Quentin Tarantino’s classic crime caper Pulp Fiction is one of the most iconic films of
the 90s. It is almost universally considered Tarantino’s masterpiece,
a touchstone of postmodern film, praised for its script, unconventional structure and its
extensive amount of homages. Funny, bizarre and violent, it is the quintessential Quentin movie,
and the plot, if you can even say the film has one, follows two mob hitmen, Vincent and Jules,
who are tasked with retrieving a valuable belonging from a bunch of would-be crooks,
a belonging that belongs to Marsellus Wallace, a gangster who employs the two hitmen.
Whatever Wallace wants is in the briefcase which Vincent and Jules take from the goons,
though we never see what’s inside, whenever anybody in the film opens the briefcase,
they are stunned by what they see, with the case emitting a yellowy glow. There’s a magical,
almost supernatural quality to it, which fits perfectly with the tone of Pulp Fiction,
and the closest we really get in the film is a character saying “it’s beautiful”. The mystique
surrounding the briefcase is amplified by the characters’ reactions to it – so what
is actually in it? Well, when Jules – Samuel L Jackson’s character – is asked, he simply says
“my boss’ dirty laundry”. Now unless this flippant comment was actually the truth – in which case
Wallace’s tailor must be Rumpelstiltskin – the contents of the case are clearly
open to interpretation. As Tarantino himself has reportedly said, “it’s whatever the viewer
wants it to be.” Samuel L Jackson apparently said, “when I looked inside, between scenes… I
saw two lights and some batteries.” And if you’re wondering, this is what was actually in the case.
Case closed then, but let’s take a look at a few theories. Of course,
the briefcase is simply a McGuffin, which is a plot device, popularised by Alfred Hitchcock,
which propels a story forward, but holds no importance in of itself. Think The Maltese Falcon,
the rug in The Big Lebowski, or the plans for the Death Star in A New Hope.
The contents of the briefcase are an obviously intentional McGuffin,
seeing as though how much Tarantino draws our attention to it without offering an
explanation as to what is in it, and perhaps with a view for viewers to ponder and speculate on.
Maybe the contents of the case was simply a huge sum of money. But this doesn’t explain the glow,
so many it was a case of it being full of gold bars that gave off a glow.
One popular theory is that the case contained the diamonds from Tarantino’s previous film Reservoir
Dogs, which were stolen as part of a heist. Tarantino throws in many nods and references
to his own films in his movies, suggesting that they all take place in one big shared universe.
In fact, though this is never mentioned in either film,
Vincent Vega – John Travolta’s character – is actually the brother of Victor Vega a.k.a. Mr
Blonde, played by Michael Madsen, so already the two movies have a link,
and Tarantino has played with the idea of making a film centred o the two called the Vega brothers.
Though Steve Buscemi’s character takes off with the diamonds at the end of the film,
it is implied that he is captured by the cops, and all the other major characters are killed.
Perhaps the briefcase was hidden by Buscemi’s character before he was arrested, or he managed
to escape, and there’s an entire story waiting to be told of how exactly the diamonds came to be
in the possession of Marcellus Wallace. Sticking with the idea that all Tarantino films
are linked, could it be possible that Tarantino will make a film in the future that will tell us,
or at least imply, what was in the briefcase? It’s not out of the question, and it could very
well be that the movie which tells us what was in the case just hasn’t been made yet.
But given the contents are ultimately not important and they haven’t been specified,
there are a number of fun theories about the subject. Some say, for example,
that the case contains Samuel L Jackson’s N-word pass for Quentin Tarantino, others say it’s the
nuke from Kiss Me Deadly – a movie in which a Private Eye searches for a glowing case
filled with radioactive material. It makes sense that the contents would be a homage to a film,
given Tarantino’s love of paying tribute to old films he loves. Maybe it was a Willy Wonka golden
ticket? Or perhaps Elvis’ old suit, which actually appears in the film True Romance,
for which Tarantino has a writing credit for. Maybe the briefcase contained a stolen Academy
Award – Many Oscars have gone missing over the years, including Whoopie Goldberg’s which she won
in 1991, just a few years before Pulp Fiction came out. Maybe it was stolen by Wallace for
his wife Mia as a present, who of course is a failed actress. Or maybe it’s a cheeky meta nod
to the fact that Tarantino thinks he should get an Oscar for how good Pulp Fiction is.
Perhaps the most talked-about theory regarding the briefcase is that it actually contains
Wallace’s soul. The idea being that he sold his soul to the devil, which was sucked out of him
through the back of his head, which is why he has a bandage. The bandage is actually there
to cover up a real life scar of some sort that the actor had, but that notwithstanding, Wallace
apparently wanted his soul back, so despatched his two hitmen to get the case from the goons,
who were actually minions for the devil. This theory does have some weight – in addition to
the bandage, the contents of the case of course glow, the combination code is 666, and when the
fella comes out of the room blasting at Jules and Vince, incredibly they are unharmed, which Jules
of course chalks up to divine intervention. It’s worth noting that Tarantino created the
story of Pulp Fiction with Roger Avary, who once revealed that the briefcase
was actually supposed to contain the diamonds from Reservoir Dogs originally,
but this idea was scrapped for being too boring and predictable. Avary is quoted as saying:
Originally the briefcase contained diamonds. But that just seemed too boring and predictable. So it
was decided that the contents of the briefcase were never to be seen. This way each audience
member would fill in the blank with their own ultimate contents. All you were supposed to
know was that it was "so beautiful." No prop master can come up with something better than
each individual's imagination. At least that was the original idea. Then somebody had the
bright idea (which I think was a mistake) of putting an orange lightbulb in there. Suddenly
what could have been anything became anything supernatural. Didn't need to push the effect.
People would have debated it for years anyway, and it would have been much more subtle. I can't
believe I'm actually talking about being subtle. So there you have it. What do you think was
in the briefcase? Let me know in the comments below, and thanks for watching.