What was in the Briefcase?

Question

Can anyone tell me what was in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction? And what is the Band-Aid on the back of Marsellus's neck about? Is there a connection? You never see or hear anyone say what's in the case. Thanks, - Hedy

Potential Answer (also see comments)

Note: If you don't remember the briefcase, check out the Hamburger scene video.

Metadata

Category:   Questions
Posted Date:  
Movie/Topic:   Pulp Fiction
Posted by:   Pulp Sloth
Article Tags:  Questions   MarsellusWallace   VingRhames 

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Displaying Comment 26 - 50 of 167 in total

USER COMMENTS

mofo23

Hey y'all,
I'm hung over and a shitty typist so I'll keep this short. I have a very good audio/home theatre system and my curiosity as to what is in the briefcase is that, on my system you can clearly hear the golden glow humming in time with the fluctuation of the glow, like some type of cinematic nuclear humming device. So, gold bricks don't hum and I think Tarantino is just trying to keep us guessing by not divulging the truth. Also, I have seen the back of Ving's neck in another movie, and he does have a scar, but if he is so self-conscious about the scar, why didn't he cover it up in the other movie. Bottom line, between the 666, the hum and the band-aid, and Ringo looking mesmerized while commenting on the beauty of the briefcase's contents, I think that it's Marsellus' soul and Tarantino won't admit it just to keep the whole mystery and guessing going.

luvLayne

I always thought the bandaid was a sarcastic wound associated with shaving your head in general. The golden glow couldn't be gold bars, too heavy, everyone saw it in their own fantasy, through their own "gold tinted glasses"

THEGIMP

IN THE BEGINING OF THE MOVIE, IT SHOWS THE DEFINITION OF PULP. IT SAYS THAT ONE OF THE DEFINITIONS OF PULP IS THAT IT IS A ROUGH PAPER OF LURID CHARACTERISTICS IN A MAGAZINE. THATS WHAT I THINK WHATS IN THE BREIFCASE.

Nephilim

OBVIOUSLY its his damn soul, the Chinese mythology and Tarantino's creative writing should prove to be enough, and all those who said its not and "highly unlikely" are stupid boring people who don't believe in anything besides their own two eyes. But I think Tarantino is stupid for not telling us, I hate when writers say "we'll leave it up to the audience to decide", they are the ones who are the writers and should make up their damn minds! Gold bars and anything else solid is just boring and cliche, I love that he throws a bit of mythology in there, he should just come right out and say its his soul, people will go back and watch the movie and I think, appreciate it more, and Tarantino's creativity.

boombkem

listen up and listen good..........

band aid? yes he has a scar in real life, not for the purposes of the film. but he as the band aid cos the DEVIL did take his motherfucking soul! ancient Chinese mythology fuckbitches, suggests that the devil takes a motherfucking soul from the back of the bitch ass neck!! but hes got a scar!?! shut the fuck up...our man quentin is an articulate intelligent mother fucking, he knows that people will say the devil and others will say scar, thats what the man wants... and you know what its what he gets!!

talk some more.....start of the film, that crazy bitch hunny bunny gives it the old "any of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute every mother fucking last one of you" but at the end of this bad ass punk ass bitch ass film she says.."any of you fucking pricks move, and I'll execute everyone of you mother fuckers!" Mistake by the great man? what do you think numb nuts! anither wicked ploy to gets dumb bitches like you reading this shit talking...and what you doing? its 2am in your little dark room and your googling this shit!


in summary, the man quentin is a fucking genius and he knows what he doing, he is getting your crazy stupid dumbass motherfuckers talking and talking and talking and talking and talking and talking and talking. you wont forget this film, you wont forget his name, marcellus soul, motherfucker!! marcellus sooul

peace out with much love

BadMOFo19

ok so to everyone saying the light is only gold, there's a part where the light is red. so that means its obviously not gold bars in there. and everyone is awed by the suitcase, and honey bunny says "its beautiful" when he sees it. almost all religions state that the soul is the most beautiful part of a human being. so since marcellus sold his soul to the devil, it was red in the beginning. but when vince and jules were getting it back, it was gold.
also i have an explanation for the "miracle". vince and jules were unharmed by the man cannon, since they were doing the work of god, getting his soul back. and personally i think the band aid scar explanation doesnt really fly...wallace is a badass gangster, why would they care if he has a scar in real life?? i think the soul thing is more likely. far fetched and you can take it or leave it. let me know what you think.

Zachrichter

The briefcase will always be a mystery, but the band aid was to cover up a scar on the back of Ving Rhames neck.

kingjef1

Ok, heres what I personally think, at the rape scene you find out that Wallace doesn't like to kill people right away, he likes to make them suffer, so maybe the man he dropped out the window (the one who everyone thought gave Mia the footrub), was the one who took Wallace's "soul" from his neck, and Wallace wanted to make him suffer for it, and then as in the movie, Vincent and Jules have to recover his soul. But that is just my theory.

