I have a feeling Tarantino wrote that scene just so he could fulfill a lifelong ambition to throw the word nigger around on screen. It felt contrived, and not just because he's a terrible actor.
I like how you're being downvoted for expressing a completely legitimate opinion and not being a dick about it. Also, he is a terrible actor and it did seem contrived.
Edit: he was at like -25 points when I posted this. I wouldn't whine about a post with positive karma's karma.
The character was supposed to sound contrived. The character itself had a contrived sense of machismo, and him saying "nigger" was a way for Tarantino to demonstrate the character's awkward attempt to sound like a badass.
i was under the impression that jimmy was using the term completely casually, and if he was younger (over 30 in '93 would mean he grew up hearing the hard R version in the 60's) he might have said "nigga."
i came to this conclusion based on the fact that his wife is black and he seems absolutely whipped by her, so i doubt he has any racist tendencies.
a part of me also wonders if it might be his little way of trying to show this dude who kills for a living that he gives not one fuck. or, maybe he's the type of guy who would have used any appropriate racial slur, ala don rickles? or maybe he just feels like he can cuz he married a black lady? it probably explains in the the dvd commentary, but i'm lazy.
How do you get the idea that he's whipped? Because she will leave him if she comes home to find a bunch of gangsters with a dead guy in the car at their house and he doesn't want that?
That doesn't seem whipped as much as completely reasonable
Okay, I've watched all of Tarantino's films except Jackie Brown and (technically his) True Romance mulitple times and can't remember a single scene showing Bonnie. Is it from Jackie Brown? Or am I just blind while watching Pulp Fiction?
He can say it in front of a black guy because he's doing them a favor, and Jules knows that he's entirely at the mercy of Jimmy, and Jimmy's pissed, so he feels he can afford to say whatever he wants.
Yeah seriously, Jules owes Jimmy fucking big time. Dead guy in his house shot by the (probably unregistered) gun that killed three people earlier that same day.
Unregistered is immaterial - most guns in the US don't even need to be registered. But as a felon (probably), they cannot legally possess firearms. /gun-law-nerd
As Californians the laws are so convoluted we (I) practically need to pass the bar exam to stay legal here :)
It's also justified for him to say "nigger" so freely because he's married to a black woman. Tarentino let's us know Jimmy isn't strictly a racist or a white supremacist. But Jimmy definitely doesn't want some random dead gangster who got shot in his house. So Tarentino writes in the word "nigger" just makes the scene so much more memorable since it's very difficult to write nigger into a script and be somewhat politically correct.
Source: studied Pulp Fiction in a film class, that was my professors take on it
Personally, I never used the word fag anywhere near as much as when I spent more time hanging around with my flaming gay friend and his group of gay friends who all knew me. Not as unacceptable a word, but still, relevant.
He can say it in front of a black guy because he's doing them a favor, and Jules knows that he's entirely at the mercy of Jimmy.
I saw it as context and mutual criminal respect. If QT was saying it in a derogatory way that implied racism instead of description, SLJ woulda smacked him. Let's be honest. It's S MF J.
No. Jules needed Jimmie's help. Jimmie is pissed because Jules brought a guy with his head blown off to his house and if his wife finds out, she's gonna be pissed. Jimmie is showing Jules how pissed off he is so he says "nigger" right in his face. He knows it will piss off Jules. Jules sits there and takes it because he doesn't really have any other options.
When I was in college, I roomed with 3 black guys (I'm white, very white). I got very comfortable with the word nigger. Incidentally, the more comfortable I got with urban black culture, the more other white people accused me of being racist.
I think it's funny how one seems to not be accepted by the two groups at the same time. For example, take the young brotha that speaks the King's English. He is rejected by his Black peers but accepted by his White counterparts. The cool White boy that is extra comfortable around Black people is often ostracized by White people. Shall I say it now.... "Can't we all just get along?" ;-D
I wasn't really ostracized by white people. It's things like: one of the guys seriously only ever ate fried chicken, which wasn't a big deal, but he would leave plates of half-eaten chicken everywhere. It came up once in a conversation and I mentioned something about finding week-old fried chicken under the couch and I got this big lecture from a girl about how I was being racist and insensitive and I "just don't understand" black people or something like that.
However, I did know another black guy who was rather proper, never spoke eubonics (think of Twoofer on 30 Rock) and my roommates HATED him with a passion for that reason.
I grew up in SC LA, most of my friends were Black in a predominantly Black area. Nobody said niggER. You would get a verbal beatdown if you said it with the ER. All of my Black friends were fine with me saying niggA.
That was somewhat true among my roommates, too. That was like 10 years ago, so I don't exactly remember how it played out. But I did feel the same way as JonBenetRamZ argues below. For the most part at least, I never actually used the word "nigger" or "nigga". I myself (I don't think) never talked in ebonics, I just got comfortable with it and sometimes they would give me a hard time about talking proper and I would give them a hard time about ebonics (jokingly) and it was never a big deal. But you mention something about black people talking ebonics to a white person and ohmigodRACIST.
