In a message dated 8/31/99 2:50:22 PM, you wrote:
 
<<Rich, cumulative knowledge is loaded into a figure as a result of putting
the emphasis on meaning rather than on temporality, and by arranging those
meaning bits to optimal effect. >>
Absolutely.  My point is simply that a close reading of almost any film shows
this temporal plasticity to be operating.  Since DW Griffith set out the
basic structure of film language (Griffith's intercutting is a spatial
version of what you describe), not a whole lot has changed.  Refined and
expanded (ie spatial intercutting becomes temporal), but not changed.  PULP
FICTION certainly embraces this plasticity, but not so effectively as some
other, earlier films.  LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD comes to mind.
My opinion is that the temporal disjunctions of PULP FICTION, however
interesting, have little, even nothing, to do with the film's popularity.  My
opinion.
The relationship between Eisenstein's montage and the ideogrammic method has
been recently noted on this list.
Best wishes,
Jay Anania