Who Is The Antagonist In Pulp Fiction
Image Analysis
Pulp Fiction
Introduction to Study Higher Education
Fashion Retail Branding and Visual Merchandising
Maria Emilia Aguilar Lopez / AGU13395725
2
DESCRIPTION
The poster shown above corresponds to the Pulp Fiction film released in 1994.
The image shows a dark haired and blue-eyed woman lying on a bed wearing red lipstick and a black outfit. She is wearing a black top, a pair of black trousers, a pair of black-heeled shoes and a necklace similar to a locket. She has a cigarette in her right hand and a magazine in the other hand, named Pulp Fiction, the same as the poster.
She is leaning on a cushion and next to that is a gun together with her box of cigarettes.
In the background there is a lamp with a dimmed light, …show more content…
a bed and a blind pulled down.
A detail next to the foot of the woman is a green price tag of ten cents emulating an old book cover; scratches can be seen on the edges with the same purpose. At the top of the image, the black and white letters stand out against the blood-red background. The black words advertise the previous movies of the director, whilst the white words make the names of the actors - who featured in the film directed by Quentin Tarantino – stand out. The title printed in yellow in a bigger font contrasts with the red background.
The name of the producer of the movie appears in small letters, beneath the green price tag, and at the bottom of the image, a remarkable ‘coming soon to a theatre near you’ is visible, advertising that the movie will be released soon. At the bottom of the prop is the logo of the producing company, which is ‘Miramax’.
In more technical terms, the poster can be divided into two parts: the upper part, in red, which covers one third of the total size of the picture, and the main part, where Uma
Thurman is characterized. The following description is focused on the latter.
The picture was taken from a slightly high angle and from an oblique perspective. The imaginary spectator would be situated standing in front of the bed where Uma Thurman
3
is lying. On a curious note, one can see that the woman in the picture looks at the spectator at all times, regardless of where they are situated.
The picture is slightly out of focus as the resolution is medium and the edges are a bit diffused and not especially acute. It can be noted that the black high heels appear more sharpened since they were printed at a higher resolution than the other elements in the picture. In technical terms, the perspective would be defined as a “zero-point perspective” as it does not have vanishing points and therefore is a non-linear scene. Basant, (2008).
The edges of the picture are shadowed in black to reinforce the visual impact of the main character. The picture is a realistic portrait. There are no fictional elements in the photograph so the definition of realistic is self-explanatory.
A portrait is where the photographer tries to capture the mood of a person and where the person in the picture is the main attraction point. In this case Uma Thurman is, without any doubt, the central character of the picture and the element that captures our attention at first impression. There are other details like the gun, the cigarette and the lamp but they just complement Uma Thurman´s pose.
Although the image denotes sensuality, it cannot be fully classified as a glamour picture.
The glamour photographic genre not only highlights beauty but also sexiness. In this particular case, the picture that has been described would not fall inside this definition completely as it is lacking part of the sexual component.
4
CONTEXTUALIZATION
The artist behind the poster is James Verdesoto. He has won numerous awards on posters designed for different films, such as: The English Patient, Oceans 11, The Last
Samurai, Man on the Moon, Girl Interrupted, Valentino The Last Emperor, the Butterfly, amongst others. His work can vary very much in terms of the aesthetics of his posters, but they all seem to have two things in common: they tend to be dark and melancholic.
The posters by this author are different since the films he makes them for are never similar. The poster of Pulp Fiction is considered to be one of best twenty-five film posters in the world. In comparison with other posters designed for Quentin Tarantino’s films, James
Verdesoto did a good job in following the appropriate style to suit the film director’s style.
Below is a group of comparisons between posters made for Quentin Tarantino’s films and the poster made for Pulp fiction:
The main features in common with Pulp fiction poster are the colours and the film noir style that they create. The colours include black and red, the latter featuring in all posters for the director’s films, since it resembles blood and creates the sensation of danger.
The perspective of this poster is the same as Pulp
Fiction’s poster, where the spectator would be
5
situated above the scene. The main difference is the resolution, which is lower.
The structure remains similar; the top part shows the film’s title with the background in red covering about one third of the poster and leaving the rest for the main characters of the film.
This poster has many more difference with Pulp fiction’s poster than the one above. The main differences are in terms of colour and structure.