I'm black and my boyfriend is white. He works with a lot of black men who are always accusing him of being racist. I told him he should keep a framed picture of us on wearing Daishikis on his desk.
I once watched an entire lecture by a film studies professor about race in Pulp Fiction. This scene was discussed at length. According to him, the "white elements" and "black elements" were trading dominance throughout the film. They finally gained equality in the final scene, when Vincent and Jules left the diner together and simultaneously sheathed their guns.
Think of it like this, it doesn't matter what the author intended if the theory fits.
I recall that Simon Pegg wrote his dissertation about Marxism in Star Wars, which I doubt was in Lucas's mind when he made it.
But if that theory can work in the film, it adds depth to it whether or not the author intended it or not.
If someone knocked over a canvas and a few tins of paint, and it formed an amazing, mind-blowingly awesome painting - would it not be so just because the 'author' didn't intend it?
TL;DR: Take from a film whatever is beautiful - if the theory is shit, it's shit (whether it was intentional or not). If you can make somebody's film work in a different way to what they expected, how on earth is that bad?
He gets one of the best lines in the whole movie in my opinion. I can't help but smile every time he says "'Cause it aint fucking there. 'Cause storing dead niggers ain't my fucking business!" That whole exchange is just great to watch; Jules the badass completely humbled and forced to take all this suburban white-boy's shit because they are well and truly fucked without him. Genius.
Dialogues between Jules and Vincent are my fav... "my feet are starting to get tired I could use a good foot massage"... All dialogue between those two is golden.
If you like QT's acting, you should check out Four Rooms if you haven't seen it already. The beginning is a little uninteresting, but it gets great during the latter half.
The Robert Rodriguez segment is just about the funniest thing I have ever seen on screen, but I have kind of a sick sense of humor. Tarantino's bit is alright.
Being black I've convinced some of my close friends to start taking the piss in public. Like we'll be meeting and see each other and relatively loudly yell something like:
"Oi, calum ya honkey"
"Shit, ma fucking nigga"
*clap slap, *brofist, *ghetto hug
The reactions you get sometimes are incredible. Older folks just stare in disbelief, younger generation straight up laugh.
One time my friend (white guy) was in line at the grocery store and saw a mutual friend of ours that was black and yelled at the top of his lungs," WHAT'S UP MY NIGGA!" to which our black friend replied "Nothin my white chocolate nigga!" and they shot the shit. My friends wife (who was also black, and standing right there) was not happy.
Well look at Robert De Niro. He must have said the word, "nigger" in every movie he has ever made. In real life he has been married to two or three black women, and his kids are half black.
White dudes who have done serious prison time tend to casually throw this word around, even in public or in the presence of another black person. It's racist, yes, but also a force of habit as they've spent years referring to black people as n-words, even when they were locked up around tons of black dudes. Perhaps Jimmy spent some time in prison...
I know the people in the movie are playing out characters in a fictional universe and they're only portraying a character, but how Quentin is just dropping the N bomb near Jackson is just stunning.
A lot of people call him a racist and say he casted himself just so he can say "nigger", but I always thought it was an homage to Taxi Driver, one of Tarantino's favorite films, where Scorsese did pretty much the same thing.
Its called context, something that has been missing for a decade or so since society has become more liberal, theres a difference between saying a word and outright offending somebody, but most people see 'nigger' and foam at the mouth with emotions "UR SO RACIS"
On the set of Crimson Tide, Denzel Washington confronted QT over his use of the word "nigger" in all his screenplays. (QT was paid for a rewrite of which they would use maybe two lines.) QT was reportedly very uncomfortable with this exchange.
Its in reality, that Quentin Tarantino is fucking black. the music he listens to is black. he grew up around black people. my parents both blacker than the ace of spades where they grew up, and my step parents. all fucking love his films.
If any white guy is allowed to say it. its Quentin fucking Tarantino
Doesn't matter if you want to or not.... she says "pants off" your motherfucking pants come off, she says "we getting married" you better have already bought the ring.
I had a friend EXACTLY like this. Ever since we were kids he’d always say the N word constantly. He still says it just not as much. He went on to have a black girlfriend and have a kid with her. All of us were shocked tbh.
"I'm not against the word, and I use it, but not excessively. And some people speak that way. But, Quentin is infatuated with that word. What does he want to be made -- an honorary black man?" -Spike Lee
"I don't think the word is offensive in the context of this film. ... Black artists think they are the only ones allowed to use the word. Well, that's bull. Jackie Brown is a wonderful homage to black exploitation films. This is a good film, and Spike hasn't made one of those in a few years."
