Inglorious Basterds Postmodern Essay The postmodern elements come through in the first few seconds of the opening

credits in Tarantinos film, Inglorious Basterds. He commonly uses yellow text throughout his films which represents Tarantions style as a director. Tarantino uses the music The green leaves of summer as the credits run, which features the spaghetti western The Alamo that was made at a much later date to when the Inglorious Basterds is set. He used modern music which could reflect Levi Strauss theory of bricolage and is used as chapter one is introduced. This spaghetti western music sets the tone of the beginning of the film. The first text we see on the screen relates back to a fairytale story once upon a time in occupied Europe and this doesnt particular fit in with the story as we dont associate this with a war film. It features Gerard Genettes idea of hypertextuality which is the hypertext of a fairytale modified to show what we understand to be a war film. The first chapter is the similar setting to the film, the sound of music which focuses on the process of transposition, taking a scene that is originally heart-warming and then changing it to give it a sinister feel. This is considered to be postmodern. Again Tarantino style comes through when he uses the typical yellow text for the subtitles. The uses of dropped down floor boards give an incredible amount of tension to the film and alerts the audience to the potential threat within the scene. There is a clear statement that this house is not real which affects the audience as they feel their being drawn into the story more. Tarantino doesnt follow the typical war film structure we consider but the text is primarily presented as a war film. This chapter considers a dialogue between two characters who discuss irrelevant subjects in a war situation such as milk. I consider war films to be full of action so when looking at this scene on the farm it is quite lengthy with little action contradicts what we believe to be a war film. Friskes theory applies to this idea as our knowledge of war from films such as Saving Private Ryan enables us to identify the hyper reality within Inglorious Basterds which can be recognised as postmodern elements of texts. The exaggeration of Hans Landa is a further scene showing the hyper reality. The characters over exaggerate everything for example when drinking the milk he takes big loud gulps making it tense in both the scene and the audience. On the scene where Shoshanna escapes from the farm the hypertextuality is seen as the chapter draws in. The frame is taking from western using similar shots. This particular shot is taken from The Searchers as the main character leaves the house walking slowly away where we can see the door frame. Tarantino changes it up by using the door frame as an escape shot instead of an emotional goodbye. Chapter two introduces the Basterds. Once again exaggerated characters are used. Lieutenant Aldo Raine is the leader of the basterds and his accent is heavily distinctive and his motive through the film is very clear from the start. He is seen as a very simple character and the background knowledge on each character is very little which differs from a typical war film. We dont learn much from the characters past except what we see in the film, for example Lieutenant Aldo Raine has a scare on his neck but you never find out what it was from or how it had happened, leaving a bit of a mystery. This shows that Tarantino takes out all the emotion in the film which deletes any idea of human frailty. This takes up back to the blur between reality and fantasy in Inglorious Basterds.

Laura Ward

This allows for more humour elements to be added into the film as they use Hitler, an extremely stereotypical parody in comparison to an accurate depiction. The comical side to the film that Tarantino how approached makes it a hybrid film in comparison to a simple war film. The diversity of the genre is another factor which makes it postmodern because of the hazy distinction between genres, allowing Tarantino to be creative with the war film elements he uses. War films are usually quite heavy on gunfire but however Tarantino provides more of an entertainment and certainly a more graphic approach by using a horrific method of scalping the Nazis. There is also stabbing and we get to see the Bear Jew as he is one of the main key characters when it comes to killing the Nazis. There is a lack of fear through the attacks which dehumanises the characters and therefore removing all emotion. This chapter uses flashbacks which is a interrupted narrative concerning the German, Hugo Stiglitz. The narrative used is an element of postmodernism as is the introduction to it. This is done by showing Hugos name in yellow font on the screen, this reminds the audience they are watching a film not something real. Tarantino uses a sample of Blaxploitation music from the song Slaughter which is once again used from a later time than the film. The electric guitar is used several times as a motif to introduce characters. The use of Blaxploitation music represents the Basterds in this chapter and was considered cool during the time; this isnt how war films characters are portrayed. The music used for the Inglorious Basterds sets them apart from other war films as it has a different atmosphere to it. The start of chapter three contains the addition of modern music too. Whilst the text appears on screen for Shoshanna which reintroduces her, there is spaghetti western music being played in the scene to accompany her arrival. After being introduced again we are then introduced to Fredrick Zoller who is a German soldier. The main concern of the dialogue is about the films, which is a key element to the storyline and the reason for Zollers interest in Shoshanna. Silent film stars Max Linder and Charlie Chaplin who are referred to as the films directors and friend of Hitler Leni Riefenstahl. The use of metatextuality follows him during the dialogue in the French cafe when he is speaking to Shoshanna again. Zoller compares himself and his film to the Nations Pride, a famous American film from the time starring Van Johnson, whom Zoller feels his equal to and as good as an actor. Once again yellow text appears on the screen when theres a freeze shot used to introduce Josef Goebbels. This reminds the audience that this is a film. A postmodern element of the narrative occurs after the introduction of Goebbels in which Shoshannas thoughts are shown. She thinks of Goebbels and his mistress having sex which is shown in a short cut away shot with a comical manner to it. Tarantino has been postmodern by deleting Shoshannas emotion. She was an innocent Jew whose family were viciously murdered by the Nazis on a farm and she is face to face with one of the members of the Third Reich and yet it has a comical approach to it. The further narrative disjuncture is shown at the end of the chapter when Shoshanna and her partner talking about burning down the cinema because of what they did to her family. A old British public information film comes on from the time to show how nitrate films are very flammable and are the source of the fire their going to make. A postmodern element is the voice over they use during this explanation of nitrate which is provided by Samuel L Jackson who is used a lot through Tarantinos films as he likes his voice on the backing.

