Conversations Ongoing: Inglorious Bastards: Review of a Postmodern Work

Here is an article on the movie to prime those on the nuts and bolts of the movie:

http://www.newsweek.com/id/212016

Analyzing the movie Inglorious Bastards by Tarantino, one finds many little nuisances that suggest that this is a postmodern work to a great degree. Let's go through several themes and see how they apply to the movie, and also comment on how they were each pulled off.

Breaking Down the Fourth Wall: Self-awareness.

In Inglorious Bastards one finds that throughout, and at the end especially, History is being turned around. The violent Nazis are no more than fumbling drunks, the abused Jews become the abusers, and of course Hitler himself meets his untimely, and historically inaccurate, demise.

This treatment of history and facts show that this movie is a self-aware piece of art, not interested in right or wrong, but rather a meta-fiction.

Pastiche: Imitation.

Obviously this is Tarantino's M.O. Here we find real insight into the use of genre to explain and analyze art. Tarantino uses pastiche in order to play with our ideas about art and movies. This sort of self-reflective art allows the viewer to think about their own perceptions of conventional art.

Parody: Poking fun at.

There are so many examples of parody in Inglorious Bastards it may be tiresome to list them all. The fact that the Nazis are burned alive, like so many Jews. The fact that Aldo Raines and his Bastards are posing as Nazis in order to kill like Nazis, the uses of branding a swastika as opposed to the Nazis branding the Star of David into Jews, all of these mock reality. By poking fun at and literally flipping identities, well known truths, and historical situations Inglorious Bastards succeeds in this form of satirical imitation.

Bricologe: Creation of something from a diverse range of things.

This may be the most overlooked aspect of the movie. How does Tarantino use diverse things in order to create his movie. On one level you have actors from all over the world. For the German roles you have German actors, French French actors, American American actors, etc, etc. They all bring their own backgrounds and linguistic styles to the movie. The movie does not use one simple language to explain the action, but many. The movie does not use one type of music to explain the movie, but rather many. The film does not use one type of genre to explain the action, but several (namely the Western and war movies).

Another way in which Tarantino uses bricologe is in the action of the movie. The plot to kill Hitler and the Third Reich is a bricologe in of itself. The use of multiple players from multiple backgrounds, the use of improvisation to complete the plan, the multicultural aspects go beyond comment.

Simply put, the layers on which bricologe, a postmodern tool used to implement a diverse background of items which lends to ideas of multiculturalism and a sense of destabilization show how Inglorious Bastards really challenges our perceptions of reality.

Identity Issues: Questions about identity.

This is the most postmodern aspect of Inglorious Bastards. In almost every scene one finds the characters working on and discussing their issues of identity. If it Hans Landa discussing his identity as the "Jew Hunter" or Aldo Raines asking about his reputation, one finds identity to be at the heart of the movie. In one of the more obvious and discernible moments of the movie one finds German soldiers and later the Bastards playing a game in which identity is the main issue. Using cards to play the game, this scene highlights one of the main ideas and issues of postmodern thought.

Playfulness: Playing with the Audience.

Playfulness defines Inglorious Bastards. When one watches the nuisance scenes of Hans Landa's actions with his pipe, Aldo Raines' super-relaxed demeanor, or the final demise of Hitler, one finds playfulness to permeate this entire work of art. Tarantino plays with our preconceptions, our immediate reactions, and our expectations with great skill.

Overall, Inglorious Bastards is a postmodern work of the highest order. Now all we need is for someone to make a parody of Tarantino.