Individual human experiences are fundamentally modulated by the values of the collective, by which individual and shared beliefs determine human behavior, emotions, and motivations. As such, the value and meaning in people’s lives are dependent on collective human assumptions and ideas, prompting personal reflection to which an individual can weigh and assess the value and meaning of things, as well as evaluate the means one might use to acquire those things. Quentin Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ (1994) is a seemingly complete narrative that has been chopped into vignettes and rearranged like a puzzle. On the outside, it is a gangster film following two suit-wearing henchmen as they return a briefcase to their boss. However, underneath this façade, it is a film about American nihilism. More specifically, the transformation of two characters, Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) and Butch (Bruce Willis). Tarantino extracts the lack of a larger meaning in their lives and, in turn, constructs an emptiness in their existence that is filled with power, rendering our understanding of value as a construct that is molded by public perception and questioning its deeper meaning.
Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ criticizes the objective framework of value and meaning within a nihilist mindset, choosing to emphasize the discourse on language concerning the naming of objects and people. “What is a Big Mac called?”, “What is a Quarter Pounder called?”, “What is a Whopper called?”, when Butch’s girlfriend refers to his means of transportation as a ‘motorcycle’, he insists on correcting her: “It’s not a motorcycle, it’s a chopper”. And yet when a cab driver asks Butch what his name means, he replies: “This is America, honey; our names don’t mean shit”. Tarantino is questioning our understanding of value and meaning, directing our attention to how our language no longer points to anything beyond itself. To call something good or evil means it so. Jules’ reference to Ezekiel 25:17 before killing people is reduced to just “some cold-blooded shit to say to a motherfucker before I popped a cap in his ass”. The passage refers to a system of values and meaning by which an individual “shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness” and “strike down upon thee with great vengeance”, referencing the ability to influence one’s life and make moral decisions. However, the ability to look beyond the impartial meaning is missing from Jules’ life, and so the passage becomes meaningless to him. Tarantino denotes meaning as an objective construct by exposing the lack of capacity to deconstruct the true value of language.
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Tarantino’s fabrication of the contents of the briefcase is especially significant, it alludes to the fact that value is determined by Marcellus Wallace. What he wants to be done, they will do. What he declares of value becomes valuable for them and thus acts as a guide for their actions, until the task is completed by whatever means necessary. This is perfectly characterized by the mysterious briefcase which Jules and Vincent are tasked to return to Marcellus. Its mysterious nature derives from the fact we never actually see what’s in it, but we do see people’s reactions to its contents. The question invariably arises: what’s in the briefcase? However, the answer is really that it doesn’t matter. It makes no difference what’s in the briefcase. All that matters is that Marcellus wants it back, and therefore the thing is bestowed with worth. If Jules and Vincent did have an independent perception of what has value and what doesn’t, they would be able to determine whether the contents of the briefcase were ultimately important, and they would be able to decide what actions were justified in retrieving it. In the absence of any such perception of value, the briefcase becomes of ultimate significance exclusively because Marcellus says so, and any actions required to procure it become justified, including murder. Tarantino reveals the influential capacity of the collective in determining the value and importance of an object.
Tarantino’s ‘Pulp Fiction’ explores the complex link between an individual’s lack of understanding of the nature of value, meaning, and worth, as well as its capacity for a higher authority to determine its ultimate worth. He also critiques the objective framework of value and meaning within a nihilist perspective, exposing how words are given little more importance than a label and humans' inability to look beyond the exterior meaning.
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