"...this has been, without a doubt, the single weirdest fucking day of my life."

[missroserose]

It occurred to me today that Pulp Fiction, while certainly deserving of many of the accolades heaped upon it, has one aspect that seems mostly overlooked but that is integral to its success.

The complete dedication of the actors.

Which is to say, the complete earnestness with which they inhabit this (from our perspective) ridiculously fucked-up world of theirs. There's no winking, no mugging for the camera. They totally believe in their world, and so you do too, despite how completely outrageous it is. It's only later, when you start to think on it, that you realize exactly how messed-up said world actually is.

It also occurs to me that Samuel L. Jackson pretty much made an entire career out of bringing that same gravitas to similarly ridiculous premises, but I'm not familiar enough with his career arc to say whether Pulp Fiction was the beginning of that trend or just another example of it.

And here endeth the latest episode of Things That Occur To Rose While Sewing.

Comments

[joyfulleigh.livejournal.com]

I hated Pulp Fiction.

Sometimes I feel like the only person in America who felt that way.

I get that it was making fun of gratuitous violence. But in doing so they just made another movie full of gratuitous violence.

Sometimes my pacifism trumps my sense of humor. Okay. Most of the time my pacifism trumps my sense of humor. #justthewayI'mwired

L.

[roseneko.livejournal.com]

I would say I admired it more than I outright enjoyed it. It was astonishingly well-crafted and well-acted. But yeah, I definitely wouldn't recommend it to folks sensitive about...well, the sort of gratuitously salacious topics found in pulp novels. And Tarantino, while I admire his skill, does so love his gratuitous violence, which kind of turns me off too.

That said, I felt it was worth watching just for Samuel L. Jackson's monologue at the end. Because holy crap did he make me believe it, even though (if you read it typed out) it looks like one of those nonsensical screeds you see printed on cheap copy paper and tacked up in phone booths or on bulletin boards.

[errant-variable.livejournal.com]

I think it may be the first instance of Samuel L Jackson as Samuel L M Jackson. His earlier parts through IMDB are either surprisingly Good Guy (Loaded Weapon and Jurassic Park), never heard of/can't find information/blaxploitation/Troma, or Unnamed Token Black Man roles (continues after Pulp Fiction, even...) such as Gang Member, Holdup Man, or Black Guy. So... not his first lead role but apparently the first where he has your attention.