Laura Ward

Chapter four introduces the British character of the film who has an over the top British language like the rest of the characters in the film. He is first shown in a stereotypical setting of a British room as its so large each shot shows one man, extending the view of the room. The characters also follow this representation. The other two men who are in the room are extremely posh through the way they speak which is an old fashioned British manner. They are also very charming and witty which fits with their overly polite characterisation many British characters have. The basement scene introduces Bridget von Hammersmark, who is very posh and an unlikely character to be found in a war film. They play a game that is a reference to a popular culture from the time for example King Kong and she makes the Nazi officers play it as well as the Basterds. Again instead of having loads of action they use a lot of dialogue instead which appears in the basement scene. This dialogue is used to create a large amount of tension leading up to an action scene. There is a slight comical feel to the fact that the men are aiming their weapons at each others testicles just because it looks more ridiculous and humours the audience. Tarantino refers to the western feel again by showing the barman reaching for his shot gun that hid below the counter when the gunfire starts. The fight could be seen more postmodern because its done with quickly and is also very brutal that other war killings. After the shooting scene in the basement we are then shown a vet shop which is a hypertextuality seen by the reference to a gangster film. They show this by using the basterds as the gangsters because they would never take someone to the real doctors in those films they would always go to the vets. This is bricolage because it could is socially recognisable as a gangster film and is not considered as a classic war element. The injury Von Hammersmark gets from the fight is played down to remove the emotion and fear from the film. The audience would believe this scene would be more distressing due to the unsuccessful event in the basement but yet again Tarantino uses humour instead. He does this by mocking the basterds ability to speak Italian which is the main subject to get them into the theatre to put their plan in place. Chapter five features the postmodern element of taking music from a film later than the Inglorious Basterds is set. This cultural knowledge allows us to identify Inglorious Basterds as an untraditional postmodern war film as it doesnt follow the traditional war film concept. Tarantino also features a film within a film by taking a much more traditional approach to it as a war film. However elements circle around hypertextuality although possibly to be more in favour of Nazis as the appropriate neat pile of bodies that are on the floor. The chapter then turns to Fredrick visiting Shoshanna. This scene is very war based unlikely the rest of the film. There is Battle war music being played as he approaches the room which could indicate an action code to the audience. These war film features during a non-war relates scene could be considered postmodern as it is basically known as bricolage. The projection scene features a lot of postmodern element such as the blur done in-between reality and fantasy. This is done so you can see Fredrick lying down after being shot and seeing his face on the screen making him out to be a hero which even though Shoshanna knows its not real she moves in to see if Fredricks alright. Then the reality sets in as the German soldier response to her by shooting Shoshanna. Here they use a slow motion to show emotion in the scene which isnt used in the previous deaths, which makes us have a sense of the tragic loss. The slow moving camera blurring out from them lying on the floor next to each other gives a sense of Romeo and Juliet and again we see hypertextuality. Laura Ward

Tarantinos foot fetish is shown through his films and is socially recognisable as a factor of him as a director. As Landa kills Von Hammersmark the camera draws into the womans foot and stays focused on this element whilst shes being killed. But overall the film features a massive amount of postmodern factors which give the film its fun and humour view on war. I think the main factors are the music used and the intertextual references that connect to other films which plays a big part in the feel of this obscure reality of war.

Laura Ward