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The
Oscars
Gump Fiction
'Pulp Fiction's' daring creativity will scare off Academy voters
“Life is like a box of chocolates ...” — Forrest Gump
“Oh sh-t — I just shot Marvin’s face off!” — Pulp Fiction
T
I he coexistence of both
of these films on the
list of 1994 Best Pic
ture Oscar nominees proves
that creativity and variety in
art — especially movies — is
indeed infinite.
But the films’ similarities
end with the Oscar cate-
Jay
Robbins
rt-'l
Senior
Managing
Editor
P
li
gories in which they both are competing.
Tonight, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sci
ences will announce its choices for the best work in the
movies last year. Besides handing out statuettes, the
renowned and revered Academy will also hand down its
judgment of the merit in the nominated filmmakers’ efforts.
So, what will it be? The beautifully crafted, unabashedly
and unembarassingly sentimental and wildly successful
Forrest Gump? Or, the shocking, innovative and unques
tionably unique Pulp Fiction?
My money’s invested in Bubba Gump Shrimp.
The vast difference between Forrest Gump and Pulp Fic
tion not only represents the breadth of human creative ef
fort, but also the chasm between traditional Academy fa
vorites and films that are truly creative. It sets up another
opportunity for the Academy to ignore originality and con
tribution to the artistic medium of film when picking who
gets the prize.
Not surprisingly then. Pulp Fiction probably won’t win
tonight.
Movies similar in originality to Pulp Fiction, such as
Barton Fink, Boyz ‘N’ The Hood and Do The Right Thing
often fail to even receive Best Picture nominations, so
maybe director-screenwriter Quentin Tarantino should be
satisfied.
Other films that at least make the first cut by being
nominated, like The Crying Game, never seem to get the fi
nal nod. In some cases, that’s all they deserve, but at times
it seems like only movies that meet a certain, set standard
will get the gold-plated figurine.
At first glance, both films observed that code.
Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction both stacked up Oscar
nominations for acting, direction and writing, as well as
overall picture. Both films moved beyond the realm of en
tertainment to become the topics of talk show and coffee
break discussions.
Both enjoyed success at the box office, and both have re
ceived countless accolades already.
All those things being equal, Forrest Gump still has the
definite edge with the Academy.
Pulp Fiction made the fatal “mistake” of going beyond
using good performances and craftsmanship to make a
good movie. In the Art section of the Academy of Motion
Picture Arts and Sciences, you don’t make loud noise or
stomp when you walk.
Pulp Fiction finds a loud new way to do almost every
thing.
The movie is fast-paced when the plot is complicated
and other films would slow down for the audience, sedate
when many films would liven up a simple scene. Drugs, ad
dicts and dealers appear as nothing more or less than they
Eire — substances and people, not “evildoers” and “victims.”
Pulp Fiction even has the audacity to shock its audience
by killing off a main character and not including a hero
waiting to be given a chance to change his ways and save
the world.
If a computer animator — note, in the science branch of
the Academy — had completed as much pioneering work on
a film as the creators of Pulp Fiction made in acting, writ
ing and direction, the Academy would heap awards on the
project.
Not so in the case of the non-technical awards.
It seems like the members of the Academy didn’t even
bother to pay much attention to Pulp Fiction after the first
few scenes.
Although John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson’s char
acters both appear throughout the movie and Eire equally
important to, the plot, Travolta’s Vincent is up for Best Ac
tor, while Jackson’s Jules is shoved down to the supporting
category. i rv , « t , , k>
Perhaps the Academy’s familiarity with Comeback Kid
Travolta kept him from getting lost in the crowd.
A true supporting character, Harvey Keitel in a CEireer-
highlight turn as The Wolf, didn’t even get nominated,
probably because he didn’t show up until halfway through
the show.
The Academy’s track record Eind present standing on its
awards indicate it will pick the chocolate with sweet
CEiramel in the middle. To bad they don’t seem to want to
start a new cuisine by biting into the chocolate-covered
jalapeno.
