Postmodernism & Pulp Fiction Intertextuality

Media reality is the new reality. We no longer have any sense of the difference between real things, images of them, or real experiences and simulations of them. Representations are re interpreted and played around with through pastiche and intertextual references. People will deliberately expose the text as constructed to tell the audience that the piece is not real and it never pretends to be real at any point, they don't try and hide the fact the media text is constructed. An example of this is in Quentin Tarantino's film 'Kill Bill' the mise en scene shows the audience that this is a film and not real life. There is a childs painting on the wall which is meant to be a "doodle" but indicates splattered blood. The cereal is called "kaboom" showing the audience a gun exposion may happen. The spraying blood is over exaggerated. The camera shot in which it shows a birds eye view, shows the audience it is a film set because the angle shows there is no room of the house.



Pulp Fiction (1994) directed by Quentin Tarantino tells the story of hitmen linked into different stories. The criticism for this film has been that because the film makes so many intertextual references it is so sly and knowing that it doesn't seem 'real' it feels/looks like a construction. Does this make Pulp Fiction postmodern?



Jules quoting from the Bible is reminiscent of Robert Mitchum's character quoting from the Bible in Night Of The Hunter (1955 Charles Laughton)



Mia's haircut styled after Louise Brooks in Pandora's Box (1928 G.W. Pabst)





Marilyn Monroe's skirt flying up over a subway grating in The Seven Year Itch (1955 Billy Wilder)





The weapons that Butch considers before saving Marcellus:
Hammer—The Toolbox Murders (1978)
Baseball bat—Walking Tall (1973)
Chainsaw—The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)



The moment where Butch is waiting at a crossroads in his car has his path crossed by Marcellus Wallace is a direct reference to the moment in Psycho (1960 Alfred Hitchcock) when Marion Crane sees her boss walk in front of her car after fleeing from him, having stolen $40,000.

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Young and Rubican

Dr Maslow was studyed monkeys (1969) He found that monkeys always made sure they weren't thirsty before they looked for shelter and always made sure they found shelter before finding a companion. He then went on to study humans, and he found humans acted the same was as monkeys, for example humans wouldnt worry about love until they felt secure.
What became of this was, Dr Maslows hierachy of needs.




Young and Rubican researched on where people stood in the differernt catogories.
The hierachy of needs accepted that people from different cuntries were influenced by their culural background. They therefore named it the Cross Cultural Consumer Characterisation. (4Cs) for short. This puts people into one of 7 groups, depending on their motivation:

The Explorer is driven by a need for something new. Often the first to try out new ideas and experiences. Their core need for live is discovery.

The Aspirer is driven by other people's perception rather than their own opinion. This could be what other think of their appearence, fashion and personality. Their core need for life is status.

The Succeeder has self confidence and are organised. They feel they deserve the best reward given. They have an aggressive attitude to life and need to sometimes relax. Their core need for life is control.

The Reformer has independent judgement. They are often perceived as being intellectual and pride themselves on tolerence. Their core need for life is enlightenment.

The Mainstream are the largest group within the 4C's. They are the mainstream of society, in the domestic world. They respond to big established family brands. Their core need for life is security.

The Struggler lives for today and no plans for tomorrow. Often binges on alcohol and junk food. There only chance in life would be if they won the lottery. They seek escape.

The Resigned are mostly the older generation who's values have been built up over time. They act in traditional ways and their aim in life is to survive.

The relevent catogories that link with our advert are the aspirer, explorer and succeeder.

When I took the quiz on www.4cs.yr.com/diys to see what type I was. I got these results: