Pulp Fiction

Pulp Fiction is an Academy Award-winning 1994 film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who co-wrote the screenplay with Roger Avary. The film has a fragmented storyline and is known for its eclectic dialogue, heavy arthouse and independent film influences, ironic and campy style, unorthodox camerawork, and numerous pop culture references. Tarantino and Avary won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay and the film was nominated for seven Oscars in total, including Best Picture; it also took home the Palme d’Or at the Festival de Cannes..

The plot, in keeping with most other Tarantino works, runs in nonlinear order. The unconventional structure of the movie is an example of a so-called postmodernist film. The film’s title refers to the pulp magazines popular during the mid-20th century, known for their strongly graphic nature. Much of the film’s dialogue and many of its scenes are based on other works of “pulp” fiction, that is to say bits of other, less acclaimed, works.

The film had a significant impact on the careers of many of its cast members. It provided a breakthrough role for Samuel L. Jackson, who became an international star in a part Tarantino wrote especially for him. It revived the fortunes of John Travolta, whose career was slumping at the time, and allowed Bruce Willis to move away from the action hero reputation he had gained through films such as Die Hard. It raised the profile of Uma Thurman and led to greater recognition for character actors such as Ving Rhames and Eric Stoltz.