Pulp Fiction is a great film. I don’t think I’m alone in thinking this.
One reason I dig this movie is its non-linear narrative style. Rather than employ a traditional cause-and-effect plot, writer/director Quentin Tarantino sequences Pulp Fiction out of order, on purpose. If each scene is a card, it’s safe to say Tarantino shuffled his deck. Or, more accurately, he stacked it.
Non-linear storytelling is challenging. Nonetheless, the payoffs are quite strong when it’s done well. Here are three benefits to using non-linear narratives.
Satisfying Complexity
While conventional storytelling is often made better by trimming complexity, non-linear stories work in a different way. Deciphering them is half the fun.
For example, you’ll remember a scene in Pulp Fiction in which Marsellus Wallace (Ving Rhames) pays Butch (Bruce Willis) to lose his next fight. In that same scene, Vincent Vega (John Travolta) and Jules Winfield (Samuel L. Jackson) enter the scene wearing faded t-shirts and boxers. It’s a little odd, especially considering the previous scene in which they wore sharp suits. We don’t discover what happened until later in the film: Vincent accidentally shot a guy in the back seat of his car, making a bit of a mess. Those nice business suits had to go.
This is one advantage of non-linear storytelling. You can present an intriguing element in your timeline, then explain how it happened later.
Intersecting Characters
In non-linear stories, the main plot can often be divided into smaller subplots. This presents myriad opportunities for character arcs to intersect.
Take, for example, Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer) and Ringo (Tim Roth). They’re the first characters we encounter in the film, and by the end, we’ve almost forgotten they appeared at all. Yet when Vincent and Jules enter the diner in the film’s final scene, we realize that all four characters were in the same place all along. We just didn’t know it yet.
It’s these intersections of plot that I just love. They’re super interesting, and they create a puzzle-like wonder for the writer. Where do these plots intersect? How do the paths of these characters cross?
Time Distortion
I think one of the coolest and weirdest parts of Pulp Fiction is the scene in which Butch kills Vincent. Whoops, spoiler. Anyway, I love that scene.
It’s cool and weird because Vincent is kind of the star of the movie. So there’s a big “What just happened?” moment when he’s killed in such an inglorious way. And yet, as mentioned earlier, Vincent’s death doesn’t preclude him from appearing once again in the film’s final act.
This departure from the linear plays two parts. For one, you get a jolt of confusion, especially if it’s your first time watching the film. When Vincent reappears after his death, you might ask yourself, “Wait a second…didn’t he get shot?” Then, as the scene plays out, we realize we’ve actually jumped back in time. And we finally find out where the t-shirts came from.
Also, the time shuffle adds a hint of sadness to that final diner scene. Because even though the film ends with Vincent and Jules walking off into the sunset, so to speak, we know that Vincent will later be killed. Sure, he’s a hitman. But he’s a likable hitman.
Non-linear storytelling is endlessly fascinating, and Pulp Fiction proves it. If you’re looking for a master class in the form, I highly recommend it.
Kyle A. Massa is a speculative fiction author living somewhere in upstate New York with his wife and their two cats. His stories have appeared in numerous online magazines, including Allegory, Chantwood, and Dark Fire Fiction. His debut novel, Gerald Barkley Rocks, is available now on Amazon Kindle.