Pulp Fiction: what was in the briefcase?
Quentin Tarantino never revealed the contents of the briefcase in Pulp Fiction, but there are theories.
It became one of the most tantalizing puzzles in cinema: what was in the briefcase Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield were looking for in Pulp Fiction? Quentin Tarantino’s crime thriller created a phenomenon and helped define 1990s cinema, in part because of its playful post-narrative approach. The meta was impossible to deny – although the characters in the film weren’t always aware of it – and the stolen briefcase became a centerpiece of that success.
Technically speaking, it’s a MacGuffin, a term coined by Alfred Hitchcock to describe an otherwise irrelevant object in a movie that everyone wants. Some notable examples include the One Ring, the Maltese Falcon, and the Ark of the Covenant, as well as countless less interesting MacGuffins such as safes full of diamonds or secret blueprints in a spy movie. It doesn’t matter what the object is, at least in narrative terms. What matters is that all or most of the characters are trying to get it.
Tarantino is deliberately drawing attention to this by refusing to show the public what’s in the briefcase. Viewers can never know the definitive answer, just because the movie never reveals it. Hitchcock’s lesson turns out to be true, and the contents of the briefcase matter less than the fact that his thieves risked death to catch it, and Jules and Vincent are happy to kill to get it back.
Beyond that several theories have arisen, none of them definitive, but most of them are based on clues both in this film and in other Tarantino films. Many of them started long before the development of the Internet, so it is difficult to identify them. The most prevalent can be traced back to a 1997 Snopes article, and also has the most visible evidence. He claims the briefcase contains the soul of Marcellus Wallace, the crime lord who sent Jules and Vincent to pick up the case.
A number of seemingly coincidental details in the film hint at this. The bandage on the neck of Marcellus, for example, is traditionally a place through which the soul can be removed from a body, while the digital lock on the briefcase is opened with the code “666”, which suggests the implication of the devil. Everything in the briefcase glows when opened – giving it an unearthly glow – and Jules cites divine intervention as the reason he and Vincent were spared a hail of bullets while retrieving the briefcase. .
Another theory leans more on the meta and relies on the glow of the contents of the briefcase. This goes back to January 1995 – when pulp Fiction was still in theaters – and a column on the late Roger Ebert’s webpage. According to this, Tarantino is referring to a very specific movie, from the years 1955 Kiss me to death, which featured an equally mysterious box sought after by various figures in the underworld. Like with Pulp Fiction, the MacGuffin in that previous movie never really appears. However, it came from a nuclear bomb site, suggesting it contains something highly radioactive, and those who open the case and look at it are killed instantly. Although the same fate does not happen to the character of pulp Fiction, the visual nod suggests that it contains something radioactive or capable of producing nuclear energy.
Other theories attempt to relate the events of pulp Fiction to other films on Tarantino’s CV. This too can be traced at least to the Ebert column. Tarantino has confirmed that all of his films share a universe, which presumably connects Wallace to crimes committed in other films. Specifically, Reservoir dogs – the first film by the director and immediate predecessor of pulp Fiction – concerns a diamond heist gone wrong, and ends with the location of the stolen loot in question. It is possible that the diamonds ended up in the case, and that their value was sufficient to send professional hired killers, like Jules and Vincent, to retrieve them. However, beyond Tarantino’s commentary and the overall visual style, there is no visual evidence that directly links either movie.
The constant guessing game allows these and other theories to endure, which is part of what keeps pulp Fiction a new experience after almost 30 years. Barring a sequel, the answer will never come, which gives almost any idea possible credibility and thus leaves viewers in the dark. While learning what’s in it would likely be a bummer, the question turns its ordinary black exterior into one of the most iconic props in cinema.
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