I think I finally got it...

[Duck Sauce]

So what is in the briefcase? Gold? A soul? Something to do with Kiss Me Deadly? God?

this is a very tired question and there is no right answer...

I was trying to start speculation and discussion on the topic.

[penfold0101]

I like the CRAZY theory that in the case is the gold suit Elvis wears in True Romance.

[tpfkabi]

i just saw Pulp Fiction for the first time. i'm glad i waited until now. if i had seen it as a kid it would have spoiled it for me. i remember i saw a small part on cable (the part where travolta sticks in the needle) but the film looked uninteresting to me, so i never checked it out.
now i see what all the commotion was about. it really is a breath of fresh air.
i don't think anything is any more funny that when those guys open up that steel cage in the basement. i thought for sure it was a tiger or some wild caged animal. then that guy comes out and everything gets freaky!! then they the chain the guy up. hilarious!!!
wow. tell me how his other films compare.

[cowboykurtis]

i read an interview back in the day, cant remember where -- it's claim for the glowing briefcase: the jewel covered boxing championship belt for the fight that butch was going to throw for marcellus --  -- i guess it makes sense... i cant remember if marcellus mentions any sort of "championship" match. regardless, it's grounded in some sort of logic -- maybe tarantino will tell us all when he's on his deathbed, writing his memoir.

[Keener]

I'd rather never know.

[i/o]

I think that something should be said about cable television. I have also found myself watching a movie from the middle (in some cases one I didn't like on first viewing) and really getting into it and the next going out and renting it finding that it's really enjoyable.
And the same goes for me...things like what's in the briefcase, or (in a lesser sense) what's in that box in Castaway, not knowing makes it all better...

[EL__SCORCHO]

So now, I need to watch it again with different eyes. Before, I watched it expecting story. Now, I'll watch it looking for characters and dialogue. Before it's over, maybe I'll finally have a bit of appreciation for someone who I've largely ignored in the past.

none of those characters or dialogue would have worked in Pulp Fiction without the story. It's absurd to think of chacracters and dialogue as working without a story. Thats why so many people have failed trying to rip QT off because they're more concerned with characterization and "cool dialogue" and they forget about the story. The result is always shit.

[Keener]

I loved Pulp's story.

[ReelHotGames]

JB is absolutely right - a macguffin!

Isn't that the point of it - what is in that briefcase that is so damn important? What, oh what, could it be? The whole idea is to add that element of wonder, because if you see it, and it turns out to be heroine or cash or whatever then so fucking what, it's heroin or cash or whatever....

And a soul, okay, but then you've crossed a line into a fatastical realm where souls can be carried in briefcases and we may as well have had Sam Jackson do a wire fu fight and John Travolta can rise from the dead after Butch lays him out.

So... What's in the briefcase is... Doesn't matter, it's important and that's all we need to know. Speculation is fun, yeah for speculation.

[prophet]

thats what i said its for the imagination. what if he really said that it was an Oscar im sure some people would be disapointed.