Explore how far your chosen film or films are experimental in challenging conventional approaches to narrative

What the question is asking

-How is Tarantino's writing different in Pulp Fiction then to other films being made at the time? 

-What is unique about it?

-How does his way of writing effect the audience

-The traditional Hollywood film structure follows the 'Three Act Structure'. All films have a start, a middle and an end.

Paragraph 1: Tarantino's way of story making for 'Pulp Fiction'

• complex, layered narrative through sub-stories/chapters.
• Repetition of scenes.
• Titling and 'chapterising'

Paragraph 2: The extent of which his work follows the conventional approach

• The Hollywood way of filmmaking is centralising the story around the situation rather then a character.
• Within each 'chapter' of the film, the concept of the three act structure can be seen when scrutinising each story despite the disjointed nature of the entirety of the film. 

 The majority of films follow the conventional "Three Act Structure" which is the idea that all films have a beginning, a middle and an end. But it doesn't necessarily have to be in that order. Tarantino's unique yet complex approach confused yet intrigued audiences, as it was something that was seen as a rarity at the time. However, when scrutinising the story structure, you can see certain traits that follow the conventional 'Old Hollywood' way of filmmaking.

'Pulp Fiction' started off Tarantino's use of titling and 'chapterising' his films which is arguably one of the many features of his auteur, seen in his later films such as 'Kill Bill' and 'Inglorious Bastards'. It was a way of giving the audience a small glimpse and a slight warning that this film was not going to follow the traditional conventional sense and that these headings will give you some form of guideline for you to understand what is going on. It is a complex, layered narrative structure as the film has three different stories joined together by scenes where the characters cross over. Or in the case of Butch and Vincent, where someone is murdered.  However what makes this even more perplexing is that Vincent is killed in the middle of the film but appears at the end. This is where the confusion comes into life and implies why it is a fundamental and successful experimental example to why it challenges the conventional story structure. Another way of challenging tradition is another one of Tarantino's auteurial traits which is the repetition of scenes. The audience realises by the end of the film that the introduction of "Pumpkin" and "Honey-Bunny" in the opening scene is actually at the beginning of the final scene. This once again confused audiences as not only were they not expecting the repeating of the opening scene but also the notion of viewing it from a completely different perspective. It is was a clever mechanism used by Tarantino to keep the audience engaged but consequently ask a handful of questions. This along with his other characteristics of story structure are triumphant ways in challenging the conventional approach to story structure.






In spite of all this, when scrutinising and breaking the film down into their individual stories, there are some parallels that can be defined as following the conventional approach. Firstly, the Hollywood way to filmmaking was to centralise the story around the situation rather then a particular character. The film follows this concept as there is no distinct main character and when looking into the links between each character it is because of the situation they are in. This is one of the few similarities it has with the common viewpoint of filmmaking. Another resemblance to this is that within each 'chapter' of the film, the concept of the three act structure can be seen when investigating each individual story despite the disjointed nature of the entirety of the film. This a potential argument to proclaim that it doesn't challenge the traditional way but the fact is that the circular narrative shadows over this convention that you have to look extremely closely to find it.


In conclusion, Tarantino does challenge the conventional approach to story structure. His use of the circular, non-linear and confusing narrative was seen as unusual at the time and although it wasn't the first film to use it, it certainly expanded the trend and it is the reason why it is used more frequently in modern day cinema. Audiences are no longer expecting just a beginning, a middle and an end. When inspecting extremely closely and being indulged into the story, it is possible to pick out where the 'Old Hollywood' influences come forward but this is overruled by the multiplexing narrative. For this exact reason it is why it is seen as one of the greatest and most iconic films of all time.