Narrative Device That Makes No Sense, But Everyone Except Tarantino Uses It

By Robert Scucci | Published 26 seconds ago

We all know that the Quarter Pounder is called Royale with Cheese in France for a very specific reason: pulp fiction It doesn’t rely much on teleportation conversation. What are you talking about teleportation? It’s when characters in a movie or show start a conversation in one place and, without missing a beat, end it in another.

The teleportation conversation is a necessary narrative device because without it, there would be a lot of dead air. Nobody likes awkward silence. Well, yes, but my wife also thinks I should probably talk to someone about it.

Pulp Fiction has practically no teleportation speaking

Teleportation conversation is used to convey a thought that begins in one place and ends in another. Criminal procedurals on television use an absurd amount to keep things moving.

NCIS, criminal mindsand both Law and order and CSI Use this device like Kleenex at a booger party. Just turn on any classic NCIS episode and wait for the moment when Special Agent Jethro Gibbs and Field Agent Anthony DiNozzo realize they have an important lead.

The scene transition usually goes like this: “Hey, we have to go across town to interview this witness.” Then we have a rough transition with the two agents on the other side of town, and one of them says, “Yeah, I bet that’s our guy.”

What did you talk about during the car ride? Or did they just teleport away talking?

Maybe you could take a page from pulp fiction playbook and have a conversation. I want to hear Agent DiNozzo arrogantly pontificate about why Burger King is called Hungry Jack’s in Australia. Is it a licensing issue? Or maybe it’s just a clever rebrand to not pander to the citizens of a constitutional monarchy. I need that kind of conversation every once in a while because I refuse to believe that these characters are just sitting there silently, stuck in a stalemate, waiting to deliver the line that continuity requires for viewers at home.

Of course, not every show or movie can be trusted. pulp fiction Logic, this is why we need to teleport speaking to incorporate the necessary exposition.

Teleport Talk is not about bad art versus good art

It’s not just criminal proceedings or bad television that depend on teleporting conversation; It’s everywhere. Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy has countless examples of Batman (Christian Bale) and Commissioner Gordon (Gary Oldman) moving from the compound to some random rooftop or alley, and I can’t help but wonder what kind of small talk we missed.

In 1995 HeatRobert De Niro’s crew teleports and talks between the guards and the cars. Val Kilmer’s Chris and De Niro’s Neil begin talking about their latest score while leaving a restaurant, and seconds later the same conversation continues in the car without any time jump being acknowledged.

In bad movies, it’s even more ridiculous. In 1999 wild wild westJim West (Will Smith) travels alone on horseback with Artemus Gordon (Kevin Kline) and Rita Escobar (Salma Hayek), who travel by stagecoach. They talk about meeting later and split up, knowing that they will all meet later at the same place, at the same time. They’re all moving at top speed, so if the camera zoomed out, they’d still be side by side the entire ride, silently pretending the conversation hadn’t just happened.

This trope is best ignored for the sake of continuity and sanity.

Speaking via teleportation, as silly as it may seem, is a cinematic limitation we’ve learned to accept. But once you notice it, it’s hard not to point it out and annoy everyone in the room.

I’m not saying that every movie or show should fill those quiet moments with pulp fictionstyle jokes, but when Breaking Bad Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul) start an argument before getting into the RV, and pick it up a hundred miles later in the middle of the desert, I can’t help but wonder: Did they stay silent the whole time or did they spend the trip talking about the good things in life?