CBR44

Although there are a few theories out there, we can only guess and keep guessing and commiting ourselves to believe that we know what's contained inside this case that is of great importance to Mr. Wallace. It's got a bright glow, the case has a strange combination, everyone who has seen the contents becomes mesmerized by it's beauty and for some reason some young men decided to risk they're saftey over whatever it is.....that's all I know about this. The theories are very interesting though, I'll give you that. Maybe QT should go the Carly Simon route and auction off the answer to this question to anyone who wants to pay top dollar to obtain it.

kgbeat

In the briefcase is the Oscar.

CBR44

The theory that it may contain the soul of Marsellius is possible. What tips me off about this is when Jules and Vincent open fire on Brett the "glow" is again visable. Could that have been Brett's soul leaving his body?

polon1um

This is over complicated. The briefcase contained gun and wallace was injecting direct into his nervous system

Ritchie_Frost

I like the soul theory. But a couple of questions come up. Why did those frat boys have it? And how does one put the soul back in?

Emceetricky

Never in the movie does marsellus stress that he even needs the briefcase. If it was that important to him there would be a scene where he described how much he wants the briefcase. This shows that whatever is in the briefcase is whatever the viewer wants it to be. And if ving rhaymes was just trying to hide a scar why would Tarantino do so many closeups of the back of his neck. The band aid is obviously something more significant.

jimmie

we are talking about band aid 'cause is good looking! yes the scare but...good looking. That's the reason in quentin's brain. the briefcase...(quentin's brain)...mystery...just something to make mad us!!!

soto_QT

One of the teories is that it is in fact the soul of Marsellus Wallace .This is one of the teories that makes the most sense(in a fictional way) because it is said that when one sells there sole to the devil the soul is extracted from the back of the head this explains the band-aid and since most things that are spiritual (saints ,halos,etc.)are thought to glow or produce light that might be why the suitcase glows.

Looney

First and foremost the briefcase is a story tellers tool known as a "Mcguffin".

Definition: McGuffin -noun
In film, a plot device that has no specific meaning or purpose other than to advance the story; any situation that motivates the action of a film either artificially or substantively; also written MacGuffin .
Etymology: Alfred Hitchcock's term, based on a story where this device was used in a story set on a Scottish train.

cwat

Re: whats in the briefcase and a few more tid-bitz


First and foremost the briefcase is a story tellers tool known as a "Mcguffin".

Definition: McGuffin -noun
In film, a plot device that has no specific meaning or purpose other than to advance the story; any situation that motivates the action of a film either artificially or substantively; also written MacGuffin .
Etymology: Alfred Hitchcock's term, based on a story where this device was used in a story set on a Scottish train.

With that in mind it is supposed to represent "The Devil's Deal" the idea of The thing that holds the most value to the person looking at it(everyone would see something different), and willing to kill/die or sacrifice everything you are and or have to possess it. It has a golden illumination because, whatever it is you hold in such high regards must be so illustrious and beautiful that it emits an almost heavenly glow. Remember your true heart's desire always looks so much brighter than how you view everyday wants.

The Combination being 666 (in my opinion) symbolizes the evil that we unleash (or unlock) by pushing past at any cost, what we know to be good right and true to obtain that which we hold in such high regards. If you think about it every time we inch our way over that moral line drawn in the sand it just makes it that much easier the next time. with that in mind we can never really posses our hearts desire, because as soon as we have it then we as a society look for the bigger better version, hence its unattainable but still we gave up our morals only to be left wanting more.

As for the band-aid well... Sometimes a band-aid is just a band-aid. I think people were reading more than was actually intended or thought of by QT, with his ability to make us question the underlying meaning of his films I think he would have had more center focus on the band-aid and left us with more questions, I mean come on the Ball-Gag had more center focus than it and I don't hear any hidden meaning about that. (Nor do I want to.) But the one thing I didn't hear mentioned was all the clocks during the movie were stopped (quirky trademark of the film) the time shown on most of them was 4:20, 2 were stopped at a different time.

