# Jonathan Rosembaum on "Pulp Fiction."
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [April 17, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491 "2004-04-17T05:46:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DrewG27](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrewG27)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/1 "2004-04-17T05:46:32Z")
In his [100 Best American films.](http://www.chireader.com/movies/100best.html), the film critic for The Chicago Reader, Jonathan Rosenbaum, says of the American Film Institute’s 100 best movies list
> [@](#):
>
> Is the list simply a commercial ploy dreamed up by a consortium of marketers to repackage familiar goods, or is it a legitimate cultural contribution that’s somehow supposed to improve the quality of our lives?. . . If it’s the latter, then why does the list contain so many movies that lie. . . about racism (_Pulp Fiction_).
I haven’t seen “Pulp Fiction” in a while, but admittedly have some affection for it. I’m genuinely interested in reading criticism, but I can’t even remember it dealing with racism at all, much less lying about it.
Does anyone know what, specifically, he’s referring to, or anything you’ve personally noticed in regards to racism in the movie?
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### Author:  [@DrewG27](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrewG27)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 5:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/2 "2004-04-17T05:48:00Z")
> [@DrewG27](#):
>
> Jonathan Rosembaum on “Pulp Fiction.”
His name is not Rosembaum, you dummy.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/3 "2004-04-17T06:49:06Z")
I’m guessing he feels that Jules’ emollient attitude in the face of Jimmy’s “Dead nigger storage” rant in _The Bonnie Situation_ didn’t ring true. Maybe he didn’t buy that Jimmy could use such language while still demonstrably valueing his marriage to a women who happened to be black, or that Jules would blithely take it and later jump down Vincent’s throat for disrespecting the man’s hand-towels.
Of course, I love _Pulp Fiction_ and consider that dialogue freaking brilliant. The scene would be tense enough without it, but it pushed it over the edge.
I think the characterization of “lie” is a bit much. The man doesn’t find it credible that that word could be trotted out so casually and with negligable impact, if I read it right. Even if this is so (which is certainly debatable,) it hardly diminishes one of the most multilayered scripts ever realized.
I don’t place a lot of weight on the importance of such lists, but I would tend to think that anyone who left _Pulp Fiction_ off it would have to be an irredeemably culturally illiterate specimen.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/4 "2004-04-17T18:36:45Z")
> [@DrewG27](#):
>
> His name is not Rosembaum, you dummy.
Yeah, you know, having that finger slip 1/4 of an inch to the right when typing the letter “N” that it _totally_ warrants the above rude retort. Wow, you are so… _brilliant_!
:rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Kid\_A\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kid_A_1)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/5 "2004-04-17T18:39:09Z")
Uh, you might notice he was talking to himself.
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/6 "2004-04-17T18:40:40Z")
> [@Kid\_A](#):
>
> Uh, you might notice he was talking to himself.
:o
Er, no.
:o
LOL at myself. Ain’t life grand? 😃
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/7 "2004-04-17T18:43:02Z")
Anyway, this threads _other_ dummy (me) opines that Rosenbaum might be referencing the Spike Lee complaint that Tarantino throws out the N-word too much, especially for a white writer. I believe in the middle of this little fracas Lee called Samuel L. Jackson. an “Uncle Tom”, which Jackson didn’t take too kindly.
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### Author:  [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/8 "2004-04-17T18:50:26Z")
You need to consider it in context:
> [@Jonathan Rosemnmnmbaum](#):
>
> . If it’s the latter, then why does the list contain so many movies that lie–about Vietnam (The Deer Hunter, Apocalypse Now), about racism (The Birth of a Nation, Taxi Driver, Pulp Fiction), about countless other matters? And why are so many of the entries aesthetically bland or worse while recapitulating all the worst habits of Hollywood self-infatuation, liberal (Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner) as well as conservative (Forrest Gump)? Shane is bad enough, but why did Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid make the cut, along with (choke) Dances With Wolves? I yield to no one in my love for James Cagney, but did he ever make a less bearable picture than Yankee Doodle Dandy, the only Cagney vehicle on the list?
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/9 "2004-04-17T18:52:12Z")
I do not even see how it’s possible for a non-documentary film to lie about racism.
Was the film was trying to say that the racial interations/conversations/language demonstrated were supposed to represent how real life is for the majority of people? I didn’t get that impression.
Saying that the film lies about anything is beyond stupid. Does he think it lies about hitmen and murder too?
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### Author:  [@DrewG27](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrewG27)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/10 "2004-04-17T19:39:01Z")
I haven’t seen “The Birth of a Nation,” but I have read that is has some pretty overtly racist scenes, with hordes of black men raping white women until the KKK comes to the rescue. That sounds like legitimate lying, but I don’t see how “Pulp Fiction” falls into the same category.
I thought I framed the context fairly. I cut out a few lines because I know this message board has a pretty strict policy on posting copyrighted material, and even though it was from the Chicago Reader I didn’t want to take any chances. Either way, the original article is linked for all to read.
I appreciate your defense, JohnT. I should go easier on myself.
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### Author:  [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)
#### Post date: [April 17, 2004, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/11 "2004-04-17T19:47:47Z")
I think it’s because in the Tarantinoverse there’s little to no racism among the characters. Everybody is friendly with everybody until they have a “real” reason to hate someone.
This angers Spike Lee because a lot of his movies deal with how people treat people of other races. It’s his bread and butter and Tarantino has totally blown him out of the water in terms of popularity.
And anyone that would call Samuel L Jackson an Uncle Tom obviously doesn’t know what that phrase means…
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2004, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/12 "2004-04-18T00:15:06Z")
Someone needs to point out to Mr. Rosenbaum that the name of the movie is, after all, _Pulp **Fiction** _.
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/13 "2004-04-18T00:20:02Z")
> [@JohnT](#):
>
> I believe in the middle of this little fracas Lee called Samuel L. Jackson. an “Uncle Tom”, which Jackson didn’t take too kindly.
Cite?
Seriously, if that happened I completely slept on that. Spike Lee and Samuel L. Jackson bumped heads repeatedly over Sam’s endorsing Tarantino’s use of the n-word – I suspect it led to their not working together since – but I don’t recall Lee calling Sam a Tom.
Calling Sam Jackson a Tom is a stretch. Now, Cuba Gooding, Jr. on the other hand…
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2004, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/14 "2004-04-18T00:23:22Z")
I was wrong. The phrase Lee used to describe S. L. Jackson was a
> [@](#):
>
> …house Negro defending massa.
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/lee.htm](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/features/lee.htm)
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2004, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/15 "2004-04-18T00:26:50Z")
However (I pressed “reply” too quickly), the fracas was over _Jackie Brown_, not _Pulp Fiction_. However, I would argue that Rosenbaum probably got the two films confused when he remembered the little tift between the three.
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### Author:  [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jonathan-rosembaum-on-pulp-fiction/240491/16 "2004-04-18T00:28:36Z")
OUCH. Not much better… Buuuuuuut… sorta accurate.
I mean, if Pulp Fiction had been a commercial flop, would people look so kindly on Sam for being so damn tolerant and ubderstanding?
Hee, hee. That Spike.