Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Loc-Nar
I watched Tarantino's Pulp Fiction last night while doing laundry. It's the first time I've seen it in anything approaching it's entirety in quite a while. Now, I'm on record as really, really liking this movie ever since it was part of what was quite possibly the best first date in the history of male/female interaction.
It's always good to take a break from a great movie like this because you take new things away as you experience new things in your life. For instance, I didn't realize that Phil LaMarr, who does a lot of voices in animated series I like played Marvin, the guy who got his face shot off, or that Steve Buscemi played the Buddy Holly Waiter at Jack Rabbit Slims.
I noticed something else last night, though. Something more than noticing an actor, something more about the theme of the movie. As I watched the loosly connected stories in Pulp Fiction it reminded me of other anthology based movies. Stephen King's Creepshow came to mind, of course, but it was similarities to Heavy Metal that really drew my attention.
Pulp Fiction was intentially "cartoony" (and it is a real word, just like Zymurgical because, apparently, that's the way the English language grows), so the comparisons are obvious. It was that funky glowing briefcase thing that got me to thinking. What was it? I've had discussions with people, heated discusions about what that thing was. What was it? It was simply the Loc-Nar, the glowing green orb that tied the segments of Heavy Metal together. People will argue with me and call me an idiot, but from a writer's point of view, the glowing briefcase thingy was just a plot device that tied the loosly connected stories of an anthology together.
That's not to say that it can't have any additional meaning, but it's simply there to keep Pulp Fiction from turning into 5 seperate movies. Maybe Tarantino would even argue with me, "...the briefcase is symbolic of hope in this crazy TV-laden society we live in, man......" but it's purpose in the movie is just a plot device.
The Lucky Underwear were the same thing for my January post.....
BOJ
It's always good to take a break from a great movie like this because you take new things away as you experience new things in your life. For instance, I didn't realize that Phil LaMarr, who does a lot of voices in animated series I like played Marvin, the guy who got his face shot off, or that Steve Buscemi played the Buddy Holly Waiter at Jack Rabbit Slims.
I noticed something else last night, though. Something more than noticing an actor, something more about the theme of the movie. As I watched the loosly connected stories in Pulp Fiction it reminded me of other anthology based movies. Stephen King's Creepshow came to mind, of course, but it was similarities to Heavy Metal that really drew my attention.
Pulp Fiction was intentially "cartoony" (and it is a real word, just like Zymurgical because, apparently, that's the way the English language grows), so the comparisons are obvious. It was that funky glowing briefcase thing that got me to thinking. What was it? I've had discussions with people, heated discusions about what that thing was. What was it? It was simply the Loc-Nar, the glowing green orb that tied the segments of Heavy Metal together. People will argue with me and call me an idiot, but from a writer's point of view, the glowing briefcase thingy was just a plot device that tied the loosly connected stories of an anthology together.
That's not to say that it can't have any additional meaning, but it's simply there to keep Pulp Fiction from turning into 5 seperate movies. Maybe Tarantino would even argue with me, "...the briefcase is symbolic of hope in this crazy TV-laden society we live in, man......" but it's purpose in the movie is just a plot device.
The Lucky Underwear were the same thing for my January post.....
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 12:09 PM 
Comments:
<< Home
Kiss Me Deadly(Robert Aldrich, 1955) is likely the inspiration behind the glowing briefcase. Tarantino has made some comments to that effect. Repo Man (Alex Cox, 1984) takes the same cue. In each case, the quotation works to motivate key plot points, while maintaining a lack of internal meaning.
Post a Comment
# posted by 
: 11:04 PM
: 11:04 PM << Home
