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Tag Archives: Hitler
The Great Dictator and the Power of Film
To Be Or Not To Be Funny
Blog Post 2
The still frame I chose to analyze is this here, taking place in the first scene of the film. I think the scene and this particular shot are crucial in establishing the black humor of the film and the concept of performance. Before this shot there is a narration about something crazy everyone is running to see, it shows the faces of multiple citizens with looks of astonishment, surprise, and fear. After a great build up the camera pans right to this, Adolf Hitler in full uniform standing in the middle of public. People run up behind him but stop just feet away, and stare at the man as if he’s an alien. The narrator then goes from building viewer’s suspense and anticipation to jokingly calling him, “The man with the little mustache, Adolf Hitler.” Up to this point the narrator and the visuals are all quite serious, then this Hitler based black comedy joke comes up, and the entire rest of the sequence talks about Hitler in a light, joking manor. The rest of the film also has this sort of black humor, and I think this is a perfect way to introduce audiences to a sort of comedy they might not be comfortable with/accustomed to, but will be quite present in the film. The shot also starts off a major aspect of the film, performance. Not only are their actors and characters of varying nationalities in this film, but there are multiple instances of one character pretending to be another. This is our first taste of it, the character Bronski pretending to be Hitler (fun fact the actor who played Bronski was Irish-American so that’s interesting). On top of that the narrator and the film itself play more jokes with the audience, letting you believe it’s actually Hitler for about another two minutes. Personally, I think this was a great “kill two birds with one stone” situation where the director could perfectly introduce us to to major themes of the film within a minute.
The Slighest Inconvenience…
For my GIF I wanted to do a screen shot of Hitler’s tantrum. I feel like Tarantino made out Hitler’s character to be whiny and silly. I feel like he wasn’t really taken as serious as he is protrayed in other films or readings. Other films show him as this fearless leader who gives off this intimidating figure that everyone looked at as someone to be afraid of. However In Inglorious Bastards that’s not the case. In this scene where he finds out about “The Bear Jew”, him and his soldiers actually appear to be terrified about a guy with a baseball bat and his appearance as a golem but don’t know to whether believe it or not because they say it’s just “soldier’s gossip”. I think this is an interesting scene because as we have talked about in class to what is Hitler and how his actions are far more terrifying then his appearance and the thought of anyone being more terrifying then him is an immediate threat. It’s kind of like he want’s to be the most feared so by doing that he say’s that he will hang their naked bodies from the Eiffel Tower to prove a point so that no one is more scary then him.
No Hiding Now
For this meme, I chose to highlight a scene that stood out to me in the film Inglorious Bastards. In this meme, you can see two members from the “Bastards” looking down at a nazi after they just engraved a swastika onto his forehead. Through a Holocaust class I took a few years back, I know that once the Holocaust was over, many nazi’s fled the area and adopted new identities. They did so to steer clear of getting convicted of any crimes they may have committed during the war against Jews and other minorities. That’s why the action the Bastards took regarding engraving a swastika onto the forehead speaks volumes. They did so to show the nazi’s that this horrible identity they have taken on will follow them the rest of their lives by providing society with an easy visual that identifies who they are and what they have done. I also found it clever how, in the top picture of the meme, they filmed it to make it look like the Bastards were much larger than the nazi and how they were looking down at him.
That Which is Uncovered
This meme originates from the basement scene in Tarantino’s “inglourious basterds” where the Allied soldiers are discovered whilst disguising themselves as Nazis. The caption translates loosely to: “the one who can see through an identity doesn’t have their own humanity interfering with their judgement”. When one thinks of a meme one usually thinks of a witty or funny commentary derived from a common experience, and given both the cultural significance of this movie’s subject matter and the stark contrast between characters, this film presents many possibilities for, mostly tasteless, attempts at humor. That is why I chose a more serious approach for this, the arguably most important scene in the movie. I was fascinated with how the character of the Nazi was portrayed as so perceptive and outgoing whilst maintaining no convincing underlying humanity. Even in this exact moment when a life-threatening discovery is made, he expresses no fear or concern, but rather seems to except the circumstances with perhaps a hint of disgust. What strikes me most about this interaction is how the Nazi is capitalizing on his lack of empathy by toying with the Allied spies. This interaction as a whole serves to reaffirm the Bastard’s mission for the audience and demonstrate how necessary this re-written vindication is against the cruelty and inhumanity perpetuated by the Nazis.
Bronski or Hitler?
