Pulp Fiction
Pulp Fiction, one of the most highly acclaimed films of 1995, was without a doubt a shocking and controversial movie. Drugs, sex, and violence filled our eyes and ears. Director Quentin Tarantino brought into the mainstream a genre that had never had such mass appeal, and he did it very successfully. After viewing Pulp Fiction, the issues of violence and punishment arise, and we have to question what role they play in the film. "The Body of the Condemned," by Michael Foucault, has some extremely graphic stories in it. The one that stands out most clearly is the scene of the spectacle of eighteenth century punishment. In writing about how Damiens "The Regicide" was brutally tortured, "The flesh will be torn from his breast, arms, thighs, and calves with red-hot pincers, his right hand, holding the knife with which he committed the said parricide, burnt with sulfur( Foucault)." Relating this example to Pulp Fiction, we see there is a definite connection. Violence and punishment can be traced to Quentin Tarantino's earlier films, most noticeably True Romance and Reservoir Dogs. A brutal torture scene, sort of like the Damiens "The Regicide" of the 90's, took place in Reservoir Dogs. A gangster cut the ea
The next part of the film is perhaps the most appalling and grotesque of them all. In this scene Butch, played by Bruce Willis, and Marcellus Wallace do battle. Butch, after winning a boxing match, he was paid of to lose by Wallace, is on the run in his car. As Butch pulls up to an intersection, he sees Marcellus crossing in front of him. Butch slams on the gas, and runs into Wallace. Butch then crashes his car, and Wallace tries to shoot him from a distance. The ironic part is that as Wallace is firing at Butch with his massive silver firearm, he nails an innocent civilian in the leg. Yet as her blood splatters and she screams in terror, people in the audience bust out laughing! Has our society become so desensitized to such graphic scenes, that violence is now seen as humor? What ever happened to Calvin and Hobbes? As the movie moves along somehow, the two's fight moves into a store, in which the two men are knocked out, bound, and gagged by a couple of hillbillies. Zed, the leader of the two, picks Marcellus as the one he will commit the "dirty deed" with. Butch manages to escape and knock out the leather-bound freak that was watching him. Butch could leave and not come back, but instead he decides he will come to Marcellus' rescue. Before he goes back downstairs to help, Bruce Willis' character has to decide what weapon to use. He picks up a shotgun, a bat, and a chainsaw, but surprisingly it is the large curved samurai sword he chooses. Butch, already covered in blood, goes to rescue Wallace. He enters the room, and the audience witnesses one of the most shocking scenes ever viewed by the mass public. Butch then proceeds to kill Zed's partner with the sword, and Marcellus ends up shooting Zed in the genitals with a shotgun. Marcellus spares Butch because he
Some common words found in the essay are:
Pulp Fiction, Bruce Willis', Calvin Hobbes, Wallace Butch, Marcellus Wallace, African American, Reservoir Dogs, Quentin Tarantino, Mia Wallace, Damiens Regicide, pulp fiction, violence punishment, violence seen, marcellus wallace, seen violence, shocking scenes, extremely graphic, reservoir dogs, damiens regicide, play film,
Approximate Word count = 1204
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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