Oscar
NOMINEES
Best Picture
□ Forrest Gump
O Four Weddings and a Funeral
O Pulp Fiction
O Quiz Show
□ The Shawshank Redemption
Best Actor
□ Morgan Freeman — The Shawshank
Redemption
D Tom Flanks — Forrest Gump
CJ Nigel Hawthorne — The Madness of King
George
lD Paul Newman — Nobody's Fool
O John Travolta — Pulp Fiction
Best Actress
O Jodie Foster — Nell
n Jessica Lange — Blue Sky
l) Miranda Richardson — Tom & Viv
C\ Winona Ryder — Little Women
d Susan Sarandon — The Client
Best Supporting Actor
d Samuel L. Jackson — Pulp Fiction
d Martin Landau — Ed Wood
d Chazz Palminteri — Bullets Over Broadway
d Paul Scofield — Quiz Show
□ Gary Sinise — Forrest Gump
Best Supporting Actress
O Rosemary Harris — Tom & Viv
d Helen Mirren — The Madness of King
George
d Uma Thurman — Pulp Fiction
□1 Jennifer Tilly — Bullets Over Broadway
d Dianne Wiest — Bullets Over Broadway
Best Director
d Woody Allen — Bullets Over Broadway
d Robert Zemeckis.— Forrest Gump
d Quentin Tarantino — Pulp Fiction
O Robert Redford — Quiz Show
O Krysztof Kieslowski — Red
Best Picture Nominees from left:
Forrest Gump, The Shawshank
Redemption and Quiz Show. Sup
porting acting nominees below:
Jessica Lange, Samuel L. Jack-
son, Martin Landau and Best Ac
tor nominee Morgan Freeman.
Rapper Eazy-E dies of AIDS complications
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Eazy-E, whose pioneer
ing “gangsta” group N.W.A. helped bring the raw
ness of inner-city rap to suburbia, died Sunday of
AIDS complications. He was 31.
The rapper, whose real name was Eric Wright,
died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where he was
hospitalized Feb. 24 with asthma, the hospital said.
<f Eazy made an impact on rap music and hip-hop
culture that will always be felt,” said Sheena
Lester, executive editor of the magazine Rap Pages.
Despite his gangster image and the harsh lyrics
of his music, Wright was known among his friends
as a kind and generous man, she said.
In announcing his condition on March 16,
Wright said he didn’t know how he contracted
AIDS but wanted to warn “all my homeboys and
their kin.” His hospitalization prompted so many
well-wishing telephone calls the hospital had to
hire more operators.
“I’ve learned in the last week that this thing is
real and it doesn’t discriminate. It affects every
one,” Wright said in a statement read by his attor
ney.
Wright’s attending physician. Dr. William
Young, said he went on life support on Msurch 15,
and lost the ability to communicate several days
before he died, with his wife, Tomika, and his
mother, Kathie Wright, at his side.
A former drug dealer who claimed to have fa
thered seven children by six different women,
Wright brought a brutal vision of Los Angeles-area
ghetto life to popular art.
N.W.A., which stands for Niggaz Wit’ Attitude,
scored a hit in 1988 with “Straight Outta Comp
ton,” using a thumping beat to tell crude tales of
drive-by shootings, drugs and police harassment in
the tough Los Angeles suburb.
The album’s foul-mouthed, hardcore themes
knocked softer rap off the charts and sold more
than 2 million copies despite lack of radio play.
Wright’s high-pitched voice anchored the song
“F Tha Police,” which prompted an FBI protest
that it advocated violence against law enforcement.
The view of police as racists came years before the
1991 Rodney King beating.
N.W.A’s follow-up record, 1991’s “Niggaz4Life,”
sold nearly 1 million copies in its first weeks of re
lease to become the first hardcore rap album to hit
No. 1 on the chsirts.
N.W.A. eventually broke up amidst artistic and
money disputes but proved hugely influential.
Former members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre went on
to successful solo careers, and gangsta rap spread
into the white, suburban teen-age market to be
come mainstream.
Wright went on to record the 1993 solo album
“It’s On (Dr. Dre) l87um Killa.”
His Ruthless Records produced and supervised
several other acts, including Above the Law,
Thugs in Harmony, Blood of Abraham, MC Ren
and Hoes With Attitude.
Critics called gangsta rap violent and sexist for
its portrayal of police as targets, women as “bitch
es” and whores, and its celebration of drugs and
gunplay. Some said it promoted criminal violence.
Supporters argued that it merely presented the
grim reality of the inner city.
“The way I see it, most kids nowadays like lis
tening to stuff that's real,” Wright said last year.
“They wanna be hip, they wanna be down. They
wanna know all the street slang, everything that’s
going on. Both black and white.”
Like other rappers, Wright occasionally was in
trouble with the law. In 1993, a judge found he
had fathered a 2-year-old Nebraska girl and or
dered him to pay about $58,000 a year in what a
prosecutor said waa the largest child support order
ever handled by the Los Angeles County District
Attorney’s office.
Wright recently was married to Wood and the
couple has a 1-year-old son, Dominick, the
youngest of his children. Both Wood and the son
tested negative for the AIDS virus, Wright said.
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