycles. And cowboy hats. Whether or not a cigar is just a cigar and a bicycle is just a bicycle is subjective. There is no correct answer.

 

[AmorRoark]

Ding ding ding! We have a winner. From the script:

INT. HOTEL SUITE – MORNING

The CAMERA looks through the bedroom doorway of a hotel suite
into the main area. We SEE a crap game being played on a
fancy crap table by GAMBLERS in tuxedos and LUCKY LADIES in
fancy evening gowns. The CAMERA PANS to the right revealing:
Sitting on a bed, phone in hand with his back to us, the
tuxedo-clad WINSTON WOLF aka "THE WOLF". We also see The
Wolf has a small notepad that he jots details in.

Good job ali.

For some reason it just never looked like a hotel to me. I always presumed it was a home.

 

[L2R]

I never read the bacon refusal as anything more than a somewhat religious character exercising one aspect found in religion. It's like an elderly character having a bad hip or a musician character who smokes and drinks a lot. No subtext, just character design and cliche (although qt's choice and use of cliche is clever and a good way to transition to the charming pig joke).

 

[DexterMeth]

(although qt's choice and use of cliche is clever and a good way to transition to the charming pig joke).

Fuck the police

 

[Hazey420]

A Great Cult Movie, and Quentin did quite well with it, I loved it instantly. I was quite worried with the Gimp scared me

 

[MemphisX3]

anyone know what was in the suitcase that travolta and jackson had to get from the apartment?

NSFW:

i was always told it was marcellus' soul

 

[spacepilot]

Pulp Fiction is one of those films I could watch 500 times and not get sick of.

 

[L2R]

anyone know what was in the suitcase that travolta and jackson had to get from the apartment?

NSFW:

i was always told it was marcellus' soul

they've been saying that for 17 years, along with a bunch of other theories. none were ever confirmed. the silly soul thing was even substantiated with the band-aid on the back of his fat head... really stupid. big guys tend to have scars there.

it's a mcguffin, nothing more or less. a self conscious mcguffin. cuz at the end of the day, it really is inconsequential.

 

[Bardeaux]

whatever it was, it seemed to have a tinge of radioactivity.

 

[ForEverAfter]

I agree with L2R, this time. The soul theory has always irritated me. It's utterly ridiculous. Pulp Fiction isn't about heavenly events. It's about worldly events. It's not The Prophecy or Constantine. There is no Devil character. You might as well suggest that there's an illuminated leprechaun in the briefcase.

QT said he had originally planned it to be full of diamonds, but he thought that was cliche so he changed it to "unknown contents". As L2R said, the contents are inconsequential. Changing it from diamonds to a glowing item of indescribable value was a wise move. The contents are better left unknown. Whatever it is, it is indescribably valuable. That's the point. That's why it glows. Because it is, in the context of the film, like manna from heaven. Not manna, but like it.

whatever it was, it seemed to have a tinge of radioactivity.

They're carrying uranium around in a briefcase?

 

[jpgrdnr]

I kinda think the briefcase is a nod to the car in Repo Man, or the cinematic equivalent of the Ark in Raiders. A glowing box that could eat you.

It could also just be a briefcase full of heroin with novelty Christmas lights thrown in just to be pimp. Dealers are like that.

 

[P A]

It could also just be a briefcase full of heroin with novelty Christmas lights thrown in just to be pimp. Dealers are like that.

I lold.