A Tribute to Pulp Fiction’s The Gimp
October 14, 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of the release of Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. While there are plenty of memorable scenes and characters in this film, no one stands out more than The Gimp, the sex slave of a pawn shop owner and a security guard.
The Gimp is introduced when he’s brought out of a locked box where he sleeps. He then gets leashed up and tasked with keeping guard of Bruce Willis’s character, Butch, as mob boss Marsellus Wallace gets raped.
Oddly enough, had there been no Gimp in this film, nothing in the plot would have changed, and the film still would have been a huge success. Gimp or no gimp, Butch still would have escaped and freed Wallace, and the film would’ve been a full minute shorter.
But I digress. There have been few characters in film history with so little screen time and no dialogue, yet whose name alone is so easily remembered even 20 years later. Had the Gimp been based on a real person, it would be one of the saddest things ever, but Tarantino’s direction makes it bearable at worst, humorous at best (we’re just talking about the Gimp scene, not the rape scene).
The Gimp actor, Stephen Hibbert, has been doing several interviews lately on his character and time on the set. Here’s more reading, and other Gimp related things we found online.
More Gimp Reading:
- NPR: ‘Bring Out The Gimp’: The Man Behind The Mask In ‘Pulp Fiction’
- Vulture: The Gimp Unleashed: Pulp Fiction’s Creepy Bondage Slave Tells All
- Rolling Stone: ‘Get the Gimp’: Breaking Down ‘Pulp Fiction’s Most Notorious Scene
- Yahoo: Bruce Willis Was A Very Good Friend to The Gimp
The Gimp doesn’t actually speak in Pulp Fiction, but we all remember the dialogue when the Gimp is introduced. Here it is, and the theme music.
The Gimp Dialogue/Theme
What the Gimp Really Looks Like
Stephen Hibbert.
Who the Gimp Was Married To
That’s Julia Sweeney, dressed as her character Pat from Saturday Night Live. Sweeney was also in Pulp Fiction, playing a far more forgettable character. She and Hibbert were married between 1989 and 1994, meaning they got divorced around the same time Pulp Fiction came out.
Gimp Stuff
Gimp Cupcake
Yes, this dude has a tattoo of The Gimp on his lower back.
Gimp Art, via The Russian on deviantart
$9.99
Features:
- The Gimp Action Figure, in retro Kenner style!
- Poseable 3 3/4-inch ReAction figure from Pulp Fiction!
- Features 5 points of articulation, just like the classic Kenner action figures of the 1970s and 1980s!
Pulp Fiction Figures: The Gimp, Butch, Zed, Marsellus Wallace by NECA
(Note: The Gimp is the smallest one)
Gimp Definition:
ɡimp/ noun
- twisted silk, worsted, or cotton with cord or wire running through it, used chiefly as upholstery trimming
- fishing line made of silk bound with wire.
Gimp Definition from Urban Dictionary:
- a derogatory term for someone that is disabled or has a medical problem that results in physical impairment.
- An insult implying that someone is incompetent, stupid, etc. Can also be used to imply that the person is uncool or can’t/won’t do what everyone else is doing.
- A sex slave or submissive, usually male, as popularized by the movie Pulp Fiction.
And finally, we present to you, The Gimp:
