Pulp Fiction’s Mia Wallace (Uma Thurman) is one of the great characters of film and displayed on most of the films promotional artwork. Regardless, little have the characters and their significance been explored. Herein, the idea that Mia Wallace represents mystery will be discussed and the manners in which she does revealed.

How Does Mia Wallace Represent Mystery?

Pulp Fiction is a true post-modernist film in that each of the characters represents an idea and the ‘story’ of the movie is basically a show of how different concepts interact. Mia Wallace is associated with the concept of mystery and the unknown. As a consequence of representing mystery, all her scenes involve some sense of intrigue or the unknown.

Mia Wallace As Discussed By Jules and Vincent

Befitting of the lady of mystery, the first scene involving Mia Wallace does not actually have her present. In this scene, Jules (Samuel Jackson) and Vincent  (John Travolta) are discussing how their boss, and Mia’s husband, threw a guy off a building. As Mia represents mystery, it is in doubt what the reasons for this attack were and Jules and Vincent both speculate on the rumour that he was thrown off the roof for giving Mia a foot massage.

Following that, Jules and Vincent begin discussing how their boss ordered Vincent to go out on Friday night with Mia. Even this has an element of mystery behind it, with them both discussing the nature of the meeting. Jules argues that a man and a woman going out on a Friday night is a date, whereas Vincent argues it is just eating out with a friend’s wife.

Mia Wallace and the Date That Is Not A Date With Vincent

The first scene of the date with Mia involves Vincent entering the Wallace household, with Mia Wallace speaking with him via speaker. Using this, she plays a game with him by directing him towards the speaker to respond to her. Furthermore, this is symbolic of mystery as though the audience and Vincent hear her, they do not see her.

The date then starts, with Mia initiating yet another mystery by ordering an overly expensive milkshake. Vincent thus attempts to logically understand why the milkshake is so expensive. Immediately after, Mia requests that Vincent come up with a decent topic of conversation while she goes to the bathroom. This is another mystery for Vincent to try to understand, as she gives no details concerning a preference of subject. In response, he brings up the massage topic on her return.

Then the date itself starts, and Mia presents yet another mystery by ordering a particularly expensive milkshake. This mystery interests Vincent, who attempts to rationally explore the reason for the expense of the milkshake. Directly following this, Mia asks Vincent to come up with a good topic of discussion that will interest her. She gives no details about this so Vincent has to guess and comes up with the massage topic, which he then discusses with Mia. Mia, of course, lets him continue theorizing before revealing that the mystery is false and presenting another mystery by saying that only Marsellus and the man he threw off the building know what it was about. Next, Mia tells Vincent the story of her minor television career, telling how the show would have included a joke told by her on every episode. When Vincent asks about the joke, she refuses to reveal what the joke was, thus still remaining a mystery.

Mia Wallace’s Relationship With Marsellus Wallace

The interesting thing about Mia’s relationship with Marsellus Wallace is that it is only suggested but never are the details of their relationship revealed, thus continuing the theme of mystery. This theme is continued throughout their relationship, with every element of it serving as a mystery. For example, whether Marsellus is truly overprotective or not is a mystery and serves as a minor plot element in the movie.

Related Articles:

Pulp Fiction Meaning Analysis
Butch Coolidge (Honor)
Marsellus Wallace (Authority)
Jules Winnfield (Religion and Spirituality)
Vincent Vega (Logic and Reason)