Pulping Fictions: Consuming Culture Across the English/Media Divide

Taking Tarantino’s dictionary definition of “pulp fiction” as its starting point, this work explores the unease with which film and TV adaptations of books are often greeted. It looks at a range of adaptations and authors, including Branagh’s film “Henry V”, “Frankenstein”, and the books of Angela Carter. The notion of “planning” in the evolution and filming of “Interview with the Vampire”, and the exploitation of textual/cinematic strategies in the film “Orlando” are examined. The BBC’s decision to film “Middlemarch” in Stamford is considered, and the book concludes with a defence of the charges against Tarantino that he exploits the banal and vulgar tastes of mass culture.