YMMV / Pulp Fiction

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Pretty much all over the goddamn place. Part of the point of the film's postmodernism is that a substantial amount of the film is up to interpretation, and in a number of cases, being up to interpretation is part of the point and is encouraged by Tarantino and the other filmmakers. As just a few examples:
  • To what extent Jules' "divine intervention" dilemma is just him trying to justify him already wanting to get out of the business. It already seems like he was considering retirement, and early in the film he expresses significant discomfort at Marsellus having another man thrown off his own balcony for daring to give Mia... a foot massage (which, as we can also later guess, Mia may well have pressured the poor guy into, though Mia herself denies getting a foot massage). He clearly thinks Marsellus is, or is becoming, unhinged, but by this interpretation he's looking for some kind of outside justification to back it up and latches onto a mere stroke of luck to justify it.
  • Jules could be fairly religious and an avid reader of the Bible... or he could just as well be a fan of martial arts movies and media ("like Caine in Kung Fu") and just happened to watch Sonny Chiba in Karate Kiba in some grindhouse theater one day and thought it was cool.
  • Some fans hypothesize that Vincent and Mia actually lost the dance contest, but stole the trophy anyway. There's a legend that a news report heard in the background while Butch is sneaking toward his apartment announces the trophy's theft, though whether you can make anything out of the brief moment of garbled background noise is up to you.
  • Is Butch's decision to go back and rescue Marsellus made out of honor, or is he thinking he can use it to his own benefit? It does ultimately help him by allowing him to strike a deal with Marsellus to end the hit on him. Leaving Marsellus to die (or worse) might have caused more problems for him.
  • One theory about Butch's girlfriend Fabienne is that she's pregnant. Evidence? She tells Butch about imagining herself with a "pot" (pot belly), where everything about you is the same except for a big belly. Then they have non-penetrative sex via "oral pleasure" for her. Then there's her insatiable appetite for a large breakfast for someone so petite, with a specific craving for blueberry pancakes, and she mentions to Butch that she has something to tell him. Also, her being pregnant would explain why Butch doesn't lay a hand on her when he loses his temper despite being furious enough to smash up the hotel room.
• Aluminum Christmas Trees: Zed's version of "Eeney, meeny, miney, moe" did not just include a slur to make him look more evil, that was an early variation of the rhyme.
• Award Snub:
  • Come Oscar time, Pulp Fiction was nominated for seven awards but only won for Best Screenplay (Original). It lost Best Picture to Forrest Gump in a field which also included The Shawshank Redemption, and there's been debate over which movie deserved the Oscar ever since. (In case it isn't clear, 1994 was a stacked year for important films.)
  • Unrelated to Forrest Gump, many say that Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman would've made very deserving winners in the supporting categories, yet they lost to Martin Landau (for Ed Wood) and Dianne Wiest (for Bullets over Broadway), respectively. This is certainly up for debate, though, especially in Jackson's case, as Landau — aside from being a film/TV veteran — was seen as giving a tour-de-force performance as Bela Lugosi.
  • Subverted with the Cannes Film Festival, however, where it was awarded the Palme d'Or by a jury headed by Clint Eastwood, no less, to the shock of many film critics. This led to a hilariously awesome trailer starting with a deep, portentous announcer talking about how it's the winner of the Palme d'Or, before a few bullets interrupt him and the real trailer starts.
• Awesome Music: If you didn't know "Misirlou" before, this movie will ensure that you do via Dick Dale's cover. Pulp Fiction made the song's iconic opening guitar riff as famous as those of "Smoke on the Water" and "Sunshine of Your Love".
• Badass Decay: Not within the film itself, but as of late Harvey Keitel has playing his Winston Wolfe character in numerous Direct Line insurance adverts which get tamer and tamer every year.
• Base-Breaking Character: Jimmie. Some say Quentin Tarantino's Creator Cameo is entertaining, while others say it's ruined by his directing skills not translating into acting that well, and then there's fans who think his appearance is fun even if they agree that the director's performance is not the best.