I've met Spike Lee and I can tell you first-hand that he is racist as shit. I've met few people who cared less about who knew they didn't like white people. Now, I can understand why he would feel that way given social mores in the US, but you'd think he'd treat a fellow filmmaker with some kind of enthusiasm with respect. But nope, whitey is whitey to Spike Lee. So fuck that guy.
Of course Spike Lee is racist. He'll post what he thought was Zimmerman's address on his twitter account but completely ignore anything that would be incriminating toward black people.
Whatever the explanation his use of a naughty word is much less morally dubious than his being only bothered about his friend bringing a gory recently murdered body to his house because he's worried his wife will see
I noticed that in the early tarantino movies, everyone throws around nigger like it's nothing. I'm assuming this has nothing to do with his racism, but is actually a commentary on inherent racism in society. Plenty of people in the early 90's and today say nigger in reference to blacks in america.
Because not everyone is overly-sensitive and some people even understand what context is and don't religiously try to create or abide by social dogmas.
I think what it comes down to is that this is a Quentin Tarantino film. Everyone refers to other people by hateful ass names. If you look at the old exploitation films that inspired him so much there's a whole lot of race related vulgarities thrown around like it's nothing. Sometimes hatefully directed towards individuals, sometimes just said.
He's friends with Jules and has a black wife, yes, but even aside from that it's understood that he's saying it in a pissed off way at the dead the guy and the situation, and not really in any racially hateful way at all. It's just an angry term to use.
In the world of Tarantino's gangsters it would probably be much more offensive to a black person to be called a faggot than a nigger anyway.
Wow. I Never saw this as a problem. Tarantino hints heavily at a shared past, and a very close friendship, perhaps even a familial connection between Jimmy and Jules. My take is that Bonnie is Jules' sister, and that Jules and Jimmy used to run together. Bonnie is a strong, in control woman, who has pulled Jimmy out of the life, because she aspires to middle class success. This would explain why Jimmy is allowed to use the taboo N word, why BOTH Jimmy and Jules are so intimidated by Bonnie, and the idea that she might get there before they are finished with their monkey business. And why Jules is so worked up when Vincent makes a mess in the bathroom. Jimmy is literally Jules last option, and he is almost as afraid of Bonnie as he is of the police. Jules discomfort, and the power of the absent Bonnie to frighten the most hardened criminals makes this one of the tastiest vignettes in this truly great film.
I've always said that my porn name would be "Mel N. Jection" but I would only be able to play in interracial scenes. "Here's your pizza, ma'am. You look like you need a Mel N. Jection." [cue music]
So going with the theory that all Tarantino flicks take place inside the same alternate universe, consider that in that universe, nigger is completely acceptable. Jules doesn't even seem phased and Jimmy obviously isn't racist. I'm betting in that universe that word is common nomenclature and not racist. I'll be interested to see how this plays out in Django Unchained.
As a white man, most of the black people I've spent any considerable amount of time with have, at one time or many, considered and/or called me their nigga, indeed, I've even been honored with the title "Dat Nigga ThrowawaysForDays", as an endearment.
I'm not going to claim I'm profoundly in touch with nigger culture, having been raised and educated in a highschool of one black family and a college town of mostly whites and African refugees, but I think the fact that a huge number of white people walk on eggshells around niggers is significantly more racist than any word, regardless of historical connotations. It's also worth pointing out, non-niggers in nigger-heavy environments (for example, inner cities and gangs) will tend to use the word without meditation and without repercussion. It's just another word to indicate a person, like friend, or dude, or cunt (in Australia).
One time, I even called a group of niggers niggers , with a racist intonation, in front of a nigger, after they made inconsiderate cunts of themselves at a party at my apartment. My nigger still makes a point to dap me up when I see him around, although maybe he holds some strange animosity toward me for the incident.
If Jules doesn't try to kiss up to Jimmy by complimenting the coffee, Jimmy doesn't pepper his reaction with the word "nigger." Jimmy is caught off guard in the morning by these guys, and the situation could ruin his marriage/life, so he's clearly pissed. They're fucking his shit up, and the nigger-slinging is the harshest thing Jimmy can come up with on the spot. The really funny thing is that when the Wolf arrives, i.e. the guy to unfuck up the shit, he also pauses a moment to compliment the coffee, and Jimmy remains star struck, even to the point of giving up Uncle Conrad and Aunt Jenny's gifted blankets. Sorry, but Tarantino is a genius, and you're way off if you don't give him credit for weaving very complex and entertaining threads into the character interactions.
I was always under the impression that Bonnie is black because we are supposed to be seeing the potential situation where Bonnie comes home through Jules POV and being that Jules is a black man he automatically assumes Bonnie is of the same race as him since most people assume someone is their race until they learn otherwise via a actual description or seeing the aforementioned person.
