Methods of Cultural Analysis
The Power of Female Dominance
Film posters have always existed as a means of enticing audiences to go to their local cinema to watch what all the fuss is about. These often-seductive forms of art are not only imposed as ads to attract people before the film’s debut, but also create images of nostalgia that stay with them for decades as a reminder of their past. Some of the older film posters have been a part of popular culture at a point where people would post them in their own room, as a decor, a memorabilia or to symbolize their personality.
Needless to say, iconic film posters sell. The Pulp Fiction poster advertises a film directed by Quentin Tarantino, produced by Lawrence Bender and was distributed by Miramax, which is an American entertainment company that specializes in the film industry. Due to the film’s huge debut success, iconic scenes and unique film poster, Pulp Fiction was officially released in 1994 worldwide, is considered a part of today’s popular culture.
On top of all, the Pulp Fiction poster has the ability to bring audiences back to the early years of cinema due to the poster’s intentional resemblance towards movie posters and comic book covers from the 50’s and 60’s. As we take a glimpse, we start identifying a detailed image that highlights both the title and the heroine as the center of attraction. However, if analysed thoroughly, by identifying its target audiences, its relation to the actual movie and an older movie poster that similarly conveys female seduction, we may discover the poster’s deeper meaning.
Looking in the image, we generally notice the two main aspects of the image: The movie title and the woman. The background image offers a rusted cheap look due to the image’s rotting edges and the 10 cents logo printed at the left corner of the ad, as a reference to the pulp fiction magazines in the first half of the twentieth century. On top we see a bloody red background contrasting with the yellow bold Rama Slab Exp Heavy font title written in capitalized letters that reads: “PULP FICTION.” Above the main title, the phrase “Winner-Best Picture-1994 Cannes Film Festival” is shown whereas the director’s name (i.e. Quentin Tarantino) is written below.
Aside from the title, we see a seductive looking woman holding a cigarette on her right hand while the left is slightly covering a magazine titled “Pulp Fiction” in a cursive font. Lying on a messy red sheet cross-legged, the woman is depicted as the main image of the poster. Wearing red lipstick, ruby like necklace, black clothing and high heel shoes while slightly revealing her cleavage that is forming an arrow pointing towards the gun and a pack of cigarette the woman is looking seriously flirtatious towards us—nailing a “sexy” poker face.
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A lamp is slightly tilted towards her, lighting her face in the dark small room with light red orange colour. Furthermore, the blinds are closed, disabling the moonlight to come inside the room. On the left side of the poster, the names of famous actors such as John Travolta, Samuel L. Jackson, and Uma Thurman are mention on the film with the same font as the title, while also mentioning the name of the producer in an italic font.
Similar to most movie poster during the 90’s until today, more names are mentioned below the poster, such as the logo of MIRAMAX, the entertainment company that legally distributed Pulp Fiction, and a small capitalized “R” implying that, the movie is restricted for anyone under the age of 17.
Attracting both male and female audiences, while depicting the essence of the film in an image is the main focus of the poster. In an average action movie, sex, violence, and mystery are usually associated to male audiences whereas women often cannot relate nor look up to the female heroines since they are frequently depicted as the damsel in distress. During the twentieth century and even today, in most famous action movie posters such as Die Hard and Rambo, the male protagonist is usually the main focus of the poster, emphasizing the culture that only male can relate to—at a point where it can be considered as cliché.
Her dark dress reflects on the movie’s appeal associated with fear and the unknown—puzzling the female audiences about her true identity. In short, the poster tries to erase gender boundaries that are associated with most famous violent action movies by introducing a female heroine that female audiences can look up to—ultimately promoting feminism.
The fact that a female heroine is the main image of the poster does not discourage nor disappoint, the male audiences, but rather pushes them towards it— more likely increasing their testosterone level. It is quite possible that particular male audiences may have considered her presence as a threat to their masculinity, in fear of her dominance and power; however, it is hard not to consider her presence as a portal to male sexual desires.
It is quite possible that her strong presence appeals not only to male but also lesbian audiences who would potentially visualize a similar dream, making them want to watch the movie even more. In posters where the hero is the center of attraction, male audiences often use his image as an ideal person that they would want to become while women desire to be with him, however, with Quentin Tarantino’s poster, the gender role is reversed, where men want to be with the heroine while women would see the heroine as a leading role model.
