Pulp Theology

On the face of it an R rated movie like Pulp Fiction and the purveyors of organised religion would not seem to have much in common. Popular culture does, however, have a penchant for creating strange bedfellows (rather like synod debates about sexuality). For all of its graphic violence, abundant coarse language, and overt drug abuse, Pulp Fiction has some undoubted theological and spiritual themes (even if Quentin Tarantino denies it) that say something about the biblical ideal of redemption in the post-modern milieu. I’m not entirely sure what it is the film says regarding this, but I am convinced nonetheless that is does say something.

The best example is the “divine intervention” scene where two hit men working for a Los Angeles crime boss (Marsellus), one of whom routinely quotes a biblical passage (Ezekiel 25:17) before each of his kills, conduct a running “theological discussion” at the scene of a hit when bullets fired at them from a concealed gunman wielding a “hand cannon” seemingly pass right through the two of them.
“We should be dead” both realise, turning from where they are standing to find bullet holes in the plaster wall directly behind them.
“Yeah, we were lucky” Vincent (John Travolta) decides.
“No” his partner Jules (Samuel L. Jackson) insists “this was a miracle.”   
In the discussion that proceeds the two define miracle as “God came down from heaven and stopped the bullets.”
As they process this experience over breakfast in a diner, in between being held up by a Seinfeld-esque couple quoting nauseating pet names for one another (Pumpkin and Honey-Bunny), Jules reflects on his redemptive experience;
“All I know is that God got involved… I felt the touch of God.”
“But why” Vincent asks.
“That I do not know” Jules admits.
The nature of revelation is the subject of the discussion that follows. Before the divine intervention experience Ezekiel 25:17 was for Jules just “some cold blooded shit” to say  immediately before shooting someone. The actual text he quotes is (significantly) a paraphrase not to be found in any version of Ezekiel 25:17. In the light of his redemptive experience, Jules now looks upon the text in a new way. It means something. But he is not sure what.
“I never really questioned what it [Ezekiel 25:17] meant” he says “but I saw something this morning that made me think twice.”
The truth that Jules arrives at is one of his own sinfulness (to use the biblical term) and his own inability to transcend and overcome it;
“The truth is” he decides “you’re the weak, and I’m the tyranny of evil men, but I’m trying, I’m trying real hard to be the shepherd.”

There is no doubt Jules has had a redemptive experience because his life is changed and his path altered as a result of it. Vincent, who denies the experience and its theological ramifications is, significantly, the only major character to die in the film. Apart from the character of Jules, there are some further redemptive aspects to Pulp Fiction. Butch (Bruce Willis) goes back to save Marsellus when he could have saved only himself and left the man who was, after all, trying to kill him only a few minutes earlier. Mia (Uma Thurman) is saved from an overdose by Vincent and the reluctant Lance. The redemptive experience of Jules is, however, the one that looms large. The interlocking plot of the movie, to a fairly large degree, weaves its way in and out of Jules’ story culminating with this moment of redemption (which actually takes place at the start even though the viewer sees it at the end). The problem for Jules is, he cannot connect his experience to any source of revelation. Yes, God got involved, he knows that, but why? Yes, Ezekiel 25:17 communicates something about God and something himself, but what? His conclusion is to wander the earth, get involved in “adventures” and, hopefully, discover truth.

As he walks out of the diner that morning, tucking his handgun into his shorts, Jules assumes the form of the quintessential post-modern “seeker” yet to walk through the divinely lit doors of Willow Creek to the beckoning sound of the Hallelujah chorus. That there is a God is not the issue in Pulp Fiction nor other films like it made for the MTV generation (City of Angels, Dogma, End of Days, Stigmata, etc.). The question is, why does God “save” Jules? Why does God choose (“elect” to use biblical language) Jules  the hit-man, or the night-clubbing atheist Frankie (in Stigmata), or the abortion clinic worker Bethany (in Stigmata)? Understanding lies (perhaps) in the interpreting the self’s own experience. Part of the implications of this are that the revelation source (in Jules’ case, Ezekiel 25:17) can not supply objective truth, although it can perhaps be deconstructed and interpreted in a way that makes sense of the individual’s experience and, ultimately, leads him / her closer to God.

What theology is reflected back to us by a film like Pulp Fiction? Something like this – God exists, but the world is evil and messy. Despite this, God can and might “get involved” in people’s lives. If God does “get involved” then the experience of God demands interpretation and understanding. It places one on a search for truth and turns one into a spiritual seeker. I hope the quest for truth brings Jules and those like him to my Church one day. And I hope the text appointed to be read for that day is Ezekiel 25:17. Then I will believe in providence.