• Broken Base: Jimmie's usage of the N-word during "The Bonnie Situation" is a very contentious issue amongst viewers. One half believes that it's wholly unnecessary, and its use being justified by the character having worked for a black boss and worker and being married to a black woman simply being a poor excuse for having a white director say the word multiple times for no reason, while the other half sees no issues with it whatsoever, citing that Jimmie was only saying it because he was monumentally ticked off. The debate even goes up into Hollywood itself, with contemporaries such as Spike Lee criticizing Tarantino's usage of the N-Word, while others like Samuel L. Jackson defending him.
• Complete Monster: Zed and Maynard are an inconspicuous-seeming pair of brutal redneck serial rapists. When Maynard captures prizefighter Butch Coolidge and mobster Marsellus Wallace, Zed plays a game to determine which of the two captives will be the first victim, selecting Marsellus and dragging him off to the den where the two take turns violating their victims, leaving their implied former victim "the Gimp" to watch over the restrained Butch.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • "Man, I just shot Marvin in the face."
  • "Five long years he wore this watch. Up his ass! Then... he died of dysentery."
• Designated Love Interest: Mia, of a sort. We are told several times she is married to Marsellus, and it's even an important plot point that she is, but they barely interact with each other and only appear on-screen together once, and very briefly at that.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Winston Wolfe is a pretty minor character, but he's a fan favorite for being a professional gentleman who is very good at what he does. He remains popular and memorable enough for Harvey Keitel to reprise the role years later in a series of adverts for a UK insurance company.
  • Captain Koons, due to his initially touching-turned-hilarious story of Butch's father's watch. He has only one scene, but it's considered one of the finest of both Christopher Walken and Quentin Tarantino's careers.
  • Marvin. He does very little before his head is accidentally blown off, but his hysterically gruesome death means everyone remembers him.
• Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: How much actual divinity is involved in the film's events is a frequent matter of debate. Jules himself believes he was the subject of a Divine Intervention. A lot of people also like to argue about Marsellus Wallace, some saying that he is the Antichrist because he has a band-aid on the back of his head which is supposedly covering up a 666, which is also the number needed to open up his briefcase. And then there's the question of what, exactly, is in that briefcase. One such suggestion? Marsellus Wallace's soul.
• Fan-Preferred Couple: As mentioned above in Designated Love Interest, it's not too surprising that most viewers not only forget Mia is actually married to Marsellus, but also pair her with Vincent instead due to their searing chemistry and loads of screen time spent together, especially considering she's only onscreen with her husband Marsellus once and doesn't even talk to him in that scene. You'd also be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn't think that her and Vincent's night together was a date.
• Fanon:
  • The mysterious briefcase contains either:
    • A) Marsellus' soul.
    • B) The stolen diamonds from Reservoir Dogs.
    • C) As Word of God states, whatever the onlooker wants to see, as it's nothing more than a plot device.
  • Kill Bill was one of the movies that Mia Wallace made during her time as an actress, thus making it a Show Within a Show.
  • The movie takes place on the same day as the events of Reservoir Dogs; explaining why there are so few cops to be seen.
• Faux Symbolism: Lampshaded. In fact, according to Cracked's website, Jules' life is based on the life of St. Moses the Black.
• Genius Bonus:
  • At Jackrabbit Slim's, the dwarf host dressed as a bellboy shouts "Call for Philip Morris!" as he walks away from Vince and Mia's table. This is a reference to old Philip Morris cigarette commercials, which started with a dwarf bellhop making the same announcement.
  • If you know that the Wolf's car is a two-seater, you'll know that he didn't refuse to drop Vincent and Jules off because they live too far away. He never meant his offer in the first place.
