Pulp Fiction: 14 Years Later

No that’s not Obi-Wan on the right, it’s Lance the drug dealer

Has it really been that long? Yes, in 1994, along came the cinema equivalent of Nevermind.  The movie to spawn all sorts of horrible imitators.  The movie that proved that yes, Quintin Tarantino could, in fact, have a bigger ego than he already had.  Of course I’m talking about a Random Ramblings classic, Pulp Fiction. 

In 1994, the year in which most of the Random Ramblings staff was finishing up High School, we saw Pulp Fiction more times in the theater than any other movie previously.  Like 5 or 6 times more than 2nd place. It wasn’t even close.  Now, you might be wondering what kind of effect seeing such a blood drenched, profanity splattered, debauched tale of seedy creatures would do to the psyche of a 17 or 18 year old.  The answer may not be known for years to come, but so far there have been no executions preluded by scripture recitations. 

The staff became so saturated with this movie that we did not watch it much in the years that followed. Sure, there were the obligatory 2 or 3 viewings during college.  But since then, the decadance has remained dormant.  Until this past weekend, when Spike TV was showing it.  Granted, it was an edited version, which definitely is not the same as seeing the original (“Which wallet is yours?” “It’s the one that says Bad Mother Hubbard on it”). But the essence was still there.  And the staff was reminded how brilliant of a movie it is.

The narrative structure. The great dialogue. The random pop culture references. All of them add up to a movie for the ages (ok, not for the ages of under 17. Or my future 17 year old).  But it got me thinking: what would the characters of the movie (those that survived-sorry Mr. Vega) be up to now, in 2008?  Here are my guesses:

Jules Winnfield: Still walking the earth, living off the fatta the lan, like George and Lennie. Well, actually the land is living off the fatta Lennie, but we won’t dwell on that.

Butch Coolidge: Living in the South Pacific with Fabienne, and sleeping with a samurai sword by his bed.

Marcellus Wallace: I’d like to think he is a kinder, gentler crime lord after his “experience”.  Like maybe he asks people how they are feeling before he kills them. 

Mia Wallace: Having long since given up cocaine, she is now an adrenaline junkie. Not in the sense of skydiving or bungee jumping. Actually shooting adrenaline into her heart on a regular basis.  But not every day. Geez, you adrenaline rookies don’t know anything. 

Lance: still watching TV, eating Fruit Brute. Maybe hanging out with The Dude.

Yolanda and “Ringo”: Having abandoned their life of crime after their run in with Jules, they picked up acoustic guitars and tour the club circuit, as the duo “Honey Bunny and Pumpkin”. 

Zed: Still dead, baby. Still dead.