Component 2d, Film Movements: Experimental Film Auteur Essay

“Experimental film is often the result of an auteur challenging established conventions with fresh ideas” With reference to your chose film option, how far do you agree with this statement?

An auteur is usually a director who influences their work so much that it is easily recognisable. They can be seen as the main creative force behind the film. The word stems from the french word for ‘author’ and is used to describe directors who want to create a unique and stimulating piece of film, unlike the mainstream Hollywood blockbusters. French film critic, André Bazin, established this ‘Auteur Theory’ in which he stated that every filmmaker should be truly unique, and make work that they want to, unlike the big studio films which were all very similar at the time. This idea was formed at the time of the artistic filmmaking revolution, ‘French New Wave’. This movement pushed originality and experimentation to the forefront of filmmaking. This ‘New Wave’ idea can also be seen in the work of Tarantino in the ’90s.

The ‘New Wave’ Tarantino started in the ’90s mainly came from his 1994 film, Pulp Fiction. Tarantino has always been obsessed with films, from a young age, and worked in a video store and wanted to make movies. As he watched so many of them, he gained a knowledge of how to make them and what he could ‘steal’ from to put in his films. Pulp Fiction was Tarantino’s second film, its predecessor being the 1992 film Reservoir Dogs, which established his unconventional narrative style and other auteur signature features.

Possibly his most notable auteur signature is his frequent pop culture references. For example, in the second chapter of Pulp Fiction, Jules and Vincent casually talk about the differences between American and Fench culture and fast food. This adds a layer of reality to the film, as they seem like regular people going about their job having comedic and relatable conversations.

Dialogue heavy scenes is another signature auteur feature. He often has long scenes filled with dialogue, most of the time not driving the narrative. His dialogue is so effective because it combines casual meaningless conversation with very narrative-driven dialogue. For example, there is a scene in Pulp Fiction where two women discuss body piercings, which doesn’t drive the plot forward in any way; in fact, it brings the plot to a complete standstill, but it’s still thoroughly entertaining to watch.

Another auteur signature feature that’s seen in almost every one of his films is the large ensemble cast of well-known actors. He often picks actors who most would consider ‘past their prime’, like John Travolta from Grease 16 years previously who had ‘gone out of style’ and was made cool again in Pulp Fiction. Another way he uses actors is that he will often reuse actors for different films. For example, Samuel L. Jackson has starred in eight of Tarantino’s films.

Perhaps his most consistent auteur signature feature is violence. Violence is something Tarantino uses to show the seriousness of a situation and make the audience feel uncomfortable while viewing. It’s something he often exaggerates and brings to a more theatrical point.

Music is another very large auteur signature feature that he uses stylistically to create tone. In all but one of his films, he uses existing songs. The only film he hasn’t compiled a soundtrack for was The Hateful Eight, which used a composed score. He picks songs he likes and then puts them behind sequences in his film, both diegetically and non-diegetically. For example, the majority of the music budget for Reservoir Dogs was spent on the song ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ by Stealers Wheel so that it could be used ironically during a torture scene for comedic effect. In Pulp Fiction, the song ‘You Never Can Tell’ by Chuck Berry is used for the dance scene between Mia and Vincent, which contains romantic undertones, reflecting the same qualities in their relationship. Tarantino compiles soundtracks of already existing songs for his films, acting more like playlists that people could put on at a party, yet perfectly creates tone and meaning for the film. This exemplifies the auteur approach as not many films at that time had treated music for film in that way.

One of his perhaps lesser used auteur signature features is ‘rewriting history’. First seen in his 2009 film Inglorious Basterds, in which Hitler is shot to death at the end. The second time being in his 2019 film Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, where Sharon Tate is not murdered and is unintentionally saved by the two protagonists of the film. 

I agree with the statement, as not all directors are auteurs, but an auteur’s film is very recognisable because of their creative control over the film and pure originality. Tarantino falls into the category of ‘auteur’ as his films are extremely recognisable aesthetically and narratively, and revolutionised filmmaking due to his unconventional and experimental methods.

Component 2d, Film Movements: Experimental Film Narrative Essay

“Unfamiliar approaches to narrative can be both difficult and exciting for the spectator.” Discuss this comment in relation to your film study.

Quentin Tarantino’s first film was Reservoir Dogs which was released in 1992. This film used comedy, violence, and a generic story to create something never seen before, all with a budget of 1.2 million dollars. The film was quickly noticed and receive critical acclaim; which built anticipation as to what he was going to create next. He was given a much bigger budget for his next film, Pulp Fiction, 8.5 million dollars. This was released in 1994 and also featured comedy, violence and a generic story, but used different narrative methods to present this in a new way.

There are many different characters in Pulp Fiction, all of which are very generic character types seen in crime films and magazines (the mob boss, the gangster, etc…). A lot of these characters fall clearly into the seven character types theorised by Vladimir Propp. In 1928 he published a book called ‘Morphology of the Folk Tale’, which established Propp’s two theories; the first theory was about the seven character types. However, each characters’ type depends on the chapter you are looking at. For example, in the storyline featuring Jules and Vincent, Vincent is seen as the ‘Hero’ character type as he has to save the princess, Mia. Whereas, later in the film, in Butch’s chapter, Vincent falls into the ‘Villain’ character type; as he creates struggles for the hero at that point, who is Butch. So, Propp’s seven character types can still be seen in the film, but each character’s type changes dramatically in each chapter because of the unconventional narrative structure.

Propp’s second theory, however, does not entirely apply to Pulp Fiction. His second theory was the ’31 narrative functions’, which could be split up into four groups; ‘Introduction’, ‘Story’, ‘Doner Sequence’ and ‘Hero’s Return’. Pulp Fiction is told non-chronologically in different chapters In some of the chapters Propp’s 31 narrative functions can be seen, however, not in every chapter; which is what makes Pulp Fiction so unique as it does not follow conventional narrative structures.

Pulp Fiction is very much a non-linear and non-chronological film. Each part of the timeline is separated into ‘chapters’. Each strand is linked thematically by the idea of ‘redemption’. Another film theorist, Tzvetan Todorov, published a book in 1971 called ‘Poetics of Prose’, which established his theory that narrative as five stages; stage one: Equilibrium, stage two: Disruption of Equilibrium, stage three: Recognition of Equilibrium, stage four: Attempted Resolution of Disruption and stage five: Equilibrium/New Equilibrium Established. The film as a whole does not follow the equilibrium theory; however, some of the chapters individually follow Todorov’s equilibrium theory.

In Pulp Fiction, there are many different opposing sides and characters, resulting in conflict and a lot of violence. Claude Levi-Strauss published a book in 1955 called ‘The Structural Study of Myth’, which established Lévi-Strauss’ theory of ‘Binary Opposition’. ‘Binary Opposition’ is the idea that somethings are the opposites of other things which creates conflict. For example, there is a conflict between Butch and Marsellus Wallace, which is then later resolved to overcome another conflict, between both of them and Zed the pawnshop owner. This shows how the binary opposition drives the characters’ actions.

The narrative drive of Pulp Fiction is very unconventional and is purposefully used to manipulate the viewer into sympathising with certain characters. The film’s genre definitely shapes the story, but not the plot. Tarantino has taken very conventionally generic characters and stories of crime films and spun them into something never seen before because of the non-linear structure. If Pulp Fiction were not a portmanteau film, it would not be as effective at communicating a compelling, tense and original story. The constant change of narrative perspective is the key to the audiences enjoyment and engagement.

Overall, Pulp Fiction is such a successful film because of how it doesn’t conform to the traditional method of presentation. It recycles generic plot ideas and characters and turns them into something never seen before.

Theorising About Narrative

Time is manipulated in Pulp Fiction by showing all events in a non-linear fashion. For example, an event that occurs halfway through the story is split in half and shown at the beginning and the end of the film.

Pulp Fiction is presented to the audience non-chronologically and uses narrative techniques like ellipses and many flashbacks and flashforwards throughout the film.

The audience is encouraged to like almost every character we are introduced to. However, we are encouraged to dislike certain characters at certain points in the film. For example, we are encouraged to like Vincent in the chapter when he takes Mia to dinner but we are encouraged to dislike him in Butch’s chapter as he is an obstacle to the character we are encouraged to like in that storyline.

Pulp Fiction is very much a non-linear and non-chronological film. Each part of the timeline is separated into ‘chapters’. Each strand is linked thematically by the idea of ‘redemption’.

The film as a whole does not follow the equilibrium theory; however, each chapter follows Todorov’s equilibrium theory independently.

Despite the unconventional narrative structure, a lot of drama and tension is created. For example, while Vincent dies halfway through the film, tension is still created in the last scene; the audience still fears for his life even though we know he dies in the near future.

The film’s genre definitely shapes the story, but not the narrative/plot. Tarantino has taken very conventionally generic characters and stories of crime films and spun them into something never seen before because of the non-linear plot.

