“Open it.”
One of the most asked questions in movies
centers on Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction
-- what is in that briefcase?
We never see inside the briefcase that Jules and Vincent fetch
for Marsellus Wallace
-- but we witness that the contents give off a golden glow
which feels magical, almost holy.
And we know from people’s reactions
that it’s something spectacular.
“We happy?”
“Yeah, we happy”
The mystique of the briefcase grows because we don’t get to see what’s in
it.
“What is it?”
We only see how it moves the characters.
“It’s beautiful.”
“Goddamnit what is it?”
So let’s take a look at some of the most interesting theories
about what’s literally in the case
-- and why ultimately what’s in the case for you
may have a very personal, subjective answer.
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“What’s in the case?”
“My boss’ dirty laundry.”
There’s a popular fan theory that the case contains Marsellus’ soul,
which he sold to the devil.
“It ain’t nobody else’s business.”
The case’s combination is “666” -- a number associated with Satan.
Marsellus has a band-aid on the back of his neck,
leading some people to think
that this is where his soul was removed from his body.
So according to this theory, the young men in the apartment
are the devil’s cronies,
and Jules and Vincent are there to get Marsellus’ soul back from them.
After the fourth guy comes out of the bathroom
and unsuccessfully tries to kill Jules and Vincent,
Jules says: “This was divine intervention.”
So it’s like because the young men were on the devil’s side,
God has intervened and protected Jules and Vincent
“God came down from Heaven and stopped these motherf-[BLEEP]-ing bullets.”
But it’s been reported
that the reason Marsellus had a band-aid was practical --
to cover the actor’s real life scar.
And the film doesn’t draw an overt connection
between the band-aid and the briefcase.
So as fun as this theory is
it doesn’t have much evidence to back it up.
More broadly the case does seem associated
with religious redemption.
In the scene where Jules and Vincent go get the briefcase,
Jules recites what he says is a verse from Ezekiel.
“Ezekiel 25:17, Blessed is he
who, in the name of charity and goodwill, shepherds the weak
through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper.”
But this isn’t exactly a completely accurate recitation
of Ezekiel 25:17 --
it’s partly made up and partly taken
from the 1970s movie, The Bodyguard.
“Blessed is he who In the name of charity and goodwill
Shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness.”
He’s quoting a corrupted version of the bible,
and using that as a justification to kill
-- so that tells us something
about the less-than-righteous state of Jules’ soul when we meet him.
“Motherf-[BLEEP]-er do that shit to me, He better paralyze my ass.
Cause I kill a motherf-[BLEEP]-er.
You know what I’m saying?”
But then he has his “divine intervention” epiphany
While he happens to be getting this briefcase,
and everything changes
-- he wants to retire from violence.
“You're serious.
You're really thinking about quitting.”
“For life?
Yeah.
Most definitely.”
Later, in the last scene
when Ringo and Yolanda try to rob the diner,
Jules repeats the altered Ezekiel verse from earlier.
“The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides
by the inequities of the selfish And the tyranny of evil men.”
But this time, he ends it not by killing,
but by sparing the couple.
“But I'm trying, Ringo.
I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.”
Meanwhile, in this scene,
Ringo himself gets so captivated by what’s in the case
that Jules is able to disarm him.
So it’s like the case holds the answer
to both Jules and Ringo’s redemptions
-- and by the end, it seems like both of them
will try to leave their lives of crime behind.
The briefcase is a classic MacGuffin --
a device that drives the plot forward
but ultimately isn’t all that important in itself.
A MacGuffin can be replaced by any other object
and it wouldn’t change the story.
Some people believe that the briefcase
is an homage to another famous MacGuffin in film history --
the case full of glowing nuclear material in the 1955 film Kiss Me Deadly.
This sounds plausible because Tarantino is such a cinephile
who loves making allusions.
But Tarantino has actually said this similarity was unintentional,
even though he had seen the film.
And there’s a notable difference between the two cases --
in Kiss Me Deadly people are scared of the case’s contents,
while in Pulp Fiction they’re mesmerized by what they see.
We’re never even told What the MacGuffin actually is,
so it’s very explicitly a placeholder whose contents can be anything.
It’s as if Tarantino is bolding declaring
that he’s placing this MacGuffin in his movie
without even making any pretense that the specifics matter.
And that in itself is a play on cinematic narrative--
just as the rest of the film plays with movie structure
by telling its vignettes out of chronological order.
Tarantino has a way of interconnecting his movies --
so one theory is that the briefcase contains
Elvis’ gold suit from True Romance,
a movie that Tarantino also co-wrote with Roger Avary.
Other fans believe the case holds the diamonds
from Tarantino’s first feature, Reservoir Dogs.
“I got the diamonds.”
Avary has said that initially the briefcase was
supposed to be full of diamonds
though not specifically the ones from Reservoir Dogs.
But Avary said, quote,
“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.
John Travolta echoed this when he said that Tarantino told him
to look into the briefcase and, quote, “‘be completely impressed…
like something you’ve never seen before.’”
The unexplained briefcase fits into the movie’s overall style
of not giving us all of the answers.
Pulp Fiction arguably remains such a classic because it doesn’t explain itself.
“What do you make a all this?”
We don’t find out for sure
why Marsellus threw Antwan out of the window.
“Truth is, nobody knows why Marsellus threw Tony
Outta that four story window… except Marsellus and Tony.”
Random or coincidental things just seem to happen throughout the film.
By not specifying or explaining, -- he’s giving as an absence,
so we can fill in the briefcase ourselves.
And the deeper meaning of this may be that...
whatever moves Jules to give up crime is different from what moves Ringo.
Maybe what’s in that case is different for everybody --
it reflects each person’s individual dreams,
the thing they find too beautiful for words.
Whatever inspires us to suddenly take our lives in a new direction
is indescribably personal and intimate --
unable to be seen by anyone else.
By keeping our focus on characters’ reactions
and not letting us peek inside the case ourselves,
Pulp Fiction is reminding us that we all have that capacity
to be inspired and enlightened --
but the specific thing that might do that for us down the line
is still a mystery to us right now.
“I can keep a secret if you can.”
Samuel L. Jackson said that, on set, the case contained, quote,
“two lights and some batteries.”
but that when Tarantino was asked what’s in the case,
the director answered, “‘whatever you want it to be’”
So the whole point of the briefcase is that we fill it up
with our own imaginations and desires
-- we’re forced to think about what would have to be in the case
to leave us this mesmerized.
As you watch, you have the space to consider, what is most beautiful to you?
Ask yourself, What would be in your briefcase?
“First I'm gonna deliver this case to Marsellus.”
Then, basically, I'm just gonna walk the Earth.”
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