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October 1994

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Sender:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Subject:
From:
"Richard J. Leskosky" <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Fri, 21 Oct 1994 13:48:53 -0500
Reply-To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
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On 10/21/94 Lauren Helwig wrote:
 
 
>SPOILER re PULP FICTION
 
 
>In reponse to Leskosky's post:
>I suspect Hennelly's
>question re the basement torture
>scene in PF is not about T's need to give Butch/Willis
>(and I mean the two) a "strong motivation"
>[Leskosky] to go back to Marcellus.  This begs the
>question of why T uses male rape to re-unite Willis/Marcellus
>in this brotherly better-directed rage
>("brotherly" in the racial as well as the good ole
>homosocial bonding sense).  To invite (and so ironize)
>the description of that reunion as I've just given it?
=====================
Just a few quick observations:
 
1)  Butch doesn't know that Marcellus is being raped when he decides to go
back for him, although he can be pretty sure that some sort of torture in
being inflicted.  (I don't think that what we here coming from the closed
room really indicates what is going on, but I might have missed something.)
 
2)  The fact that Marcellus was the victim of a rape reinforces his
gratitude toward Butch but also his need to have him banned from L.A. since
he is the only one who knows Marcellus' shame.
 
3)  I don't recall either Butch or Marcellus reviling their former and/or
late captors for their sexual orientation (again, I might be forgetting
something) but erather, if anything, for their S/M proclivities.  So I'm
not at all sure that homophobia is the operative principle here.
--Richard
 
Richard J. Leskosky
Unit for Cinema Studies, UIUC
office phone: (217) 244-2704
FAX: (217) 244-2223

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