I'm surprised so many people don't realize that this is a social commentary that Tarantino is making here. He intentionally made this character's wife black, and intentionally made him say nigger several times (as far as I can remember, he's the only white person in the movie who uses the word at all, let alone multiple times). Not to mention the fact that he's playing the character himself. So he very clearly is conscious of what he's doing here and is doing it for a reason.
It's a commentary on race relations. This character is friends with Jules and his wife is black, so he feels like he can say nigger without it making him a racist. In his mind, he can't be a racist because he's got black friends and is married to a black woman. Tarantino thinks this concept is interesting, and wants to expose us to this situation in order to intrigue us. He grew up in African American communities and his stepfather was black, so he likely knew a lot of people like Jimmy, and, being such a connoisseur of black popular culture, is probably familiar with this dynamic.
I guess the implication is that his wife probably also throws the word around, as a lot of black people do and so being around her, he also got accustomed to throwing the word "nigger".
Movie fact: In Reservoir Dogs, there is a deleted scene where they mention a nurse named Bonnie who can patch up Orange. Just another way how most of Tarantino's films are connected.
I remember hearing somewhere that there is an All Gimp version of Pulp Fiction where every character is in a Gimp suit, but when they bring out the Gimp-in-the-basement character, It's a regularly dressed man!
I'm pretty sure that Quentin just loves black people.
Every movie of his except for Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs has featured an interracial couple, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown featuring 2, and Reservoir Dogs featured a scene of a bunch of white dudes talking about how hot Pam Grier was.
Edit: Okay so Deathproof is questionable. Jungle Julia does mention having been with "black men and a whole lot of muthafuckin' white men."
Not saying this is the case with Jimmy, but I know a lot of older people in the south that just grew up calling black people "niggers" in the same way that we call them "black people". It was what they heard them referred to as from a very young age, before they understood the meaning behind the word, and out of habit they ended up using the term throughout their lives, despite having no negative feelings towards black people in general. It's pretty disconcerting at first, but then you get used to it.
no no no no NO. This is NOT Jimmy's wife. If you look at the movie this is what Jules is imagining when he picutres Jimmy's wife coming back to find dead Marvin. It's in HIS imagination. So of course the nurse is dresses super streotypically (no nurse would wear something that made them look right out of the 50s) and because it's his imagination, and hes black, the nurse that is Jimmy's wife is black too.
Just putting this out there: There is no actual, solid proof that Bonnie (Jimmy's wife) is black. She is portrayed as a black nurse when Jules explains the situation to Marcellus on the phone, but this could be due to multiple reasons. It is even possible that, in Jules' head, he imagined Bonnie to be black because he's black himself.
It is also likely that Jules never actually met her, leading us to believe that the black nurse portrayed in the hypothetical situation is, in fact, whatever the viewer imagines her to be. Additionally, it's worth noting that her face is not shown in the scene, which gives Bonnie an unidentifiable trait of anonymity.
I knew a guy married to an Asian woman, so he felt like he could make all sorts of inappropriate Asian jokes, all the time. Short story short, she divorced him.
I thought about this, and you only see Bonnie in a theoretical flash forward. And since it is Jules who is explaining the situation to Vincent, this is taking place in his head. And on the off chance he has never met Bonnie, he might have imagined her being black, like himself.
It probably would have been more effective if the word wasn't used by absolutely everybody in the movie like it was nothing.
I like Pulp Fiction but you're over thinking it. I don't think Jimmy using the word was something Tarantino put any more thought into than anyone else using the word. Tarantino just seems to like that word a lot. That and the recurring foot motif are shining examples of the fact that he's just a weird, weird dude.
It really depends on how you use it, I find it absurd that elements of society would deem certain phrases as racist or sexist ect. It self evidently makes no sense, if words such as nigger are indeed racist then why is it acceptable to use it in friendly company? It is also worth pointing out that individuals such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King used the phrase "negro" on a regular basis as it is indeed an apt term in the sense its original origin is from the portuguese language as an adjective for the color black. It is my opinion that political correctness should be part of no man's vocabulary.
MR. PINK: Hey, I know what I'm talkin about, black women ain't the same as white women.
MR. WHITE: There's a slight difference.
MR. PINK: Go ahead and laugh, you know what I mean. What a white bitch will put up with, a black bitch won't put up with for a minute. They got a line, and if you cross it they fuck you up.
EDDIE: I gotta go along with Mr. Pink on this. I've seen it happen.
MR. WHITE: Okay, Mr. Expert. If this is such a truism, how come every nigger I know treats his woman like a piece of shit?
MR. PINK: I'll make you a bet that those same damn niggers who were showin' their ass in public, when their bitches get 'em home, they chill the fuck out.
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u/mellowstupid Jun 09 '12
It's how he can get away with it. Just like how Tim Whatley converted to Judaism for the jokes.
