The Role of Music in Tarantino\'s Pulp Fiction PDF

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Étude du rôle de la musique dans le film "Pulp Fiction" de Quentin Tarantino....

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The Role of Music in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction Known for its hilarious dialogues and its nonlinear narrative, Pulp Fiction is also famous for its remarkable and original soundtrack, made exclusively of preexistant songs, something that can be seen as a way to attract and catch people’s attention with popular songs. The movie, directed by Quentin Tarantino and released in 1994, succeeded in making an impact on the audience’s memories, by illustrating each important scene with the right music, which would later become a reference. But, in Pulp Fiction, and more globally in all Tarantino’s movies, the choice of the soundtrack’s songs doesn’t just mean fitting to the scenes, the music is an added value to the storytelling, and says more than the dialogues do, by communicating emotions in a way actors can’t do. Sound design is also important to underline the camera work, and how the story is presented to the audience, including what’s implicit, with subtle diegetic sounds. That’s where music and sound design meet, and especially in Pulp Fiction : they are most of the time included to the scene, in such a way that everything seem natural. This balance between the spontaneity of the movie’s elements and the meaning hidden behind them is the reason why so many people consider Tarantino as a genius. First, it’s important to introduce the setting, the characters, and the story, to be sure to understand the scenes we’ll talk about. The scene takes place in the late 80s/early 90s, in Los Angeles. The movie follows three stories at a time, stories that will cross as the story progresses : a couple of robbers, called Pumpkin and Yolanda, preparing a robbery in a diner ; Jules Winnfield and Vincent Vega, two gangsters working for Marsellus Wallace ; and Butch Coolidge, a boxer living with his wife Fabienne. We’ll now take a closer look to the most iconic scenes of the movie, to see how music and sounds reinforce the story and the ambiances, and how they are useful to identify the characters and their relations in a deeper way. Let’s start, logically, with the opening, which may be one of the most famous scene of the movie. The Opening Scene of Pulp Fiction : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_uCgGv0QPY The track is called “Misirlou”, by the American surf-rock guitarist Dick Dale, and is know linked to the movie in people’s mind, and more globally to any action movie. It’s an intense and loud track, it’s very powerful so it leads the audience to pay attention to what’s happening on screen, even though there’s no action going on. It gives the audience a foretaste of the movie’s rhythm, which is determined by Tarantino’s listenings : “I find the personality of the piece through the music that is going to be in it… It is the rhythm of the film. Once I know I want to do something, then it is a simple matter of me diving into my record collection and finding the songs that give me the rhythm of my movie.” The cool vibe of it announces the first appearance of two “cool” main characters, Jules and Vincent, having a “cool” conversation about burgers.

Jules and Vincent : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Pkq_eBHXJ4 The “coolness” of the two characters is introduced by “Jungle Boogie”, by Kool And The Gang. We know that it’s diegetic music as we hear the radio cracking in the middle of “Misirlou”, and switching to “Jungle Boogie". It’s as dynamic as “Misirlou”, the cool vibe is still hear, but the genre is definitely not the same. Also, the period is clearly different : the Dick Dale’s track was released one year before the film (1993), whereas “Jungle Boogie” was released in 1973. There are several reasons for this : first, Tarantino wanted the soundtrack to be his own mixtape, paying tribute to different genres and periods (surf music, rock, soul…), also, Tarantino didn’t want the audience to know precisely when the scene takes place, so he intentionally left these anachronisms, and finally, he wanted to use music giving a 70s feeling, regardless of the track’s release date. The diversity of genres is also used to fit to the editing : the transition are often brutal, switching from a violent scene to a calm conversation. Thus, the music can change from rock to soul, adding even more violence to the film. By the way, Tarantino used surf music because, to him, it sounds like western spaghetti rock, and also to pay tribute to one of his collaborators, the famous Ennio Morricone. Butch’s and Marsellus’ dialogue : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DicYF4RQBnU In this scene, Marsellus is asking Butch to take a fall in his next match. We can assume that the music is diegetic, as it’s playing pretty low in the background, and as it’s not unusual to hear music in a bar. The title of the song, “Let’s Stay Together” is prophetically ironic, because at the end of the movie, Marsellus and Butch want everything but staying together. The Dance Scene : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSLMN6g_Od4 Vincent Vega has to escort and entertain Marsellus Wallace’s wife, Mia, while he’s out of town. During the evening, they go out to eat in a 50s themed restaurant (with music of this time), and then participate in a dance contest. They dance to “You Never Can Tell” by Chuck Berry, a 50s/60s song, and the dance moves are also from the 60s : the batusi, the hitchhiker, the swim and the twist. Chuck Berry’s song is very dancy and rhythmic, so the music is essential, because the dance must be unrestrained : this scene is crucial for Vincent’s and Mia’s relationship, the dance contest is the moment when they both forget the limits (Mia is married to Vincent’s boss). When they dance, they are clearly flirting, and forget the danger of it.

The Overdose Scene : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h-HTJcsx-k After winning the dance contest, Mia and Vincent come back to the Wallaces place, with the restaurant’s trophy. Then, Vincent goes to the restroom to refocus, conscious of the situation between Mia and him, while Mia smokes and snorts Vincent’s heroine. The music is “Girl, You’ll Be A Woman Soon” by Urge Overkill, and is once again diegetic. We can see Mia turning the stereo on, then singing and dancing to the music. We can assume the fact that the title has a double meaning : it may simply be the song’s title, or describe what could have happened between Mia and Vincent, if they had gone further in their relationship (becoming a man or a woman in our society is basically having sex with someone). Butch runs over Marsellus : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_DCTCZcFkPs Butch is in his car, and sees Marsellus while waiting at a traffic light, and runs him over. The music playing on the car’s radio makes a perfect contrast with what happened before the scene (Butch killed Vincent), and what happens a while after : the song is called “Flowers In The Wall” by The Statler Brothers, and is quite lighthearted. This gives us a good example of the movie’s editing violence, as said earlier. The Pawn Shop : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K99oV99ja2c Just after the previous incident, Butch is being pursued by Marsellus, and finds shelter in a pawn shop, where he’s knocked out by sexual predators. Marsellus is being held prisoner too, with Butch. Marsellus is then sexually assaulted by his agressors, as we can hear « Comanche » by The Revels in the background. Once again, there’s a violent contrast between what Marsellus is living, and the light and bouncy song. It brings a really comic aspect to a scene that is, theoretically, harsh and horrifying. The importance of sound design To end our discussion, we can talk about the role of simple sounds, participating in the movie’s atmosphere. During the overdose scene, when Mia and Vincent come home, the house alarm rings. We can interpret this as a sign, a warning to the two characters : they must not cross the borders of their relationship. Also, when they say goodbye, after Mia’s resuscitation, Mia makes a joke, adding to the awkwardness of the scene (they both know they’re attracted to each other but didn’t say it). Earlier in the movie, Mia said the famous quote about the “awkward silences”. Here, the noises of the crickets make the silences between the dialogues awkward, and adds to the scene’s fun.

As a conclusion, we can say that music and sound design in Pulp Fiction play a very important role in the storytelling. It reinforces the scenes’ message by illustrating theme, but also gives a deeper meaning and even some clues about what’s coming next in the movie. Many songs of the film’s soundtrack became references in pop culture, but still few people know how important the music is in the movie....