Prof. Kevin Howley Examines Pulp Fiction in UK Film Studies Journal

May 4, 2004

May 4, 2004, Greencastle, Ind. - The May 2004 edition of Scope, the UK-based online journal of film studies, includes an article by Kevin Howley, assistant professor of communication arts and sciences at DePauw University. In "Breaking, Making, and Killing Time in Pulp Fiction", Dr. Howley offers a critical examination of the 1994 Quentin Tarantino film, writing, "In this essay, I want to suggest that Pulp Fiction's emphasis on story and story telling indicates a discernible interest in time or, more precisely, different aspects of time in cinema. With its fractured narrative structure, for example, Pulp Fiction exploits film's unrivaled facility for temporal construction and (re)ordering."

The professor argues, "like generic conventions -- the Western's climactic showdown, film noir's mysterious femme fatale, or the horror film's monstrous 'other' -- story structure itself, including the treatment of narrative and temporal relations is undergoing some (radical, perhaps) reinterpretation. This reworking of story causality and linear narrative does not, however, represent a rejection of the principles of classical filmmaking; indeed flashbacks and narrative ellipses are common storytelling devices in classical filmmaking. Rather than rejecting the principles of Hollywood classicism, the narrative and stylistic innovations prevalent in contemporary American movies constitute what film historian David Bordwell calls 'intensified continuity.'"

The complete article is accessible online by clicking here. Scope is edited by the staff and students within the Institute of Film Studies at the University of Nottingham.

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