Quentin Tarantino discusses the morality of his ‘Pulp Fiction’ characters
When he released Reservoir Dogs in 1992, Quentin Tarantino established himself as one of cinema’s most significant newcomers. The film has since been considered a feat of independent filmmaking, demonstrating that a visually and thematically impressive piece of work could be made on a small budget. Soon after, with slightly increased funding, Tarantino began working on his next film, Pulp Fiction, which was released in 1994.
The crime film contained an ensemble cast of stars, including Samuel L. Jackson, Uma Thurman, Tim Roth, Bruce Willis, Rosanna Arquette, Christopher Walken and Harvey Keitel. Moreover, Pulp Fiction revitalised the downturned career of John Travolta, who had previously gained fame in the 1970s for his roles in Grease and Saturday Night Fever. The actor’s career took a slump in the following decade, yet, starring in Pulp Fiction as Vincent Vega, a role wildly different to what he was used to playing, gave the actor newfound acclaim. An Academy Award nomination ensued, and Travolta’s career was back on track.
Tarantino’s focus on highly developed characters, who spout witty dialogue and engage in shocking behaviour, made Pulp Fiction an unforgettable piece of crime cinema. Travolta’s character delivers several iconic lines from the film, such as “they call it a Royale with cheese” and the nonchalantly quipped, “Oh man, I shot Marvin in the face”. However, Vincent meets his untimely fate when Butch shoots him in the bathroom, killing one of our main characters. Many fans have questioned why Vincent dies, but his partner in crime, Jules Winnfield, survives.
Pulp Fiction deals with themes of redemption and karma. Thus, when Jules and Vincent narrowly miss being shot, Jules decides to retire from his bad business, but Vincent chooses to carry on. Jules’ character faces a redemption arc, whereas Vincent does not, resulting in his death. According to Tarantino, even though “the whole movie isn’t about redemption” it “does keep working itself into the movie”. He explained that the “characters are given choices to make, and they make the choices that they make, and they pay the price for the consequences, or they live to tell the tale.”
With that, the director elucidates: “We actually see it happen all three different times in the movie”. After detailing the cases of Jules making a good choice and Vincent making a bad one, he refers to Willis’ character, Butch Coolidge, who begins in “a very bad place and he actually ends up prospering, […] he does make a moral choice that he doesn’t have to.” He concludes that if Butch had left Marcellus in trouble, “would he still get out of town? […] He’d be looking over his shoulder. But right now, he’s not looking over his shoulder because he did the moral thing, he actually got away with it.”
See Tarantino discuss the morality of his ‘Pulp Fiction’ characters below.
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