pulp fiction explained in chronological order

   PULP FICTION explained 

Hi guys it's Pranav and today I would like to give a full and easy explanation of "Pulp Fiction" directed by Quentin Tarantino. There will be spoilers ahead so I would highly recommend not reading this if you haven't seen the film. 

"Pulp Fiction" may appear as a jumble of different and not connected storylines but in reality, it follows one (relatively simple) story. It is just presented with different separated sections that are organized in a non-chronological manner. 

Also, remember that the film easily carries us away and distracts us with lengthy monologues and dialogues which aren't always necessary for the development of the plot. So first thing let's take a look at the plot in chronological order and "ignore" the lengthy monologues and dialogues, in this way we have a more clear picture of what is actually going on. 

The story's action all originates from Marsellus Wallace, a gangster whose orders cause the whole plot to begin. First of all, he orders one of his associates, Vincent Vega to spend a night with his wife Mia Wallace. 

He orders Vincent to make his wife have fun, to do anything she wants or pleases, to spoil her. As a matter of fact, Mia Wallace appears to be a very spoilt woman, a woman bored of her wealthy monotonous lifestyle, which enjoys taking drugs to forget about it, to the point of overdosing on them. She criticizes the monotony of everyday situations, for example having to make small talk and teases Vincent even in a rather intimate way. 

This date was probably set up by Marsellus Wallace to test Vincent's loyalty. Sometime later Vincent and his partner Jules carry out another order on behalf of Marsellus Wallace: they retrieve a briefcase belonging to their boss. The situation then degenerates into a series of shootings and fights which actually include Vincent shooting a person in Jules's car, covering it in blood and bodily parts. 

Fearing of being discovered Vincent and Jules seek help and hire Mr. Wolf, a man specialized in solving problems of this nature. After Vincent and Jules have repaired to the damage, they change into old loungewear and relax at a local cafe. At this cafe a deranged couple decides to keep everybody hostage and steal their wallets and the cashier's money, believing that a cafe would not have been as prepared as a bank against a robbery. 

Their plan partly fails when Jules talks the couple into leaving the cafe, proving that he is not afraid of a gun pointed at his face and that he is much more dangerous than the couple. 

While all of this first story is happening, another job ordered by Marsellus Wallace goes terribly wrong. As a matter of fact, he had ordered boxer Butch to lose in his next match and let his opponent win, but Butch goes rogue, defeats his opponent, and escapes with the money Marsellus had paid him, planning to leave town with his girlfriend. 

Time after the cafe incident, Marsellus sends Vincent to Butch's house to punish him. Butch unfortunately decides to return home that same day because his girlfriend had forgotten to pack one of his most treasured possessions, a watch left by his father. When he reaches home and finds Vincent in his house searching for him he shoots him and kills him. He then starts driving back home but meets Marsellus Wallace at a stoplight. 

He angrily runs him over and the two men start fighting and they fight their way into a local nearby shop. The shop owner restrains the two men into a sort of BDSM dungeon in the basement of the shop and starts to rape Marsellus Wallace along with one of his friends. Luckily Butch manages to free himself and he also saves Marsellus. 

Because of this, they consider themselves even and Marsellus grants Butch freedom if he will leave town and never say anything about what happened. So Butch escapes with his girlfriend, and this is the actual ending of the film. It is not the scene in the cafe, the ending is Butch escaping on the chopper with his girlfriend. 

After all "Pulp Fiction" is quite a simple film, the plot is not that complicated. It is just presented in a rather jumbled fashion with flashbacks, flash-forwards, childhood memories, these very long dialogues. 

And the film is also considered a cult film packed with easter eggs and symbols. For example, Mia Wallace is portrayed by Uma Thurman and in one scene her character heavily hints at "Kill Bill", another Quentin Tarantino film which also starred Uma Thurman. But now, once the plot is clear let's take a look at some of the unexplained elements. 

First of all, the briefcase. Throughout all of the film, various characters take a look into this mysterious briefcase and the contents of it are never revealed to us. Unfortunately, there is no meaning to this briefcase, Quentin Tarantino has stated that it was purely a plot device. So unfortunately none of the interesting theories about this briefcase make any sense. 

The only thing that we can assume because of the nature of the characters and because of the golden glow the briefcase emits, that it contains some sort of precious, probably rare material or object. Another interesting fact is the Bible verse. Throughout the film, we repeatedly hear lines belonging to the Bible. 

In particular Ezekiel 25:17. These lines are recited by Jules and speak about God punishing wrongdoers. These lines are often confused in the midst of all these numerous lengthy dialogues and monologues that make up the film, but in reality, these lines have a deeper meaning, because they could mean that Jules feels as if he is an almighty god which punishes other people, he often feels the right to overpower other people, just take a look at the cafe scene. 

So altogether the main themes in "Pulp Fiction" revolve around the concept of being evil, all the characters in one way or the other are wrongdoers. For example, Marsellus Wallace and his wife are just greedy, selfish people which buy their way through life and punish whoever steps into their way, and everybody just has to serve them and clean up after the damage they cause. 

Vincent and Jules are just violent villains whose huge egos reside in their weapons, belief, and present themselves as if they are entitled to rule the world but which in reality are frightened of the consequences that could happen because of their actions. 

Butch is an equally violent and dangerous character and all the secondary characters are either arrogant or selfish, for example, take a look at Mr. Wolf. The only character who still has a speck of humanity is probably Butch's girlfriend, but after all, she still follows Butch, is in love with him, and helps him in his criminal intents. 

Let me know what you think about "Pulp Fiction" with a comment here below... bye!