As our society has become more conscious about how films and TV represent certain ethnic and cultural groups, there has been an increase in questioning of whether or not certain movies or films authentically represent what they are portraying. A great example of a movie that has been looked at and thoroughly examined is Pulp Fiction. Pulp Fiction categorically is considered to be under the genre of action and drama. It is quite an interesting film, as there isn't a clear-cut protagonist, and there are many prolific characters that share the screen. Personally, I enjoyed the movie greatly because the storyline is so profound that throughout the film I was on the edge of my seat, wondering what would happen next. However, I did not realize that this film fails the Bechdel test. Now, for those who do not know, the Bechdel test is an examination to see how well movies represent women and people of color based on what population of people playing significant roles in the film. While the film does well at having significant figures played by people of color, it fails at having women play a critical role in the film. In fact, the only female character to have a significant role was a character named Mia Wallace (who was played by Uma Thurman). Now, while many might not consider this a big deal, Fiona Lockhart illustrates wonderfully the significance of this when she states, " Historically, women have been relegated to limited roles, often as love interests or supporting characters." Nonetheless, as our society has progressed, its idea of what roles and actions women are capable of has shifted to characters like Wonder Woman, Sarah Connor, and Clarice Starling. Thus, many may question what voice or power dictates what roles are fit for women, and ironically, the answer to that question is us. As beautifully put by Lockhart, "This evolving portrayal of women in film reflects broader societal changes and highlights the importance of complex female characters in modern cinema."The observation that films and TV shows often reflect many of the cultural and societal issues that are occurring during a certain time period is quite clear as we look at many of the dialogues that movies have during a certain time period.

Pulp Fiction fully illustrates the idea that the power that women have in society is often reflected in film. Mia Wallace, as a character, reflects a woman who has a strong voice but who is still dependent upon someone else (Marsellous Wallace). Nonetheless, according to the Infographic site, " 30.8% of speaking characters are women." In that sense, Quentin Tarantino, by creating Mia Wallace, created a character that broke the mold for women characters at that time, as she was not heavily sexualized during the film. However, the dependent nature of Mia Wallace and Marsellous Wallace's relationship is worrisome, and the lack of strong women characters is disappointing. Although Tarantino does include an interesting scene that illustrates the wickedness of rape that many times our society overlooks, because most of the victims of rape are women. There is an instance in the film in which Marsellous Wallace is tied up and getting raped by a man who owns the gun store and a police officer by the name of Zed. Now, seeing this horrifying scene made me much more cognizant that there was then and continues to be a problem of rape in our society. While Pulp Fiction is in no way a film that is perfect in representation and appropriation, it does a great job of being a progressive movie in the 1990s. The film did not oversexualize or objectify women; it proved a story that was raw and unique, but the lack of strong-willed women is an unfortunate reality of this movie.