I chose this still for this blog post because I think it represents the time perfectly well. At the time this film was made, many citizens in Europe were not aware of the full effect of the Holocaust and to what exactly was going on. Just as they didn’t know exactly what was occurring in regards to Hitler’s actions many people also really had no idea what Hitler looked like. I think people often thought or only knew he had a mustache of distinctive character but beyond that, they really had no idea. This shot from To be or Not to Be by Ernst Lubitsch extends on the idea that there was much confusion and worry among the people in regards to what Hitler looked like. In this Shot, one of the gentlemen is arguing that Bronkski doesn’t even look like Hitler and that he needs to look more like Hitler in the picture they have in the room. This is ironic because the picture he is referring to is a picture of Bronski dressed as Hitler. This further shows that there was much confusion amongst people about what Hitler looked like. This also touches on the importance of the Mustache and how it is something constant throughout this film in regards to some of the topics we discussed in class.
Blindness
The scene that wanted to focus on is when Bronski wants to prove to the rest of his cast and director that he looks like Hitler in To Be or Not to Be. Right now, there is a huge stigma on how mysterious Hitler is to the world, and how no one really knows who he is or how to identify him. That is why everyone in Bronski’s play is not convinced that Brosnki portrays Hitler well enough.
When Bronski steps outside, huge groups and mobs of people start to surround him because they immediately think that Bronski is Hitler. They are all overwhelmed. But, most of these people who are in shock are adults. When the little girl walks up to Bronski and asks for his autograph, everyone stands in amazement because they could not believe that a little girl just walked up to “Hitler”. These adults were blind, and too scared, to realize that this was only an actor.
This shows that when adults are in fear, they are close minded, and want nothing to do with what is causing the fear. This little girl was able to see right through the Hitler costume and see the true actor underneath, who was Bronski. This scene also shows how innocent little kids are, and how unaware they are of all the terrors in the world.
A Shallow Act
This screenshot depicts an actor posing as Hitler in Warsaw during the satirical film “To Be or Not to Be”. What I find so interesting about this specific scene is the look of confusion and almost bewilderment on the actor’s face when a young fan recognizes him. It is the perfect representation of how the Nazi uniform and the Hitler mustache were almost seen as a suit of armor at the time of this movie’s filming. These iconic symbols were synonymous with power and authority, and no one dared to question them, which is why, when the actor was posing as Hitler, he was shocked to have his disguise discovered. The camera angle is straight on and centers his shocked expression almost in the direct middle of the screen, further alluding to the masked humanity of the actor who is trying to disappear behind his authoritative disguise. This scene sets up a pervasive theme throughout the film, and an overall commentary on the superficial nature of the order and posing within the Third Reich. A band of actors is successful in extracting information from high-level Nazi officials by posing as high-level officials themselves, and no one questions their authority because they are in disguise and act as though they are in a position of authority. By deifying people as symbols, and losing sight of their undeniable humanity, the Nazis let themselves become fooled and easily manipulated by actors who only needed a few simple props. The reason it worked so well is because the Nazis knew the truth, that their leaders, just like the actors, were only human, but by refusing to question either, an illusion can be maintained. That is why this scene is so interesting to me. It showcases the fragility of the illusion, and yet it works so well because of the fragile illusion the Nazis themselves were trying to uphold.
Do you hear what I hear?
For my analysis I want to talk about the score or the lack of one. Through out the film we rely heavily on the dialogue which makes since because the film reminds us to not always believe what you see and that what is right in front of you may not appear to be what you think it is. Dialogue is a way we can understand the characters chemistry, feelings and motives however, music can provoke even more emotion along with the action. This film does not have much of a score but when there is music playing I believe it is to make sure we are paying attention to what that person is saying. The scene that I have chosen is where Greenberg played by Felix Bressart does his dramatic monologue from The Merchant of the Venice by Shakespeare. He says this three times in the film, the first in the theatre where they both talk about roles they would love to do. The second when Warsaw was destroyed but only this time when he says it there is sad music playing. So when he says this it has a whole different meaning to it. It’s not only just a monologed from a play, it is the truth of these people being attacked and that there is more emotion to what he is saying. And the third time he says it is when he is confronted face to face with Hitler. While he is saying this once again there is a haunting chant in the background. So even though this film doesn’t rely on a score, music definitely helps play a part to provoke emotion when there is something the director wants the audience to feel and pay attention to. I also thought it was interesting that there were some words taken out of the monologue, the whole thing goes like this. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions; fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer as a Christian is? If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? ….Definitely changes the tone of what he is really trying to say.
