Narrative: Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

After today’s section we will be able to… be able to talk about a film’s narrative in terms of plot/story, diegesis/diegetic/nondiegetic Start the plot segmentation assignment for Pulp Fiction, due next Friday in tutorial Use narrative terms to talk about the film in relation to Kristen Thompson’s idea of excess Discuss narrative and formal elements (so far we’ve covered mise-en-scene and cinematography) in tandem, and think about how these play into ideological themes

Term review Narrative Diegesis Story / plot The filmmaker turns the story into a plot The spectator interprets the story out of the plot Diegesis Diegetic Nondiegetic Ask about the diegetic or non/diegetic element: Is it possible for a character to also perceive it?

Kristen Thompson on film excess From “The Concept of Film Excess” (2009) 3 types of motivation - Compositional (narrative, needed to tell story) - Realistic (contributes to realism of diegesis – world of the story) - Generic (serves the purposes of the genre) 4 common types of excess - Form (mise-en-scene, cinematography, etc.) - Duration (shot/scene length) - Condensation (many elements serve the same meaning) - Repetition (one element repeated )

Clip - Excess? In the following clip, identify elements of plot/story, diegetic/nondiegetic, and instances of different types of excess…

Essay prompt To what degree is Pulp Fiction a narrative film? To what degree does excess contribute to our pleasure in it? Is the narrative more about episodes (plot) than a unified, coherent story? Is the motivation of narrative elements necessary/unnecessary or option, or is it desirable to have both? Relationship between narrative and formal excess?