his soul????

[yvonne]

"If you all are anything like me then you had no idea what was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction. So, through a friend of a friend of a friend who had a two hour conversation with Quentin Tarantino himself, I now know, and I thought I would pass along the information because it makes the movie even 100 times better than it already is.


Remember the first time you were introduced to Marsellus Wallace. The first shot of him was of the back of his head, complete with band-aid. Then, remember the combination of the lock on the briefcase was 666. Then, remember that whenever anyone opened the briefcase, it glowed, and they were in amazement at how beautiful it was; they were speechless. Now, bring in some Bible knowledge, and remember that when the devil takes your soul, he takes it from the back of your head.

Yep, you guessed it. What is the most beautiful thing about a person: his soul. Marsellus Wallace had sold his soul to the devil, and was trying to buy it back. The three kids in the beginning of the movie were the devil's helpers. And remember that when the kid at the end came out of the bathroom with a "hand cannon," Jules and Vincent were not harmed by the bullets. "God came down and stopped the bullets" because they were saving a soul. It was divine intervention.



[Note: Nowhere in the Bible is it stated that "when the devil takes your soul, he takes it from the back of your head."]

However, that this interpretation came directly from Tarantino conflicts with other accounts. According to Tarantino A to Zed: The Films of Quentin Tarantino:


Tarantino has admitted that there is no official explanation behind the briefcase's contents, and that it was simply written into the screen play as an intriguing McGuffin.


And from Rober Ebert's Questions for the Movie Answer Man comes the following statement by Pulp Fiction co-author Roger Avery:


Originally the briefcase contained diamonds. But that just seemed too boring and predictable. So it was decided that the contents of the briefcase were never to be seen. This way each audience member would fill in the blank with their own ultimate contents. All you were supposed to know was that it was "so beautiful." No prop master can come up with something better than each individual's imagination. At least that was the original idea. Then somebody had the bright idea (which I think was a mistake) of putting an orange lightbulb in there. Suddenly what could have been anything became anything supernatural. Didn't need to push the effect. People would have debated it for years anyway, and it would have been much more subtle. I can't believe I'm actually talking about being subtle."


I got this off of the site that someone posted for urban ledgens....thanks i love that site now!! yvonne

this is an interesting idea...


[This message has been edited by yvonne (edited 08-11-2000).]

[retardinAz]

Another thing that I have heard is that Marsellus wallace is the devil himself, and the bandage covers "666" on the back of his neck. Oh, and you are welcome, Snopes.com is one of my favorite places to go to as well, although they haven't updated for quite sometime now.

[Mr. Meat]

I can't believe hardly anybody is posting on this! This is an interesting topic and i think we all have our thoughts on what is in the briefcase.

You bring out some good ideas. Everything you said had a big (kinda) part in the story. Very interesting, Yvonne. Another theory. I need to watch it...right now!!::gets his VCR ready::

But lets not forget the opening to the film. Pulp and Fiction was given with a definition...

[This message has been edited by Mr. Meat (edited 08-07-2000).]

[JoBlo]

Meat, you bring up a good point about "not a lot of people posting on this" and I thought it was a perfect example of a GREAT TOPIC, but a (sorry, Yvonne), not-so-great SUBJECT HEADER.

This note goes out to all Schmoes in that you should REALLY try and see that your SUBJECT mentions something that will attract people to your topic. With thousands of posts now up on the board, it can become really difficult for people to know what each conversation is about, especially if the subjects are stuff like:

"movies"
"I just saw it"
"watch out"

I think people would rather click on something like:

"my favorite movies"
"I just saw Autumn in NY and it sucked"
"watch out cause Autumn in NY sucks!"

In this case, I think a great SUBJECT would have been:

"PULP FICTION: What's in the suitcase solved!"

Again Yvonne....I'm sorry if this feels like I'm picking on you because I really AM NOT. I'm just using this post as an example of a GREAT POST with little cream on top... /ubb/smile.gif

Thanks for all the info...I always thought it was his soul myself. Great analysis.

PS: For all RESERVOIR DOGS fans, keep your eyes peeled for an ORANGE balloon which bounces next to the heist car at one point. Get it? Orange balloon? Mr. Orange....

[QUENTIN]

Yvonne I am sorry to tell you, but you are completely wrong. I have heard this exact same thing word for word a thousand times b4 on all Tarantino and PF sites I go to. And acoording to Tarantino the story is completely false, the "friend of a friend" thing is entire bullshit. This is some guys theory. I used to believe this there are a lot of things about ti that make sense. There isd also a lot more about this on websites, it is the most common theory about PF, but it is false. Tarantino and Avary (you should have read ALL of that Avary and Ebert disacussion) both said it is bullshit. There is no answer to what is in the brieface, it is "whatever you want it to be" that is all. I used to be a follower of this for a long time...but it is completely false. this was written by some guy and then passed on with a fake "I got this from a friend of a friend who had a 2 hour conversation with Tarantino" none of it is correct.

[QUENTIN]

[This message has been edited by QUENTIN (edited 08-08-2000).]

[Silent Bob]

What do YOU think was in that breifcase? I always thought that it was gold, but I'm just a major idiot... /ubb/biggrin.gif

[QUENTIN]

I think it is an homage to a 50's cult film called Kiss Me Deadly, beyond that it's like Tarantino says, it is nothing it is simply "whatever you want it to be".

And BTW JoBlo not only is there the orange balloon which is a signal, but also notice how when Cabot asks "who didn't put in" Orange immediately "snitches" on Pink.

