After doing a lot of research on pulpy books, I started to believe they can be compared to B-movies since they don't have to be literacy books. Although they are both in media, their stories are made to be entertaining and straight to the point. What do you think? Are pulp short stories and novels are like B-movies?
I think that's a good comparison. When you choose a B-movie you expect to be entertained but you accept that it probably won't stun you with amazing special effects and a deep and meaningful message.
That's probably a pretty apt comparison. I have loved a lot of what most people consider B movies. Especially horror movies and action adventure or sci fi fantasy flicks. It seemed like the 80s were the hey days for many of these to be produced.
"Pulp" is a very accessible book but it can at the same time be of very good quality. B-movies are never very good quality.
sometimes though, that's what makes then enjoyable to me. I still remember siting down in the theatre to watch a movie and in the first few minutes seeing one of the actors almost getting hit in the head by a boom mic that accidentally strayed into the shot. When I was younger I remember me and my friends used to have a competition/night where each of us would try to bring the worst horror movie we could find and then have a marathon. Afterword we would hold a vote to see whos movie had won. My personal best was a movie called Rock and Roll Wrestling Women vs the Aztec Mummy! At one point half way through the movie they have a wrestling match and someone announces that the loser of the match will have to watch the entire movie all over again!
There's no real mystery here. B-movies and pulp-fiction grew up next to each other in the late 40s/early 50s, when there was a much larger contrast between "serious" and "not serious" fiction/movies. It's a bit more muddled now with many gradients in between. B-movies are their own industry with their own expectations now. Ditto with low-genre fiction (or whatever you would call pulp today). Part of the charm is to turn up the cheese as high as possible without completely devolving into absurdity... unless you're going for absurd, which is its own specific style now, too.
'Pulp fiction' implies it probably isn't top notch quality, just like 'B-movie.' Of course there are going to be some diamonds among the rough, but it's not the expectation.
