Movie

Pulp Fiction

Name: Pulp Fiction
Released: 1994

1994 • Crime, Drama

Woke Score

1.6

out of 10

Plot

Jules Winnfield (Samuel L. Jackson) and Vincent Vega (John Travolta) are two hit men who are out to retrieve a suitcase stolen from their employer, mob boss Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames). Wallace has also asked Vincent to take his wife Mia (Uma Thurman) out a few days later when Wallace himself will be out of town. Butch Coolidge (Bruce Willis) is an aging boxer who is paid by Wallace to lose his fight. The lives of these seemingly unrelated people are woven together comprising of a series of funny, bizarre and uncalled-for incidents.

Overall Series Review

Pulp Fiction is a hyper-stylized crime drama focusing on the moral choices, consequences, and chance encounters of various criminals in Los Angeles. The film's narrative structure is non-linear, emphasizing how individual decisions lead to dramatically different fates for the characters. Jules Winnfield’s journey involves a clear spiritual awakening that causes him to abandon his life of violence for a path of righteous reflection. In contrast, Vincent Vega's dismissive, nihilistic approach to the same event leads directly to his death. The film operates in a world where moral ambiguity is pervasive, yet it ultimately provides clear consequences for characters who choose redemption versus those who remain cynical. Women are depicted as highly active, independent, and dangerous figures within the criminal underworld, not as passive victims. The narrative is a study of character and fate, completely devoid of political lectures on race, gender, or privilege.

Categorical Breakdown

Identity Politics2/10

The film does not center on intersectional hierarchy or vilify "whiteness"; the criminal characters' race is incidental to their moral choices. Jules Winnfield, who is black, is the moral center of the story, choosing a path of spiritual redemption. Vincent Vega, who is white, chooses nihilism and dies. Character fate is determined by the content of their soul and the choices they make.

Oikophobia1/10

The film’s central subplot involves Butch Coolidge risking his life for a gold watch, a precious family heirloom passed down through generations by his father and grandfather. This emphasis on honoring the sacrifices and heritage of one's ancestors serves as a defense of traditional family legacy. The setting is a critique of a chaotic underworld, not a wholesale condemnation of Western civilization.

Feminism2/10

Female characters are not presented as universally perfect "Girl Bosses," but they are strong, autonomous, and influential figures in the criminal world. Mia Wallace, the mob boss's wife, is intelligent and takes charge of her evening with Vincent. The female robbers are active partners in their crimes. There is no anti-natalist or anti-family messaging; the women are defined by their actions and their relationships with their male partners, not a political struggle for gender dominance.

LGBTQ+1/10

The primary relationships are traditional male-female pairings. The film includes a scene of horrific sexual violence involving the mob boss, but this element serves as an extreme display of depravity within the crime narrative and does not function to center alternative sexualities or deconstruct the nuclear family as a social construct. The structure is normative, and sexuality is not a source of ideological lecturing.

Anti-Theism2/10

The film is fundamentally a morality play about redemption. Jules Winnfield interprets surviving an attack as a "miracle" and a call to faith. His subsequent choice to abandon his violent life is directly linked to this spiritual awakening, reflecting an acknowledgment of transcendent morality. The nihilist character, Vincent, rejects this divine intervention and is killed shortly after, suggesting a clear moral consequence for rejecting a higher law.