Scenes I Go Back To: Pulp Fiction

The first time I saw Pulp Fiction, I was terrified.  I knew there was a sodomy scene somewhere in the film, and me being the innocent college freshman that I was, I didn’t really want to see it.  Strangely enough, though, once I got past that scene, the movie just opened up for me.  I still think the film’s last 25 minutes or so are its strongest, and the final diner scene, in which Jules and Vincent discuss the nature of miracles, and Jules confronts a couple of would-be robbers, is its finest moment.

As strange as it might seem, the very final scene, in which Jules reimagines a bit of Scripture, was probably the first time I realized that profound, even spiritual truth could be conveyed via post-modern, pastiched-up, obscenity-laden pop culture.  And it doesn’t hurt that Samuel L. Jackson’s handling of the f-bomb borders on Shakespearean here.  I realize that including Pulp Fiction on a list like this might be interpreted as the height of hipster hubris, but that doesn’t mean this scene is any less great or important in my estimation.

This entry is part of my August blogging project, “Scenes I Go Back To”.