Regarding Troy War's post on violence. I was also disturbed by the raucous laughter through some scenes of P.F. I disagree, however, that scenes such as Marvin getting his head shot off was made to elicit laughter. Laughter can only come in that situation if Marvin's existence as a human is ignored, if he is not seen as a person. It could be argued that the film encourages this view. I would say that the film does not portray Marvin as a non-entity, but neither does it go out of its way to say to the viewer, "hey, this is someone you should care about," as films typically do if they want the viewer to sympathize with a character. I say, why should a film have to do this in order to get us to recognize someone's morality. (change morality to humanity and add a question mark). Marvin's life means nothing to Vincent and Jules, and they treat the situation as a nuisance. You can bet the incident meant a hell of a lot to Marvin and his unseen friends and family. If Marvin's life means nothing to us, the viewer, than we have identified with the killers too much. Does the film encourage this by making the killers such attractive individuals? I don't think so... I think it makes the killers human, it shows that they are at the base not so different than us. But their choices are very different than the average citizens. I believe that running through the entire Bonnie Situation episode, the viewer should be uncomfortable laughing because to do so means that the viewer is treating the situation (i.e. Marvin's death) as trivially as the individuals on screen who are throwing out quick one-liners about it. I believe the film wants to make us feel this way, so I would say if the viewer does not feel uncomfortable laughing at these parts, if the laughter is not stifled by a paralleling sense of revulsion, it is not the film which is at fault, it is the audience's lack of natural compassion. I couldn't laugh during this part, my body wouldn't let me. Yes, its just a film. But film's strength as a cultural text, as our society's mythology, springs from the fact that it represents what we know as reality, our conceptions of who and what we are as a people. It portrays events which happen. If we lived in a totally peaceful society, Pulp Fiction could be seen as a total farce or disgusting exercise. It is neither. It is art, and in that it is insightful. denis hennelly