[This message has been edited by QUENTIN (edited 08-08-2000).]

[yvonne]

thanks joblo for mentioning the titles to me....i go to all the new ones whether they grab me or not, just to see what its about...but thanks, and no i am not mad /ubb/smile.gif

quentin, i was on snope.com and i found that article. I thought it was cool...i just thought that it was cool...sorry for wasting your time dude...just thought i was being helpful...dont get so defensive man its just a movie...the world wont end just because i might wrong....

[This message has been edited by yvonne (edited 08-11-2000).]

[retardinAz]

If it is whatever you want it to be, what is to stop you from thinking it is his soul? Quentin, I knew also that it was false, but I just thought it was a very interesting subject. Just because it is wrong doesn't mean you gotta ruin it for every1.

[QUENTIN]

Well, it's the most commonly mistaken idea about PF, and I didn't want even more people thinking it was true.

[Verbal Kint]

Yvonne: Good topic, in fact great topic. I was trying to find out what was in the suitcase for a long time after I saw the film for the first time. My ultimate conclusion was that this was the simplist and easiest way out of a long and tired explanation: Quentin Tarantino couldn't think of anything profound so he just left it up to the audience which is the easiest way out.

Quentin: If it's whatever you want it to be then how can you say she's wrong? That's kinda idiotic. I think there is no wrong conclusion only right ones because like Tarantino said "ITS WHATEVER YOU WANT IT TO BE". so that means that this theory is right to yvonne and probably many other things. Hell, it's what makes the most sense to me and i'm sticking with this explanation.

/ubb/biggrin.gif

[QUENTIN]

Mankato he said that it what ever you want it to be...but not that! He said it is not his soul and that no one ever had any 2 hour conversation with him about it, he said the entire story was bogus and completely discredted it. It is whatever you want it to be, except his soul. And I seriously can't believe in a board full of geeks no one has heard or seen that message beofre, it's 4 years old and it's on EVERY tarantino website. Always discredited by the man himself. Arguing with the writer and director of a movie about the movie he made is stupid, he is the one that wrote it and he is the one that knows, and it is not the soul.

[JoBlo]

The theory is a VERY interesting one and certainly one that makes A LOT of sense. Whether or not Tarantino said that it did or not shouldn't make much of a difference, since he and many other filmmakers like to play "games" like that with movie geeks, so that we could go on talking about it forever.

I TOTALLY agree with Yvonne's theory (I don't care whether or not the STORY with Tarantino ever happened, but the THEORY is an interesting one) and welcome all others who have INTERESTING theories to put forth.

And Quentin, not sure why you say that we haven't heard of this before, because I CERTAINLY had but that doesn't make this topic any less appealing.

Also Quentin, you say that "arguing with the director of a movie about the movie he made is stupid", well, you're right! But I don't see QUENTIN TARANTINO posting anywhere on this board. This board is MADE for movie fans to discuss movie matter and this one is a really cool one. If you don't like it, there are plenty of other subjects covered on the board.

PS: Yvonne...you have ABSOLUTELY NO NEED TO APOLOGIZE to anyone for bringing up this subject. It was a GREAT, GREAT POST! Quentin, you need to chill out.

[QUENTIN]

I actually did believe this for awhile, and still believe it makes A LOT of sense. But I think if a director says something about what people think about his film is completely wrong, it just doesn't lead me to believe it is still true. If a director and writer has to repeatedly say that NO this is not true this was not my intent and it just so happens that all of this could be taken that way. I could be open to the possibility of this...but it's realy hard to when the person whose mind it came from says that is not at all the truth. and I may have overreacted, but you wouldn't believe how many geeks I've talked to who consider this fact not a theory, and that Tarantino supports this...and I don't like people misinformed about my favorite movie. I take this a little bit too seriously I admit, but Pulp Fiction has more people misinterpreting things, and being misinformed about things than possible any other (save 2001) and I really want to try and remdy some of this. I don't want to tell people there theories are wrong, but rather Tarantino said that is not true, and it is certainly not fact.

[retardinAz]

I have read a lot on the subject, and Tarantino never said that it wasn't his soul. He said it was supposed to be whatever you want. He never actually said that the soul theory was wrong.

[DarkLight]

Maybe I'm treading on sacred dirt here, but I loved that theory about the soul in the briefcase (without actually wishing it was what Tarantino intended). I don't know if the passage quoted from the bible exists, but it would explain that plaster on his head. I guess if this were true, they'd have put more emphasis on the 'Fiction' in the title. Nice theory. It certainly takes the story down a different road. Good post, yvonne!

DL

"All that glitters is not gold"

[yvonne]

Thanks you guys...And Quentin, i get offensive about my fave movie (IT) too...as you might have read on this board b4...so dont worry about it...if u dont want it to be his soul...or even if somewhere QT (might) have said it wasnt..thats ok...i think its a cool explanation, and i didnt do ANY "homework" for the simple fact that i saw the explanation aon Snopes.com, thought it was cool, copied and pasted it on here for yall to read...no malice intended. i am not trying to say stuff thats not true....i havent visited an QT sites....but i think its cool and thats what i choose to believe....

[QUENTIN]

Oh no, I actually do want it t be his soul. Because that theory makes the most sense, and I believed it for the longest time...but I just don't think it is true because Tarantino said it wasn't.

p.s. sorry for flying off the handle there. I do get a little carried away when it comes to PF, forgive me?

[yvonne]

i would always forgive u Quentin besides i like "fighting" with u! keeps me on my toes!

/ubb/smile.gif