Pulp Fiction
1994 film by Quentin Tarantino
Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino from a story he conceived with Roger Avary. It tells four intertwining tales of crime and violence in Los Angeles. The film stars John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Willis, Tim Roth, Ving Rhames, and Uma Thurman. The title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid-twentieth century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue.
Tarantino wrote Pulp Fiction in 1992 and 1993, incorporating scenes that Avary originally wrote for True Romance (1993). Its plot occurs out of chronological order. The film features self-referential elements, monologues, casual conversations with eclectic dialogue, and an ironic combination of humor and violence. TriStar Pictures turned down the script as "too demented". Miramax Films co-chairman Harvey Weinstein was enthralled, however, and the film became the first that Miramax Films fully financed.
Pulp Fiction premiered at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival where it won the Palme d'Or, and was a major critical and commercial success.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Pulp Fiction” is 1994 film by Quentin Tarantino. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Pulp, Fiction and film, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “1994 film by Quentin Tarantino” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q104123. VIAF identifies the subject as 316752351. The Library of Congress control number is n00037922. 3 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 3 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1994, 1992 and 1993.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Three-step research path
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Pulp Fiction” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.