Scene Description Spotlight: “Pulp Fiction”
Quentin Tarantino is noted — among other things — for his ear for great dialogue. However in Pulp Fiction (1994), it’s worth noting that with key characters, he generally introduces them with scene description specific to who each character is. Here is how the script’s first scene describes two characters Pumpkin (Tim Roth) and Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer):
PULP [pulp] n.
1. A soft, moist, shapeless mass or matter.
2. A magazine or book containing lurid subject matter and
being characteristically printed on rough, unfinished paper.
American Heritage Dictionary: New College Edition
INT. COFFEE SHOP — MORNING
A normal Denny’s, Spires-like coffee shop in Los Angeles.
It’s about 9:00 in the morning. While the place isn’t jammed,
there’s a healthy number of people drinking coffee, munching
on bacon and eating eggs.
Two of these people are a YOUNG MAN and a YOUNG WOMAN. The
Young Man has a slight working-class English accent and,
like his fellow countryman, smokes cigarettes like they’re
going out of style.
It is impossible to tell where the Young Woman is from or
how old she is; everything she does contradicts something
she did. The boy and girl sit in a booth. Their dialogue is
to be said in a rapid pace “HIS GIRL FRIDAY” fashion.
YOUNG MAN
No, forget it, it’s too risky. I’m
through doin’ that shit.
YOUNG WOMAN
You always say that, the same thing
every time: never again, I’m through,
too dangerous.
YOUNG MAN
I know that’s what I always say. I’m
always right too, but –
YOUNG WOMAN
— but you forget about it in a day
or two -
YOUNG MAN
— yeah, well, the days of me
forgittin’ are over, and the days of
me rememberin’ have just begun.
YOUNG WOMAN
When you go on like this, you know
what you sound like?
YOUNG MAN
I sound like a sensible fucking man,
is what I sound like.
YOUNG WOMAN
You sound like a duck.
(imitates a duck)
Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack,
quack, quack…
YOUNG MAN
Well take heart, ’cause you’re never
gonna hafta hear it again. Because
since I’m never gonna do it again,
you’re never gonna hafta hear me
quack about how I’m never gonna do
it again.
YOUNG WOMAN
After tonight.
The boy and girl laugh, their laughter putting a pause in
there, back and forth.
YOUNG MAN
(with a smile)
Correct. I got all tonight to quack.
A WAITRESS comes by with a pot of coffee.
WAITRESS
Can I get anybody anymore coffee?
YOUNG WOMAN
Oh yes, thank you.
The Waitress pours the Young Woman’s coffee. The Young Man
lights up another cigarette.
YOUNG MAN
I’m doin’ fine.
The Waitress leaves. The Young Man takes a drag off of his
smoke.
The Young Woman pours a ton of cream and sugar into her
coffee.
The Young Man goes right back into it.
YOUNG MAN
I mean the way it is now, you’re
takin’ the same fuckin’ risk as when
you rob a bank. You take more of a
risk. Banks are easier! Federal
banks aren’t supposed to stop you
anyway, during a robbery. They’re
insured, why should they care? You
don’t even need a gun in a federal
bank. I heard about this guy, walked
into a federal bank with a portable
phone, handed the phone to the teller,
the guy on the other end of the phone
said: “We got this guy’s little girl,
and if you don’t give him all your
money, we’re gonna kill ‘er.”
YOUNG WOMAN
Did it work?
YOUNG MAN
Fuckin’ A it worked, that’s what I’m
talkin’ about! Knucklehead walks in
a bank with a telephone, not a pistol,
not a shotgun, but a fuckin’ phone,
cleans the place out, and they don’t
lift a fuckin’ finger.
YOUNG WOMAN
Did they hurt the little girl?
YOUNG MAN
I don’t know. There probably never
was a little girl — the point of the
story isn’t the little girl. The
point of the story is they robbed
the bank with a telephone.
YOUNG WOMAN
You wanna rob banks?
YOUNG MAN
I’m not sayin’ I wanna rob banks,
I’m just illustrating that if we
did, it would be easier than what we
been doin’.
YOUNG WOMAN
So you don’t want to be a bank robber?
YOUNG MAN
Naw, all those guys are goin’ down
the same road, either dead or servin’
twenty.
YOUNG WOMAN
And no more liquor stores?
YOUNG MAN
What have we been talking about?
Yeah, no more-liquor-stores. Besides,
it ain’t the giggle it usta be. Too
many foreigners own liquor stores.
Vietnamese, Koreans, they can’t
fuckin’ speak English. You tell ’em:
“Empty out the register,” and they
don’t know what it fuckin’ means.