Narrative Theorists

Vladimir Propp: 1895-1970

In 1928 he published a book called ‘Morphology of the Folk Tale’, which established Propp’s two theories; the first theory about the seven character types, and the second about the thirty-one narrative functions.

The first theory proposed seven character types which were:

1. ‘Hero’ – Character who reacts, thwarts and resolves.
2. ‘Helper’ – Helps the hero.
3. ‘Villain’ – Creates struggles for the hero.
4. ‘Doner’ – Prepares or gives the hero something.
5. ‘Dispatcher’ – Illustrates the need for the quest and sends the hero.
6. ‘Princess’ – Deserved for the hero, but cannot be obtained because of something evil.
7. ‘False Hero’ – Takes credit from the hero or tries to marry the princess.

The second theory proposed that there were thirty-one narrative functions that could fit into four groupings.

1. Introduction – The main characters and situations are introduced.
2. Story
3. Doner Sequence
4. Hero’s Return.

---

Tzvetan Todorov: 1939-2017

In 1971 he published a book called ‘Poetics of Prose’, which established Todorov’s theory that narrative has five stages.

1. Stage one: Equilibrium
2. Stage two: Disruption of Equilibrium
3. Stage three: Recognition of Equilibrium
4. Stage four: Attempted Resolution of Disruption
5. Stage five: Equilibrium/New Equilibrium Established.

---

Claude Lévi-Strauss: 1908-2009

In 1955 he published a book called ‘The Structural Study of Myth’, which established Lévi-Strauss’ theory of ‘Binary Opposition’. ‘Binary Opposition’ is the idea that somethings are the opposites of other things.

---

Roland Barthes: 1915-1980

In 1957 he published a book called ‘Mythologies’, which established Barthes’ theory of ‘Narrative Codes’.

1. Action Codes
2. Enigma Codes

Both of which are ‘narrative hooks’ that engage the audience.

Pulp Narrative Fiction

‘Pulp Fiction’ does not conform to any conventional narrative devices as it does not follow the ‘three-act structure’ and has a non-linear plot. However, each chapter of the film does loosely follow the ‘three-act structure’; as each story has an inciting incident which is then followed by plot points leading to a climax. The whole film is made of flashback’s and flashforwards.

Therefore, the narrative viewpoint changes many times throughout the film, depending on what chapter you are in. For example, in the chapter where Vincent has to take Mia out for the night and she ODs, we feel scared for Vincent as he could get in a lot of trouble for it. However, in Butch’s storyline, Vincent is seen as an obstacle as we fear for Butch when he finds out Vincent is in his apartment.

Pulp Story, Fiction Plot

Plot

The order in which it is shown in the film.

