...“What Makes Great Fiction” There are many aspects in a story that play key roles in its quality and the overall view of by reader. Suspense, drama, love, conflict, and war, make movies great. However, what separates these movies and makes them stand out from one another? Yes, each movie has a different story with different characters, but there has to be something truly unique about it to make it memorable and a classic. The writing technique that I am going to focus on is narrative structure. Narrative structure isn’t as simple as it sounds. There are many styles and approaches authors and directors can take to keep the story from being too bland and uninteresting. In The Norton Anthology of Short Fiction it says that in order to write good fiction, the writer must take a more complex approach in portraying the story to the reader and the story must be original. A writer and director that has mastered these two things is the notorious director, Quentin Tarantino. A great example of how significant narrative structure is Quentin Tarantino’s use of nonlinear storylines. Nonlinear storylines can be seen in Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and Kill Bill. These movies seem to start in the beginning and play through without any suspicion to reader of it starting somewhere other than the beginning of the plot. As the movie progresses there are specific details that are missing that leave the viewer confused. The movie is displayed in a series of chapters that seem...
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...The first title that appears is a quote, an ‘old Klingon proverb’ which says ‘Revenge is a dish best served cold’. This is a common proverb quoted in everyday conversation and literature, and sets the tone for the rest of the film informing the audience that revenge will be a key theme of the film. The extract opens with an aerial view of the Bride where we look down almost directly on top of her face, putting us above her in a position of power and almost in a point of view shot of the male character, she is bloody, beaten up and blonde - the stereotypical victim. She is breathing heavily, which shows the audience she feels threatened and frightened. This shot makes the audience want to know what happened to the woman, why she was beaten and who or what it is that she is threatened by. The click of shoes on the wooden floor was made even louder by the lack of any music, each step isolated, slow and in no hurry the gait sounded menacing. This diegetic sound heightens the anticipation of the scene as the audience is unaware of whom the person is, but assumes that they are a threat. Also, the footsteps are quite rhythmical, almost mimicking an increasing heartbeat. The next shot we see is a low angle tracking shot of someone's feet walking across floorboards. This connotes a threatening character, as we are not shown the characters face. In fact, in this film, Tarantino creates an enigma, as the audience is not shown Bill's face throughout the whole film. The scene then...
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...After relieving me of my pen and giving me a pencil, I walked through the gallery. I found many pieces that I really liked, and only very few that I didn’t. Throughout my visit, it became more and more difficult to choose only two pieces that I like and one I do not. Fortunately for me, the day I visited the Museum was the last day of Judy Miller’s exhibit called, Imaginary Dioramas. Miller’s dioramas involve taking pictures of celebrity’s wax figures (normally from Madam Toussad’s Wax Museums), and superimposing the pictures onto an unlikely background. Imaginary Dioramas is about dichotomy. One of my favorite pieces from the exhibit was titled, Outtake #26, Uma. The background of the picture is a serene forest in autumn, showing trees and many leaves on the ground. On the left side of the picture is a close-up of Uma Thurman in her part as The Bride, Beatrix Kiddo, from the movie Kill Bill volume 2, looking more than ready for the director to yell, “Action!”, so she can continue to cut bad guys in half with her sword. On the right side, the director, Quentin Tarantino, is shown making a lens box with his hands, as if to tell her to stop what she’s doing, so that he can continue to prepare the shot. Separating these two figures, in the exact middle of the portrait is a very straight tree that acts as a dividing line between the intensity and violence of Thurman’s character, and quiet patience of Tarantino’s style as a director. Miller also gave an explanation that this is...
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...Pulp Fiction is like boot camp for the Marines. You come into it from your civilized life, they subject you to violent language until you're numb, they abuse you verbally and physically until all of your normal feelings and values are reduced to dust. Leaving you aware that you have changed, and able to describe the change, you find yourself questioning the person you were previously. First thing you know you're saluting. This story is a cleverly disorienting journey through a landscape of danger, shock, hilarity, and vibrant local color. Nothing is predictable or familiar within this irresistibly bizarre world. You do not merely enter a theater to see Pulp Fiction: you go down a rabbit hole. Theater is an actor moving through time and space, telling a story. In Quentin Terintenio¹s, Pulp Fiction, the actors portray savvy modern-day gangsters and the story is three stories told in backwards order. To say the least this not your average story. The theme of the story is redemption, and the journey to achieve that redemption. The characters are colorfully multidimensional and most importantly they are believable. The language of the story is street-smart and confident, like the characters. There is no main plot, only mirror plots that are reflections of each other. The theme of redemption is portrayed by two of the main characters of the story. These characters seek redemption and a new way of life, they each desire a more virtuous life. Butch (Bruce Willis) wants to pull...
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