profchaos33

My dick was in the briefcase ^_^

genius66

WELL BAD MUTHAFUKAS MY GENIUS THEORY IS THAT IT IS THE STOLEN WORLD CUP OF 1966 WHICH WE ENGLISH WON BECAUSE THERE ARE MANY CLUES WHICH ARE 1.THE AWE OF AMAZEMENT ON VINCENTS FACE SHOWING US IT IS NOT JUST GOLD BUT A PIECE OF HISTORY SOMETHING OF MORE THAN JUS VALUE 2.THE CASE LOCK IS 666 BUT IN THE FILM IT ONLY SHOWS YOU THE TWO 6'S HIS FINGER IS COVERING THE OTHER 1 UP 66' MEANING THE WORLD CUP YEAR 3. JULES IS CALLING TIM ROTH RINGO AS IN THE BEATLE COS HES ENGLISH THE BEATLES WERE AT THE HEIGHT OF THERE CAREAR IN 1966. AND LAST OF ALL THE REACTION OF 'RINGO' WHEN HE SEES WATS IN THE CASE SHOWS HE KNOWS JUST WAT IT IS AND SAYS 'IS THAT WAT I THINK IT IS' ''ITS BEAUTIFUL'' THINK ABOUT IT

simonjohn

marcellus wallace has 666 under the band aid on his neck. the reason for this is that marcellus wallace is the devil & the devil trades in souls.the item in the brief case is a soul, which as we know is being delivered to him by vincent vaga.( if only we all knew what a soul looked like!!?apart from a glowing gold colour ) except mr vaga himself who had a bad mishap with a toaster!! and is dead.

simonjohn

marcellus wallace has 666 under the band aid on his neck. the reason for this is that marcellus wallace is the devil & the devil trades in souls.the item in the brief case is a soul, which as we know is being delivered to him by vincent vaga.( if only we all knew what a soul looked like!!?apart from a glowing gold colour ) except mr vaga himself who had a bad mishap with a toaster!! and is dead. this in turn is why when bruce willis ( old punchy) runs marcellus clean over and he does not die is because you cant kill the devil because he is already dead. are we all on the same page now!!!!!!!!!!!!

simonjohn

marcellus wallace has 666 under the band aid on his neck. the reason for this is that marcellus wallace is the devil & the devil trades in souls.the item in the brief case is a soul, which as we know is being delivered to him by vincent vaga.( if only we all knew what a soul looked like!!?apart from a glowing gold colour ) except mr vaga himself who had a bad mishap with a toaster!! and is dead. this in turn is why when bruce willis ( old punchy) runs marcellus clean over and he does not die is because you cant kill the devil, because he is already dead. are we all on the same page now!!!!!!!!!!!!

moe39

Ok ill tell all of the pulp fiction followers the answer. Now the reason why Wallace has a band aid on the back of his neck is because he had his soul taken away by the guy he threw out the window! Why did the guy take his soul, how do you take an other mans soul that question is for a other thread my friends, but anyways i will give you guys info on why this is! 1st when vincent opens the case, the combination is 666 devils number. Now you can say the guy that Wallace threw out the window is the spawn of the devil or something IDK. But anyways now when that guy comes out of the bath room and starts shooting at them and does not hit either of them, why you might ask, well because they are holding the briefcase which has Wallace's soul! Then they pop caps in hes chest. Also every time juilles has the case he starts preaching about god, this case makes him see the right path! So he quits his job, now vincent on the other hand witch does not quit or follows the right path dies because of it! Also in china they think you can take a mans soul threw his neck hence why its on his neck, and he even talks about it when looking for the boxer (look back at the movie when their in the room with the dead man that the boxer killed) sorry for not knowing the names. And at the end of the movie because of the brief case jullies knows what that stuff from the bible means because of the case! Now you might ask why did vincent kill bret and friends, why ,well because he was helping the devil with Wallace soul! Now for all the people that think its gold, well wrong, does anybody know how heavy gold it, VERY. Why do you think Wallace is going out of town, well because he is getting his soul back into him by a china guy IDK dont ask, Why do i know all of this? Because Tarantino said it in his 1996 interview i have it on dvd i will post it on youtube if i get enough request for it sorry for bursting all of your guys bubbles! This is my favorite movie in the world, my favorite actor Samuel l Jackson.And also if you refer after Wallace has the brief case you get a shot at his neck with no band-aid after he comes home from that china guy that gives him back his soul. Its all in the interview with him, if i get enough requests i will put it on youtube!!!!!! This is a fan site. We have nothing to do whatsoever with Mr. Tarantino
besides the fact we love him and his fabulous movies.
GO STEELERS

darc_poet

Macguffin.....I hate that this term is used for what was originally known as a Chekov's Gun. I mean even the term chekov's gun sounds so much cooler.

Whats in the case is unimportant. Im glad that Quentin decided against using the diamonds from Reservoir Dogs in this movie. Mainly because the whole begining diner scene would make no sense because Tim Roth is the first thing you see in this movie, and he is british. Would have just been an ugly cluster fuck in my opinion. I have heard the soul theory, and it makes sense, but what is the point of trying to figure out something that isn't meant to be figured out. It could just as easily been the aliens from repo mans trunk, or whatever was in there. To me, whatever you want it to be, thats what it is.
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