Although the red colour also plays an important role in this particular case yellow is the main colour.
As a curious note, saying that yellow is a sacred colour usually associated with courage in the far-east culture.
The structure of this poster is different as it is divided vertically instead of horizontally.
In this case the main character covers the right hand side of the poster leaving the left hand side for the title of the film.
In Kill Bill’s poster the main character is Uma Thurman as in Pulp Fiction. She is holding a katana and in Pulp fiction she can be seen with a gun. The fact that in both posters, the main character is holding a weapon, gives her a “femme fatale” style.
6
INTERPRETATION
My personal interpretation will be divided in two sections. The first section will be focused on the interpretation of the main character and the details will be interpreted in the second section.
The main character, Uma Thurman, seems to be a powerful woman with a strong personality based on the way she is looking at the spectator, how she is lying on the bed and the manner in which she is holding the book. In my opinion she denotes danger but also attraction. She looks confident and sure about herself. The colours used also contribute to create this sensation of danger.
The woman seems very mysterious. The mystery is created by the small elements such as the gun, the cigarette and the fact that Uma Thurman is looking at the spectator at all
times.
FEMINISM
As Carol Squiers said in The Critical Image:
Women, especially if they grow up with good looks, develop a certain self-contentment, which compensates them for the social restrictions that are imposed upon them in their choice of object… The importance of this type of woman for the erotic life of mankind is to be rated very high (Squiers, 1990, p.149-150).
7
The image is, from my point of view, enhancing some feminist values by representing a woman that is powerful and confident. I think that many women can be inspired by these feelings of freedom and powerfulness, which can be perceived from the picture. Every woman, especially the ones that are deprived of certain liberties, could see this woman as a role model.
‘In assessing particular projects we need to take into account underlying purposes and attitudes. It is difficult now to imagine a world without images of different, often distant, places’ (Wells. 2003, p.253). It could be difficult to describe Uma Thurma’s attitude, but one thing is sure, almost every woman would like to be her at some point in her life.
There is an underlying attitude of feminine confidence in this image that captivate the viewer. In this essay I have tried to analyze both the technical and artistic aspects of the image.
As Terry Barrett said ‘In 1839, the year the medium was invented, photography was divided into its two oldest and most enduring categories when it was proclaimed to be both a science and an art’ (Barrett. 1945, p.67).
Without any doubt, the image triggers various emotions. Analyzing the technical aspects of the picture can provide a better understanding of which elements in the picture make us feel a certain way.
From this experience I have learnt, among other things, that the images are really important in our world and the meaning of these vary depending on the type of viewer and the state of mind of the spectator.
8
Bibliography
Indika. (2013). Indika Entertainment Advertising. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.indika.com/story/. [Accessed 06 December 13].
Kashmira Lad. (2012). Types of Photography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/types-of-photography.html. [Accessed 06 December 13].
Media college. (2012). Camera angles . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mediacollege.com/video/camera/angles/. [Accessed 06 December 13].
Creative Blog. (2013). The top 25 movie posters of all time. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.creativebloq.com/movies/iconic-movie-posters-712378. [Accessed 06
December 13].
Studio Favorite. (2013). Glamour Photography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://studiofavorite.com/glamour-photography/. [Accessed 06 December 13].
Wells, L, (2003) The photography reader. 1st Edition. New York: Routledge. p. 253.
Barrett, T, (2011) Criticizing Photographs. 5 Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill
Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages. p. 67.
Squiers, C, (1991) The Critical Image. 2nd Edition. Great Britain: Lawrence and Wishart
Ltd. p. 149-150.
9
Basant, A (2008). Engineering Drawing, New Delhi: Tata MacGraw-Hill. p. 17-2
Illustrations
Indika Entertainment Advertising, (1994), Pulp fiction [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.impawards.com/1994/pulp_fiction.html [Accessed 21 November 13].
Unknown,
(1992),
Reservoir
Dogs
[ONLINE].
Available
at:
http://paul-
lavey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/reservoir-dogs-movie-review.html [Accessed 01 December
13].
Unknown, (2003), Kill Bill [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.moviepdb.net/kill-bill-vol-12003 [Accessed 28 November 13].
