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October 1994

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Subject:
From:
Jeremy Butler <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 17 Oct 1994 09:30:51 CST
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Okay, I went to PULP FICTION expecting Tarantino to be doing (amusing,
quirky) homages to BLACK CAT and Jim Thompson and Monogram Pictures and
KISS ME DEADLY (film and book) and etc. After all, a dictionary quotation
defining "pulp fiction" sets that up before the first credits roll.
 
What I didn't expect was the extra layering of Godard in between Tarantino
and the pulp.
 
The most striking evidence of this is Uma Thurman's performance as Anna
Karina (Gordard's wife in the early '60s and a key component of the look of
his films from that era) in VIVRE SA VIE. (And Karina, in turn, is doing
an homage to Falconetti in Dreyer's JEANNE D'ARC.) Thurman has Karina's
coiffure and certain facial resemblances, *and* the PULP FICTION twist (!)
she does is stupefyingly similar to Karina's poolroom dance in VIVRE SA
VIE.
 
So, before going to PULP FICTION I'd suggest (re)seeing/(re)reading:
 
VIVRE SA VIE (available in the US on videotape w/chromakeyed subtitles)
BAND OF OUTSIDERS (French title: BANDE A PART; PULP FICTION's production
        company: "Band Apart"; get it?)
THE KILLER INSIDE ME and/or THE GRIFTERS (Thompson)
Anything by Mickey Spillane
Truffaut's SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER
A few John Woo films
Any U.S. film from the 1940s/50s with the words "dark," "city," or "night"
        in its title
 
Other suggestions for required viewing/reading?
 
 =====================================================================
  Jeremy Butler [log in to unmask]
  SCREEN-L Coordinator [log in to unmask]
  Telecommunication & Film Dept. * University of Alabama * Tuscaloosa
 =====================================================================

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