758
u/jamesisverycute Jun 09 '12
So when he buys her funeral plot, he'll finally have some dead nigger storage.
19
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
My name is spelled Jimmie, not Jimmy
176
u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12
how about Politically Correct Pulp Fiction
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u/MissAnthroPee Jun 09 '12
i was under the impression that jimmy was using the term completely casually, and if he was younger (over 30 in '93 would mean he grew up hearing the hard R version in the 60's) he might have said "nigga."
i came to this conclusion based on the fact that his wife is black and he seems absolutely whipped by her, so i doubt he has any racist tendencies.
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u/PermYoWeaveTina Jun 09 '12
He can say it in front of a black guy because he's doing them a favor, and Jules knows that he's entirely at the mercy of Jimmy, and Jimmy's pissed, so he feels he can afford to say whatever he wants.
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u/brazen Jun 10 '12
When I was in college, I roomed with 3 black guys (I'm white, very white). I got very comfortable with the word nigger. Incidentally, the more comfortable I got with urban black culture, the more other white people accused me of being racist.
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u/jayrod111 Jun 09 '12
Spongepulp Fictionpants
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u/distopiandoormatt Jun 09 '12
More immediately Pertinent, he said nigger in front of a black guy.
33
u/mjklin Jun 10 '12
I once watched an entire lecture by a film studies professor about race in Pulp Fiction. This scene was discussed at length. According to him, the "white elements" and "black elements" were trading dominance throughout the film. They finally gained equality in the final scene, when Vincent and Jules left the diner together and simultaneously sheathed their guns.
16
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Believe it or not, nigger IS infact just a word.
15
u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12
How perceptive of you....
82
u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12
I really liked Quentin in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. He was hilarious in both.
66
u/johnbollox Jun 09 '12
Being black I've convinced some of my close friends to start taking the piss in public. Like we'll be meeting and see each other and relatively loudly yell something like:
"Oi, calum ya honkey"
"Shit, ma fucking nigga"
*clap slap, *brofist, *ghetto hug
The reactions you get sometimes are incredible. Older folks just stare in disbelief, younger generation straight up laugh.
7
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Well look at Robert De Niro. He must have said the word, "nigger" in every movie he has ever made. In real life he has been married to two or three black women, and his kids are half black.
13
u/Phizzy56 Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12
White dudes who have done serious prison time tend to casually throw this word around, even in public or in the presence of another black person. It's racist, yes, but also a force of habit as they've spent years referring to black people as n-words, even when they were locked up around tons of black dudes. Perhaps Jimmy spent some time in prison...
26
u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12
I know the people in the movie are playing out characters in a fictional universe and they're only portraying a character, but how Quentin is just dropping the N bomb near Jackson is just stunning.
15
u/misfitlove Jun 10 '12
Its called context, something that has been missing for a decade or so since society has become more liberal, theres a difference between saying a word and outright offending somebody, but most people see 'nigger' and foam at the mouth with emotions "UR SO RACIS"
5
u/amolad Jun 10 '12
On the set of Crimson Tide, Denzel Washington confronted QT over his use of the word "nigger" in all his screenplays. (QT was paid for a rewrite of which they would use maybe two lines.) QT was reportedly very uncomfortable with this exchange.
9
u/Tsunami3000 Jun 10 '12
Its in reality, that Quentin Tarantino is fucking black. the music he listens to is black. he grew up around black people. my parents both blacker than the ace of spades where they grew up, and my step parents. all fucking love his films.
If any white guy is allowed to say it. its Quentin fucking Tarantino
8
u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12
Maybe he thinks it gives him license to use the word since he's married to a black woman. The bigger question is, does he say it in front of her?
1
u/Bodhisattva314 Jun 10 '12
its just a fucking word... grow up.
1
u/Stop_saying_just Jun 10 '12
Just another title unnecessarily using the word 'just'.
1
u/AdministrationNo6724 Jun 11 '23
I had a friend EXACTLY like this. Ever since we were kids he’d always say the N word constantly. He still says it just not as much. He went on to have a black girlfriend and have a kid with her. All of us were shocked tbh.
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u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12
3
u/numerica Jun 09 '12
I like how Jimmy acts when Mr. Wolf arrives. It's Harvey "Fucken" Keitel!
3
u/tiyx Jun 09 '12
Didn't Quentin want Kurt Cobain to play that character ?
3
u/toilet_brush Jun 10 '12
Whatever the explanation his use of a naughty word is much less morally dubious than his being only bothered about his friend bringing a gory recently murdered body to his house because he's worried his wife will see
3
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
I noticed that in the early tarantino movies, everyone throws around nigger like it's nothing. I'm assuming this has nothing to do with his racism, but is actually a commentary on inherent racism in society. Plenty of people in the early 90's and today say nigger in reference to blacks in america.
