Tag Archives: inglourious basterds

Look into the Mirror

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Argument: Quentin Tarantino made Inglourious Basterds to force Americans to see their past sins.

 

 

Introduction: Start with a black background with “’I think America is one of the only countries that has not been forced to look [its] own past sins in the face. And it is only by looking them in the face that you can possibly work past them.’ – Quentin Tarantino.” In white letters. I will do a voice overlay reading the quote and stating my argument.

Cross dissolve fade

 

Example 1: Video Clip from Inglourious Basterds where Brad Pitt introduces himself as Lt. Aldo Raine and that he needs 8 Jewish American Soldier. (Time is 21:30 to 21:45) Video stops with Jewish American soldiers and fades to his “Apache battle plan” (Time 22:40-22:44) Cut to “Little Man” scalping the Nazi at the end of the film.(Still image at 2:28:36) Voice over talking about the reference to Native American Genocide and how this is a comparison showing that Americans aren’t any more civilized that we gave the Natives credit for. This is the first time Tarantino holds the mirror up for Americans to face its past sins.

Screen swipe transition

 

Example 2:  Video Clip from Inglourious Basterds where they talk about how Americans only win in the Olympics because of the “offspring of slaves” (48:33-48:40) Pause video and talk about how the Germans in the film believe this to be another form of slavery. White Americans were using the descendants of the people they enslaved to bring glory to the country even though they were not treated as equals. Before I finish talking I want to do a subtle fade to the next reference where they are in the bar playing the game with cards on their heads. (1:25:23-1:27:00) This clip is longer because it goes into more detail to explain how this could be the story of the slave in America. Explain how Tarantino uses this to again hold the mirror up for Americans to see their sins. That a Nazi can see our sin but we are blind to it.

Cross fade

Conclusion:

Cut to the ending where Lt. Raine states that this just may be his masterpiece. (2:29:30) Restate the examples and their significance to my argument. Ending with Tarantino uses Inglourious Basterds as a mirror to force Americans to look their own sins in the face.

Justice: What Could Have Been, The Movie

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Justice: What Could Have Been, The Movie

Time Stamps: Inglourious Basterds

(36:30- 38:03)

(2:23:58- 2:25:19)

(2:28:48-2:29:31)

Voice over for the first clip: Inglourious Basterds is a film that deals with some very sensitive topics, the main one being the retribution that a fictional set of Jewish Americans give to Nazi soldiers during WWII. The group, nicknamed the Basterds, mark soldiers that they let go with a swastika on their foreheads as a symbol that they have to live with for the rest of their lives, like the Germans did to Jewish people with the numbers tattooed on their wrists.

Voice over for the second clip: Another action that the Basterds partake in is the burning down of the cinema with high ranking Nazi officials inside, a reversal of cases where German soldiers had burned down barns with Jewish people inside. It is only fitting that the Basterds do this as the final case of revenge for all the atrocities committed against the Jewish people, and the scene also includes a closeup of the Basterds gunning down Hitler in his booth as overkill to the burning down of the cinema to make sure that he is killed during the event.

Voiceover for the third clip: As the cherry on top, Colonel Landa strikes a deal with the United States government and has his life after the war setup, but Brad Pitt’s character, Aldo the Apache, does not want Landa to come out of this a free man with no way of telling of what he had done, so he carves a swastika in his forehead as well. This is the representation of the final justice for every German soldier or official that came out of the war that did not face charges for crimes they committed during the war.

Transitions for scenes, simple fade in and out between scenes. No music in the background but instead having the clips audios playing behind the voiceover.

History Forever Repeats…

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This scene in “Inglorious Basterds” stuck with me after watching it because this is how Americans felt about Native Americans throughout history. Americans felt that the natives were savages and needed to be killed or somehow converted to a more civilized way of life. Now Lt. Raine feels the same way about Nazis. This scene is another subtle reference to the genocide of Native Americans because Lt. Aldo Raine has “a little injian” in him. Being one of the themes that Quentin Tarantino continues throughout the entire movie with the “King Kong” reference and slavery references makes this is an important scene.

