The Truth about Star Wars

By Daniel Dobrowolski

Star Wars; a franchise that has had one of the largest impacts on the world of speculative fiction. It consists of six films, the original and the newer prequel trilogies, and yet it is the prequel trilogy that is considered largely inferior by a surprisingly large number of Star Wars fans. When you take a closer look, however, perhaps it’s not so surprising that this is the case.

After all, the originals were produced over forty years ago, at a time when the Space Opera genre had only just begun to be taken seriously, a time when nothing quite like Star Wars had ever been seen before and a time when certain clichés like a definitively good and evil set of characters and a plot revolving around a one-dimensional Bildungsroman-style main character were actually revered. No wonder, then, that the original Star Wars films became such classics.

When one is able to set aside the dispositions of those who dote upon the words of the stubborn middle-aged man defending his childhood favourites, the prequels begin to take a different light. One reason for this is the far greater complexity with which Anakin Skywalker’s character develops as compared to Luke’s.

Pulp Fiction: A starting point

By Callum Reid

We kicked off The Film Society's 'Cult Classic' season with a screening of Pulp Fiction to bring people up to speed. Before we get a review out I thought I would give some (hopefully) insightful information and consider a few of the questions the film raises.

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Release Date: October 14 1994

Why 'Pulp Fiction'?

The title in itself is ambiguous. The opening of the film gives the definitions of the words but neither really give away much of a hint as to what Tarantino was getting at with the title. In the poster (pictured) for the film we can see a small, round 10 cents price tag. "Pulp Fiction" was the name given to 50's paperback comics and mini-novels which contained stories generally about gangsters and solving crimes, typically costing a 'dime'. Clearly there is some parallel between the fiction in these old school mini-novels, and the narrative of Tarantino's film, hence the name 'Pulp Fiction'.

What's in the Box?

We are never shown the suitcase Jules an Vincent are sent to retrieve on Marcellus's behalf. All we are told is that 'it's beautiful' and it has a faint golden glow to it, as we see the light reflect on the faces of characters who open it. At first glance, you may be tempted to think its just gold, but gold never really shines that brightly, and would be very difficult to carry in a suitcase due to its weight. One popular theory is that it's Marcellus's soul in the case, the combination lock being '666' and it being of such great importance to him. Marcellus is also seen in the film with a plaster on his neck which later disappears. In some religions the back of the neck is considered the gateway to the soul and so perhaps the plaster was testament to its removal? Tarantino originally wanted the case to contain the diamonds from Reservoir Dogs, but decided it was too boring and predictable so the mystery was left in. We'll never know what was meant to be inside, except for the yellow light bulb they used on set.

Chronology

The chronology of the narrative is pretty messed up in the film. Tarantino does like to play with time in his films which in some ways keeps it fresh and interesting, in other ways makes it slightly annoying. There  are many attempts create a chronologically ordered timeline of the events in Pulp Fiction. Many are terrible squiggley messes but I managed to find one which is reasonably easy to read/understand. Link here for the enlarged version.

I challenge anyone to best this timeline.

Welcome...

Welcome to the WCGS Film Society blog! Our first season is entitled "Cult Classics" meaning that most of our features will be based around cult films (for those lost as to what a cult film is, follow the link). Throughout the period we will have posts from different members of The Film Society creating all kinds of stuff from reviews and posters to alternative commentaries.

'Film Society Essentials' will be those features which are directly related to the season's theme, and on occasion we will have 'Off-topic' features which could be about anything at all film-related for those members who choose to go above and beyond their limits. Feel free to leave comments and spread the word of The Film Society wherever you go.

Peace.