They make it too personal. We keep
on, one of those gook motherfuckers’
gonna make us kill ‘em.
YOUNG WOMAN
I’m not gonna kill anybody.
YOUNG MAN
I don’t wanna kill anybody either.
But they’ll probably put us in a
situation where it’s us of them. And
if it’s not the gooks, it these old
Jews who’ve owned the store for
fifteen fuckin’ generations. Ya got
Grandpa Irving sittin’ behind the
counter with a fuckin’ Magnum. Try
walkin’ into one of those stores
with nothin’ but a telephone, see
how far it gets you. Fuck it, forget
it, we’re out of it.
YOUNG WOMAN
Well, what else is there, day jobs?
YOUNG MAN
(laughing)
Not this life.
YOUNG WOMAN
Well what then?
He calls to the Waitress.
YOUNG MAN
Garcon! Coffee!
Then looks to his girl.
YOUNG MAN
This place.
The Waitress comes by, pouring him some more.
WAITRESS
(snotty)
“Garcon” means boy.
She splits.
YOUNG WOMAN
Here? It’s a coffee shop.
YOUNG MAN
What’s wrong with that? People never
rob restaurants, why not? Bars, liquor
stores, gas stations, you get your
head blown off stickin’ up one of
them. Restaurants, on the other hand,
you catch with their pants down.
They’re not expecting to get robbed,
or not as expecting.
YOUNG WOMAN
(taking to idea)
I bet in places like this you could
cut down on the hero factor.
YOUNG MAN
Correct. Just like banks, these places
are insured. The managers don’t give
a fuck, they’re just tryin’ to get
ya out the door before you start
pluggin’ diners. Waitresses, forget
it, they ain’t takin’ a bullet for
the register. Busboys, some wetback
gettin’ paid a dollar fifty a hour
gonna really give a fuck you’re
stealin’ from the owner. Customers
are sittin’ there with food in their
mouths, they don’t know what’s goin’
on. One minute they’re havin’ a Denver
omelet, next minute somebody’s
stickin’ a gun in their face.
The Young Woman visibly takes in the idea. The Young Man
continues in a low voice.
YOUNG MAN
See, I got the idea last liquor store
we stuck up. ‘Member all those
customers kept comin’ in?
YOUNG WOMAN
Yeah.
YOUNG MAN
Then you got the idea to take
everybody’s wallet.
YOUNG WOMAN
Uh-huh.
YOUNG MAN
That was a good idea.
YOUNG WOMAN
Thanks.
YOUNG MAN
We made more from the wallets then
we did the register.
YOUNG WOMAN
Yes we did.
YOUNG MAN
A lot of people go to restaurants.
YOUNG WOMAN
A lot of wallets.
YOUNG MAN
Pretty smart, huh?
The Young Woman scans the restaurant with this new
information.
She sees all the PATRONS eating, lost in conversations. The
tired WAITRESS, taking orders. The BUSBOYS going through the
motions, collecting dishes. The MANAGER complaining to the
COOK about something. A smiles breaks out on the Young Woman’s
face.
YOUNG WOMAN
Pretty smart.
(into it)
I’m ready, let’s go, right here,
right now.
YOUNG MAN
Remember, same as before, you’re
crowd control, I handle the employees.
YOUNG WOMAN
Got it.
They both take out their .32-caliber pistols and lay them on
the table. He looks at her and she back at him.
YOUNG WOMAN
I love you, Pumpkin.
YOUNG MAN
I love you, Honey Bunny.
And with that, Pumpkin and Honey Bunny grab their weapons,
stand up and rob the restaurant. Pumpkin’s robbery persona
is that of the in-control professional. Honey Bunny’s is
that of the psychopathic, hair-triggered, loose cannon.
PUMPKIN
(yelling to all)
Everybody be cool this is a robbery!
HONEY BUNNY
Any of you fuckin’ pricks move and
I’ll execute every one of you
motherfuckers! Got that?
CUT TO:
Tarantino uses scene description here in two ways to convey character: (1) Through the Narrative Voice’s ‘impression’ of both Pumpkin (“Pumpkin’s robbery persona is that of the in-control professional”) and Honey Bunny (“everything she does contradicts everything she did… the psychopathic, hair-triggered, loose cannnon”); (2) Through the actions of each character: Pumpkin (“smokes cigarettes like they’re going out of style”) and Honey Bunny (“pours a ton of cream and sugar”).
So while dialogue can be a critical element in distinguishing various characters, scene description can, too, by drilling down into each character’s core essence: Through the Narrative Voice’s ‘impression’ and through the character’s individual actions.
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