Inglourious Basterds Meme

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In the film Inglorious Basterds, Col. Hans Lada’s character acts as one of the main antagonists, making it pretty easy to dislike him. In the opening scene of the film, he visited a french dairy farmer’s home to investigate the possibility that they were hiding a Jewish family from the Nazi’s. The colonel then goes on to explain that he thinks of the jewish people as rats and to find them you must think like a rat. All the while he was enjoying the fresh milk from the farmer’s cows. He makes a fuss about how delicious it is, complementing the farmer. Later, he is in a restaurant sitting with Shosanna, orders her a glass of milk, and instructs her to wait to eat her dessert after they bring the whipped cream for the top. The significance of the milk is still somewhat beyond me but I believe that it was used as an intimidation tactic. It also created suspence within the films that it was featured in.

May I Smoke My Pipe as Well?

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In Inglorious Basterds, there is a plethora of examples of phallic imagery used to show the power imbalance in different scenes. The scene that the meme above is from is perhaps the most well known instance of phallic imagery in the film. This meme is attempting to exaggerate the phallic imagery in this scene to show how the two men are exerting control over each other. During this scene, Landa is speaking to LaPadite in an uncomfortably calm manner, as he knows that he is about to massacre the Jewish family hiding underneath the floor boards. When LaPadite begins to smoke his pipe, he is attempting to take control of the situation, being the first man to take out his phallic item. During this period, he believes that he can convince Landa that he is not hiding anyone and that he has shifted the power over to himself. However, once Landa asks if he can smoke and brings out his ridiculously large phallic pipe, he shows that he has always had the power in this situation; they are “comparing sizes” and Landa has come out on top. Both of them use their pipes to convince the other that they are in control, but in the end, the man with the biggest pipe wins.

A Cursed Performance

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For all of you theatre kids out there, this one’s for you. I based this meme on the stage superstition that it is bad luck to say “Macbeth” or anything related to Macbeth in theatre. For those not familiar with this superstition, the idea is akin to wishing an actor “good luck” before their performance, when proper practice is to say, “break a leg.” In the eyes of theatre lovers, saying “Macbeth” or wishing one “good luck” will curse a production. I chose this subject to shed light on the performances of the characters in this sequence in Inglourious Basterds. The American ‘Basterds’ are pretending to be Italian filmmakers and Bridget von Hammersmark’s escort, while BvH pretends not to be an Allies agent. However, the improvised nature of their act renders it inviable. The characters have thrown together this outfit at the last minute in attempts to rescue Operation Kino. However, the serpentine Colonel Landa sees instantly through their roles and flaunts his priviness by laughing maniacally at BvH’s cover story and by speaking fluent Italian.  

This still captures the moment when the Basterds and BvH realize that their cover is blown and that Landa is teasing them. Their performance has failed, and their faces reflect uncomfortable dismay and worry. However, in another, sarcastic sense, their faces are also the ones of disgruntled stage actors. If, on opening night of a production, after countless hours of rehearsal, stage prep, costume design, and after the actors are all dressed and ready for curtain, someone were to say “Macbeth,” this is the sort of reaction that more than likely would occur. From left to right, the characters’ faces seem to read: “Seriously?,” “Ohhhhh no,” “MMMMM,” and “You may leave now, you disgraceful being.” The juxtaposition of this moment in the film and the moment when some says “Macbeth” in a theater highlights the doomed nature of Operation Kino, or at least, the failed performances by the Basterds and BvH. 

That Which is Uncovered

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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.

Can’t escape being a Nazi

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The meme translates to “The first cut is the deepest and hard to forget”. This meme is similar to the article “Collective Memory and Cultural Identity” by J. Assmann because it shows communicative memory. The Nazi was branded with the swastika by the Basterds and he goes back to tell Hitler of what had happened to him. This is an example of communicative memory because the story of how he was branded is being told.  The memory of being branded by the Basterds, unless documented such as photograph or writing, will only live as long as the people, who were alive to experience it, are still living.