1. Pumpkin and Honey-bunny sit in a diner and decide to rob it because they talk about how the past places they have robbed have been to difficult. “Anyone of you fucking pricks move I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of you”.
2. Jules and Vincent are on their way to a hit and discuss differences between Europe and America. They prepare their weapons for the hit from the boot of their car. They then talk about Marsellus Wallace and his wife Mia. We discover Mia is an unsuccessful actress and that Vincent doesn’t have a TV. In the apartment they talk about how Marsellus threw a man out of a four story window for giving a foot massage. They continue this discussion further as they are early. They eventually enter the apartment, after having discovered that Vincent has agreed to take Mia out for an evening. In the apartment, they retrieve the briefcase, our narrative MacGuffin; then shoot one of the kids to death.
3. We open on Butch and the unseen Marsellus Wallace talking about how Butch has to lose a fight. Jules and Vincent enter wearing borrowed clothes carrying the briefcase. Butch and Vincent develop a disliking towards each other.
4. Lances house – a conversation about body piercings occurs between two women. Vincent is at Lances house to buy heroine. He buys the most powerful heroine that Lance has, which is in a bag in the form of a white powder. As Vincent drives away, we see him inject the heroine to show that it should be injected. He arrives at Mia’s house, where we see Mia snorting cocaine. They take a trip to the Jack Rabbit Slims diner. There, Mia orders a five dollar shake, with no bourbon in it or nothin’. After Vincent admits that the milkshake is worth the five dollars, Mia enters them into a dance competition, which they win. They get back to Mia’s house, where Vincent goes to the toilet and Mia finds the heroine in Vincent’s coat. She mistakes it for cocaine and snorts it. She overdoses. Vincent finds her passed out, and rushes her to Lances house. At Lances, they give her an adrenaline shot using a giant needle to her heart. She wakes back up and Vincent takes her home. They agree not to talk about what happened that night.
5. A young Butch sits and watches the TV. A friend of his dead father’s stops by to give him his fathers watch. This watch was passed down from his great grandfather. His father hid the watch “up his ass” for “five long years” while he was imprisoned in a Vietnamese war camp. After his father died, his father’s friend then did the same with the watch. Now he is delivering it to Butch.
6. After killing the man he was supposed to lose to in a fight, Butch jumps out the window and escapes in a taxi. Marsellus Wallace sends people to track him down. Butch arrives at a motel where his girlfriend is waiting. While Butch was fighting, his girlfriend packed all the necessary things from their apartment. The next morning we discover that she forgot to pack his father’s watch. He goes back to his apartment, gets his watch, then discovers Vincent in the bathroom, who he then shoots to death. He leaves with his watch successfully. When he stops at a red light, Marsellus Wallace crosses the street infront of him. They spot each other, then Butch runs over Marsellus. He then gets in a car crash. They chase after each other into a gun shop. In that shop, the shopkeeper then lock them up in their basement. After inviting a police officer over, they both rape Marsellus while Butch manages to escape. However, he decides to go back and help Marsellus escape. They then kill the shopkeeper, and keep the police officer to torture. Marsellus lets Butch go. Butch leaves with his girlfriend.
7. Open in the bathroom of the teenagers’ apartment we see a boy in the bathroom while Jules recites his Bible verse. The boy comes out and shoots every bullet at Vincent and Jules. Every bullet misses, then they kill him. They take one of the boys with them, after Jules believes God stopped the bullets from hitting them. In the car, Vincent accidentally blows the head of the boy off in the back of the car. They stop by at Jimmy’s house so they can get off the road. They call Marsellus who calls the Wolf so that they can get the car cleaned up before Bonnie gets home. The Wolf gets to Jimmy’s and helps to clean everything up. Jules and Vincent borrow clean clothes from Jimmy.
8. On the way home they stop at a diner to get breakfast. Vincent goes to the bathroom. Pumpkin and Honey-bunny pop up; “Anyone of you fucking pricks move I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of you”. They then empty the cash register and collect people’s wallets. Pumpkin tries to take the briefcase, then after Vincent gets back from the toilet, and a Mexican stand off occurs, Pumpkin and Honey-bunny leave. Then Jules and Vincent do, still with the briefcase.

---

Story

The chronological order of the events in the film.

