Did A Cat Inspire The Iconic ‘Pulp Fiction’ Dance Sequence?

Muses have many names; for Quentin Tarantino, it was Duchess from ‘The Aristocrats’ for the ‘Pulp Fiction’ dance sequence. Tarantino revealed in 2013 on The Graham Norton Show that the feline of the 1970 cartoon film inspired John Travolta and Uma Thurman’s twist set. Norton mentioned how bold it must be for a young Tarantino to teach John Travolta to dance.

However, Tarantino replied, “I didn’t have to teach John Travolta how to dance. I wanted him to dance in a particular way.” The director, emulating the steps, explained, “Let me set it up. Because it is a twist, now twists can be kind of boring.”

“I wanted Vincent [Travolta] and Mia [Thruman] to have two different characters when they twist.” Tarantino continued,” When Vincent twists I want him to be kind of rigid.” However, the director had a different vision for Mia’s steps.

He said, “But when Mia twists, the image that I had in my mind was the Zsa Zsa Gabor cat from ‘The Aristocrats’. And there is that one little scene where those aristocrats dance.”

There Are More Inspirations For The ‘Pulp Fiction’ Dance

However, the feline from ‘The Aristocrats’ was not the only inspiration for the ‘Pulp Fiction’ dance sequence. Director, Quentin Tarantino named Odile’s dance in ‘Anna Karenina’ as another inspiration for Mia’s choreography. Tarantino wanted to bring Odile’s sense of freedom and fearlessness to Mia’s steps in a feminist act of conventional disobedience.

Tarantino was accused of stealing the iconic dance sequence from Federico Fellini’s 1963 film, ‘8½’. John Travolta also revealed that the sequence derived from the Swim and the Batman besides the twist. Travolta became a dancing and singing sensation after the ‘Pulp Fiction’ scene.