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How Pulp Fiction Revolutionized Cinema

May 11, 2024

Thirty years ago, the premiere of Pulp Fiction in Cannes turned cinema inside out. Director Tarantino combined trash with classic narrative tradition. And on top of that: violence, great actors, superb dialog and phenomenal coolness!

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Filmscene Pulp Fiction Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta
Image: Miramax/Everett Collection/picture alliance

Thirty years ago, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction premiered at Cannes and forever changed the cinema landscape. Leading up to the film’s 30th anniversary, we take a look at its lasting impact and the influence it has exerted - it’s inspired everyone, from Christopher Nolan through to Guy Ritchie, Breaking Bad and the Marvel films.

Scene from Marvel Movie Deadpool
Image: Zuma/UIMAGO

We also explain how Tarantino managed to combine sophisticated and popular film through an ingenious mix of genre and arthouse cinema. Pulp Fiction went down as a film that set new standards.

Uma Thurman and John Travolta - Dancing Scene "Pulp Fiction"
Image: United Archives/TBM/dpa/picture alliance

Key scenes from the film have been copied countless times and have been incorporated into our collective pop culture memory. A homage to the cheaply produced genre cinema that was long ignored by the cultural elite, which deemed it to be "pulp” or trash.

Set "Pulp Fiction" with director Quentin Tarantino
Image: Ronald Grant/Mary Evans/IMAGO

Tarantino charged it with intellectual coolness and humor. This first made him into a cult then a star director. Pulp Fiction marked the birth of the post-modern blockbuster. It initiated a new wave of independent film.

Film | Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino - Uma Thurman smoking on bed
Image: United Archives/picture alliance

Decades after Pulp Fiction, we all live in Quentin Tarantino’s world. The smooth and trashy genre-arthouse blockbuster may have inspired dozens of terrible imitations but also generations of filmmakers and audiences. The influence of Pulp Fiction is visible in pop culture up to this day.

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Arts Unveiled — Experiencing and understanding the art world

Arts Unveiled dives deep into the international creative scene, uncovering new ideas and explaining cultural phenomena that shape our history, present and future. Who are the artists? What are their greatest works of art? And how are they having an impact? Where can we find their exciting projects?