Pulp Fiction - Time and Storytelling

 

Pulp Fiction (1994)

During this lecture we looked into time and storytelling. 'Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind' is a perfect example of the theories and the method blocks of narrative. The film begins somewhere towards the end of the narrative, however as an audience it presents itself as the first interaction between the two main characters. Throughout the film it becomes more clear that the events are non-linear, and happening inside the head of Joel Barish (Jim Carrey) and in the midst of all the confusion the audience is able to piece together the events of the story. At first it Joel's character comes across as an unreliable narrator (much like what you see in 'Joker'), however it soon becomes apparent that his thoughts are being twisted. 

Another film that demonstrates non-linear storytelling and time is Quentin Tarantino's 'Pulp Fiction'. It includes a mixture of events of different characters that eventually join up towards the end. This could be considered as Syllepsis (thematic groups connecting narrative) or Achrony (randomly ordered events). However, looking at the film as a whole it also presents; Zigzag (jumping between events that occur in the same period), Chronicle (Linear Storytelling), and Prolepsis (flashforwards). The film as a whole is non-linear, however, if you were to spilt the events up by character it would be linear. The film also jumps between events as the entire narrative happens over a short amount of time, and there are also moments throughout the film that are not necessarily flashworwards but resemble the technique. Pulp fiction clearly breaks the overused linear structure of going from point a, to b, to c. There are a few examples of this in the 90's as film-maker's started to challenge storytelling norms and create new ways of presenting narrative.