10
Pulp Fiction
Introduction to Study Higher Education
Fashion Retail Branding and Visual Merchandising
Maria Emilia Aguilar Lopez / AGU13395725
2
DESCRIPTION
The poster shown above corresponds to the Pulp Fiction film released in 1994.
The image shows a dark haired and blue-eyed woman lying on a bed wearing red lipstick and a black outfit. She is wearing a black top, a pair of black trousers, a pair of black-heeled shoes and a necklace similar to a locket. She has a cigarette in her right hand and a magazine in the other hand, named Pulp Fiction, the same as the poster.
She is leaning on a cushion and next to that is a gun together with her box of cigarettes.
In the background there is a lamp with a dimmed light, …show more content…
a bed and a blind pulled down.
A detail next to the foot of the woman is a green price tag of ten cents emulating an old book cover; scratches can be seen on the edges with the same purpose. At the top of the image, the black and white letters stand out against the blood-red background. The black words advertise the previous movies of the director, whilst the white words make the names of the actors - who featured in the film directed by Quentin Tarantino – stand out. The title printed in yellow in a bigger font contrasts with the red background.
The name of the producer of the movie appears in small letters, beneath the green price tag, and at the bottom of the image, a remarkable ‘coming soon to a theatre near you’ is visible, advertising that the movie will be released soon. At the bottom of the prop is the logo of the producing company, which is ‘Miramax’.
In more technical terms, the poster can be divided into two parts: the upper part, in red, which covers one third of the total size of the picture, and the main part, where Uma
Thurman is characterized. The following description is focused on the latter.
The picture was taken from a slightly high angle and from an oblique perspective. The imaginary spectator would be situated standing in front of the bed where Uma Thurman
3
is lying. On a curious note, one can see that the woman in the picture looks at the spectator at all times, regardless of where they are situated.
The picture is slightly out of focus as the resolution is medium and the edges are a bit diffused and not especially acute. It can be noted that the black high heels appear more sharpened since they were printed at a higher resolution than the other elements in the picture. In technical terms, the perspective would be defined as a “zero-point perspective” as it does not have vanishing points and therefore is a non-linear scene. Basant, (2008).
The edges of the picture are shadowed in black to reinforce the visual impact of the main character. The picture is a realistic portrait. There are no fictional elements in the photograph so the definition of realistic is self-explanatory.
A portrait is where the photographer tries to capture the mood of a person and where the person in the picture is the main attraction point. In this case Uma Thurman is, without any doubt, the central character of the picture and the element that captures our attention at first impression. There are other details like the gun, the cigarette and the lamp but they just complement Uma Thurman´s pose.
Although the image denotes sensuality, it cannot be fully classified as a glamour picture.
The glamour photographic genre not only highlights beauty but also sexiness. In this particular case, the picture that has been described would not fall inside this definition completely as it is lacking part of the sexual component.
4
CONTEXTUALIZATION
The artist behind the poster is James Verdesoto. He has won numerous awards on posters designed for different films, such as: The English Patient, Oceans 11, The Last
Samurai, Man on the Moon, Girl Interrupted, Valentino The Last Emperor, the Butterfly, amongst others. His work can vary very much in terms of the aesthetics of his posters, but they all seem to have two things in common: they tend to be dark and melancholic.
The posters by this author are different since the films he makes them for are never similar. The poster of Pulp Fiction is considered to be one of best twenty-five film posters in the world. In comparison with other posters designed for Quentin Tarantino’s films, James
Verdesoto did a good job in following the appropriate style to suit the film director’s style.
Below is a group of comparisons between posters made for Quentin Tarantino’s films and the poster made for Pulp fiction:
The main features in common with Pulp fiction poster are the colours and the film noir style that they create. The colours include black and red, the latter featuring in all posters for the director’s films, since it resembles blood and creates the sensation of danger.
The perspective of this poster is the same as Pulp
Fiction’s poster, where the spectator would be
5
situated above the scene. The main difference is the resolution, which is lower.
The structure remains similar; the top part shows the film’s title with the background in red covering about one third of the poster and leaving the rest for the main characters of the film.
This poster has many more difference with Pulp fiction’s poster than the one above. The main differences are in terms of colour and structure.
Although the red colour also plays an important role in this particular case yellow is the main colour.