Quentin Tarantino successfully managed to reconcile both the advertising aspect of the poster and its artistic composition that establishes the essence of the film. Based on the fact that the film won the 1994 best picture award in Cannes film festival, the most prestigious international film festival, we can presume that the film overall was successful in its theatrical debut.
In a way, Pulp Fiction somehow symbolizes what popular culture is: A collection of rubbish clichés and memorabilia that is mainly aimed for the general population.
A film from 1957, Hot Rod Rumble has a similar appeal to Pulp Fiction due to its poster, which emphasizes the desire for a rock n’ roll lifestyle that includes hot rods (i.e. the equivalence of a modern sports car), drag racing, murder, and teen love. Similar to pulp fiction, the main focus of this picture is the woman in the center and the title, written in a rough Rockwell-like font: HOT ROD RUMBLE.
Furthermore, similar to Pulp Fiction, this poster uses color contrast of red and yellow to highlight the title and the sense of violence and danger. Aside from the two details, the poster also shows a drawing of two cars that are assumingly in a middle of a drag racing and an image at the upper left side, where three guys in leather jacket are beating up helpless guy.
Ultimately, Hot Rod Rumble poster is old fashion compared to the posters of today—simple yet fairly detailed and ideally a model that represents most of the poster during the 50’s and 60’s.
One thing that interest me is the fact that in most movie posters during the 50’s, if not all then most of the female heroines that are depicted in movie posters are either wearing a white dress or anything that are bright. In theory, most female heroines were ideally supposed to be pure and helpless in the hands of a fifty feet giant monkey, a swamp creature or her lover.
This ideology that depicts such circ*mstances (i.e. the damsel in distress) is an important aspect that most movie posters in the fifties and sixties are easily known for—at a point where it is considered cliché and anti-feminist. On the other hand, the Hot Rod Rumble poster, shows a female character that is more in control and rebellious rather than weak or unconscious.
It promotes the idea that heroines are identified as possessions of desire and whoever is able to tame such possession is identified as the champion. The poster arguably promotes the ideology that women are possessions of social status and sexual desire.
During the fifties, rock n’ roll was starting to trend especially to teenagers. Elvis single-handedly popularized a lifestyle that emphasizes the idea that people that are rebellious and easy-going are considered attractive. Such ideology happened to become an important part of their popular culture, which might explain to whom the poster is mainly advertised for.
It can be argued that even though the female heroine in the Hot Rod Rumble poster shows signs of confidence and control, her presence ultimately symbolizes a trophy-like image. Unlike Pulp Fiction, Hot Rod Rumble tries to cooperate with the new, in the attempt to attract teenagers/young adults, rather than to echo the past as a mean of identifying the classics and to trigger nostalgia.
The two posters may both seem identical in terms of poster design and their use of a seductive female heroine to entice the mass due to their own subconscious desire for danger/sex or to follow the female hero’s example. However, aside from manifest functions, the two are completely different posters due to the fact that the two posters where created in different decades.
Therefore both has a different ideology towards feminism and popular culture. The Hot Rod Rumble poster ultimately acts as a reminder of how female protagonists were being portrayed in the 50’s as a properties rather than real characters that can be as equal to men—at a point where such propaganda was considered a part of their norm. Of course, this depiction can still be seen in some movies in the modern era, however, films that shows such representation are easily criticized and unwelcome by the majority.
In sum, the Pulp Fiction poster is as it has been intended: an ad that demands appraisal of what we now know as Pulp Fiction, a term used to describe mass produced cheap magazines that were popularly read by the majority in the early years of the twentieth century. Essentially, due to the woman’s dominating and seductive presence, the ad has profitably seized the target audiences.
Whereas the Hot Rod Rumble identifies the new, the young, and the unconventional of its era—in its attempt to captivate the generation of rock n’ roll. In its simplest form, one can argue that the two posters are simply the product of consumerism to attract more people on watching the actual movie. However, their overuse of clichés that encourages erotica and menace may potentially raise a rhetorical query: should we describe iconic heroine as flirtatious hot women than men would want to be with and what women would want to become?
WORK CITED
Link to Pulp Fiction image:
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Link to Hot Rod Rumble image:
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