Pulp Narrative Fiction

How does the film make use of the various narrative devices you have researched?

Tarantino uses a circular narrative structure in Pulp Fiction which provides closure to where the story originated from by going through events one at a time. He will often use intertitles as chapter headings in order to separate the different stories of various characters. They allow the audience a break from the action and signifies that there will be a shift in the focus point, transitioning from either the place, character, time or a combination of many that results in the plot of the film becoming less conflicted than it would have been due to Tarantino’s unique non-chronological narrative.

What is the narrative viewpoint in Pulp Fiction?

The narrative viewpoint utilised throughout Pulp Fiction is a first person restricted view, focusing mainly on the personal experiences of Jules, Vincent and Butch. These three characters are used as they provide important plot information to the audience and experience conflict that often coincides with the events that others go through such as when Butch shoots Vincent seen through the perspective of Butch.

How is the audience positioned by the film? With whom is the audience manipulated to empathise or sympathise?

As an audience we should despise these characters as they are brutal criminals with the exception of Butch, who coincidentally is probably the least likeable out of all the characters. Tarantino uses simple and yet effective dialogue by having the characters discuss trivial matters such as cheeseburgers and even in nomneys of high stress such as when Vincent shoots Marvin in the face, they both have to clean up the mess with a cloth in the blood splattered car (an experience that the audience should hopefully have never gone through and yet humorous as they are supposed to be killers). Empathy is therefore created for characters such as Vincent and Jules as we understand their personalities and experiences so when Butch shoots Vincent despite him being the good guy out of the two, we feel empathetic towards Vincent who had intended to hurt Butch because we have as an audience are aware of what he has been through and who he is as a person.