1. A young Butch sits and watches the TV. A friend of his dead father’s stops by to give him his fathers watch. This watch was passed down from his great grandfather. His father hid the watch “up his ass” for “five long years” while he was imprisoned in a Vietnamese war camp. After his father died, his father’s friend then did the same with the watch. Now he is delivering it to Butch.
2. Jules and Vincent are on their way to a hit and discuss differences between Europe and America. They prepare their weapons for the hit from the boot of their car. They then talk about Marsellus Wallace and his wife Mia. We discover Mia is an unsuccessful actress and that Vincent doesn’t have a TV. In the apartment they talk about how Marsellus threw a man out of a four story window for giving a foot massage. They continue this discussion further as they are early. They eventually enter the apartment, after having discovered that Vincent has agreed to take Mia out for an evening. In the apartment, they retrieve the briefcase, our narrative MacGuffin; then shoot one of the kids to death.
3. Open in the bathroom of the teenagers’ apartment we see a boy in the bathroom while Jules recites his Bible verse. The boy comes out and shoots every bullet at Vincent and Jules. Every bullet misses, then they kill him. They take one of the boys with them, after Jules believes God stopped the bullets from hitting them. In the car, Vincent accidentally blows the head of the boy off in the back of the car. They stop by at Jimmy’s house so they can get off the road. They call Marsellus who calls the Wolf so that they can get the car cleaned up before Bonnie gets home. The Wolf gets to Jimmy’s and helps to clean everything up. Jules and Vincent borrow clean clothes from Jimmy.
4. On the way home they stop at a diner to get breakfast. Vincent goes to the bathroom. Pumpkin and Honey-bunny pop up; “Anyone of you fucking pricks move I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of you”. They then empty the cash register and collect people’s wallets. Pumpkin tries to take the briefcase, then after Vincent gets back from the toilet, and a Mexican stand off occurs, Pumpkin and Honey-bunny leave. Then Jules and Vincent do, still with the briefcase.
5. Pumpkin and Honey-bunny sit in a diner and decide to rob it because they talk about how the past places they have robbed have been to difficult. “Anyone of you fucking pricks move I’ll execute every motherfucking last one of you”.
6. We open on Butch and the unseen Marsellus Wallace talking about how Butch has to lose a fight. Jules and Vincent enter wearing borrowed clothes carrying the briefcase. Butch and Vincent develop a disliking towards each other.
7. Lances house – a conversation about body piercings occurs between two women. Vincent is at Lances house to buy heroine. He buys the most powerful heroine that Lance has, which is in a bag in the form of a white powder. As Vincent drives away, we see him inject the heroine to show that it should be injected. He arrives at Mia’s house, where we see Mia snorting cocaine. They take a trip to the Jack Rabbit Slims diner. There, Mia orders a five dollar shake, with no bourbon in it or nothin’. After Vincent admits that the milkshake is worth the five dollars, Mia enters them into a dance competition, which they win. They get back to Mia’s house, where Vincent goes to the toilet and Mia finds the heroine in Vincent’s coat. She mistakes it for cocaine and snorts it. She overdoses. Vincent finds her passed out, and rushes her to Lances house. At Lances, they give her an adrenaline shot using a giant needle to her heart. She wakes back up and Vincent takes her home. They agree not to talk about what happened that night.
8. After killing the man he was supposed to lose to in a fight, Butch jumps out the window and escapes in a taxi. Marsellus Wallace sends people to track him down. Butch arrives at a motel where his girlfriend is waiting. While Butch was fighting, his girlfriend packed all the necessary things from their apartment. The next morning we discover that she forgot to pack his father’s watch. He goes back to his apartment, gets his watch, then discovers Vincent in the bathroom, who he then shoots to death. He leaves with his watch successfully. When he stops at a red light, Marsellus Wallace crosses the street infront of him. They spot each other, then Butch runs over Marsellus. He then gets in a car crash. They chase after each other into a gun shop. In that shop, the shopkeeper then lock them up in their basement. After inviting a police officer over, they both rape Marsellus while Butch manages to escape. However, he decides to go back and help Marsellus escape. They then kill the shopkeeper, and keep the police officer to torture. Marsellus lets Butch go. Butch leaves with his girlfriend.

Key Narrative Concepts

Story, Plot & Narrative

Story – “Everything that happens in the fictional world between the beginning and the end, including events that viewers infer or presume to have happened.”

Plot – “What viewers see on screen and hear on the soundtrack to allow them to construct a story in their heads. Plots can begin anywhere on the chain of story events and can leap backwards and forwards in time and space.”

Narrative – “Flow of story information constructed by the plot at any given moment. Narrative implies a point of view, which may be that of one of the characters or of an omniscient (all seeing) narrator.”

---

Narrative Structure

Three-act structure –

• Act 1 – Inciting incident
• Act 2 – Plot points
• Act 3 – Climax

Types –

• Circular
• Linear
• Episodic

Chronological flow – Events follow on from each other.

Character motivation – The narrative is driven by characters’ motivations.

Ellipsis – Missing of information that the viewer can fill in themselves.

Cause & effect – Where the plot has a logical cause and effect

Flashback & flash-forward – Useful information of the character in the ‘now’ by using info from the past or the future.

---

Narrative Viewpoint

Voiceover/narration

Restricted – First person

Unrestricted/omniscient – Third Person

---

Narrative Devices

Audience positioning – How the audience is manipulated by the filmmaker; who the viewer is forced to sympathise with.

Title cards – Give extra context and information.

Intertitles – Title cards that occur in the middle of the film/action/event.

Chaptering – When the film is split into different chapters or sections.

Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

Pulp Fiction was released in 1994 and was the second film Quentin Tarantino had directed. It follows the story of multiple characters and has a nonlinear narrative structure. It shows the lives of two Los Angeles mobsters, a gangster’s wife, a boxer and two small-time criminals. Pulp Fiction is perhaps Tarantino’s most acclaimed work and won him the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

The film is divided into chapters, which is a method of narrative structure that was very unconventional at the time. Recently, however, more filmmakers have used this method of storytelling as a way to become more experimental in their storytelling.

I love this film a lot as it is one of my favourite Tarantino films. However, I don’t think it is my favourite of all of his films; I think my favourite of his films is probably Inglorious Basterds (2009), but this is a very close second. I love the nonlinear storytelling in this film, as it is extremely inventive and skilful at subverting the viewers’ expectations. For example, how Vincent Vega is killed but is then seen later when the film jumps back in time.