  • When Lance sells Vincent his heroin, he says "I'm out of balloons. Bag okay?" which Vincent agrees to. When we first see Mia, she snorts cocaine, and later ODs after snorting Vincent's heroin. For those that don't remember 90s drug culture: you store heroin in balloons and cocaine in bags; likewise, you shoot heroin and snort cocaine. Mia ODs because Vincent's heroin was mislabeled and she thought it was cocaine.
  • Anyone who knows the geography of the greater Los Angeles area will enjoy some minor details included in the movie. Jules comes from Inglewood, which has a historically large black population. Vince is from Redondo Beach, a whiter and wealthier area, which makes sense considering his nice car and European trips. He also says that he doesn't know the area of Toluca Lake very well, which makes sense because it's farther away from his hometown than Jules'.
    • Also, Toluca Lake is in the Valley, so Jules and Vincent have had to travel across the mountains north of Hollywood to get to their original target location to kill Brett and his friends. Crossing the mountains, even for a total distance of maybe eight miles traveled, might as well be the same as going to Mars for some residents of the Los Angeles metro area. It is quite common to live eight miles away from Hollywood and go months without traveling there because of traffic concerns along certain portions of the freeway. That's how out of place the two hitmen are when Marvin's head explodes inside Jules' car.
    • This is also where Jules' comment about Marsellus not having any friends in 818 is relevant, as 818 is the area code for the San Fernando Valley and clearly not their home turf.
  • The Jackrabbit Slim's scene has some unexplained references to '50s figures. The waiter asks if Mia wants her milkshake "Amos and Andy or Martin and Lewis," which is actually asking whether she wants chocolate or vanilla, as this refers to two famous comedy duos, the former performing as black characters and the latter white. The Douglas Sirk Steak can be served "burned or bloody," referring to the director's infamously melodramatic style with no half-measures.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The lines "Does he look like a bitch?" and "Marsellus Wallace don't like to be fucked by nobody except Mrs. Wallace!" feel a lot more ominous after Marsellus gets raped.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Jules saying that only "one charming motherfuckin' pig" would cease to be filthy, given Babe came out one year later.
  • Phil LaMarr went on to play J'onn J'onzz's brother on Supergirl (2015), making him Marvin the Martian.
  • Likewise, the interaction between Jules and Marvin can be summed up as Sam Jack talking to Sam Jack.
  • Tarantino declining to make a crossover prequel with Reservoir Dogs due to the necessity of de-aging John Travolta and Michael Madsen became this with Captain Marvel (2019) featuring Travolta's costar Samuel L. Jackson being digitally de-aged.
  • Jules' famous Bible verse — which includes the line "And you will know My name is the Lord!" — becomes a lot funnier when you know that Samuel L. Jackson provided the voice of God in an audio version of The Bible in 2007.
• Hype Backlash: Considering its seemingly universal acclaim as one of the greatest, if not the greatest, films of the 90s, there are a handful of viewers who don't get the hype, to the point that even some devoted Tarantino fans insist on a different film of his being his Magnum Opus instead.
• Just Here for Godzilla: "Bruce Willis is cool and all, but can we please get back to Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta?"
• Magnificent Bastard:
  • Jules Winnfield is one half of a bad pair with his partner Vincent Vega, and easily the smarter compared to his slack-jawed partner. Jules is an audacious, foul-mouthed, Bible-quoting hitman who demonstrates his tendency to take control over any situation he's in by tormenting and blowing away a group of wannabe criminals who attempted to rip his boss Marsellus Wallace off. After a near-death encounter, Jules has a Heel Realization and tries to back out of the mob business for good, only to be held up by a robber couple in a restaurant. Utterly retaining his cool when faced with two guns in his face, Jules effortlessly flips the advantage back to himself by tricking and disarming one of the robbers, and uses his masterful control of the situation to give the two robbers a second chance, much the same way Jules is finally affording himself an escape from the criminal underworld.
