And while I wouldn't go so far as to call him a 'racist'... I do think his perceptions are slightly...distorted.

>I'm not sure if it's because chose himself for that scene, or
>because he can't act for shit, but it always comes off really
>unnatural.

For some odd reason which I have never been able to explain, this actually makes it slightly less offensive to me.

>Yes, we know he's saying it to piss off Jules because he can,
>but that's what's disturbing about it. This guy being in this
>power position to repeatedly drop the n-word in Jackson's
>face, may seem clever to some people, and it is in a way, but
>for the most part, it's not much more than some silly white
>boy fantasy.

Good points... But let's look at the bigger picture here. Isn't Pulp all about silly white boy fantasies?

>Other than that scene, I can't say I find his use of the word
>all that gratuitous. Most of it is natural dialogue when white
>criminals talk amongst themselves.

Criminals, police, families, ministers, politicians, etc.

>What are your thoughts on that scene? What are you thoughts on
>Tarantino and the word in general? Do you think he has some
>issues? Do you think he gets off on saying it? Do you think
>critics of it are just looking for something to bitch about?
>Do you think he thinks he's black?

This is only halfway related, but I was thinking about Quentin Tarantino as being possibly the most heavily hip hop influenced Director we've ever seen. To me, the way he draws on past influences is not unlike sampling. Looking at the Kill Bill movies in this context, I almost feel like those are the equivalent to a producer's beat CD. No real content to speak of, but just a nice showcase of what he can do, what's in his crates, and how he was able to flip, chop, interpolate, etc.

Then there's all the criminal underworld elements, the language, the style over substance (or the style *being* the substance), the nihilism... Not to mention the fact that he has RZA on speed dial.

I think, in some ways, the N-word issue comes into play here. But I'm not sure how just yet. It's the ugliest word in the English language, but I still say its real power lies in the context. And to this day I'm still not sure how to take this particular instance. There's a pretty good case to be made for either side of the argument.