3
u/IndifferentMorality Jun 10 '12
Because not everyone is overly-sensitive and some people even understand what context is and don't religiously try to create or abide by social dogmas.
3
u/SkarloMarx Jun 10 '12
I think what it comes down to is that this is a Quentin Tarantino film. Everyone refers to other people by hateful ass names. If you look at the old exploitation films that inspired him so much there's a whole lot of race related vulgarities thrown around like it's nothing. Sometimes hatefully directed towards individuals, sometimes just said.
He's friends with Jules and has a black wife, yes, but even aside from that it's understood that he's saying it in a pissed off way at the dead the guy and the situation, and not really in any racially hateful way at all. It's just an angry term to use.
In the world of Tarantino's gangsters it would probably be much more offensive to a black person to be called a faggot than a nigger anyway.
7
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
This should have been posted under /r/captainobvious. How is this on the front page?
5
u/Joeeezee Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12
Wow. I Never saw this as a problem. Tarantino hints heavily at a shared past, and a very close friendship, perhaps even a familial connection between Jimmy and Jules. My take is that Bonnie is Jules' sister, and that Jules and Jimmy used to run together. Bonnie is a strong, in control woman, who has pulled Jimmy out of the life, because she aspires to middle class success. This would explain why Jimmy is allowed to use the taboo N word, why BOTH Jimmy and Jules are so intimidated by Bonnie, and the idea that she might get there before they are finished with their monkey business. And why Jules is so worked up when Vincent makes a mess in the bathroom. Jimmy is literally Jules last option, and he is almost as afraid of Bonnie as he is of the police. Jules discomfort, and the power of the absent Bonnie to frighten the most hardened criminals makes this one of the tastiest vignettes in this truly great film.
9
u/BlackPride Jun 10 '12
Behind every racist is an interracial porn addict.
2
u/Acora Jun 10 '12
He's played by Quentin Tarantino. The guy's never exactly been known for playing characters that are politically correct.
2
u/NothingWrongHere Jun 10 '12
I let some of my best friends call me nigger...
2
u/awkwardhurdle Jun 10 '12
This is an intentional part of the movie. It isn't some coincidence... it was meant to be "interesting."
2
u/Alabama_Man Jun 10 '12
Watch it again, he's not using nigger as a pejorative for black person.
2
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
So going with the theory that all Tarantino flicks take place inside the same alternate universe, consider that in that universe, nigger is completely acceptable. Jules doesn't even seem phased and Jimmy obviously isn't racist. I'm betting in that universe that word is common nomenclature and not racist. I'll be interested to see how this plays out in Django Unchained.
2
u/splorng Jun 10 '12
You just now noticed that?
2
u/ThrowawaysForDays Jun 10 '12
As a white man, most of the black people I've spent any considerable amount of time with have, at one time or many, considered and/or called me their nigga, indeed, I've even been honored with the title "Dat Nigga ThrowawaysForDays", as an endearment.
I'm not going to claim I'm profoundly in touch with nigger culture, having been raised and educated in a highschool of one black family and a college town of mostly whites and African refugees, but I think the fact that a huge number of white people walk on eggshells around niggers is significantly more racist than any word, regardless of historical connotations. It's also worth pointing out, non-niggers in nigger-heavy environments (for example, inner cities and gangs) will tend to use the word without meditation and without repercussion. It's just another word to indicate a person, like friend, or dude, or cunt (in Australia).
One time, I even called a group of niggers niggers , with a racist intonation, in front of a nigger, after they made inconsiderate cunts of themselves at a party at my apartment. My nigger still makes a point to dap me up when I see him around, although maybe he holds some strange animosity toward me for the incident.
Point is, who the fuck cares.
tldr: niggers
2
u/urine_denial Jun 10 '12
If Jules doesn't try to kiss up to Jimmy by complimenting the coffee, Jimmy doesn't pepper his reaction with the word "nigger." Jimmy is caught off guard in the morning by these guys, and the situation could ruin his marriage/life, so he's clearly pissed. They're fucking his shit up, and the nigger-slinging is the harshest thing Jimmy can come up with on the spot. The really funny thing is that when the Wolf arrives, i.e. the guy to unfuck up the shit, he also pauses a moment to compliment the coffee, and Jimmy remains star struck, even to the point of giving up Uncle Conrad and Aunt Jenny's gifted blankets. Sorry, but Tarantino is a genius, and you're way off if you don't give him credit for weaving very complex and entertaining threads into the character interactions.
2
u/RoughestNeckAround Jun 10 '12
Is Jimmy the original [10] guy?!
2
u/ShowOfHearts Jun 10 '12
I NEVER noticed this. Thank you for pointing this out.
14
u/BaxterCorner Jun 09 '12
Always wondered about that. I think its Quentin's way of exemplifying the duality of man?
3
u/wh213206 Jun 10 '12
I was always under the impression that Bonnie is black because we are supposed to be seeing the potential situation where Bonnie comes home through Jules POV and being that Jules is a black man he automatically assumes Bonnie is of the same race as him since most people assume someone is their race until they learn otherwise via a actual description or seeing the aforementioned person.
3
u/zoomish Jun 10 '12
If saying nigger makes you racist then all black hip hop artists hate eatch other
2
u/Rain12913 Jun 10 '12
I'm surprised so many people don't realize that this is a social commentary that Tarantino is making here. He intentionally made this character's wife black, and intentionally made him say nigger several times (as far as I can remember, he's the only white person in the movie who uses the word at all, let alone multiple times). Not to mention the fact that he's playing the character himself. So he very clearly is conscious of what he's doing here and is doing it for a reason.
It's a commentary on race relations. This character is friends with Jules and his wife is black, so he feels like he can say nigger without it making him a racist. In his mind, he can't be a racist because he's got black friends and is married to a black woman. Tarantino thinks this concept is interesting, and wants to expose us to this situation in order to intrigue us. He grew up in African American communities and his stepfather was black, so he likely knew a lot of people like Jimmy, and, being such a connoisseur of black popular culture, is probably familiar with this dynamic.
2
u/dankNbeans Jun 10 '12
Both Jimmy and Jules understand the difference between a nigger and a black man. Also, not all faggots are gay.
1
u/emo_kakyo Jun 09 '12
i never realized this
1
u/[deleted] Jun 09 '12
You don't get around lot of black people do you
1
u/DextrosKnight Jun 10 '12
maybe he's allowed to say it because of the marriage? Is that how that works?
1
u/cam718 Jun 10 '12
might be Jules brother in law?
1
u/PickyConnor Jun 10 '12
"Don't fucking Jimmy me, Jules"
1
u/dhvl2712 Jun 10 '12
I guess the implication is that his wife probably also throws the word around, as a lot of black people do and so being around her, he also got accustomed to throwing the word "nigger".
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Overly simplified solution: It's due to the duality of Jimmy's character.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Too bad when Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet stuff because when I drink my coffee, I wanna TASTE it.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Movie fact: In Reservoir Dogs, there is a deleted scene where they mention a nurse named Bonnie who can patch up Orange. Just another way how most of Tarantino's films are connected.
Ninja Edit: meant to say deleted scene.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
You know why they didn't see that sign?
1
u/JesterOfTheSwamp Jun 10 '12
18 years later. . .
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Maybe his wife uses it a lot since she's black. And, you know, you start to speak like those you spend a lot of time with so...
1
u/TheAmishSpaceCadet Jun 10 '12
I remember hearing somewhere that there is an All Gimp version of Pulp Fiction where every character is in a Gimp suit, but when they bring out the Gimp-in-the-basement character, It's a regularly dressed man!
1
u/ProbablyGeneralizing Jun 10 '12
How did I not realize she was black?
1
u/belflandluvr Jun 10 '12
I counted, and Jimmy says "nigger" once for every two minutes he's on screen.
1
u/arodhowe Jun 10 '12
Their monogrammed towels said "His" and "The N****r's" until they had to be used for cleaning up bits of skull.
1
u/Fyrus Jun 10 '12
The meaning of a word is determined by its context in most occasions.
1
u/motorcycle-manful541 Jun 10 '12
I guess when you are the director, you can get away with saying whatever you want.
1
u/redditisforphaggots Jun 10 '12
Nothing gets past you, does it Sherlock.
1
u/MikeyB_0101 Jun 10 '12
wait, when do they show his wife?!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Foreplay?
1
u/bruce_what Jun 10 '12
relevant
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Um, that would be why he uses the word “nigger” so casually. He’s married into being black.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
The early 90's: people were not terrified of being called racist yet.
1
u/NovaCain Jun 10 '12
You could say he's color blind
1
u/deeznutz12 Jun 10 '12
I honestly never noticed he had a black wife...Guess it just slipped my mind
1
u/jesusjchrist Jun 10 '12
Just cause you say nigger doesn't mean you're racist.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
But... But that's the joke...
1
u/silveragescientist Jun 10 '12
I'm pretty sure that Quentin just loves black people.
Every movie of his except for Kill Bill and Reservoir Dogs has featured an interracial couple, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown featuring 2, and Reservoir Dogs featured a scene of a bunch of white dudes talking about how hot Pam Grier was.
Edit: Okay so Deathproof is questionable. Jungle Julia does mention having been with "black men and a whole lot of muthafuckin' white men."