As a curious note, saying that yellow is a sacred colour usually associated with courage in the far-east culture.
The structure of this poster is different as it is divided vertically instead of horizontally.
In this case the main character covers the right hand side of the poster leaving the left hand side for the title of the film.
In Kill Bill’s poster the main character is Uma Thurman as in Pulp Fiction. She is holding a katana and in Pulp fiction she can be seen with a gun. The fact that in both posters, the main character is holding a weapon, gives her a “femme fatale” style.
6
INTERPRETATION
My personal interpretation will be divided in two sections. The first section will be focused on the interpretation of the main character and the details will be interpreted in the second section.
The main character, Uma Thurman, seems to be a powerful woman with a strong personality based on the way she is looking at the spectator, how she is lying on the bed and the manner in which she is holding the book. In my opinion she denotes danger but also attraction. She looks confident and sure about herself. The colours used also contribute to create this sensation of danger.
The woman seems very mysterious. The mystery is created by the small elements such as the gun, the cigarette and the fact that Uma Thurman is looking at the spectator at all
times.
FEMINISM
As Carol Squiers said in The Critical Image:
Women, especially if they grow up with good looks, develop a certain self-contentment, which compensates them for the social restrictions that are imposed upon them in their choice of object… The importance of this type of woman for the erotic life of mankind is to be rated very high (Squiers, 1990, p.149-150).
7
The image is, from my point of view, enhancing some feminist values by representing a woman that is powerful and confident. I think that many women can be inspired by these feelings of freedom and powerfulness, which can be perceived from the picture. Every woman, especially the ones that are deprived of certain liberties, could see this woman as a role model.
‘In assessing particular projects we need to take into account underlying purposes and attitudes. It is difficult now to imagine a world without images of different, often distant, places’ (Wells. 2003, p.253). It could be difficult to describe Uma Thurma’s attitude, but one thing is sure, almost every woman would like to be her at some point in her life.
There is an underlying attitude of feminine confidence in this image that captivate the viewer. In this essay I have tried to analyze both the technical and artistic aspects of the image.
As Terry Barrett said ‘In 1839, the year the medium was invented, photography was divided into its two oldest and most enduring categories when it was proclaimed to be both a science and an art’ (Barrett. 1945, p.67).
Without any doubt, the image triggers various emotions. Analyzing the technical aspects of the picture can provide a better understanding of which elements in the picture make us feel a certain way.
From this experience I have learnt, among other things, that the images are really important in our world and the meaning of these vary depending on the type of viewer and the state of mind of the spectator.
8
Bibliography
Indika. (2013). Indika Entertainment Advertising. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.indika.com/story/. [Accessed 06 December 13].
Kashmira Lad. (2012). Types of Photography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/types-of-photography.html. [Accessed 06 December 13].
Media college. (2012). Camera angles . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.mediacollege.com/video/camera/angles/. [Accessed 06 December 13].
Creative Blog. (2013). The top 25 movie posters of all time. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.creativebloq.com/movies/iconic-movie-posters-712378. [Accessed 06
December 13].
Studio Favorite. (2013). Glamour Photography. [ONLINE] Available at: http://studiofavorite.com/glamour-photography/. [Accessed 06 December 13].
Wells, L, (2003) The photography reader. 1st Edition. New York: Routledge. p. 253.
Barrett, T, (2011) Criticizing Photographs. 5 Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill
Humanities/Social Sciences/Languages. p. 67.
Squiers, C, (1991) The Critical Image. 2nd Edition. Great Britain: Lawrence and Wishart
Ltd. p. 149-150.
9
Basant, A (2008). Engineering Drawing, New Delhi: Tata MacGraw-Hill. p. 17-2
Illustrations
Indika Entertainment Advertising, (1994), Pulp fiction [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.impawards.com/1994/pulp_fiction.html [Accessed 21 November 13].
Unknown,
(1992),
Reservoir
Dogs
[ONLINE].
Available
at:
http://paul-
lavey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/reservoir-dogs-movie-review.html [Accessed 01 December
13].
Unknown, (2003), Kill Bill [ONLINE]. Available at: http://www.moviepdb.net/kill-bill-vol-12003 [Accessed 28 November 13].
10