  • Winston “The Wolf” Wolfe is Marcellus Wallace’s top cleaner. Coming in to clean the body and blood in Jules’ car after Vincent gets Marvin killed, with only little time left before Jimmie’s wife gets home, The Wolf gets to quick work, coming up with a relatively simple yet effective plan to clean the worst of the body before covering up the seating so they look passable before hiding the body in the truck, and manages to get the car out with time to spare. A professional who doesn’t take any disrespect and can call the bluff of anyone who questions him, The Wolfe lives up to his reputation, all the while keeping a sophisticated and cordial disposition throughout the situation.
• Memetic Mutation: The film spawned many memes that were especially popular in the 90's, but endure even well into the 21st century. Samuel L. Jackson's performance in particular is one of the medium's best Fountain of Memes.
  • "I don't remember askin' you a goddamn thing!"
  • "What?" "English, motherfucker! Do you speak it!?"
  • "Say 'what' again!" There's a popular image macro of Jules wielding his gun with the caption "Say X again! I dare you! I double dare you, motherfucker!" It's usually used to express annoyance at someone saying or doing something ad nauseum.
  • To "get medieval" on something.
  • "My (anything you want) is the one that says "Bad Motherfucker" on it."
  • (Christopher Walken imitation) "I hid this uncomfortable hunk of metal — up my ass..."
  • "HMM...! This IS a tasty burger!"
  • The dance. Done onstage by Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter on their '95 tour during the bridge of "Jackson".
  • "Does he look like a bitch?" Bonus points when the game ''Guess Who'' is involved.◊
  • "Bring out the Gimp!" Actually, a lot of people first found out what a gimp was from Pulp Fiction.
  • "That's a little more information than I needed..."
  • "Confused Travolta", or Vincent glancing around Mia's house in bewilderment when he first meets her and she talks to him over the intercom, became popular in 2015.
  • "Pulp Fiction is the best Disney film ever."^note Due to Disney's acquisition of Miramax a year before the film's release. Disney sold the company to beIN Media Group, a Qatar company, in 2010.
  • "Shit negro, that's all you had to say."
  • "This is some serious gourmet shit."
  • "Was Jerry Seinfeld in Pulp Fiction?"^note Alexis Arquette, who played the fourth man who attacks Jules and Vincent in Brett's apartment, resembled Seinfeld so much in the film that people get the two of them confused. Someone even managed to deepfake the actual Seinfeld's face onto the scene relatively seamlessly.
• Narm: Quentin Tarantino's performance as Jimmy has been noted as laughable in contrast to the otherwise stellar cast, with his awkward delivery even sounding like he's struggling to get his lines out when ranting at Jules and Vincent.
• Older Than They Think: Jules's "Biblical" quote is actually based on the one used in the U.S. version of Karate Kiba (The Bodyguard) by Shinichi "Sonny" Chiba..
• One-Scene Wonder:
  • Harvey Keitel's The Wolf.
  • Christopher Walken's Captain Koons.
  • Esmarelda Villalobos.
  • Zed.
  • The Gimp.
  • Steve Buscemi as the waiter impersonating Buddy Holly at Jackrabbit Slim's - largely because he's the only "celebrity server" who doesn't seem to give a damn about staying in character.
• Retroactive Recognition: Phil LaMarr was about a year away from Mad TV (in which he obligingly reprised his role as Marvin for a sketch). He also went on to a very successful voice-acting career.
• Signature Scene:
  • Jules yelling at Brett. Nearly every line from that scene is a meme in some way.
  • Mia and Vincent dancing at Jack-Rabbit Slim's.
  • Butch's flashback with Captain Koons's monologue about the gold watch, both a signature scene for the film and for Christopher Walken.
  • And of course, "Aw man, I Just Shot Marvin in the Face."
• Song Association:
  • Dick Dale's reprise has made most people associate the song "Misirlou" with this film (though some, particularly in France, will sometimes associate it with Taxi instead).
  • "Comanche" by The Revels will be forever associated with the film's hillbilly rape dungeon. Comments that are not about the film in the song's YouTube comment sections are as hard to find as a needle in a haystack.
