2nd Opening Sequence Analysis

Pulp Fiction

Straight away in the first 20 seconds of the film the definition of pulp is shown in white writing on a black background. It says 1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass of matter 2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and being characteristic printed on rough, unfinished paper. I believe this is here to get the viewer already asking questions why it’s there and how important is this definition to the story of the film. Also Tarintino has probably shown the actual definition the viewer can compare it to the way he portrays it in the film.

The story then moves onto the first scene as we see a coupe in a diner just after they have finished what seems to be breakfast. The first word’s that comes from one of their mouth’s is “forget it, it’s too risky, I’m through with doing that s**t”. This connotes that this is no ordinary couple and they could be a bit dodgy. The scene continues for about a minute as the couple argue about giving up. All the audience knows at this moment of time is that they are talking about some kind of criminal activity. Next we see a shot reverse shot as a worker ask the couple if they would like some more coffee, then the women replies in a nice manner, this makes the audience stop and think and ask the question, are these really bad people? As soon as the waiter leaves the man starts talking about how risky certain places are to rob, this instantly answers our question before hand. The man then goes on about how diners would be the perfect place to rob and how they would catch everyone with their “pants down”. The women agrees and they start to kiss across the table and suddenly get out two magnums hand guns from under the table step out from the side the side and point their guns at people shouting “everybody be cool, this is a robbery”. We then cut to a long shot with couple pointing their guns, the frame then freezes and the words Miramax films presents comes on the page and a fast, loud electric guitar starts being played in the background accompanied by a set of drums also being played in a fast tempo.

The opening five minutes of pulp fiction focuses on two characters which are believed to be a couple of armed robbers. After watching the opening you would also believe that these characters are the main characters in the film but if you watch on this in fact is not the case. Even through in the opening we are not introduced to the main characters Quentin Tarintino does set the scene and tells us the genre of the film very well and leaves the audience thinking who are the characters and what relevance do they have in the film.