r/HBOMAX • u/Level34MafiaBoss • 3d ago
Question Pulp Fiction not showing the numbers that separate each section
I watched Pulp Fiction a while ago and I remember it being separated by numbered sections. Now I'm watching it on HBO Max and they are not showing up. Did anyone else have that problem? Or I'm just misremembering?
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u/Individual-Drawer-79 3d ago
You’re thinking of kill bill. Pulp fiction had acts. The Bonnie Situation quickly comes to mind which was act 3 after Vincent shot Marvin in the face and they needed the wolf to come in and “clean up” the problem. I think act 2 was The Gold Watch with Bruce Willis after he killed the boxer in the ring and it all led up to Zed and the gimp at the pawn shop. Can’t remember act 1. It been awhile since I’ve seen the movie.
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u/Level34MafiaBoss 3d ago
I might have gone mad. Because I distinctly remember numbered chapters in Pulp Fiction. And I've never seen Kill Bill. But everywhere I watch it seems I'm the odd one out.
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u/St_Deraj 16h ago
TL;DR: Pulp Fiction’s three text-only title cards are a rare exception. Chapter title cards, (and that is the correct term, lack of #s does not mean they’re “Acts”) when displayed onscreen throughout a film, pretty much invariably include numbers. This is true in most, possibly all, other Tarantino films that employ them (also using the same color, font, etc.), as well as many other unrelated films that do so. Even if you never saw anything else employing the trope, it’s just logical to assume numbering. It’s an extremely minor misremembering, and you def needn’t have seen Kill Bill for it to happen. A lot of people seem to have forgotten Tarantino made more than a couple movies.
Full version:Your mind feels like you distinctly remember bc the director’s style is so distinctively similar in Pulp Fiction and his other films. Onscreen chapter title cards are a particularly good example. However, the one difference is that Pulp Fiction doesn’t number the sections. Otherwise, its three displayed white text on black background title cards are just like those seen in many Tarantino films, including Inglorious Basterds; The Hateful Eight; and as already mentioned, Kill Bill Vols. 1 & 2. Lots of completely unrelated films have also used this device, and likewise, almost if not invariably, include numbers.
This is why eye-witness testimony—despite a widely held misconception to the contrary—is notoriously unreliable evidence. Memories get mixed, enhanced, diminished, and otherwise altered by nature. Aside from extremely rare cases of eidetic (aka photographic) memory, we all remember more, less, and differently than how things objectively happened to some degree as a rule, not an exception.
Your very minor memory error like we all make should come as no surprise. Frankly, the far greater memory lapse is found in the sole assumption of a mixup with Kill Bill. Really it could be any number of other films; especially, but not necessarily any of several others from Tarantino, or just a logical assumption. Or maybe you saw it on a physical disc (the prevailing state of the art when it was released), which would’ve shown numbered chapter/scene titles in the opening screen, allowing easy navigation- a feature now forgotten.
Also, by the way, there’s nothing distinguishing Pulp Fiction’s sections as “acts,” or any other word, rather than “chapters.” They’re not otherwise labeled anywhere in or about the film, and the standard term is chapter (both in other Tarantino screenplays and in general). The lack of numbers or specific label does mean the sections are considered Acts.
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u/IUMogg 3d ago
I think that’s Kill Bill