Pulp fiction’s antiheroes
Warning: this article contains spoilers about Pulp fiction.
What defines a hero? A hero is someone who gives of himself, often putting his own life at great risk, for the greater good of others.
The story of Pulp fiction follows the paths of two heroes: Butch (Bruce Willis) and Jules (Samuel L. Jackson). Both heroes or antiheroes have dramatic arcs. And both characters at the climax decide to save the life other people.
- Butch decides to save Marcellus (his antagonist) from the perverts of the pawn shop. Even if he risks his own life at doing that.
- Jules is being robbed at the cafeteria by Pumpkin and Honeybunny. He is a professional hitman and could kill them easily. But instead of that he spares their life and gives them the content of his wallet.
Butch and Jules lack the characteristics of classical heroes. They are brave and strong, but their moral integrity is questionable.
Redemption stories
The redemption of Jules is very clear if we compare the two times that he recites the Bible. There is a dramatic change in Jules’ way of thinking through the movie. The first time he reads Ezekiel:25:17 passage (“The path of the righteous man…”) is to prepare the killling of a victim. At the end of the movie, at the cafeteria, we hear the same passage from Ezekiel but with a different tone and meaning. It is the climax of Jules’ dramatic arc. He has now to “sheperd the weak through the valley of darkness”.
Infographic
Based on this idea of two redemption stories I’ve created an infographic with the two storylines in chronological order with illustrations of the key scenes of the story.
The scenes with yellow background are Butch story. The scenes with red background are Jules (and Vincent) story.