• Special Effect Failure: There is no muzzle flash or recoil on the gun hand when Jules shoots Brett's housemate in the beginning of the movie. Also, Brett's housemate appears to dodge the bullet initially, as the actor was apparently spooked by how loud the blank was before remembering that he needed to go limp and be dead. Additionally, a shot like that would get blood everywhere, but there's none to be seen in the few times he's visible after that (such as when Jules throws Brett's table in anger). To top it off, the actor can later be seen breathing.
• Squick:
  • The very close-up shot of Vincent injecting heroin into his arm. Not to mention Mia with the adrenaline syringe sticking out of her chest.
  • While we're on the topic, Mia's overdose. The saliva and blood would be bad enough, but then Vincent puts pressure on the side of her face and drool starts pouring out of her mouth. Yeesh.
  • While Jules makes a call to Jimmy after Vincent shoots Marvin in the face, the shot shows part of Marvin's skull and brain stuck in Jules' hair.
• Unintentional Period Piece:
  • In the opening scene, Vincent marvels that in Amsterdam, you can buy a beer in a movie theater and get pot legally. Both of these things are now easy to do in Los Angeles.
  • When Mia orders her milkshake, Vince makes a big deal about it costing $5, a price that's pretty reasonable 20 years later. For comparison, $5 in '94 would be equivalent to $9.08 in 2021, a lot more than you'd expect to pay for a milkshake. (Binging with Babish made a whole video about it, and used it as an excuse to make the world's most expensive milkshake.^note and introduce his viewers to his new girlfriend)
  • Lance's query "Are you talking to me on a cellular phone?" (note the unabbreviated form of the term), as well as the size and blocky shape of the phone.
• Values Dissonance: Having the only gay characters in the movie be sadistic rapists would get a lot more criticism in the present day, as would Jimmy's liberal use of the N-word around Jules.
• Values Resonance: The rape scene with Zed and Maynard holds up by treating a man being raped with absolute seriousness and treating Marsellus as a victim as much as if the rednecks' target had been a woman. He's also given catharsis as well as the chance to gain revenge on his attackers, allowing him to reclaim his dignity. The fact that the only gay men portrayed in the movie are rapists has sparked controversies for a while, but in defense of it, making Zed and Maynard female would probably add commentary about rape double standards which would overshadow the original meaning of the scene.
• Woolseyism:
  • The memetic "English, motherfucker!" scene, due to its idiomatic nature, was translated differently in many foreign dubs:
    • In many European language dubs (among them European Spanish, Italian, and European French) and to avoid invoking Translation Convention, the "English" part is changed to "my language" instead.
    • The Japanese dub, on the other hand, does a more clever version of this: the "English, motherfucker!" line was changed to "America, you bastard!" instead, and Jules asks Brett which country he is from, rather than which language he speaks.
    • The Latin American Spanish dub tones down the profanity and invokes Translation Convention, translating the line as "¡Castellano, malnacido!" ("European/Castilian Spanish, you bastard!"). It should be noted that "Castellano" is the European Spanish name for the Spanish language, while in Latin America, "Español" is used instead. Without going too far into this, due to the controversial nature of the use of that word, essentially Jules uses "Castellano" instead of "Español", because, while the former is equally understood in Latin America, the European dialect is widely considered to be archaic and old-fashioned, and thus his usage of the word comes across as an insult.
  • "Going medieval on [someone's] ass" doesn't really work in Polish, so the translator went with a loose reinterpretation of it as "zrobić [komuś] z dupy jesień średniowiecza", which means "turn [someone's] ass into the time of decline of the Middle Ages" (literally "the autumn of the Middle Ages", probably not coincidentally a name of Johan Huizinga's popular book on the Late Middle Ages). The phrase quickly entered the popular lexicon as a rough equivalent of "f*** somebody up", and has even been used, word-for-word, in at least one Polish movie.

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