Mia Wallace - An Icon for Tarantio

an icon for tarantino

Mia wallace

daniela andrade 2017

i said goddamn. goddamn.

mia wallace

I really like Mia’s character in Pulp Fiction because I think that Quentin Tarantino built her in a unique way, with an overly simplified art direction that only adds to her personality. Her clothes, her hair and her make-up are all symbols of freedom, of change and sufrage. She portrays herself as a free woman, without ties to the outside world except for her excellent sense of fashion and extraordinary wit.

We can see how she desperately wants to be seen as somebody important: an intelligent woman, a free spirit, someone who doesn’t need anybody else.

Someone who doesn’t agree with this world we live in.

Someone who has everything under control.

In total contrast, though, Mia also seems lost and confused. She is a cocaine addict, she is married to a mob boss, and she overdoses and nearly dies; which only leads her to light a cigarrette and smoke her problems away. Mia Wallace is her own perfect antagonist.

Tarantino loves her, and so do I.

but why her?

“I wanna know the story of Mia Wallace. If I was a viewer, that would be the story I would want to know. How in the hell did she even end up with Marcellus Wallace anyway? What is that about? [...] Her character seems to be in control but she’s not in control [...] Is she in a happy situation?” - Quentin Tarantino.

She is a Femme Fatale. And overall, I really like her eyes. They are big and filled with emotion. Mia is fear, anger, freedom, lust and mystery. She is Tarantino.

As mentioned before, Mia symbolizes two opposite things. She is her own antithesis.

She symbolizes the mob boss’s woman: loyal, elegant, luxurious and overprotected by him and his men. Mia represents the submissive woman, who stands next to her husband in exchange of a life full of wealth, fun and luxury. But she also symbolizes the Femme Fatale, the freedom of a strong, independent woman, who doesn want to be subordinated to a man. She flirts with Vincent Vega, she says things that make her look like an intellectual woman with her own opinions.

She’s not afraid to speak her mind. This can be reflected in her clithing, which is very similar to a man’s, but adapted to her feminine figure, which symbolizes her liberation and power by trying to be like the powerful men which she hangs around with.

what does she mean?

All of this takes her to be the woman who under the semblance of self-control, is desperate and lost, trying to fit in a society that leads her to drugs and overdosing.

“Tarantino thought that Mia Wallace was the character the audience would be most fascinated by. Maybe that's why he left her so mysterious. We know nothing about her backstory, her relationship with Marsellus, or her motivations. Is she a flirty, naïve party girl who tells silly jokes and can't tell the difference between heroin and coke? A sophisticated woman who plays with Vincent just to test his loyalty to Marsellus?”

(Schmoop Magazine)

Is she a flirty, naïve party girl who tells silly jokes and can't tell the difference between heroin and coke?

A sophisticated woman who plays with Vincent just to test his loyalty to Marsellus?

In all honesty, we never really know who she is, what she does. How do you even begin to feel about her? Do we fancy her, do we pity her, do we hate her? We never know what her intentions are. All we know about her is that she is the beautiful wife of a mob boss, and that she has a drug problem.

But who is she really? How did she not know the difference between cocaine and heroine?

What if she had died that night?

mia wallace (forbidden fruit. Fire. what is she even thinking?

Marcellus’s wife.

Wife.

Forbidden. bored and elegant. damsel in distress. those eyes.)

I do believe Wallace, my h boss, told you t and do WH WANTED. N dance, I wann that trophy, so

e Marsellus husband, your to take ME out HATEVER I Now I wanna na win. I want o dance good.

vincent vega (cautious.

Is he even flirting? very loyal shy, but fun. he can see her. can’t he? he’s a murderer though, Saviour. it was his heroine, though.)

favorite scenes

I like this scene because it shows Mia’s desire of being an independent woman. She wants to flirt, go out with men and demonstrate that she’s smart. In this scene she has full control and represents thoroughly the Femme Fatale. It’s in this scene where Mia is at her most mysterious: you don’t know her intentions or her story, but you can see how powerful she is.

This scene is in total contraposition to the previous one, since it shows that Mia lacks control, and it’s the first step to what will later be one of the movie climaxes: the overdose. In this scene, the elegant, flirty and luxurious woman seen before, loses emotional and metal control she had lived with until now. Now, she is a symbol of lack of control and fatality.

Trying to forget something as intriguing as this would be an exercise in futility.

Don’t be a

goddamn.