Pulp Fiction: Shortcomings of a “Neo-Noir” Essay

The remarkable stylistic conventions of untarnishedal involve noir own made it iodine of the close to memorable and placeable moving-picture memorialize genres to this day. Each flick noir picture is unequivocally told though it exercising of degrees of puritanicalness, contrasting inflaming, rain-cover city streets, stranded protagonist, and devious dames that effortlessly lure men into a low temperature trap of criminal deeds. soma apologue, a icon house by Quentin Tarantino, is said to be adept of subscribe noirs strongest roots with its setting of a dark, criminal underworld. While the film does play close to the edges of traditionalisticistic film noir, it keepnot be accurately be claimed a neo-noir due to several variances it takes with nigh of the close to fundamental elements of film noir. M whatever optic and annals devices overhear taken a dissimilar road in such a military psychenelner that 1 cannot classify it as conventional film noir. uni ty of the just around obvious breaks that bod illustration makes from traditional film noir is the film being stab primarily in the daytime.When one believes of film noir, they automatically think darkness because it is always the films visual theme. The exemplary use of heavy shadows and key lighten is what makes film noir so gravid and gives the overall pitch-black pettishness to the picture. When the murders occur the lighting is very dark, and most of the time, further illuminates the killers face as he is sledding the bullets such as in The Killers when the 2 assassins have sex and kill the Swede. This style shows how emotionless the murders argon as we entirely focus on their face from the lighting, and so giving the audience a very icy and dark hint. We never express this feeling or situation in physique Fiction as all of the killing is done in the daytime, with the mode well lit. There atomic number 18 no murders at wickedness in fact there be only t wo night scenes shot in the entire photographic film. There is not as lots emotion or overall visual gist that we ordinarily see with murders in film noir.A similarity we see between classic film noir and Pulp fiction that adds to the visual detail of the film is constant smoking. Almost every section in Pulp Fiction muckles and they do it every expectation they labor. In classical film noir this smoking added to the return of the darkness and lighting because the rooms where always make full with smoke which increased the feeling of uncertainty and gloom. In Pulp fiction, it has a greatly diminished symbolic effect because of the shots always being in the daytime. The only scene that comp bes to classic film noir is the shot of dike in the hackcab with Esm belda. This shot is the only one in the entire film that comes closest to a usual noir setting. This scene is shot at night in a cab traveling in the city streets of Los Angles. There is heavy contrast lighting from t he streetlights and the camera angle is shot from the third-person facing the two characters in the car. From this view the audience gets a great visual picture of their faces because of the contrast of light that only illuminates both mascu contention and Esmarelda.dam asks for a hind sack and Esmarelda gives him one right away, striking the match on the dash as we see in most noir films. Now the setting is dark and the car is choice with smoke, which gives a great setting for Esmarelda to ask, what does it feel worry to kill a soldiery? This moment is a perfect resurrection of classical film noir because we see the receiver and a questionable femme fatale having strong interest on what it is like to take a life. As Butch claims that he did not know that he killed the man until she told him, there is a pause, and consequently he tells her that he does not feel a damn thing.This is the cold moment we see from the noir style that they usually last much longer in traditional f ilm noir. In contrast, the scene in Pulp Fiction ends abruptly as Butch leaves the taxi and goes home to Fabienne, whom he is having an intimate relationship with. The mood of the movie completely changes and all possible questions ab erupt Esmarelda being the femme fatale are erased as she is now out of the history. This scene is as close as we get to a emblematic noir setting with all the elements of darkness, lighting, and smoke combined to create a better feeling of how cold Butch is towards killing anformer(a) man.A film noir with out a femme fatale is hardly a film noir at all. Often called spider womanhood they play the most important role in all film noir as they weave a trap to which our antheral antagonist always travel into creating the plot and crime of the story. Independence is her goal moreover her nature is fundamentally and irredeemably sexual in film noir (Place 6). In Pulp fiction, the audience is drawn in to believe that Mia is our femme fatale as the first time we are introduced to her all we hear is her seductive voice and then the camera flashes to a shot of just her lips, covered in fresh red lipstick. The next shot we see of her is only her feet as she tells Vincent it is time to go. This is a typical visual style we see in noir as it shows how the man begins to get seduced such as the shot of Phyllis legs as she goes down the staircase in Double Indemnity. With the backboneground knowledge of Mia being the millionaires, Marsellus Wallaces wife, we are led to think that she is a typical femme fatale who wants to escape like Kathie in Out of the Past.As they go out on their date, Vincent and Mia have some of the same back and forth flirtatious dialogue that we see in film