Pulp Fiction, arguably Quentin Tarantino's most popular film, is a complex pastiche of popular culture. Its unique blend of dark humor, violence, and disjointed, nonlinear storytelling, as well as its willingness to lump genres together with no apparent rhyme or reason, combine to create a story about the normal lives of a group of morally bankrupt individuals. Pulp Fiction would be a tragedy, but it never seems to be that tragic. It would be a comedy, but there's never a punchline. To begin reading the film, we must first look at the characters themselves and the roles they play in the larger story. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay First of all, we can look at the two hitmen, Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega. Together, they are unquestionably the protagonists of the film, and the vast majority of the film is dedicated to their adventures as a couple. Their escapades, of course, are completely immoral, involving the murder of a handful of college-age kids, abusing heroin, and generally being horrible people. In the midst of their violent rampage in Los Angeles, however, Jules and Vincent take time to discuss religion, culture, and the ethics of massaging a married woman's feet. They seem to have a genuine camaraderie, although Jules appears to be the more competent of the duo, leaving Vincent as the foil: a bumbling idiot who is very well camouflaged by his partner's strengths. recognize is that Tarantino seems to write so that there is no police involvement throughout the film. In fact, being in a large metropolitan area, no one seems at all concerned about the police and their influence on the situation. For example, after shooting some young adults in broad daylight, Jules and Vincent drive their car away, holding a man at gunpoint in broad daylight, accidentally shoot this man, and then drive around in a bloody car until a house. In this house they lie in the courtyard, soaked in blood, while someone washes them in front of the whole neighborhood. Nobody bats an eye at this. This is interesting, as it draws the viewer into a separate world, where violence and horror seem to be commonplace and almost comical. If obvious things like waving guns in broad daylight and shooting at people in a moving vehicle don't draw the police's attention to you, it makes you wonder how ridiculous the crimes would have to be before the police get involved. Other than this huge lack of police intervention, normally a necessity in a crime film, there is very little over the course of Pulp Fiction that doesn't appear to be resolved violently. There are, of course, three main stories in Pulp Fiction: the story of Vincent Vega and his untimely death, the story of Jules Winnfield and his retirement, and the story of Butch Coolidge and his inability to fight. Vincent and Jules seem to use violence to solve almost all their problems, while Butch is a boxer who kills his opponent in the ring, and from then on resorts to violence to keep himself alive. Even nonviolent segments between characters threaten or allude to violence in some way: Vincent's panic as Mia nearly dies from a heroin overdose leads Vincent to stab her with an adrenaline needle in one of the film's most disturbing scenes. Sure, there isn't much direct violence in this film, but the violence still manages to overshadow the majority of the film, allowing the reader to anticipate far more violence and horror than has ever been shown on screen. For most of the film, Pulp Fiction seems to glorify thisviolence. It starts with a few jokes from Jules and Vincent, and then immediately moves on to violence and threats. This, however, is not the majority of the film. We see these protagonists talk to each other about nothing over long periods of time, which allows us to identify with them and bond with them to a certain extent. This sort of bond that we create with the three protagonists - but especially Jules and Vincent - forces us to accept and almost enjoy the random and seemingly senseless acts of violence that occur throughout the film. To prove this, you need to point exclusively to the phrase "I just shot Marvin in the face!" scene. Vincent immediately jokes about the horrible thing he just did, and to the viewer, it all comes across as one big joke. Jules knows how to solve the problem of the dead man in the car, and Vincent is too addicted to heroin to be anything more than apathetic about it. This, obviously, only favors the duo's dynamic, and the audience at this point nods and smiles, already desensitized to the violence. Tarantino seems to up the ante time and time again with the film's horrific acts, ranging from robbing a diner, to multiple somewhat downplayed murders, to viscerally stabbing someone in the chest, and so on to rape and everything in between. . brutal scene with Marvin. The audience seems to become more and more desensitized to the violence as the film goes on, until it seems to be just a fact of life for the characters involved. At a certain point, it starts to feel like the film is satirizing itself, or, to put it better, it's satirizing the uproar over violence in cinema and media. In this reading, Pulp Fiction is a film that celebrates violence, in a certain sense. As a viewer, one is thrust into a situation where one is rooting for these characters, even if they do horrible things, and the plot moves forward even though we know it is doomed to fail. The cyclical nature of the plot - starting and ending at the same point, roughly halfway through the film's chronology, accentuates this greatly, allowing the film to feel as if it were a confusing circle, tightened at both ends by the threat of violence . .However, this is not the only meaning found within Pulp Fiction. To reveal a different meaning and overturn the stability of the interpretation that Pulp Fiction is simply a satire of violent films in general, just look and deeply analyze the character of Jules Winnfield. Jules is a hypercompetent, hot-blooded, intelligent and intimidating hitman. His frightening efficiency allows him to cover for his seemingly incompetent partner, but he appears to be the more morally problematic of the two. After their near-death experience, Jules proclaims it a divine miracle, while Vincent simply attributes it to luck. Jules seems to be troubled by his conscience for most of the film, deciding to retire after how badly the original work with Vincent went. This morality present in the film seems to contradict the violence that is omnipresent throughout the film, as Jules is one of the main instigators of the horrific acts that happen throughout the film and also allows himself to play the role of the intimidator in the hitman duo. In addition to this, Quentin Tarantino allows two important acts of altruism to occur throughout the film. First, the fugitive Butch Coolidge, who could just escape, goes to rescue Marsellus Wallace, the man who is planning to kill him. This act of kindness is reciprocated when Marsellus allows him to go free, ignoring the thousands of dollars Butch has cost him. This act of generosity is obviously well compensated, but it wasn't necessary to the film, especially when read as a..