A Quick Hit: Pulp Fiction 30th Anniversary
Pulp Fiction (1994). Image by Elements of Madness
Quentin Tarantino’s stylistic gangster movie is a timeless classic.
I have met only won person in my life whose opinion of Pulp Fiction was that it was “mid”. By the use of that slang, you might be able to guess that this person is a Gen Zer. He is a coworker, new to the office, and he’s a self-proclaimed cinephile. Yet, he thought Pulp Fiction was okay.
“I don’t get the hype,” he said.
“I know I’m supposed to like it, but it wasn’t about anything,” he said.
I can’t relate. Besides the fact that I love Pulp Fiction because it is an outstanding production, I have a special fondness attached to this flick because my dad took me to see it. Great parenting! I had never heard him laugh so hard during a movie. It was magical to see him like that, so I have a special connection to Pulp Fiction in addition to it being great.
I knew from the beginning of the movie—as small-time crook Pumpkin (Tim Roth) convinced his ride-or-die girlfriend Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) to rob the restaurant they were in and all of the customers inside of it—that I was going to love this movie. The dialogue snapped and the scene ended with one of the great needle drops in movie history. By the time the title crawls up the screen from the bottom, I knew I was in the hands of a master, and I was about to witness something remarkable. I was twelve years old and with my dad. That’s good parenting.
Pulp Fiction, like Star Wars, The Godfather, Casablanca, and a handful of other movies, is part of the cultural fabric of our society. These films have impacted pop culture and have become ubiquitous through our referencing back to classic lines of dialogue.
“Does he look like a bitch?”
“Royale with cheese.”
“Uncomfortable silences.”
“I don’t be tickling or nothing.”
“Zed’s dead, baby. Zed’s dead.”
“English, motherfucker, do you speak it?”
Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) giving his “Ezekiel 25:17” speech before he blasts some hapless thug. Captain Koons (Christopher Walken) telling a young Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) with a straight face the things he and his father had to do to protect a family heirloom. Marsellus Wallace explaining to an adult Butch Coolidge about the fight he’s going to throw. Every scene cooks, and the chef behind the recipe, Mr. Tarantino, didn’t just whip up some hit movie that will get washed over with time and countless other releases. He created a genre-defining all-time cinematic classic. It is the definitive postmodern film experience. It is influential and referential. It is set in a reality that is a bit off kilter; a surreal version of 90s Los Angeles. It was the first indie smash hit—made for $8 million dollars and earning over $100 million at the box office. It is one of the best movies ever made, and it is now 30 years old. Pulp Fiction is timeless.