noir such as when Mia says, Thats when youve found somebody really special, when you can just shut the fuck up for a minute, and comfortably share a silence. They have a good time, win a dance competition, and it seems as if Mia is certainly seductive enough to wards Vincent to get him pin down when they get home. It is exactly at this point that the typical principles of film noir begin to fall apart. Vincent takes himself in the tail end and has a self-debate on whether or not to ease with the bosss wife. In traditional film noir, rational is completely taken over by impulse and the virile-lead always falls into some var. of trap.In Pulp fiction, Vincent decides that he is just going to say goodbye and rejects the advances of the femme fatale, which is completely out of line if we want to classify this film as noir. at one time after, Mia overdoses which completely changes the entire mood of the movie. We are no longer thinking about Mia seducing Vincent, it has now rancid into a climactic struggle to save Mias life. Although Mia has her juicy red lips, smooth voice, and powerful sexuality, her hurriedness proves that there is no place for a character such as a femme fatale in this movie. Her unsuccessful person as an actress an d her later overdose leaves her weak, powerless and pernicious pale, a far cry from the sexually blind drunk and glamorous fatales of the classical noir period (Em L, Film in Focus).A feature in Pulp fiction that related to classic film noir was the use of a non-sequential narrative structure. Although Pulp fiction did not use the exact same structure, the in timets were seen out of chronological order. The structure typically seen in noir is encompassed by on overall flashback that gives detail and explanation of the downfall of the male protagonist. Stories in film noir typically begin at the end or snapper, and the flashback us usually narrated by the protagonist. In these fist-person voice-over narrations we learn how the protagonist got to the situation he is in now. Since the character is relating the story directly to the audience, we are able to create a connection with the character, and regard his disturbed thoughts. Pulp fiction takes a different approach, as there i s no specific male protagonist in the film. Instead of one person il impulserating events from past to present, we are given multiple characters experiences in various timeframes. The audience is show different points of sacking from each character in the story and the story rewinds and we experience the same timeframe but from someone elses point of view.This continues until we come full circle to the looting scene, where now, all of the pieces of the puzzle have been put together. manager Quentin Tarantino said he was aiming to make a trilogy pickings elements of the old crime stories and mixing them together (Blake, elongate Narrative). Part of the trick is to take these movie characters, these genre characters and these genre situations and actually apply them to some of real lifes rules and see how they head for the hills (Tarantino). Although this was a great style to put the movie together it is unclear if it could be used to show the downfall of the protagonist. The flas hback marks the solidified necessity of the noir heroes, presentation how he was doomed from the start. If the audience has to relate to legion(predicate) characters rather than just one, the powerful connection we get in film noir is lost.The most noticeable and turgid variation from the framework of film noir in Pulp Fiction is the rejection of pessimism expected from the conclusion of the film. All noir heroes are doomed from the start. Since the flashback structure is completely different than classic film noir we do not see how any of the characters are trapped in a fate they cannot escape. In fact, almost everyone does get a dexterous ending. Jules decides he is done being a germinate man after is divine intervention and says that he is not going to kill a man again but become a sheppard for the lord.Butch is free to go after he comes back for Marsellus who was getting raped by Zed. Vincent does die but with the timeline out of order he is killed in the middle in the mov ie rather than in the end where he walks out of the restaurant with Jules. Even Ringo and Yolanda have a happy ending as Jules teaches them a lesson and they still get away with lots of money. Noir films are supposed to leave the audience with a dark and cold feeling, which was definitely not the case here. The negative tone we get from the confessional nature of the flashback creates the view of negativity that last the entirety of the film.Film noir may even be called its own genre because of its many another(prenominal) visual and narrative elements that made it like no other style. It was a world of darkness and violence, with a central figure whose motives are usually greed, lust and ambition, whose world is filled with fear (Higham 27). Although Pulp Fiction carries some of these elements it should not be classified as a neo noir as it lacks some of the great aspects that made film noir so special. If it is the roots of film noir, it greatly undermines the movement that wa s like no other ever scene in American cinema. whole works CitedEm L. Film in Focus suburban Noir & Pulp Fiction. Film Student Central. N.p., 11 Oct. 2009. Web. 20 June 2012. .Higham, Charles, and Joel Greeburg. Noir Cinema. Film Noir Reader. New Jersey Limelight Editions, 1996. 27. Print.Place, Janey. Women in Film Noir. N.p. n.p., n.d. N. pag. Print.Blake, CG. Linear vs. Non-linear Narrative. A New Fiction Writers Forum. N.p., 6 Dec. 2011. Web. 21 June 2012. .