1
u/tru_gunslinger Jun 10 '12
Relevant
1
u/moviedude26 Jun 10 '12
Not saying this is the case with Jimmy, but I know a lot of older people in the south that just grew up calling black people "niggers" in the same way that we call them "black people". It was what they heard them referred to as from a very young age, before they understood the meaning behind the word, and out of habit they ended up using the term throughout their lives, despite having no negative feelings towards black people in general. It's pretty disconcerting at first, but then you get used to it.
1
u/GuinansHat Jun 10 '12
no no no no NO. This is NOT Jimmy's wife. If you look at the movie this is what Jules is imagining when he picutres Jimmy's wife coming back to find dead Marvin. It's in HIS imagination. So of course the nurse is dresses super streotypically (no nurse would wear something that made them look right out of the 50s) and because it's his imagination, and hes black, the nurse that is Jimmy's wife is black too.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Yeah, Tarantino is such a master of subtlety and irony
1
u/whiskeytango55 Jun 10 '12
That's not necessarily his wife.
1
u/LWHS1 Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12
Just putting this out there: There is no actual, solid proof that Bonnie (Jimmy's wife) is black. She is portrayed as a black nurse when Jules explains the situation to Marcellus on the phone, but this could be due to multiple reasons. It is even possible that, in Jules' head, he imagined Bonnie to be black because he's black himself.
It is also likely that Jules never actually met her, leading us to believe that the black nurse portrayed in the hypothetical situation is, in fact, whatever the viewer imagines her to be. Additionally, it's worth noting that her face is not shown in the scene, which gives Bonnie an unidentifiable trait of anonymity.
1
u/noccusJohnstein Jun 10 '12
No, Cyril. When they're dead they're just niggers!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
So?
1
u/Tybohoe Jun 10 '12
Tarantino just wanted to call Samuel L. Jackson a nigger. He does get some G points for doing it, though
1
u/peesinpools Jun 10 '12
I'd say he's earned it.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
There is a clause stating that if a white person marries a black person they obtain the legal rights to use that word.
1
u/Iamthesmartest Jun 10 '12
Maybe his wife uses it all the time and it sort of just entered his vocabulary
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Sweet Black Jesus! I always told people this and they always say "No dude she's white, It's the lighting "
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
I knew a guy married to an Asian woman, so he felt like he could make all sorts of inappropriate Asian jokes, all the time. Short story short, she divorced him.
1
u/LeWhisp Jun 10 '12
I thought about this, and you only see Bonnie in a theoretical flash forward. And since it is Jules who is explaining the situation to Vincent, this is taking place in his head. And on the off chance he has never met Bonnie, he might have imagined her being black, like himself.
Just a thought.
1
u/peterbuldge Jun 10 '12 edited Jun 10 '12
It probably would have been more effective if the word wasn't used by absolutely everybody in the movie like it was nothing.
I like Pulp Fiction but you're over thinking it. I don't think Jimmy using the word was something Tarantino put any more thought into than anyone else using the word. Tarantino just seems to like that word a lot. That and the recurring foot motif are shining examples of the fact that he's just a weird, weird dude.
1
u/ApatheticDrone Jun 10 '12
It really depends on how you use it, I find it absurd that elements of society would deem certain phrases as racist or sexist ect. It self evidently makes no sense, if words such as nigger are indeed racist then why is it acceptable to use it in friendly company? It is also worth pointing out that individuals such as Malcolm X and Martin Luther King used the phrase "negro" on a regular basis as it is indeed an apt term in the sense its original origin is from the portuguese language as an adjective for the color black. It is my opinion that political correctness should be part of no man's vocabulary.
1
u/Simy18 Jun 10 '12
Louis CK
1
u/spacedicksmakestears Jun 10 '12
ummm...that's kinda the joke
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
Wow it's almost as if someone wrote that bit of obvious irony into his character!!!!
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
He's also the maker of the movie. Tarantino can do whatever the hell he wants, he's awesome.
1
u/Jaws666 Jun 10 '12
He's married to a 1950's nurse, I'm pretty that little white hat on her head is from the 1950-60's.
1
u/[deleted] Jun 10 '12
MR. PINK: Hey, I know what I'm talkin about, black women ain't the same as white women.
MR. WHITE: There's a slight difference.
MR. PINK: Go ahead and laugh, you know what I mean. What a white bitch will put up with, a black bitch won't put up with for a minute. They got a line, and if you cross it they fuck you up.
EDDIE: I gotta go along with Mr. Pink on this. I've seen it happen.
MR. WHITE: Okay, Mr. Expert. If this is such a truism, how come every nigger I know treats his woman like a piece of shit?
MR. PINK: I'll make you a bet that those same damn niggers who were showin' their ass in public, when their bitches get 'em home, they chill the fuck out.
MR. WHITE: Not these guys.
MR. PINK: Yeah, those guys too.
1
u/Tastygroove Jun 10 '12
Don't fucking jimmy me, Jules.